Ramblin' Day 1: Escape from Portland OR

 Our new space until we land our next sailboat and make it livable: a 34' Holiday Rambler. Our trip started with a comedy of errors.

Wayne put this up to delineate our space. He was only half kidding.
I tell him a just want all of my 1/3—I'm not kidding.
Note it appears he's taken over 100% of the larger table to the left.

We left this morning at 6:30 a.m. to pick up the dolly from U-Haul to tow my Prius. The dolly was supposed to be ready the afternoon before. It wasn't.  

This is supposed to be the Prius' view of our ride.

We arrived at the Washougal U-Haul at 7 am, where they had a dolly, but not anything that enabled anyone behind us to see our turn signals.

Wayne hooked up the dolly.

We headed back to the Hazel Dell Vancouver full-service U-Haul we went to the day before . . . and had to wait 45 minutes for it to open.

My Prius, all ready for the ride. Except . . .

They couldn't set us up with turn signal lights. We returned the dolly, safer, but separated and $100 poorer. Bye-bye getting my writing and editing work done along the way, as well as researching our stops as a passenger. No Googling cool info about where we're passing through while I'm behind the wheel.

Perry Bridge, rebuilt in 2008; originally built for both form and function in 1919.

We opted for an easy start while we get used to the large new beast on wheels. We headed up I-84, through the Gorge, turning off into LaGrande.

Grande Ronde River, Perry Oregon.

I always wanted to check out the town of Joseph, Oregon. After some morning biz and learning more about what it would take to improve the Rambler's suspension enough to reconsider towing my Prius sometime after we cross the Rockies, we'll leave our Rambler in LaGrande and drive my Prius to Joseph, 

1928 Chevy in a La Grande yard near Rendezvous RV Park.
We did miss the walking trails at Hot Springs, but not enough to pay another $15 for them.

We aborted our attempt at La GRande's free Fox Hill camp ground I scouted in my Prius after I saw the third warning about the 17% grade on the road ahead. When the "this is your last opportunity to turn around" sign popped up, I did.

Outhouse and a dilapidated trailer, La Grande, Oregon. Our next adventure?

On a recommendation from locals, we headed out the Hot Springs RV camp, a glorified parking lot with nearby hot springs and other tourist trappings for $55/night. We returned to La Grande and settled for the last available spot in the Rendezvous RV Park, splurging $40 for power, water, and sewer hookups. Total miles driven today in the beast: 327, though a lot less as the crow flies.

Tomorrow we'll go off-grid. We're used to it from sailing. Today was way expensive, with not much to show for it, but we did escape Portland.