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Florida, Friends, Fun!

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Our journey around the US continues! Our next stop after Los Alamos was to visit Julie's cousin in Chattanooga TN! We got to spend time with them and their 2 daughters, play some games, have some good discussions about life and stuff and things, and generally just catch up. After visiting them we had a few days until our next stop, so we decided to check out one of Georgia's state parks, Cloudland Canyon State Park! It has an awesome campground, great hiking trails, waterfall and canyon views, and is entirely pleasant in late April temperature wise! Be warned, the trails down to the waterfall includes many stairs, so if you are trying to get a good knee/leg workout, it is a great option!   Our next stop after Cloudland Canyon was the home of my good friend from Big Lake, Billy, and his wife Brittany! They live near Calhoun, GA on a beautiful property with plenty of trees, a beautiful field, and a pond! Their oldest child goes to school, so unfortunately we didn't get to spe...
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Counter-clockwise around the USA

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The name of our van is Vincent. And the question is: Where will Vincent Van Go? Well, this post is the beginning of a lot of going for Vincent as we have started a journey, and an adventure! We are on the road again for an epic counter-clockwise North America experience! It will include lots of friends, interstates, a cruise, a visit to some place with green gables, and more than one national park we hope!  Before we left on our journey we of course stopped by our home base in Salem, Oregon for a summer gear swap! Since this particular adventure will likely last through the summer we wanted to have all the appropriate items for a summer adventure! We put in our kayaks, loaded up on summer clothing, dropped off our skis, and headed out! First stop: BEND! Which... admittedly isn't far, but is a great place! We spent our first weekend helping prepare food for a bunch of teens who were on a rock climbing adventure in the Bend area, and spending time with Julie's brother's famil...
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Long flights and warm beaches. Oh... and sickness

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 So, the last post ended right after Christmas, and right before our next adventure started. The next adventure, of course, was a trip to the southern hemisphere, specifically to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! Rio is the capital and 2nd largest city in Brazil. Our journey found us joining our good friends, Amy and Neto, for two weeks at an AirBnB located a couple blocks from two great beaches, Ipanema and Copacabana!  Also, it turns out that Brazilians really love the beach. On the weekend we went down to the beach and there were large parts of the beach that we couldn't see because of all the umbrellas. It was amazing to see, and very different from what an Oregonian is used to. We also visited Christ the Redeemer, which was super cool, but VERY busy. We happened to choose the one day that everyone else also chose, so there was a lot of people, and a lot of waiting, but we made it, and got some great pictures!  The view from the top was amazing! The mountain that Christ the Red...
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Where has Vincent Van Gone?

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 So... its been awhile! The last post for Vincent was in April of 2024, and it is now January of '25. The good news is that Vincent is still going strong! Julie and I are still enjoying vanlife, and are excited to keep exploring. So, where has Vincent Van gone you might ask? I shall tell you! After getting back from Costa Rica, Vincent went into the shop to get some work done. The torque converter and transmission had gotten water in the fluid and needed to be repaired, so into the dealer it went. While it was in the shop we stayed with family. We also got to help my parents with building their new house in Bend! The outer walls of the house are a high efficiency pre-fabricated system that fits together on site. It was quite an adventure, but we got it done!   After that we took some time to go up to Prineville Reservoir with Julie's family for some time on the water. It was HOT, in the upper 90's every day, but the water felt amazing!   The rest of the summer was spent...
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