Quick Return to Reno

Royce: Well, we drove from Helena, Montana to Reno, Nevada in two exceedingly boring days of driving. Nicki and Tyler now live out in Fernley, Nevada, about 35 miles east of Reno. We lived with them in Fernley right before we left, so it was a sort of homecoming for us. Especially because Scout now lives there. She was very excited to see us and I think all of our doubts about the trip came rushing back. Leaving her behind has been the most difficult step in the process for both of us. Quitting our jobs, packing the house into storage, leaving normal lives behind, that was all easy compared to leaving Scout. She is as attached to us as we are to her, but she doesn't understand what is happening and that hurts to see.

We spent the next few days visiting friends, taking care of personal business and trying to spend as much time with Scout as possible. Then we decided to go camping and jet-skiing with the Houston's, Nicki's sister and nephew, and some former co-workers. We got a great camping spot on Lahontan Lake and did some boatin', bonfire story tellin', beer drinkin', wrestlin', fire jumpin', 4 wheelin', shit talkin' with the neighbors and every thing else you can do at the posh resort at Lahontan. Perfect time.

Our last night in Reno we got together with a bunch of our friends from all the way back to college for some more BBQ'ing and story telling. We have great bunch of stories from hanging out with Benj, Paul, Chris, Jamie, Andrea and Grant over the years. Our first nights in Reno were spent with the same crowd so it was the meant a lot to get together with them on out last night in Reno. The next day we loaded up a rental car and headed to meet Zane and Erin in Medford, Oregon. They gave us ride to Grants Pass and we spent the night having dinner with them and Zane's family.

Scout, April, Me, Nicki, Jaymn, Tyler, Becky and Kevin at Lahontan

Scout and her mom on the beach

Last night in Reno with the 14th Street crowd

Montana

Royce: From Salmon, ID we drove with Dad to some little town in Idaho to meet our good friends Tyler and Nicki on the way from their home in Reno to see family in Montana. Tyler and Nicki lived with us after they sold their house and we lived with them in their new house right until we left Reno. Now they are taking care of our dog, Scout, and providing a huge amount of behind the scenes support for this trip.

Our plan was to visit Montana with some locals and get a chance to see where Tyler and Nicki grew up. Our first stop was Butte to have a breaded pork chop sandwich and visit Nicki and Tyler's alma mater - Montana Tech. We did a bit of touring around campus and then left for Deerlodge. Nicki's parents are in Deerlodge; they actually live on the Federal Penetentiary that is located there. Nicki's dad, Dave, manages the prison dairy and her mom, Ida works at the local hospital. Dave whipped up some great steaks on the barbie and the rest of us did some quad riding on the prison grounds. The next morning Tyler and I went to tour the prison dairy (women are not encouraged to visit) with Dave. It was a pretty big operation and is run entirely by prisoners.

Our next stop was Glacier National Park, where we stayed and Tyler's grandparents cabin just outside the park. They were great to stay with and we ate very well the whole time. Our schedule was fairly tight so we decided that the best way to see Glacier was to do a one hour helicopter tour. It was incredible! It was like being in some Imax movie about glaciers. Huge mountains, sweeping vistas, knife edge ridges, blue cirque lakes and terrain falling away under the chopper like you would not believe! We covered the park from the south boundary all the away to the north boundary and into Canada. There really is no better way to see a park of this magnitude than by helicopter. We spent the rest of the day driving in the park and did a short hike to a beautiful lake.

From Glacier we went south to Helena, Tyler's hometown. The highlight of Helena was getting to hang out with Tyler's parents, Hooter and Karen. Getting to drink with a guy from Montana named Hooter has been a dream for a long time. We did some more BBQ with family and some touring around to look at some cabin property for sale. Montana really is a beautiful place and I hope we can make it back for a longer trip in the future. Nicki and Tyler put together a great overview tour for us. We were sad to leave and drive back to Reno.


Tyler, Nicki and April on the river behind Tyler's Grandparents Cabin


All four of us in Glacier National Park

Grants Pass, OR to Salmon, ID

Royce: Growing up I spent quite a bit of time in Salmon, Idaho with my parents and my dad's family. Some of the best times I had growing up were in Salmon, on summer and Christmas breaks. Unfortunately, after my Grandmother passed away my visits stopped. Last summer, I took a week off work and convinced my dad to meet me in Salmon so he could take me around to all his old haunts and tell me all his stories about growing up in rural Idaho in the 30's-40's. It was a great trip and it was nice to spend time with my dad with just the two of us. After the trip was over I really thought I should take April up to Salmon so she could meet my extended family and hear all my dad's stories.

