We're on the Road Again

Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.

It won’t be long until school will be back in session.  We all know what that means.  It means many of the RV  parks will not only have more available sites but it’ll be a lot more quiet.  It actually doesn’t make much of a difference whether you’re in a regular neighborhood or in an RV park.  Things do quiet down after Labor Day. 

Labor Day weekend usually signifies fantastic sales.  Summer is ending, stores have summer clothes to get rid of and buying school clothes seems to be on the mind of many.  We had visited the Woodburn Outlet Mall south of Portland last year over Labor Day Weekend.  It was packed.  We were sure everyone from Portland was there. Instead of waiting until the holiday weekend to head to the Merrell outlet store, we decided to try our luck Saturday.  We just knew it couldn’t be as packed as it was last year.  WRONG!  There wasn’t a parking spot to be found unless you were patient and willing to wait and wait and wait.  That we did.  However, with all the people we didn’t hang around long.  There were way too many people … way too many people.

 

Flowers as a gazebo for benches inside.

The Woodburn Outlet Mall is loaded with unique flower arrangements.  It’s a beautiful mall with lots of great shops too.  However …. we were happy to only visit a couple of them before leaving.   Fry’s Electronics was much more fun and that’s where we stopped next.  It’s definitely one of our favorite stores and we made it out of the store spending only about $13.  I think that’s a record low for us.  We usually find lots of little techie things we just have to have.  Not so this time so that’s a good thing.

 

Sunday morning we were on our way to another destination.  We were on the road again.  I think we're practicing for the big adventure next month.  This time we were off to the Oregon coast. In just about 4 weeks we'll make a much bigger trip.  This time it's just a trial run.  First, we had to drop Duchess off.  She didn’t get to go with us on this trip.  Most of the time when we head to the Oregon Coast we head north to Longview, WA and cross over into Oregon from there.  However, that’s when we’re going to the northern Oregon coast.  This time we were heading a little farther south.  Thus, we were Portland bound.

Traveling through Portland can be a snap.  It can also be a big headache.  It was Sunday we expected it to be a snap.  Not so.  It was worse than just a headache.  It was a migraine!  It just so happened some of the main roads in Portland were shut down for a bike marathon.  It also just so happened that those main roads were the ones we needed including the Fremont Bridge across the Willamette River and I405 which leads to the main coastal route of Hwy 26!  We weren’t happy campers since it took us almost two hours to finally get west of Portland.

A stock photo of Portland with Fremont Bridge up front.

I know Portland pretty well but it didn’t matter.  All the roads I knew had detour signs.  Mrs. Garmin was put to work.  She even had quite a few hiccups finalizing her rerouting. I think we confused her.  We were actually almost at the point of turning around and heading back when we finally ended up on the right road to the zoo!  Once we saw the line of traffic heading in the opposite direction we realized we were really the lucky ones. 

Heading west towards the coast on Sunday is usually a pretty easy drive.  The lines of traffic usually are heading east from the coast inland.  With the weekend over the traffic heading back to Portland can get pretty long.  Most of the route is two lanes with occasional passing lanes through the Coastal Mountain Range.  It can get pretty slow following all the campers and boats up and down those hills. 

Heading out meant I got to move our marker!!  What is our marker?  It’s a peg we move on a map to let others in our group know where we are.  This is how we keep tabs on each other.    It makes it easier to connect when we get close to one of our friends.  It’s pretty cool. We have the Sands to thank for the map.

Sometimes pegs are hard to find because they're hiding behind another.  Such is the case here.

I have discovered how the other side lives.  My internet tonight is INSTANT!  We're in a hotel tonight with free wifi.  I forgot how fast it was!  However, I must admit after watching Hotel Impossible I'm not so sure I'm really fond of staying in hotels.  I really like my own little bed.

‘Tis life on the road.