Year 2 Day 303 The Last Campfire And New Friends

Today was a rest day and with the sun out and a nice view in front of me, I just had to have a campfire. As I was getting the firewood out from our storage area from the bottom level of our bus, I realized that this was going to be the last campfire I would have during our RVing days. While we won’t be selling LeuC for another couple of months, this will be the last day where we will be able to have a campfire.

Tomorrow, we continue our southern route into California. Because it is fall and the wet, winter season has not yet started in that state, campfires throughout the state are banned. There is just too great of a risk of starting another major forest fire.

We will be in California for about 6 weeks and then move on to Tucson, AZ, where we will sell LeuC in January. Once in AZ, we will be staying on the property of our boondocker friend, Richard. We have stayed on his property twice before and love it. He lives in the desert just north of Tucson with a backyard that is an oasis paradise with green grass, shady palm trees, a beautiful large pool and a waterfall. However, there really isn’t a place for a campfire. Thus, this being our last day in a place that allows campfires, I just had to grab the opportunity and have one.

Usually, when I have a campfire, it is for about an hour or so. This time, I spent three hours, burning the last of the wood we had. It was great. It gave me a chance to reflect on our RVing days and remember the highlights of our journey around the US.

We have driven through and explored 30 states, traveling about 16,000 miles to do so. We have had a chance to visit with friends and relatives that we have not seen in years, explore cities and towns that we had never seen before and spend so many nights in wonderful national, state and local parks.

As my campfire was slowly burning down, a beautiful 40-foot Tiffin Phaeton RV drove past our site and then stopped. A couple got out to unhook the car they were towing so they could back their RV into their site which was a bit further up the lane.

While the man was finishing his work, the woman came over and we started chatting. I learned that they had started RVing this last April and were heading down to Arizona to visit family. They have bought some property near Friday Harbor, up on San Juan Island in Washington’s Puget Sound. They will start building their new home in early 2019 and may be selling their RV once it is built. They also have a 50-foot power boat that they keep in a marina near their Friday Harbor property.

After their car was all set to drive to their campsite, the man came over and the three of us continued talking. Before we were done, we agreed that they should come over to meet Mary Margaret and compare notes on RVing.

Late in the afternoon, David and Dana came over and we spent a few hours getting to know each other. As it turns out, David also sailed the South Pacific in 1999 and 2000 making it as far as Australia before returning to New Zealand, where he sold his boat. We shared a number of sailing stories that bring back such found memories.

Demonstrating what a small world it is, we also discovered that Dana knew and worked with my dad before he died. During his tenure as Dean of Education at Portland State University in the late 1980s, she worked with him in selecting the President to the Portland Community College system. My dad was renown in the US for the process he used in working with community colleges to help determine what they wanted in the person to help manage their schools and then selecting the best person who fit their needs. My dad’s focus was on matching the needs of the school system to the special skills of potential candidates.

Dana was highly complimentary of what my dad did in helping them select the right person. Her statements were a testimony of what my dad took great pride in doing and it was so nice to hear this so many years after his passing. What a thrill it was to know that my dad’s work was still appreciated and remembered after all of this time.

Since we will be living relatively near to each other (about 90 miles via road and ferry), once we both move into our new houses next year, we agreed that we should get together again once the dust settles after our respective moves. We will be looking forward to that and having the opportunity of becoming closer friends. How great is that!