Mar 1, 20222 min read

Picking up the Van

Updated: Aug 29, 2022

We spent Winter Break in Oregon waiting for the van to arrive and finally picked it up in Junction City on Feb 24.

Hanging out in Portland

The van was maybe-kinda arriving the week of Feb 21, but the dealer in Junction City (near Eugene) wasn’t exactly sure of the date. So Joan & I decided to spend that winter break week in Portland, just seeing the sites. Kind of early, experiments in wandering.

As “training” for our vanlife, we stayed in a “tiny house” in Portland. It was actually a little teeny weeny trailer park that we found on AirBnB. Check it out, you’ll love it!

Google Maps & the "Not Highways" feature

On the way to Junction City to get the van, we discovered that Google Maps has a feature that explicitly guides you on the Roads Less Travelled. We loved exploring rural Oregon — Frozen Multnomah falls, Covered bridges, and really amazing cafes in some of these tiny little towns.

BTW, these were not your OG diners with burgers and black coffee. Instead, there seems to be a theme of young people opening up bohemian, artisan coffee shops; micro-brew pubs, and ethnic-fusion cuisines of different sorts. We were thrilled and definitely ate well. As just one example, if you’re ever in Lebanon, OR you really have to checkout the Growler Cafe and I highly recommend the Blackberry Bacon Grilled Cheese

Meeting "Doris"

Introducing ourselves to the van . . . in Junction City, Oregon. We named her "Doris" after Joan's next door neighbor growing up. Plus, we just loved the name.

The dealer had a small RV campground on site so we spent the night there . . . an initiation of sorts.

The First Night

Our first meal, Beer and Pasta, led to our first use of the bathroom. Joan was a good sport to pose here!

That first night was really helpful because we discovered a bunch of questions we had about the van. The dealer was able to answer many of them, but the Revel FACEBOOK group archives was really our goto source for info. Neither of us have been supporters of social media, BUT this group is invaluable. The expertise, helpfulness, kindness and sense of community have been a huge, huge help in getting up to speed on this van.

The FIRST TRIP - driving Doris home

After picking up the van, we drove through Ashland to visit Randy's sister, Jennifer, then on to Healdsburg to visit our good friends Michele and Dean. All in all a pretty successful shakedown cruise!

ASHLAND: It was our first time seeing JJ’s new house in Ashland and it is spectacular! Everyone should visit her. Doris will definitely want to go back as JJ has a special parking spot for her across the street with a terrific view of the sunset.

HEALDSBURG: We took the backroads from I5 thru Clearlake towards Healdsburg. It was perhaps the prettiest scenery of the the whole trip. And, YES, that’s a real sunset, not a wildfire in the background!