Grumbys on the Road- Finally!

May 15, 2018 to May 17, 2018

Eastbound in Old Yeller

Well it's 8 o'clock in Boise, Idaho. -Lynyrd Skynyrd

Well, we finally did it. We left Portland as residents for the first time in 19 years (me) and almost (30) Jen. It was pretty difficult. Portland is home in many ways for both of us, even though most of our families are elsewhere. We said goodbye to the friends who work in our building and to Joann, who helped us load the truck.

The ruffians and hooligans at Hassalo on Eighth.

Joann came over to bring us our mail and ended up helping us load the truck. In order to be polite, I let her lift the heavy things.

But enough of the sentimental hogwash. We will be back here in 3 months for Pete's sake. and got on the road at about 1:00 today (May 15) we took off, the 16 foot truck less than half full thanks to years of purging and downsizing.

We drove about 5 hours and camped for FREE at a Forest Service campground called Spring Creek outside of LaGrande, Oregon.

We walked up to a meadow above the campground.

The next day we continued through Idaho, a beautiful state, and stopped in Boise for lunch. It's hard for me to hear the name Boise without thinking of the Lynyrd Skynyrd song Whats Your Name.

Boise is a place we are interested in as a potential Grumby Landing Spot when we settle down in a few years, but first we will be nomads.

We kept driving to Malta, Idaho, where Jen found another awesome free camping spot 2.5 miles up a gravel road through the sagebrush. It was in grove of trees with a spring-fed stream running though and was quiet and deserted except for some cows and coyotes. I went out and butchered one of the cows with my bare hands* and we had a good supper.

We slept on our Big Agnes mattresses in the back of the truck. During the night it rained and blew up something fierce, as they say in Texas, and it was a little unsettling to feel it rocking the 12,000 pound truck back and forth. But, like the intrepid explorers that inspired this journey, we persevered. I can feel that you are all very impressed.

We got back on the road at 7am for a 700 mile drive to Denver, which was not as much fun as it sounds like. A couple of observations:

Salt Lake City might be a fine place to live, but it's a huge, sprawling massive city and not fun to drive through.
I70 from Grand Junction to Frisco is beautiful through the canyons and mountains but is in terrible shape, with rampant potholes, uneven surfaces and lack of striping. It was even less fun when it got dark.

But after about 16 hours, we made it to Denver and will be spending a few days attending a wedding and hanging out with family. Then on to KC, and then to the bikes!

I'll post again in a few days. We love comments and encouragement and ridicule, so please post them below.

*This statement cannot be verified.

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Dee Fortesee you in about 10 hours!
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6 years ago