We decided this was the perfect time to do it and it tied in well with a trip we had planned with Tyler and Nicki to Montana. Dad and I drove to Boise where we met April at her Aunt's house and we headed up to Salmon. We spent the next 5 days going to see family and visiting the various places that my dad lived with all 7 siblings. Some, like the picture below, are hard to believe.

The only downside to the whole trip was that since I was there last summer, two of my dad's brothers had passed away. This put a somber mood on the trip sometimes; I had really wanted April to meet Uncle Ray, my childhood 'crick' fishing partner. Uncle Bob had passed too, but April had had a chance to meet him a few times in Oregon.

Aunt Evalyn and Uncle Gordon were kind enough to provide a room and good meals for all of us. Uncle Gordon took April and me on a punishing 9 mile hike along the middle section of the Salmon River to look for elk horns. He is a hardcore horn hunter. I don't know he can be in such good shape at his age. Amazing.

I am really glad that we finally took the time to do this trip. It was one of those kind of trips that is easy to put off until it is no longer an option. It really justifies doing what we have done, with quitting our jobs and and realigning our lives to more important things than work and chasing material items.


April and Dad in Stanley, Idaho


Dad and his family lived in this cabin for a couple of years

Lost Coast California

Royce: One of things I really wanted to do after I got free of work was to go spend some time exploring the "Lost Coast" area of Northern California. It is not far from my hometown of Grants Pass in southern Oregon and I had been through the region once before briefly with April. I had been telling my buddy Zane about it for years so he took some time off from work and came up to Grants Pass to meet me for a 4 day camping trip on the Lost Coast. We loaded up his nearly new Toyota Tundra and headed for the coast.

[Notes on buddy Zane: He is my longest running friend - all the way from second grade! We have shared many interests and adventures over the last 25 years. We have been roomates during and after college, traveled together, backpacked extensively and basically been like brothers since we were kids. He has had a profound influence on my life over the years - mostly good, and a few bad ones. Zane is another important facilitator to this overall trip. He has been a tremendous help in handling logistics and technical problems while we have been away. He deserves both our gratitude.]

The Lost Coast is roughly the region of the Northern California coast from Eureka in the north to Fort Bragg in the south. From Eureka all the way to San Francisco highway 101 deviates inland about 40 miles and bypasses a lot of coastline. This resulted in the slow development of the coastal areas between Eureka and SF. The southern part has succumbed a bit to typical California development but this northen area is simply untouched. There are no towns of any size and the landscape is just amazing. Highway 1 roughly follows the coast and it is a twisty-turny, narrow and potholed asphalt track. There is plenty of good camping and no crowds. At all.
We camped the first night just outside Petrolia, right on the beach, near the mouth of the Mattole river. Our intention was to have Zane sleep in his truck in his super pimped canopy/shell setup and for me to tent it. About the time we arrived in the camp it began to rain very hard and the wind picked up about 25 knots. By the time we got the shelter up over the truck tailgate we were soaked to the nether areas and very cold. I abandoned the tent and we doubled up in the truck bed. It was not a great night of sleep.

The next day we explored the back roads until we convinced ourselves we would never be able to drive to a coastal airstrip I was interested in. We then headed for Shelter Cove, a quiet little resort town that is the first significant town on the coast south of Eureka. Once we realized there was not much to do in SC we headed up to the Redwood National park and drove the Avenue of the Giants. We camped right in the middle of a bunch of huge redwoods. Great campsite. I got to use my tent.

Working our way north the next day we kept screwing around in little towns and decided we should spend the last night near Crescent City. We got another great campsite in Jedediah Smith State Park, again surrounded with huge redwoods. I got my first shower of the trip and felt great.

This was great trip for the two of us. We have been camping together since we were kids, and it meant a lot to me to get to spend some good ol' days time with Zane before we leave for Europe.


Zane and I in Oregon

First Stop - Ron and Denise's Wedding April 30, 2005

Royce: Immediately after quitting our jobs and leaving all of our stuff behind in a storage unit in Reno, Nevada we went to my home town of Grants Pass, Oregon to help out with and take a part in my older brother's wedding. The setting was beautiful (my other brother's house - Dean and Sandy did a great job of turning their house into a perfect wedding venue) and the weather was great. Everyone had a great time and it was a lot of fun for us because it brought a lot of family together for us to see before we leave on this round the world travel venture.

The wedding party

Rare picture of me with both of my parents