Alarm went off at 7:30am... we actually slept!!! yahoo! Aimed for a quick departure so it was an easy breakfast and pack up. Jonathan noticed some pretty big damage on the rear bumper of the rig :( We have no idea how it happened, but the grey part of the bumper skirt is all cracked up. Left the site at 8am and filled the rig with water and dumped the sani. We were leaving the fairgrounds/campground at 8:25am and headed for our surprise for the kiddos - TOREX ATV RENTALS! It was a beautiful blue bird day... cool but so sunny and nice.
10:15am we were at the Dunes!! It was super quiet at Torex Rentals... went over all the rules and the map of the dunes and where to stay within bounds to be safe. We were kitted out with all the safety gear (we dressed in our winter gear including waterproof pants for the wind, and ski gloves! Full face helmets and goggles all sized, we were ready to rip! Because Amelia was little, we were switched over to a different ATV than the one we requested because her feet had to be able to touch the floorboards. Jonathan was a little disappointed but the guy assured him we'd still be able to shred in the new one. We met the "shop dog", Stunner --- sweet old collie who was 16 years old!!!
We had SO much fun! They escorted us through the track in the woods to the dunes entrance, took our photo and let us go explore. Daddy was VERY excited and got a little eensie bit carried away for a few moments as he ripped up and down some steep hills and attempted some donuts! Kids were mildly terrified for a few minutes until I reminded him that we had two little newbies in the back seat who were speechless and hanging on for dear life!` Oops! We had the dunes literally all to ourselves for the entire hour 11:30-12:30pm. We were thankful for our warm clothes as it was 4 celsius out there!! crisp and clear and sunny and beautiful.
After our dunes adventuring, we returned the ATV and gear and climbed into the rig for a cup of tea to warm up! Left Torex around 1pm and had a quick stop in Florence, Oregon at the post office to mail a few last postcards. Hit up the Taco Bell, and then drove across to Eugene to connect back onto the I-5.
At 4:30pm we stopped for diesel in Woodburn, Oregon. Went to the Safeway to see if they had any infant Tylenol or Motrin to bring back for neighbourhood babies as we'd heard there was a shortage back home still for cough/cold and fever medications for children.
I have a note here that Amelia and Ollie were arguing... I've no idea now what that was about, but realizing that being so close to home was bringing on lots of big feelings, I'm sure it was all warranted.
We set Amelia up with a movie on a phone and Oliver was to finally complete an email to his class that had been lingering forever.
By 5:30pm we were in Portland and determined to keep pushing ahead to get as close to the border as we could tonight. At 7pm we pulled over in a McDonald's parking lot to make dinner in Wapavine (sp?) and 40 min later we were on the road again....
9:30pm we drove through Seattle! pretty lights in the city and a cool holiday light display on the baseball stadium.
By 10pm we were in Tulalip, WA and drove through the Casino parking lot to admire the gorgeous holiday light display. So stunning! Kids were tired and not super jazzed about it all. We parked at the Cabela's Outdoor store "rv friendly" parking. Amelia slept on the dinette for the night to avoid further aggravations between her and Oliver. Both were exhausted, but also excited about going into Cabela's in the morning, haha.
Big day of driving!!!! 785km today. Whew!!!!!
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