The big adventure begins! From Vancouver, WA to Topeka, KS in my Sienna minivan camper.

Liquor store, beauty shop, and bait. Got it covered.

I left Vancouver Sunday, a day later than my planned departure on Saturday. I was so exhausted by all my preparations, and then Saturday morning I had the attempted duckling rescue happen in the middle of packing, and by then it was almost noon and I said screw it, I’m going to take a nap and leave tomorrow. It was a great decision; by Sunday morning I felt so much better and I got a better start.

I’ve always felt that driving an interstate is the absolute worst way to see a place. But I think that I-84 across Oregon might be the exception. It is an amazing drive. The mossy fir shrouded cliffs of the gorge give way to dry pines, then broader hills of juniper and sage. Sweeping glacier carved hills stretch ahead, followed by scrubby high desert, then grassy fields of cattle, and finally a climb into mountains. It’s a little bit of everything, it keeps changing, and it’s really beautiful.

I decided my goal the first day would be to drive as far as I could. Anyplace I can reach within one day from home I can always go back to, so I wanted to save my exploring time for places further along my route. The down side of this is that it is just not fun to drive as far as you can. I was beat by the time I finally quit.

I found a BLM spot to camp along the Snake River that was just a gravel parking lot, with strong steady winds scouring the barren terrain. It wasn’t fun camping but it was peaceful and I actually got a pretty good night of sleep. Once I recovered from the ghost smacking against my window; I’d clipped a white dish towel to the side mirror to dry and the wind played some tricks with it.