driving a camper to Montana

We're just about to cross the border from Oregon into Washington state...we've been following the Columbia River for a couple of hours and the drive has been really sweet. Technology blows me away, as it always does. I guess since I've been in Central America since last November, I'm not up to date with the internet options for the road tripping American. So, from the front seat of my parent's camper, I post this blog. Driving through Northern California was really nice. We left on Friday and just crossed into Oregon today (Tuesday). Mendecino and Humbolt Counties are just awesome. The redwood trees are just as tall as I remember them being, and every time we drove near the coast there seemed to be plenty of waves with nobody surfing them. I didn't bring a surfboard as I'm taking a break from surfing for a little while. I literally exhausted my body on this last surf trip that I took, followed by surfing my ass off at the sand bar in front of the surf camp. I guess I'm not getting any younger. Holly gives me shit for rubbing ben gay on my neck and back as I'm so freaking sore from paddling so much lately. Whatever. I guess if I'm going to be a life long surfer I'm going to have to get used to dealing with the growing pains. They don't last long anyways, and can be easily forgotten a day after the body finally heals. I decided to take a break from drinking on this trip, today is day five. No, I'm not getting the shakes. Yes, I'm surprised too (a joke). I'm not really sure why, probably because I'm traveling with my parents and they no longer drink. Holly is pregnant, so that leaves me as the solo guy drinking at the party. My dad brought an ounce of these two strains of weed on the trip, one called Blueberry and the other called Train Wreck. Since he went through having cancer he received his official Californian Green Card, so he's legal through and through. I love California for things like that. So you can assume although I haven't had a beer or a bamboo in days, I'm still chilling around the camp fire with pops and you know how that goes. Doing this trip was a great decision to make. I don't know how many people get to drive across the US with their parents, their spouse, and their child, all in a camper, staying in campgrounds the entire way. And not want to kill one another (its not a big camper). We're getting along great, and I'm going to look back on this trip when Otis is older and tell him about it. And then show him the video. The little guy once again has blown me away. Today we stopped outside of Portland so Otis could run around for a couple of hours. We found a nice playground and football field outside of some grade school, and Otis and I went for the slides. At first he was content with the small slide, but then he started eyeing the big kid slide. I climbed up to the top, had my dad hand me Otis, and I got him set up for the big kid slide. He slid down, loved it, and proceeded to do it about ten more times before getting bored. He can barely walk, yet he's a pro at the slide. very cool. Reflecting on the last few days, actually reflecting on Wednesday night when I flew in to San Diego from Costa Rica, I was given quite a surprise welcome home. No, not a party. A homeless guy living in his van in my driveway. How would this happen, you might ask? I wanted to know as well. Justin, my good friend who lives at my house in Ocean Beach and watches over things, tried to explain. Supposedly Ron (the homeless guy living in my driveway) needed a place to fix his van, and Justin offered him my driveway, thinking he wouldn't take more than a few days. Well, that was a couple of months ago I come to find out. My entire yard is full of engine parts, so thats an added bonus. I actually had to record video of Justin explaining all of this to me so I could look at it later and see if it made more sense. It still doesn't, and after Justin told me that since he has a new girlfriend named Paige and has been staying at her house lately, people have been coming by the place so Ron acts like a security guard sort of. hmmm. Its funny, because when I was out, someone did come by and actually put their head into the window and asked Holly if Ron was home, because the guy needed an oil change for his motorcycle. So now I've got some guy who is not only living in my driveway, but is running a business there. Of course I won't do anything because I'm such a nice guy. I look at Ron as that guy in the movie Half Baked who sleeps on the couch throughout the entire movie. In fact, Justin is flying down to Costa Rica next month and going with me, Matt and Colin on our surf trip to Panama, so you can see what I do to my friends when they bring homeless people to the house. Thats just the way it seems to go in my life. I'm going to be back in San Diego in about ten days, so homeless guy Ron, please be gone (of course you won't read my blog Ron, unless you use the computer in my house too). hasta la pasta (oh, we just crossed into Washington state)