Wow, so much to update on! I’m going to try to keep these posts in order, and not skip anything, but that means jumping back a little for a couple of them.

Back in the summer of 2017, we had heard about the total solar eclipse that was coming. Turns out it the totality could be seen in Oregon, and it was going to happen on a Monday. This meant that with one day off work, we could mozy our way down over a weekend and catch it first hand. Mom was also looking to make a trip out and visit us, so it was all set!

This trip was going to be the first full boondocking adventure, where we didn’t stay at an RV park or hook up to any external systems during the trip. In all honesty, we did look for an RV park, but this was a few weeks in advance and the rest of the planet had thought to do this over a year beforehand (of course)! To prepare, I had made some minor upgrades to the freshwater system: namely, adding a small accumulator tank and cleaning up the piping a little.

On day one, we worked our way just across the border to a Walmart parking lot for the night. Overall this leg was uneventful, and it was Friday night so we were all pretty tired from the week and excited to sleep a little. The bus does not black all sound from outside, but with our added blackout curtains and just being so high off the ground it was surprisingly comfy!

The one unfortunate thing thing that we learned that first day, was that we had not fully winterized the valve on our toilet, and so had to rely on the Walmart washrooms…

In our previous trip to Seattle, we tried to take a tour of the Boeing factory, but couldn’t get a space (as it was the 4th of July weekend). This time we were determined to see it, and booked spots well in advance. We woke up the next morning, bought some cereal and milk from our hosts, and then headed straight to the factory!

If you ever get a chance to visit the Everett, Washington plant I highly recommend going. The sheer scale of commercial aircraft production is insane, and the size of that production floor just has to be seen to really fathom.

After the factory visit, we went out on a mission to fuel the bus and get some lunch. This can be a straightforward endeavor if you’re lucky, but more often than not you are cruising around just waiting for a station that sells diesel at a reasonable price, and that actually fits the bus! If I’m honest, navigating these tight spaces and parking lots are my favorite part of these journeys (and the least for Zara) 😉

After lunch, we coninued south through Seattle and towards Oregon. We started to make our way towards Mt. St.Helens until we realized that it was a really long way off of our path, and would be closed by the time we made it there. Instead, we settled for a nice walk around one of the visitor centers near the highway.

That night, we made our way to a rest area south of Seattle, near the Oregon border. This was actually great! We parked up alongside a few big rigs and had a pretty nice sleep. They even have volunteers that serve free coffee in the mornings (though not the morning that we were there). Thankfully they also had a washroom that we could use that was surprisingly clean.

The next morning we did a few more clicks and found a McDonald’s for breakfast.

It was Sunday now, one day from the eclipse, and we were getting into Oregon. None of us had ever been to Portland so we wanted to go into the city for the day and see some of downtown. As you can imagine, downtown cores are not a great place for the bus, and don’t usually have the kind of parking that we need in order for us to stop and have lunch! Our solution was to find somewhere that did have parking, but also access to transit. The Portland Expo Center was our saving grace, with a light rail connection right into the city, and more parking than you could ever hope for.

Usually when we travel in the bus, we try and avoid situations where we need something from someone… I know that this sounds vague, but usually people just don’t know what to do with our bus, and generally try their hardest to just say ‘no’. The Expo Center worried us a little in this regard, since it was paid and gated parking. That being said, we had budgeted to pay for 5 spaces, since realistically we just end up parking across spaces in normal lots.

When we arrived, the parking attendant was not having it and was looking for reasons to turn us away, which would have sucked. Thankfully, her boss (or whoever was on the other end of the radio) couldn’t have cared less. In the end, we paid for two spots and got our own space along their nice driveway!

We had a lovely day, and in the afternoon, continued on to our final destination, another walmart within the area of the totality.

The next morning, we settled in for the eclipse. The parking lot filled up over the course of the morning until there was quite a crow there set up with us! We brought snacks, lawn chairs, and most importantly, eclipse glasses for staring at the sun.

Honestly, the eclipse itself was incredible. If you’ve ever experienced one I’m sure you can relate, but it’s hard to describe. The shadows start to do really strange things as the sun starts to be covered. When the totality does hit, the whole world gets dark. It’s not a nighttime dark, though, it’s a different sort of dark with different colors. You can really imagine how that sort of event could spark stories and legends if you didn’t know what it was or that it was coming.

After the eclipse we headed back, all the way back to Vancouver. It was a long trip, and we knew that it would be, but nothing can really prepare you for that much stop and go traffic. Pretty much the entire world must have been in that tiny Oregon town with us… Thankfully though, the eclipse had scheduled itself for the morning, and we made it home in time for bed and work in the morning.

Thanks for reading!