Upgrade to the Box Truck

We found an opportunity we couldn't pass up and decided to go for the upgrade.

For real - might be the coolest vehicle I've ever seen.  Sam, pass this on to your brother for me!  

Glacier, Glacier and More Glacier

Perhaps we've been in the car too long...

 

North Dakota: Land of The World's Largest

Meet Salem Sue. She's the world's largest Holstein at 38' high, 50' long and 12,000 pounds. That's a lotta milk.

Next meet the pride and joy of Steele, ND, the world's largest sand hill crane.

This is the world's largest buffalo weighing in at 60 tons and located in Jamestown, ND.  Rocky mountain oysters, anyone?

A Man with A Plan

Traveling through Eastern Washington we decided to pull off at the dancing horses rest stop. As we drove up along the long entrance road, Kelly asked what was sitting atop of a car. Then we both agreed that the apparatus in the distance was not on top of a car but sitting on the far side of the car and merely appeared to be on top of the car from our relative viewpoint. As we got closer we came to realize that the large apparatus was in deed on top of a red 2002 Excursion. We spoke with the owner to find out that he is a professional photographer from Massachusetts with a true passion for America's rest stops. He had scaffolding placed on top of his roof with a large format camera on top using film that is 5"x7". He had his trucks air bags inflated to the max (actually passed their max as one of them had blown) and the truck jacked up in an effort to completely stabilize the vehicle for a clean, crisp shot. While many photographers aim to catch natures beauty and the vast landscapes, our new friend Will had an obsession with documenting the landscape architecture at these rest stops of bathrooms, concrete sidewalks and paved parking areas amidst their natural backdrop. Will had seemingly little interest in the mountains or other typically beautiful scenery in the background. Will showed us a handful of 11x17 prints he kept in his car that he has taken over the years all over the country.  One of the prints he showed us was quickly recognized by Kelly as it was I-70 exit 254. The photo was taken within 3 miles of her home and you could actually see her fathers old office building in the background!! Will was as excited as Kelly to find this common ground. He started this project back in 1998 and is nearly finished. He plans to publish them soon. We exchanged info with Will and look forward to connecting with him in the future to see his final product. Good luck Will!

Will snapped a couple of quick photos for us. You can see his rig in the background.

Aca Believe It

We had a lot of fun getting to know the 11 year old version of our niece Kaliah. She helped us explore The city of Seattle. We also watched one of her favorite movies, Fever Pitch. Very entertaining film. And Kaliah, you're skinny but you have a fat heart. Thanks for showing us around!

Welcome to the World Little Fiona!!

While in Seattle, Kelly had the opportunity to capture something amazing: the first few days of a precious baby's life. Megan's friends Liz and Elliott had a beautiful baby girl on May 17th. 8 days later Kelly was invited into their home (an awesomely rustic/modern home that Elliott built I might add) to take newborn photos of baby Fiona. She is a healthy, precious baby, born at just under 5 pounds!  Thanks to Liz and Elliott for the chance to meet Fiona and good luck on your parenting journey!!

Kelly and Liz got to talking and discovered that Liz and her family will soon be relocating to Ithaca, NY ( near Drew's hometown of Alfred) where she will be working as a primary care physician in the small town of Ovid. Liz was astonished to find out that our sister in law is from Ovid, a town of just 601 people (accordingly to Wikipedia 2011)!!

Here are a few of the highlights from Fiona's first photo shoot. Please note that she was an excellent model.

"Wander Up & Down the Willamette..."

Our first stop landed us in Eugene, Oregon after traveling along the gorgeous I-5 with spectacular views of Mt Shasta and greenery for miles. We were greeted by 6 smiling faces of family, new friends and little Lokie pup. We ate well at the newly opened Restaurante Morrells and stayed up all night learning about basketball and watching the Miami Heat come in for the last second kill.

Lucky Dana and Shanti missed a bit of school in order to host us and take us to the gym for a few hours of basketball.  Dana has some incredible skills and moves on the basketball court. Dis you know he made 93 out of 100 free throws last year?!?  And we cannot forget to mention that miss Shanti is now poppin' wheelies in her chair like it ain't no thing!!  These are phenomenal kids and it was such a pleasure to spend time with them. After a quick lunch and a brief goodbye we were on the road again.

And a quick shout out to Mr. Greg Brown and his thought provoking songs/rants including the Canned Goods song. It brought us laughter in the car and we were pleased to see the beautiful Willamette River but didn't get a chance to heed his advice and "...wander up and down the Willamette, Dammit".



Silly us we did not take any photos in Oregon! Can you believe it? We didn't get a group photo or nothin. Hopefully we can add a photo of our wonderful hosts in the near future. And maybe one of Shanti poppin' the wheelie!

Day 1

Day 1 started at 559 as we packed up the last of our belongings and delicately jammed them into the box truck just to get it all done. Loaded the BMW onto the back of the trailer, threw the bikes on the roof. Placed final touches on the house, headed to mom's place around 2:30am oh yeah after moving the whispering diesel Isuzu around the corner to rest into it's comfy summer home.  Slept about four hours before heading up to see some wonderful family in Eugene.


Made it to Vacaville where we made our first stop. 4 hours of sleep. Quick pit stop at lowes. 2 cups of coffee, changed my first cabin air filter, ordered a crank position sensor in Minneapolis (just in case) and we are on the road again ;)

Big News: Blue Devils

On a snow trip to Idaho we got the email. Well actually we got two. Drew was accepted to Duke and University of Wisconsin within an hour of each other.  We were so excited to hear of the acceptance into two phenomenal programs. After some debate we chose Duke and never looked back. So we quit our jobs. Bought a box truck. Packed up the house. Worked on some cars. Bought another car (well sort of). And headed north. Because who wouldn't buy a box truck and head north en route to North Carolina??

We're not the best at writing or correspondence in general but will fill you in with tid bits from our journey from the San Francisco Bay Area to the Triangle Area of North Carolina, and then again from California to North Carolina.  And no. That's not a typo. We're driving it twice.  Thanks for listening and stay tuned.

We're open to suggestions so please leave a comment with your best name for the box truck and let us know you're out there reading the blog.