With only about two weeks before we ferry back to reality, we are trying to savor the magic of the San Juan Islands as much as we can!

As I Write This…

I am nestled in a camp chair facing the Salish Sea, specifically the Haro Strait, with the snow-capped Olympic Mountains creating a backdrop in watercolor. Our cozy propane fire pit is keeping me quite toasty in the typically cool afternoon.

I am surrounded by the musical sounds of springtime on San Juan Island: lively pine siskins, busy nuthatches, melodic purple finches, visiting yellow rumped warblers, reliable robins, conifer-obsessed red crossbills, brilliant ravens hassling bald eagles and the resulting screeches in protest…I am grateful for all these things as they, like the blustery prairie winds nearby, are natural mood enhancers. A literal breath of fresh air!

Recent San Juan Islands Adventures in a Slideshow

We took a second trip to Orcas Island, rediscovered parts of English Camp and Roche Harbor and were treated to the always spectacular San Juan Islands sunsets!

Transitioning from San Juan Island Volunteering to Cross-Country Travel Planning

Our volunteer time at San Juan Island National Historical Park ends at the end of the month…just when we each have become confident in sharing the Pig War talk with inquisitive park visitors! We will miss our fellow volunteers and the dedicated park rangers and staff. They have made our time in the San Juan Islands even more magical!

The ferry will whisk us back to reality and thrust us right into our cross-country trip to our next volunteer gig in the Blue Ridge Mountains. At 150 miles each day, we face 18 travel days. With a few stops to visit friends and family, we will use the full two months for this epic adventure! Fingers crossed that all moving parts of the truck, trailer and ourselves cooperate the whole way!

Finding RV Camping Spots on A Long Trip

I am sometimes asked if it is difficult to find camping spots and if we plan the entire trip ahead of time. Holiday weekends can be difficult to find spots during holiday weekends like Memorial Day. So if we are traveling during that time I make sure to get the holiday weekend reserved first.

Finding a spot to camp is not difficult if you are flexible and have a smaller camper. and know how to back into a site. If you require an extra-long, pull-through campsite and 50 amp full hookups with cable TV, reservations, especially last-minute, can be more challenging to acquire..

It also helps to arm yourself with good campsite search resources like Allstays, RVLife, RV Parky, Harvest Host/Boondockers Welcome and/or Recreation.gov. There are even some resources that will automatically scan for cancellations and book your site for you! One is called Arvie. Some resources are free, but most of the good ones have an annual fee.

Planning ahead always sounds good, but that assumes that travel goes according to plan…and it rarely does. I tend to plan small stages of the trip at a time. Midway through that stage I will plan the next stage. That way we aren’t charged for changing existing reservations if we are running behind schedule.

Catio Corner

The humans finally discovered where the horrible smell in the camper was coming from. It was funny that they were concerned that it was the black tank. Nope! We enjoyed watching them tear apart our litter box area today. It looked fun! Surprise! We’ve been either missing the box or spraying around it (for us to know and you to find out). So they used bleach and enzyme cleaner and moved our stuff around to the point of us needing time to figure it all out again. They had the nerve to throw away some of our things and put everything else back with no smell! We’ll see how long that lasts!

And don’t think for one minute that we don’t know about the travel days coming up. Challenge accepted.