Launch Day!!!

We’re leaving in about five minutes, and our car is STUFFED!

I thought we were minimalists, but at this moment I wonder if we shouldn’t star in our own episode of “Hoarders.” Granted, the camping gear is taking up a lot of space, but still…

The apartment is SQUEAKY clean. The fridge is empty. The cupboards are bare. Our awesome landlord is here and has returned our entire deposit of $1,500. (Thanks, Maria!)

Today we’ll drive to Seattle to spend a few days with my dad. Then after that, the journey really begins. Here are some of the great stops we’ve planned as we camp our way south to the Mexican border.

• A stopover in Portland, where Scout will meet and have a sleepover with a beloved penpal.

• A drive east along Oregon Trail to Boise, where we’ll break bread with the Vogel family, inspirational online friends who cycled with their twin boys (age 10 when they started their two-and-a-half-year odyssey) from Alaska to the southern tip of Argentina.

• Two nights in Salt Lake City where we’ll hit the highlights…the natural history museum, Temple Square & the Salt Lake Temple, and—if we can squeeze it in—the aquarium.

• A break at beautiful Bryce Canon for two nights of camping. It’s killing me that we can’t take time for Zion as well, but we need to get to Mexico and tend to our business. Next time.

• Two nights camping at the Grand Canyon.

The whole trip to the border will take us 19 days, and I can’t wait to get started.

Our summer digs on the UBC campus

 

Adiós grasshopper

 

Um, any room left for us?

 

Phew, my Le Creuset will fit after all! Here, honey. Be a good girl and hold this cast-iron pot all the way to Mexico, would you?

 

And we’re off! Bye bye Vancouver!!!

Tagged as: Mexico