From Texas to the Northwest in 3 Days

After a very long and difficult drive from Corpus Christi, Texas to the Seattle, Washington, we arrived in Bend to spend a couple of nights before the last six hour haul to Seattle. It feels great to be parked and enjoying this beautiful city of Seattle and the surrounding areas that will now be our oldest son’s home. We are all four feeling incredibly grateful to have found the perfect apartment on the first day of looking In downtown. This part of the world is so beautiful with all the mountains and water every place you look. We are so happy to be on the road again and seeing our fulltime family friends along the way. I can honestly say that this is a place I could stay for a very long time. So happy to have a reason to visit until then. ❤

Yummy coffee made to order with almond milk and local honey at Looney Beans.

Our lovely view at Looney Beans Coffee

Bite of Bend, sampling of local stuffs.

Queen Bee, Erika, local Bend Bee Keeper

Cycle Pub Tours, Bend, Oregon

Silver Moon Brewery, very informative tour.

Last stop Deschutes Brewery, yummy!

Saw this lovely family in Bend, Oregon.

Saw this beautiful family in Troutdale.

Our site at Tall Chief RV Resort.

Inside the Microsoft Visitor Center

His view from the living room.

The rooftop garden at the new crib.

Limbo Road

For the past few months we have been deep in decision mode. Talking and talking about life and what our next steps should be after a very successful Fulltime adventure. Ultimately the road is the place we want to be but our 17 year old son who is passionate about theatre needed a place to settle for a while and pursue his art. While it is possible to plant some place in an RV and get plugged into a theatre his real dream was to attend a certain performing arts school in Boston. So we headed there for his audition and we fell in love with the school. He was accepted and we enrolled and moved him in. And for the the three of us, we decided toreturn to the Middle East and our family of friends there. So, This Paisey Life is now headed back overseas for more international traveling adventures. When we are stateside we do plan to live our road life and our tiny home will wait here for us. I am happy to finally know what’s next. It’s been a long limbo.



Back in the Lower 48

Posting from Alaska turned out to be a bit of a challenge. I had thoughts of long drive days and up to the minute posts of all the wonderful sights along the way. The idea of what the trip would look like and the reality ended up having no real relationship to each other. The trip was beautiful but there were not many days that internet or sitting in front of a computer screen were possible. We were busy moving almost every day often with no service at all. The view was incredible but most often seen from the passenger seat with the occasional stop at a pullout for a quick shot of “I was here”.

I hope to rewind and post back all the wonderful things we did and saw while we were there, but for now I will just say that it was all worth it. The long driving days, the less than perfect roads, the super high prices and the days and days with no “real” electricity or showers. We enjoyed driving through Canada and being in Alaska and especially traveling with friends. We also had the joy of seeing our oldest son and his girlfriend for nine glorious days of the trip. It was all amazing and a time I will never forget. For today it feels great to be parked in a site for more than 24 hours and to have city water, electricity and all the comforts of home.

Jasper National Park

Just north of Banff National Park is Jasper and our next stop on the road to Alaska. The campground we stayed in did not have hook ups so we were on limited electricity with scheduled generator time from 8:00 to 9:30 am and 5:00 to 7:00 pm plus our limited water, so time to be very skimpy with cleaning. The site was beautiful surrounded by birch trees with a little path to our traveling companion’s site too.

The town of Jasper is just a short drive from the campground with a bit slower pace and less crowds which made it very enjoyable for relaxing at the library with free internet and easy parking places for shopping and restaurants. We enjoyed several more hikes here. I think the hiking could be a full time job here and you would still miss some of these beautiful trails.

Beautiful, Bustling Banff

Our first real stop on this journey to Alaska we stayed at Tunnel Mountain II in Canada’s first National park, Banff. The campground was gorgeous with views and full hookups. Loads of activities around the campground too. Our sight was lovely and we enjoyed a 5K hike that circles the campground.

In the town there was so much activity that it was difficult to find a parking place. The streets and buildings resembled a Swiss ski village with adorable little shops. We enjoyed the local brewery and a wonderful ice cream shop called Cows with possibly the beat ice cream in the world. Or so the sign said.

The visitor center was extremely helpful and the girl who sold me my can of bear spray was entertainment in her own right.

We hiked Lake Louise, which was unexplainably beautiful even in the rain and mud. And on our way back to the campground we took the old 1A Parkway and spotted bear just past the huge traffic jam. The cars piled up being a sure sign there is a bear within view.

Banff was a beautiful stay. We enjoyed finally being in one place for more than just a day and I think we all fell in love with hiking especially on the trails next to waterfalls like Johnston Canyon.

