This year for us has been all about changing from a life in motion as full time travelers, to a stationary lifestyle as property owners. It has been an adjustment, but we’ve adapted to our new non-nomadic life.
That doesn’t mean we never leave the property though! One of the reasons it made sense for us to get land here in Oregon was because it was relatively close to our friends and family in California. In June we traveled down for a wedding, and this month we traveled down again by car to be there for our grandson Carter’s first birthday. At nine hours, it’s not a quick trip, but we can get there in a day without flying. And my daughter graciously allows us to stay in their guest room.
It was wonderful to see the grandsons again so soon and to be there for such a milestone as a first birthday. It was so fun to share his first smash cake and his first experience with oobleck.
On the way back we decided we needed to do more local exploration. On the trip home we stopped at a covered bridge we’d been passing. Kinda neat. We also made a quick stop by a Myrtle wood grove – perfect spot for fairy photos!
It was time to go back to Bandon and pick up our fruit trees, so we got them in the ground as quick as possible. There are actually two small apples on the one tree already!
I have really been enjoying digging in the dirt and working in my fairy garden. (Our neighbor-cat also likes it!) And it’s so fun to see the plants I rescued start to bloom – like these gladiolas in front of our little metal shed:
Because there are no big box stores in Coos Bay, we took a day to drive to Roseburg for a supply run. We hit up Costco and got stocked up on items now that we had a place to store them – so we wouldn’t have to worry about another run on toilet paper.
Tom left me alone for a week while he went to visit his youngest in Tuscon. This lockdown has been hard on her. He flew out of nearby North Bend with just a short stopover at San Francisco. They tried to do some sight-seeing in Bisbee, but the weather was hot and things were pretty much closed. They did get to enjoy margaritas and desert sunsets, along with watching lightening storms.
I spent the week trying to organize all of our purchases into our little metal shed. It got really hot here as well and one day I just had to leave the sweltering RV and head to the beach to read a book. I did a little exploring, but decided climbing around on cliff trails probably wasn’t something I should be doing alone.
We’ve been looking for local events in the coastal area, but all the fun stuff has been cancelled this summer. We did find an event in Bandon called Circles in the Sand so we made a point of going.
A group of volunteers takes advantage of the large beaches and low tides and rakes all these intricate patterns in the sand. They usually create a labyrinth, but they had to be creative to get everyone spread out a bit better.
It was pretty cool because we could see the patterns very clearly from the top viewpoints – even though the fog was rolling in. It was even better down at sea level where we appreciated the artistic patterns.
We were still working on projects around the property, and Tom helped me completely take apart the waterfall and re-do it, taking time to make supports for the rocks to make it look more natural.
Now we are excitedly awaiting the visit of our next guests – the Santana’s are coming!
Living in one spot is fine as long as we’re still able to travel and meet up with friends and family, so it’s working out very well.
Happy Travels,
Peace & Love, Joy
