Snow Potter

It was quite dark, although rather warm, when I made the last leg of my journey a couple of nights ago. I could just see the lights of downtown Seattle from my corner of Hwy 509 before turning up the hill into West Seattle. I was trying to decide whether I felt exhilarated or deflated as I wound my way along streets I knew all too well, stopping at the appropriate corners for lights almost without noticing. This was home—or at least as close to it as I was going to get for now—there was no doubt. The last bit of highway, the three hours from Portland to Seattle, were the last leg of a very long journey, and suddenly there was no further destination. Well, perhaps this is not entirely true. I still wouldn't be ... read more

You may not have read the news, but California has been having a heat wave. We recently read in the paper that many people have died, and we can personally verify that it has been well over 100 degrees. Happy to be escaping the humidity in China, it was a bit of let down to encounter such extreme heat back on US soil. Hence, it was with no hesitation that we headed for the mountains as soon as we could after our reunion with Van-gogh and a day of regrouping near LA. Our first destination was Sequoia National Park, the southernmost National Park in the Sierra range in California. We had picked out a hike to do back in June, but after the ranger had told us that it was rather too snowy at that ... read more

The miracle of flying still persists, even now, many hours after we have gotten our feet back on firm ground. We have just completed two journeys across the Pacific Ocean, the wonder of which never escapes me. I can only imagine the months it must have taken by sea not too many generations ago. Despite initial wondering how the trip to China would fit into the patchwork of experiences this year has held, we now feel very pleased with our adventure, and even wished we could have stayed there a bit longer to include things we ran out of time to see. The long flight, improved by the introduction of a new companion with new stories (Gillian), as well as six movies (two of which were played twice), deposited us in Chengdu. Chengdu is the capital ... read more

When it got over 100 degrees, we started longing for the Northwest. June in the Northwest is often chilly, with its share of rainy days, and is only sometimes sunny. The idea that it's over 100 in Utah in early June is sort of overwhelming—and it's only going to get hotter. Lance even started talking wistfully about the high Sierras, so perhaps that was the sign that we should leave the Southwest--all a good reminder of why I normally never plan trips to Utah for my summer vacation. We barely made it through our last night in Utah, driving up above the Zion valley floor to camp out at higher elevation, Lance collapsing into the passenger seat after stripping to a bear minimum of clothing. We went back to Zion National Park, it's true, but only ... read more

By the time we finally got back in the van and began living in it again, we had almost grown unused to our routines there. After being in houses for so long, spending days on end in our van was a bit of a distant memory. I am pleased to report, however, that we have now recovered nicely (both the humans and the automobile), and are happily reacquainting ourselves with each other. The van has a new radiator, which makes her very happy. When we actually finished working on the radiator and associated features, and she ran like a champ, it was hard to remember why we didn't know that this was the problem initially. How had we missed the obvious: that the radiator was breaking down tube by tube? Or probably more importantly, why hadn't ... read more