After years of planning, designing, and waiting, we finally did it: we pointed our brand-new expedition truck — Wanda — toward the Pacific Northwest and drove 1,500 miles into our new life.
Night one, we boondocked in the middle of nowhere. No hookups, no neighbors, just stars. The next morning it was 34 degrees at a forest campsite, and the heat kicked on, the water ran, and everything we'd built did what it was supposed to do. That's when it started to feel real.
From there: a hidden lake at the end of a forest road we nearly kept to ourselves. The Trees of Mystery and the Redwood Highway, where Karrie walked as a young woman 40 years ago, then brought our daughters back as teenagers — and now returned with grey hair and a house on wheels. And finally the coast, where she cried at the sight of the ocean (her words: "I'm an ugly crier, so don't watch me cry"), and we ran hand-in-hand down an empty beach like a couple of kids.
We were also on a mission: up the 101 to Portland, to collect our middle daughter for her wedding. Not a bad reason for a first trip.
The honest part? More pavement than we expected. A schedule that felt too "go, go, go" when the whole point is to slow down. And Will will be reading owner's manuals for the next three months. But as Karrie put it, standing in the surf: "How can this not be healing for your soul?"
We filmed the whole thing — watch The Maiden Voyage Begins here:
We're starting our new chapter. Thanks for riding along. — Will & Karrie
