Here We Go!

A week ago today, we left Ohio and started our adventure. We had a photo session and said goodbye to everyone, but mostly the dogs.

A group shot of Me and Jim, with his dad and his dad's wife, and their two dogs, Kuzya and Ricky.

Jim got to reconnect with his dad during the 3 weeks or so we were in Ohio.



Jim and I loved this dog!



Jim has sadder puppy dog eyes than Kuzya


The Three best dogs in the world: Kuzya, Ricky, and Snowy





We fixed up the interior of the van so it's ready for travelling. We got two sets of drawers for storage, a cooler, and a storage bin for our generator and stove. We also added a door for the middle storage area on the ceiling, where you can see the picture Jim drew of our future adventures.



A side view of our storage setup. It's all bungied for traveling.



After we left Ohio, we went to Canada for a couple days to visit my mom and sister. We had a graduation barbecue for my sister, and then we had a really fun jam session in the van.
We left Canada with Celeste and headed to Chicago to pick up our friend David. Along the way, we hit 60,000 miles. When we got the van it had about 58,500 miles on it.








After about an hour in Chicago (well, New Lenox, IL), we turned around and went back to Ohio to go to Cedar Point. Along the way, there was a huge traffic jam. We heard from a truck driver that a semi had run over a small car and if someone had died, traffic would be stopped for at least a few hours.

Traffic was backed up for miles, and it was mostly trucks. Instead of waiting for hours, we decided to drive over the grass divider and head to Ohio via the back roads of Indiana.



Some people used the traffic jam as an opportunity to do some maintainence and cleaning. It was really nice out, and it was pretty countryside, so everyone got out of their rigs or cars and chatted.



Cedar Point had its own RV park, so we got 2 day passes and stayed there for two nights. Everyone had their laptop except me, since mine was still in the shop then, and they all hooked up to the internet through our G1 phone. Ah the joys of primitive camping.



Back in New Lenox, we decided to go to a Hippie Shop. I got a nice skirt and dress, Jim got a tie-dye shirt, and we got a blacklight poster and a covering for the couch.



Our blacklight poster, hanging on the ceiling. Trippy, no? We also bought a blacklight to really make it pop, and it just so happened that they only had 12V blacklights in stock. How serendipitous! Now that we're imbued with the hippy vibe, we can boldly blaze a trail to our next big destination.

We left Chicago today around 2. In fact, I am posting from the Van as we are driving north to Wisconsin. We told the GPS to avoid highways, so we could see America instead of the same old highway across the whole country. Right now we are driving through Elmhurst, IL. Today feels like the first day of our real adventure. We are heading out for an unknown state, and it will be the first time we aren't hooked up to someone's power in someone's driveway. For the first time, we will meet new people and test our van's ability to boondock. Our first destination is "House on the Rock" in Spring Green, Wisconsin, which is a huge house, on a rock, with dozens of rooms with different themes and an indoor merry-go-round. We read about it in Neil Gaimain's book, "American Gods". We've used the website "Roadsideamerica.com" to plan our route out west, following weird roadside attractions across the country. However, our goal is Oregon, where in 10 days there will be a concert/gathering of hippies, artists, and musicians, including Alex Grey, of whom we are big fans. There will be yoga, dance, and music workshops It is called "The Mystic Garden Party". It is in Ashland, Oregon, and there is a hot spring on the premesis. Ashland is supposed to be a haven for hippies, old and young, and we look forward to that experience. After Oregon, we have no plans, so we will see where the road takes us!