Where Will Vincent Van Go?

 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...

 Over the last 2 weeks Julie and I went down to Costa Rica with Livingstone Adventist Academy Seniors (and Kirk, Julie's Brother, who works at the school). It was an awesome trip that was filled with beaches, waterfalls, painting, and scaffolding! The point of the trip is to allow the students to combine their Senior class trip with a mission trip, and this year we got to go. The town we went to is called "La Mona" and is on the southern Pacific coast, very close to the border with Panama. The flight down was good, we arrived on Tuesday night in San Jose and spent the night at the local Adventist University called UNADECA (Universidad Adventista de Centro America). Then the next day (Wednesday) we went to a valcano (Volcan Poas) and then headed to the Pacific coast for the evening. The weather was hot (always) but the ocean water was just cool enough that it was perfect to be in the waves as the evening wound down. The next day (Thursday) we made the drive down to La Mona...

 Well, it has been awhile since I posted, but I haven't forgotten about it, I have just been getting more and more guilt ridden for not having done so. Like you do... But, that is all behind me now! So much to share, so many things have happened, so many places visited, so much to tell! After our return from Hawaii we spent a week or so in Bend getting the new year started. It was good! My parent's were getting things started on the process of building their new house, and there was plenty of catch up to do at work, so I spent mos of the time working in the office. Then, we got to looking at the weather. And let me tell you, it looked COLD! Central Oregon was supposed to get snow, ice, freezing temps, and just generally unpleasant-ness. So we decided to drive south! Which turned out to work out perfectly! As we were heading south I found out my good friend Kevin was going to be driving in a race at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey California, which just happened to be where we w...

 So, it is January now, which means that I didn't blog at all in December, even though we had some amazing adventures! December started out with a journey to the state of Hawaii! Sadly Vincent Van didn't Go to Hawaii, but we had fun none the less! We flew to Honolulu, then on to Hilo, and spent 2 weeks at Hale Laule'a at Opihi Point about 15 minutes north of Hilo. It is an Airbnb that my parents stayed at several years ago, and the owners asked them to come back to take care of the property and guests when they were on vacation. Julie and I were able to join them this time to help out and enjoy the beauty of the island, and it was wonderful!   It was a place where one can just relax and enjoy the peace of living in a place where the air is warm, comfortable, and possibly raining. But even the rain is pleasant. And, there are fresh coconuts! We were both working while we were there, but we had plenty of time to go on some adventures. My three favorites were: 1) Going snorke...