Our first 5 days... whew!

I don't know how we have survived 5 days without Internet or at least our emails... I opened mine up to find all sorts of nice notes from friends - thank you! So you want to know what we've been up to? Here's the scoop thus far:

• Florence, Oregon was awesome! The day we pulled in, we had a not-so-good site, because we couldn't ride our quad to the dunes (and we have no way of transporting it without the trailer, so that's a bummer), but the 2nd night we were able to move to the H Loop, where it was definitely happenin'!!! It was like another world out there. Every spot was taken and EVERYONE, I mean if they were older than 2 and could walk, they had a quad. It was nuts. The first few pictures are of us cruisin' around on the toys in the dunes. It was a blast!!! We grilled some chicken on our new BBQ (THANKS MAURA & MARC!) and it was delicious. NOTE: To all you who say I don't cook, things are looking up for me now... Matt did the BBQing, but I've found my "place" in the kitchen. Matt says, "It's about time." Ha.



• Coos, Bay was a bit different, because it rained, hailed, and even snowed the nights we were there, so we didn't get to ride the toys but we did have a fire one night and were able to use the axe (THANKS ADAM & BRYAN FOR IT!) and roast some marshmallows (THANKS MARK, JANIS & CANNON for the roasting sticks!). The days it rained, we rode into town and visited the local Walmart to do some shopping. Hey, don't knock it, we live in a trailer now so we can shop there!



• We drove all the way down to Mt Shasta, CA today, but stopped at the Vortex on the way down. What is that, you ask? Well, some sort of freaky, crooked house that sits on a magnetic pull or something wierd. (check it out: http://www.oregonvortex.com/) It was worth the stop, but Bailey, having had to sit in the car for the hour-long tour, thought he'd be a %^&$ and tear up a bean-bag pillow. Yes, you can just imagine the miniature foam balls that are ALL OVER in the car (and will be for years to come, I'm sure.) Naughty dog.



• Mt Shasta, CA - we're here now and we drove into the KOA park that is a dump. This place is double the price of anywhere else we've stayed and it's like a trailer park, so we're leaving early in the a.m. and heading for Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA tomorrow. We thought we'd be in Reno, but don't want to drive that far in one day. After all, we have a year to get there... hee, hee.

Enjoy the pictures. Thanks to you ALL for the fun gifts. We've been using some of them every day and are finding them to be very beneficial. I've been writing in a journal every day and I'm already looking forward to the day when I look back at all of this. We have found that it's pretty easy to live comfortably even when "camping" with our renting of movies at RedBox/McDonald's locations - if you haven't tried it, I recommend it, espresso in the a.m.'s, and hot showers everyday (gotta keep up on the hygiene - well, at least ME). We have all we need right here. We're loving every minute of this trip, still getting along just fine, and ready for the next adventure!

P.S. Thanks to Monica & Bryan for my comfy camping chair. I have to admit, it's WAY better than Matt's!!! :)