It’s Been a Long Time…
Welcome back. It’s been a very long time since I last posted to our blog and much has happened since then. First off, Kim & I are doing well. We’ve managed to stay healthy and avoided any COVID-19 infection. We’re still having fun, however, we are not traveling as much and are transitioning from our life as full-time RVers. In effect, we are taking the off ramp from being full-time. More about that, later.
End of Travel Season – 2020
The last post I made in December 2020 detailed our stay in Bluff, Utah. There we visited friends, Joyce & Paul Martini, and went on many photo outings.
Wrapping up our stay in Bluff, we made our way back to Southern California to overwinter in and around the Silent Valley Club RV Resort.
We took our time traveling and stopped at two campgrounds along the way, Circle Pines KOA Holiday Williams in Williams, Arizona, and the Needles KOA Journey, in Needles, California. Our stays at each campground were short, 2-nights only. Travel conditions were excellent, with just a few rain showers around Flagstaff.
A highlight of our trip was when Laura L., one of Kim’s former co-workers, joined us for an afternoon at the Williams KOA. We had a really nice time catching up on all the recent life-events.
The rest of our trip went without incident. We arrived at Silent Valley Club in early November just in time for glorious fall colors.
Here are photos from our return trip to SoCal:
Strange Times
When we returned to Southern California the COVID-19 pandemic was now in its second year. We were finding overcrowded campgrounds, campground closures, rising prices, and supply-chain shortages in area stores, as well as widespread vaccine and mask denial. This together with the toxic political climate of the pre- and post-2020 election and the January 6th insurrection made for a profoundly unsettling time for us. We felt it was time to reexamine our goals and whether or not to continue as full-time RVers.
Eventually we decided to invoke our RVing exit strategy a few years early and look for a property to purchase and build a home on. We decided on the area of the country we would like to live in – central Oregon, near Bend, and began a search for properties. After a careful search we found a few properties of interest near Terrebonne on the Crooked River Ranch development and began to work with a local area realtor.
Our purchased property was 5-acres backing onto BLM land and the Crooked River Canyon. The property already had electric utilities, water well, pump house, and an unused septic system. The site is in scenic high desert with juniper, sage, lava rock, with views of the cascade volcanoes Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Hood, and the Three Sisters. A steep trail into the canyon provides river access.
Finding New Dreams in Oregon
In early spring 2021 we traveled to Oregon to view the property prior to close of escrow. We traveled quickly, for us, with only 2-night stays at the Lost Hills KOA Journey, Lost Hills, CA; Flag City RV Resort, Lodi, CA; and Friendly RV Park, Weed, CA.
We stayed several months at the Crooked River Ranch RV Park and explored the local area. During this time we contacted a timber framer about the home we would like to build. We also contacted a local area general contractor.
The GC converted the pump house on the property to a laundry/utility room, graded an RV parking site, and installed full-RV hookups. By Memorial Day we moved our rig to the property and were able to comfortably occupy the site.
Since then we’ve made some good friends in the area and continue to pursue our hobbies and interests. We’ve cleared sage and thinned out or pruned many of the junipers on the property for fire mitigation. Construction on the new home hasn’t started, yet, but we’ll get there eventually.
Here photos from around our new home:
Wrap Up
That’s all for now. We still plan to RV part-time and will continue posting on the blog about our travels and photography. Stay safe – stay healthy – stay positive.