Seventh Quarter Report

Overview

Greetings from Bend, OR! The Betties have gone full circle across the country, paused in Michigan for a mere two weeks to unpack from six months of travel on the road and pack again for five more months of travel abroad, and then flew back to Oregon. We’ll catch up on that story soon, but let’s jump onto the Wayback machine and enjoy another installment of our Quarterly Report.

Those familiar with the Betties know the timeliness of quarterly reporting is not our strong suit, though one might argue that distance (in time and space) helps to sift the pearls of memory from the sands of travel (apparently metaphor also not a Bettie strong suit). So, in that spirit, let’s look back on an eventful three months that saw us travel from the northwest corner of the country almost all the way to the delta of the Mississippi river.

In summary: so many wonderful friends and beautiful places, but mostly too hot!

Here’s the honest truth: toward the end of this quarter, the Betties felt weary of life on the road. From one perspective, we’d “only” been on the road since the end of May. From another perspective, though, we have been un-rooted at least since January 15 of 2023, (when we took the camper on the road) or even September 1 of 2022 (when we left Sitka). From any perspective, we’ve been at it for a while.

Miles Travelled

2024 total mileage (thru 10/15) = 9,796

Route Travelled

We moved ourselves all the way from Portland, Oregon to Natchez, Mississippi during this quarter. We had some decent stretches in singular places, like our time in and around Portlandia, as well as a long stay in Monte Rio, CA. We were sure to take time to smell the roses with a handful of four-night stays, and many three-nighters. We cut one desert stay short in search of air conditioning, and one other stay short in search of something interesting to do.

We enjoyed two full weeks on the Pacific coast – mostly in Oregon, but also southwest Washington and northern California. AMAZING!! Because the coast is such a popular destination in the summer, these are popular campgrounds, and our reservations were secured 6 months prior! While nomadic life requires flexibility and spontaneity, the amount of planning required for this coastal time demonstrates the Betties’ abilities to get organized and plan ahead.

After 3 weeks taking care of the “geriatric zoo” on the Russian River in CA, we pointed Twyla eastward, traveling through Yosemite; the Extraterrestrial Highway and Area 51 in Nevada; and St George, UT, which was unbearably hot. We then pushed on to Colorado, where we travelled the Million Dollar Highway from Durango to Ouray, camped in a U-Pick farm near Paonia, met up with several Alaska friends in the Grand Junction area (including another quick visit to our friend’s 100,000-acre ranch in Western Colorado, and then high-tailed it across the state to Boulder and Longmont for a lovely few days with family and friends.

Leaving Colorado, we traced a route through Kansas (lovely friends and prairie explorations!), Osage County in Oklahoma, and western Arkansas. We ended this quarter with our arrival in Natchez, Mississippi.

Overnight Type

People

This quarter was happily filled with the beautiful faces of long-time friends from many different parts of our lives.

Diversions

Wow, we sure enjoyed some beautiful places this quarter! A few photos to highlight what we saw and did during these three months:

Bonus

Here’s a great picture of the hot springs at Ouray that didn’t find it’s way into our blog post. Plus one of twilight prairie grass in Oklahoma.