Heading South (kind of)

Hi All,

We left Spokane, WA last Friday afternoon after a great stay with Blake's parents. We spent many hours still in prep for the trip...Blake working on dialing out the van. It's never been better and is pretty much an entirely new machine. Billy as we lovingly call our 1991 Ford Sportsmobile now has new shocks, suspension, brakes, radiator and hoses. And a custom rear storage bumper/back patio/trunk/stage/dance floor/hot tub. Yep, it's that big! The front also got a new nose, a new spare tire carrier that we like to think looks pretty intimidating in your rear view mirror. All with so many thanks to Blake's dad for his time and the use of his heated shop in Spokane. Also, thanks to Kitty Eagle for our new custom, upholstered bed cushions.

From Spokane, we took off to Seattle for the weekend to stay with Andy McCabe and Kathleen Costello. So good to see you guys and thanks for the hospitality. Congratulations again, your's is going to be the wedding of '09!! This picture of Billy was taken in front of the McCabe's house. We woke up early Monday morning to a beautiful sunny Seattle morning and hit the road. With the backdrop of Mt. Rainer for a sunrise, it wasn't so bad :) Drove on to Bend, OR for the night and to stay with the Pisani's. We met Scott at the Deschutes Brewery for a coldie and then went and met his wife Stephanie and their new baby Emily at their new home. It's been a while since we've seen them, so it was so good to catch up and see how everybody is doing! Tuesday morning...back in the van...and driving again. We decided to put in a big day and drove into Salt Lake City to stay with the Jonny and Idie Atencio and little baby Ellie. Got in kind of late so headed to bed for some much needed rest. Woke up this morning for a relaxing morning in the Atencio's, complete with pancakes and coffee...and some new music for our Ipod! They have a great view of the city from their house and are getting settled into the SLC area. Thanks for a good stay, Atencios.

Our next "move" is to continue driving south into and through Arizona with plans to cross the border into Mexico through Nogales on Friday morning. Our goal is to get to Mexico City by Feb. 1st at 4:00 to pick up Norah Parkinson...don't worry, we'll be there! From there off to Valle de Bravo to pick up Matt Beechinor from his paragliding competition. The Canadians are jumping in the van from there and we are off to the coast. Hope to be able to update before then, until then, take care and we'll talk to you soon.