Travel begins! Our day in the Columbia River Gorge

We left this morning, and the only thing I seem to have forgotten is the hand sanitizer that I had planned to bring. It's not a real trip for me unless I forget something.

You can just make out the new solar panels on the roof.

I didn't sleep well. Aside from the fact that I had already programed the furnace for minimum temperatures, I tried to see about campsite availability at our preferred campground choices for the first two stops. I couldn't get anyone to answer the phone at the first place, and the next nights state park showed no available RV sites. I lay in bed fretting over our lack of place to stay for several hours, and finally just got up and made a reservation at the state park. I could only find a site for the first night of a two-night planned stay, but that is better than a Walmart parking lot. We have been to Bend before, so a one-night stop is fine. I'm not sure I'm cut out for this spontaneous travel style!

We enjoyed our drive. Since we started early and all our food was packed into the R-Pod, we stopped at Spiffy's for breakfast. It's a favorite, even when I don't order pie.

Mmmm. Breakfast.

It rained until we moved east through the gorge. Google Maps directed us to our pre-selected campground here in Dallesport, WA. Fortunately they had space for us without a reservation. As soon as we set up, we found a Freebridge Brewing in The Dalles, OR across the river for a taste and a small lunch. We are now tucked in our warm R-Pod for the duration of a cold night (the weather predicts for a low of 27 deg F tonight).

Beer!