The plans sprouted during a trip to Indianapolis for the Indy 500, where Rhea and Patrick exposed their pale, Pacific Northwesterly skin to the sun and humidity in full swing on Memorial Day weekend, 2011. Coming from a corner of the country showing no signs of summer,—“Expect Monday to be wet. Scattered showers and cold temperatures should blanket the Portland area.” Oregon Live, May 31—Patrick’s dull itch for sunshine was scratched. And just like a mid-west mosquito bite, once you start, you’ve gotta keep scratchin. As with all of Patrick’s far-fetched, yet somehow attainable, pipe dreams, Rhea entertained the idea. Of selling their cars, buying a truck and an airstream trailer loaded with four bikes, two kayaks, a windsurf board in case, a canoe and a Ski Nautique. And some scuba gear. (Rhea thinks it’s cute that Patrick gets a big, goofy smile when he’s dreaming of gear.) After some pro/con lists, some excel calculations and a BIG realization that Rhea’s work may give year-long leaves, both Rhea and Patrick’s goofy smiles turned to thin lips and seriously cranking wheels. After a month of holding the idea with an open hand, like a bird waiting to fly away, the continuous feeding and care of it kept it growing and taking new forms, until they decided to keep it for a pet.
The Plan**
During the month of cranking wheels, this is how the bird morphed into something we would be able to keep for a pet. (For those who prefer the literal over metaphors-how the plan** changed and evolved from the original brainstorm):
Although both of us loved the idea of the open road, our home on wheels, our destination decided by our mood- the reality is
that Patrick is working this year. After staying in a one bedroom cottage in
Bend with our two dogs this June, it was clear that Patrick would need the
option of a work sanctuary without barking dogs and chatty girlfriends. An
airstream trailer at a campground in Yellowstone with shotty phone service and
unreliable internet would not be conducive to productivity. So instead, we
decided on some intriguing cities to make home base for a
while. We don’t have a formal checklist, but it seems so far, that the cities
fulfill these requirements:
- within 2 hours of an airport (Patrick travels a lot for work)
- outdoor adventure accessible
- people are known to be friendly
- there’s a good possibility of sunshine
Our first stop will be Denver, Colorado. After taking about
four days to get there (including a stop in Jackson Hole,
Wyoming) we’ll move into our pet-friendly, two bedroom, vacation rental home and stay there a
month (October 12-November 12ish).
After
that, the plan** is to have Allisen (my BFF sister) fly
to Denver for Veteran’s Day weekend. Patrick is traveling that weekend
for work, so the
girls will take the dogs and all the gear and road-trip it to Santa Fe,
New
Mexico. Allisen will fly back to Portland out of New Mexico when the
weekend’s
over. Patrick will return from said work trip to a new residence in
Santa Fe, where we'll stay for maybe two weeks. Next, we'd would like to be in
Austin, Texas for at least a month. The nice thing is, Patrick's sister lives in Houston, so we'll swing by there and get some turkey for Thanksgiving before settling in Austin for December. That takes us to Christmas, when we'll both taste true winter. I'll reunite with my wet roots in Oregon and the mid-west boy will enjoy the Indiana cold with his people. That’s all the
plans** we have so far.
I have included some rain and sunshine statistics to
illustrate our increased chance for sunny days and decreased chance of getting
drizzled on. These statistics are from weatherbase.com. I didn’t make them up.
See below:
PORTLAND,
OREGON
Average Possibility of Sunshine
|
Years on
Record: 44
|
YEAR
|
Jan.
|
Feb.
|
Mar.
|
Apr.
|
May
|
Jun.
|
Jul.
|
Aug.
|
Sep.
|
Oct.
|
Nov.
|
Dec.
|
|||||||||||||||
%
|
48
|
28
|
38
|
47
|
52
|
57
|
56
|
69
|
66
|
62
|
44
|
28
|
23
|
PORTLAND,
OREGON
Average Number of Rainy Days
|
Years on
Record: 53
|
YEAR
|
Jan.
|
Feb.
|
Mar.
|
Apr.
|
May
|
Jun.
|
Jul.
|
Aug.
|
Sep.
|
Oct.
|
Nov.
|
Dec.
|
|||||||||||||||
Days
|
151
|
18
|
16
|
17
|
14
|
12
|
9
|
4
|
5
|
7
|
12
|
18
|
19
|
DENVER, COLORADO
Average Possibility of Sunshine
|
Years on
Record: 44
|
YEAR
|
Jan.
|
Feb.
|
Mar.
|
Apr.
|
May
|
Jun.
|
Jul.
|
Aug.
|
Sep.
|
Oct.
|
Nov.
|
Dec.
|
|||||||||||||||
%
|
69
|
71
|
70
|
69
|
67
|
64
|
70
|
71
|
71
|
74
|
72
|
64
|
67
|
||||||||||||||
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO
Average Number of Days With
Precipitation
|
Years on
Record: 43
|
YEAR
|
Jan.
|
Feb.
|
Mar.
|
Apr.
|
May
|
Jun.
|
Jul.
|
Aug.
|
Sep.
|
Oct.
|
Nov.
|
Dec.
|
|||||||||||||||
Days
|
62
|
4
|
4
|
5
|
4
|
5
|
4
|
9
|
9
|
6
|
4
|
4
|
4
|
AUSTIN, TEXAS
Average Possibility of
Sunshine
|
Years on
Record: 52
|
YEAR
|
Jan.
|
Feb.
|
Mar.
|
Apr.
|
May
|
Jun.
|
Jul.
|
Aug.
|
Sep.
|
Oct.
|
Nov.
|
Dec.
|
|||||||||||||||
%
|
60
|
48
|
51
|
55
|
54
|
56
|
69
|
75
|
75
|
66
|
64
|
55
|
49
|
Pay particular attention to the months of October, November
and December. I plan** to discuss Seasonal Affect Disorder in a future blog.
We still do plan** on bringing some gear, but have scaled down a
bit from the Griswold Family Rig with 2 miles to the gallon. We are only taking
the essentials and hoping for 12 miles to the gallon. More on The Rig in a
future post.
Although we don’t leave the state until October 9, I will
be heading down I-5 with the dogs to house sit for Mom and
Don in Oakland, Oregon on October 1. They have lotsa land, two dogs, four horses and
countless cows and calves that need attention while they dive for lobster in
Santa Barbara. I will be accepting lobster tail as payment for my services.
After the week is over (and I get my lobster dinner), I and dogs will come back
through P-town to snag our leading man. At that point we will crank back the
sunroof**, blast some Rascal Flatts** (unless Patrick controls the music**) and howl
in celebration** that we are on the road!
We have plans and expectations. We have fears and apprehensions. But we're really doing it, right now, because we can. Please visit often for quirky narratives and interesting images from places in the U.S. where we've heard the sun does shine.
* they aren’t really that young, except that they like to play and have fun.
**all plans subject to reconsideration, adjustment and/or total scrapping.
**all plans subject to reconsideration, adjustment and/or total scrapping.
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