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The last post found me sitting in Bandon, enjoying the quiet and the ocean… from there it was something of a whirlwind. We left Bandon Monday morning (the 17th), and arrived in Salem late afternoon. It was fun to wander around some of the places we hung out when we were first married. We actually started by stopping in at the college (Corban – formerly known as Western Baptist). It was rather surreal to be walking around that place, particularly with three children in tow. We saw a couple of our old professors, then quickly moved on to downtown, where we grabbed an iced coffee and meandered about the town a bit. The evening ended up with a picnic at Riverfront Park with some old dear friends.

From Salem, we headed up to Vancouver – which set off a week of here to there bouncing about to see as many people as possible. The week was filled with soaking in all the things we love about the Northwest – all our favorite coffeeshops, restaurants, hang-out spots, and people.

The week in Vancouver was a little strange, because for the time I was there, I felt completely disconnected from Colorado life. It’s as if everything we had here was a million miles away. What is odd, was that I didn’t miss Colorado, at least not while I was away. It wasn’t until the drive home that I really felt reminded that Colorado is home now. It was great to see the mountains again! I think what happened is that being in the NW we actually experienced some true recharging. We didn’t get a ton of physical rest, but heaps and heaps of emotional, mental, and spiritual rest. Now that we’re home, I don’t feel a million miles from Vancouver – I feel reconnected with old friends, and refreshed by renewing those connections.

All in all, it was definitely an epic road trip for this family. 17 days gone – 5 of them spent in the car! – makes home a comfy place to be. From here, there is lots of work to catch up on, school for the kids, and the opening of a new chapter in the topsy-turvy story that God is writing for our lives. We’re making some pretty significant decisions over the next several weeks about church planting, and what our process looks like from here.

I’d love to talk more, but I have a lot of work that sat for 17 days that needs to be given some attention. Epic road trips aren’t cheap.

After a long three days on the road, here we are hanging in Bandon. We set out early Monday morning (which means we finally got the car packed and out the garage by 8am) heading north on I-25. We stopped in Laramie Wyoming at Coal Creek Coffee for a little pick-me-up. I had seen a couple of their baristas at the Mountain Regional Barista Competition, and they fared pretty well, so I was hoping for a fantastic coffee experience. What I got was an OK coffee experience, more like what I’d expect in Wyoming. I’m sure they have better work in them… but what I got was very average. Either way, we kept on driving, hoping to get to our campground by nightfall.

We drove across Wyoming. Then across Wyoming. Did I mention we were in Wyoming? It seems like forever when you’re driving across WYOMING. All. Freaking. Day. We ended up finding the campground, no thanks to GoogleMaps, which routed us to the wrong end of the lake putting us off course by 40+ miles. Once we got to the park, we pulled in, set up camp, enjoyed some New Belgium Sunshine Wheat (in a can!) while the kids enjoyed some A&W root beer, and watched the sun set over the Great Salt Lake. It was a very relaxing experience.

The next morning we got up and headed across western Utah and into Nevada. A quick early afternoon stop in Battle Mountain to see some of Priscilla’s old family friends and more driving, and we ended up in Reno just after dark. We checked into our room, and I wandered down to see if there was anything happening in the poker room. It was more of a poker “area”, with not a soul at the tables. Really, I just needed to sleep anyway, so we crashed for the night, then headed out first thing in the morning.

We drove across the Lassen National Forest in California, which took us along the edge of a pretty significant wildfire that had just been contained, then across CA-299, from Redding to the coast. That, my friends, is one windy highway. That’s windy, with a long “I”, as in ridiculous amounts of curves. Couple that with the constant construction stops, and the trip to the coast took all day. We stopped in Crescent City for pizza, then headed up 101 into Oregon, arriving in Bandon about 9:45pm.

It’s been since January of 2008 since I’ve been here… we were here over Christmas just 7 months after we moved. Priscilla was back the following June when Rena passed away, but that’s it. It’s not that I’m dying to move back – it’s just nice to be here after such a long absence. The air smells great, I can fill my lungs with rich, moist, oxygenated air again! So now we’re enjoying time with Priscilla’s family in Bandon, complete with tromping around on the beach. Monday we’ll head up to the Willamette Valley – a little time in Salem, poking around our old stomping grounds in Portland, and lots of visiting with friends and family in Vancouver. Then before you know it, it will be the 25th and we’ll be on our way back eastward to the other side of the Rockies. All in all, this is shaping up to be an amazing vacation. Disneyland was great – but not so relaxing. This will be some refreshing and recharging time – and will end up being the most vacation we’ve ever taken in one year before (25 days!).

Now to head off to Old Town Bandon where I will go in search of a proper bowl of clam chowder.