Where Will Vincent Van Go?

 So, here we are in Nevada, which is one of those states that I feel like kinda flies under the radar (except for Vegas). It is a state I have been to before, but just kinda in passing. But, this year, for my birthday, we decided to drive down to Lake Mead and Las Vegas for a few days to celebrate! It isn't actualy too far from Central Oregon where we have been for the past month or so, about 13 hours. We departed Central Oregon on Thursday afternoon and arrived on Saturday afternoon. It is nice traveling when you can just kinda find a place to stop wherever you feel like it. We arrived at the Lake Mead Visitor's Center to get the inside scoop on where we should park. There are a few really nice free camping areas around the lake (2ish week stay limit) that we liked, and the first night we decided to stay at Government Wash.  The temperature was perfect for strolling around, relaxing, and enjoying the sunset. There were a few other vehicles parked there, but it was by no means...

We can finally breathe again! We have been hanging out in Bend for the past month or so, and let me tell you, it is good to have some clear air once again. There are a few wildfires that have been burning in the Oregon Cascades, and the prevailing winds from the west have provided us with an overabundance of smoke. But, towards the end of last week, it started to rain! YES! The rain helped cut down the smoke we received, and we can once again see the mountains and breathe deeply! Thank goodness! The best part was that we got to go up to Big Lake this past weekend for a wedding! Our good frineds Apollo and Alexis Lizzi got married! And there was no smoke, which was great! It didn't even rain during the wedding. It rained before, but just as it was getting close to wedding time it slowed to a stop, they got married successfully, and we had a great time at the reception afterwards hanging out, talking to people, and generally having a party. Then, the next morning, we jumped into the ...

 Hello everyone out there following where Vincent Van Goes! It has been awhile, but that is life sometimes, and life has been full of everything recently, both good and bad. So, here is a short recap! After we left Big Lake Julie and I headed up to Washington to the Bridgeport State Park, which is just upstream of the Chief Joseph Dam (which, for those of you who were wondering, is the 2nd largest producer of hydro energy in the US! More on that later). We were there camping with Julie's family for a week. The water was chilly, but the weather was warm, and we had a great time. And at the end, we were exhausted, which is how all good vacations go I hear. On our last day at Bridgeport we were lucky enough to be offered a tour of the dam! One of the rangers happened to be driving through the camp, stopped by, and connected with Julie's brother. He invited us to take the tour the next morning, so we did! It was SO cool for me (as an electrical engineer) to see the inside of a majo...

 The last week has been SO amazing! We spent the week up at Big Lake with the "High Desert" camp taking kids out on the lake for skiing, wakeboarding, and surfing. There were 15 campers who from as far away as Michigan! The goal of the camp is to give campers a chance to have a week on the water to improve their skills on the water, spend time with good people, and have a lot of fun. I would say it was a complete success! Morning ski starts at 6:00 am, which comes awfully early, but is so worth it! At Big Lake the water is usually very calm in the morning, then very choppy in the afternoon when the wind picks up, so the morning slot is the ideal time to be on the water. The water was cool, but not terribly cold, in the upper 60's according to the boats. The first entry was often accompanied by wailing and gnashing of teeth, but usually after the first run it felt just fine!   The rest of the day is pretty much eating, and time on the water, with short breaks for various g...

Our circuit of (most of) the US is complete! We have returned home! Let me tell you, the thunderstorms were NOT on our side during this journey. I shared about a few of them in the previous post, but NOAA kept reporting thunderstorms in our area all the way through Colorado (some of them were supposed to have hail the size of tennis balls!) But finally we made it back into the Northwest! On our westward journey we got to stop and see my best friend from high school Kevin and his wife and son which was awesome! His parents were there too (my second mom and dad)! It was great to relax with them, hang out, play some Ticket to Ride, and just catch up on life. From there we headed out on Hwy 34 which heads through Rocky Mountain National Park! Woohoo! We slept on the side of the highway at a nice little pullout outside the park, then headed in the next morning! It was great to be in a national park again! For those of you who don't know during high use times they only allow a certain nu...

Our trip to the eastern half of the US draws to a close. After the last post we had the privilege to spend several days at Uchee Pines with Julie's brother Raymond, his wife Sha, and their son Ruel. During the week Julie discovered that our van would be improved with some sort of AC, so we have started looking into how to make that a reality. It turns out this part of the country can be quite hot and humid in the summer months, which is less pleasant without some way to cool off. And now we are heading west again! We spent yesterday morning at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis TN where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. It is definitely worth stopping to see what many people of this country went through in the past to bring about change. And what others in this country would do to try to stop that change. It has given me an opportunity to look inward, to see if I am willing to value those who are treated as worthless in our world. And now we are in Arkansas, onc...

It turns out that when you live in a van the local weather has a strong affect on what you do and where you go. Our plan was to spend the weekend in Florida at Pensacola Beach and Fr. Pickens State Park. We made it to the beach on Friday night, and got Vincent all set up and ready so that we could wake up and see a beautiful beach view in the morning! Then we went to sleep. Then we woke up around midnight with crazy intense thunderstorms all around us. Pretty much as far as we could see in every direction there was lightning strikes. I would estimate there were lightning flashes every 10-15 seconds consistently for about an hour. It was an amazing show! It also caused us to ponder our choice of parking spot. There aren't many tall things in that location, so we were one of the taller targets for a couple miles. That didn't increase our comfort level. We decided to reposition to a location near some buildings so they could absorb any lightning that headed our way. Then the storm...