So, we just returned from McCall, Idaho area and returned to our beach house in Newport, Oregon to repack.  We decided to remove our Ram Mount table to give us more room to move around and for Bode to stop hitting his head (we haven’t missed it at all yet, it would be cool if we could store it up top on the rack and have an exterior mount).  We brought the inflatable stand-up paddle-board and loaded up the Trasharoo with some firewood.   We dropped off the winter gear and just have summer wear in two cupboards.  We also fixed my mess up, when I put in the locking hitch extender backwards where the key was up against the toe hitch and couldn’t be unlocked.  So I got to spend 45 minutes hack sawing it off and wasting $50.  As an engineer, I will never live this mess up down.  We now have a 11inch hitch extender which makes it a lot easier to access the Trasharoo while our electric bikes are up.

During our trip to the McCall area, we loved all the forest service campgrounds that were inexpensive $15/$7.5 Access and Gold Pass holders.  The area is beautiful and paddle-boarding, kayaking, mountain biking, trail running and hiking galore!   We had a great time at the Tamarack Resort, they were super nice and as we tour several units to decide if we wanted to live in a ski resort community they allowed us to boondock in their parking lot.  Greg did some awesome mountain biking and Bode and I headed for the trails to run.  Check out our video to see the area and the places we stayed.

We are now headed North to Washington State to check out Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainer, Okanogan- Wenatchee National Forest, Wenatchee, Methow Valley, and Sandpoint, Idaho.    We are excited to visit Greg’s Niece and Nephew and do a few mountain bike rides in Issaquah, WA.  I am also excited to see a few ex- Microsoft friends- yes, we will be social distancing outside when we meet up😊.

Our first stop on our northward migration was the Blue Heron Cheese Company in Tillamook, Oregon.  We are using our Harvest Host membership here.  We found having a membership with Harvest Host- we have listed a 15% discount code that you can use to join has been helpful as we travel around  the West Coast.  These are farms, vineyards and golf courses who welcome you to stay a night for free, in exchange for their hospitality, Harvest Host asks you to make a small purchase in return.  Such as, a bottle of wine, some produce, happy hour or play a round of golf.

From here we are headed to Mount St. Helens.  Greg was twelve years old when she blew her top and he watched the eruption from the top of Mountain Park in Lake Oswego when he was growing up.  I was in Texas and only five years old so it wasn’t so memorable for me.  We are excited to boondock and hike around the mountain.

This is where all our viewers and readers come in.  As we have discussed several times, Bend has become a little over run with more than 3 million visitors each year.  We are looking for the next mountain town.  We love to cross country ski, back country ski, snowboard, hike, mountain bike, snow shoe, snow biking.  We are looking for a smaller town, less people, 2-8 acres.  So if there is a mountain town you want to see or you live in a mountain town and want us to come see you or your area, suggest in the comments below where we should go.  If we pick the town you suggest, I will send you a surprise!  So help us find our next home and our travels for this Summer.  We hope you enjoy this short video about our travels in McCall, Idaho and suggestions of places to stay.

Don’t forget in the comments section below, please tell us what Mountain Town you think we should visit this Summer and live.  If you live there and want to meet up (social distancing) please let us know you can email me at ranebendor at gmail dot com.