Watson Lake’s Signpost Forest

Along the Alaska Highway are many beautiful stops. One town called Watson Lake (the lake there is actually Wye Lake) has a very funky tradition of allowing travelers to post a sign there. It is larger than I imagined and with enough time you could probably find a sign from just about every place. The Mosquitos were out in forces so we didn’t linger as long, but well worth the stop over even for a quick sighting.

Where to stay, Chicago

We spent the Fourth of July holiday in Chicago. A super fun and very busy place to be for the summer in general and the Fourth of July is no exception. Next time you are heading to Chicago and looking for a great place to park your house, and you don’t mind boon-docking, look up McCormick Place Truck Marshaling Yard. We had a blast staying there. It is really close to everything. We felt very safe inside the gated and guarded parking lot and even enjoyed a fun Zombie Run around the place for exercise. My mother, sister and the four of us all stayed here and even set up chairs in the parking lot to watch the trains go by. This place is right across from the lake and easy access to all things Chicago. On the day my sister left we watched her train whiz by and waved at her for a funny family memory. While we were in Chicago, some very good friends we met in Bahrain happened to be in the area during the same weekend and stopped in for a visit and to see our new home. It was just an all around thumbs up kinda stay. My Mom and sister even gave me the much sought after approval to my lifestyle by saying they can see now why we love this way of life. Our stay here included shows, museums and a local neighborhood Rib Fest. The McCormick Place Truck Marshaling Yard is a parking lot, so no frills, but for location and price it more than makes up the difference.

 

Our home has been redone, finally.

I am super happy with the results of our remodeled home. My sister helped out with the choices and after much sewing and painting we have a very nice and comfy home on wheels. The pictures really don’t do it justice, but here are some closeups of my favorite things we did. If you want to see the comparisons head over to the Our Tiny Home tab where you can see the before and after shots. The bedroom has a tiny projector that flips up out of the way under the cornice and then flips down and gives us a huge screen to watch while we lay in bed. I found a great ottoman that the lid flips to be a seat or foot rest, then a coffee table too. I have a place to clip recent photos in my bedroom that reminds me life is good. And finally I have canvases all over the RV that are attached with velcro so that I can have works in progress the whole time we are on the road. I couldn’t be happier with the results. Now it’s time to head to Alaska.

New Bedroom (After)

Finally painted the bedroom. It took a whole day and we are in a campground, so recovering cornices took place on a picnic table outside. But it is finished. And we slept in our new room last night. 😉

Green People

Out shopping in our abayas in Saudi Arabia.

For the last six years I have thought of myself as a green person. Shortly after leaving the states for our first move overseas a friend of mine told me a story about life as an “expat” and how the experience changes people. The way she explained this change was unique and visual. It went like this, when a person leaves their home country that place is a yellow country. The new resident country is a blue country. Over a period of time the culture and traditions of the new country become a part of this person changing their once yellow color to a mixture of yellow and blue. This expatriate is now a green person. There are many green people in the world and my friend assured me that they are an interesting and supportive group. Green has been my favorite color since that day. I spent six years in my blue country. I loved it. It is an experience I highly recommend. Then came the day when this green person moved back home. I thought for sure that it would take me a while to acclimate to the yellow color of my home. Surely I was forever changed. It’s amazing how quickly being yellow came back to me. I am surprised how fast I have adjusted to life back here. The only part that hangs on for me is the constant comparisons. I try not to talk about them all the time. There are many times I can’t help it and I have to share how this country is different from the one I spent the last six years of my life in. Mostly I just miss the green people. The ones who were a part of my daily life and the ones that I knew only briefly but that touched my heart and life in special ways changing me forever and directing my path to who I am today. The girl who told me the Green People story was my neighbor in Houston before I ever knew I would move to Saudi Arabia. She lived just a few houses down from me. After I moved away we grew closer. Greenness does that to people. The reason I bring all this up here on my blog about a very different journey of becoming a full-time RV family is because I am noticing so many similarities between expats and full-time RV families. The first one is how quickly friendships form. It’s like we know we have limited time here and there is this clearing away of the small stuff because there just isn’t time for it. This happens in a foreign country as well, expats are moved away from family, friends and all things familiar in addition to the fact that they are strangers in a strange land. When one expat meets another expat, they may be from completely different countries, but there are so many experiences that are the same. This makes for quick and easy relationship. It is a need for community amongst the outsiders. Foreigners equals comrades. The people I met overseas proved to be the most satisfying deep relationships I have ever known. I miss that the most. Strangely when we started on this journey I knew there were other people out there that had chosen this path. A less traveled path. What I didn’t count on was just how much this commonality brings people closer together faster and stronger too. I have met some people on this journey so far and I can honestly say I count them as close friends. We don’t have history, but we do have something special, we are kindred spirits. I think that fulltime RV families have a color all their own. A beautiful rainbow of colors, all different, yet linked together.