Hello and thanks so much for visiting. Welcome to Washington is the third installment of Finding My Way Home. To view the previous installment, click here. If you wish to start from the beginning, click here. This is the ongoing story of the six years I spent as a vagabond photographer.

By now I’m starting to notice not only that wi-fi is difficult to come by, but sometimes I can’t even get cell phone service. How will I upload all the great photos I’m taking? How will I keep my blog up to date so my readers can follow my adventures in real time? How will I let my children know where I am and that I’m okay? How will I make reservations for campsites, especially in areas I know will be busy and in high demand? My pre-trip research had failed to yield an affordable, portable internet solution so I’ve decided to wing it. I’m now learning exactly what that means. For now, I’m too excited to worry about it because the next stop is on my list of “places-I’ve-never-been-but-really-want-to-see-and-photograph.”

Thanks in large part to an ad campaign by the state of Oregon called “The Seven Wonders of Oregon,” I am headed to the John Day Fossil Beds and the Painted Hills in the far eastern part of the state. The ad campaign worked really well on me. I had never even heard of this place before the state started airing its commercials, and while I plan to take photographs everywhere I go and all along the way, I have certain destinations chosen especially with photography in mind. This is the first of them and I am very excited about it.

This part of Oregon is so sparsely populated and remote, I can only find two RV parks listed anywhere near the places I want to photograph. I decide on The Fish House Inn and RV Park in Dayville, Oregon, which seems like an odd name for a place in the middle of the desert. After driving for what seems like forever on a remote, narrow, winding highway, we finally pull in to town. Dayville is one of the cutest little villages ever. The Fish House is a great place with a total of only seven RV spaces, all with full hookups and grassy lawn.

John Day Fossil Beds is a national monument with three distinctly separate units. The unit that includes the photogenic Painted Hills is about fifty miles from Dayville, requiring some planning to get there when the light is right. We decide to visit only the Painted Hills Unit and the Sheep Rock Unit, since the Clarno Unit is a much farther drive. Both units are extremely interesting and photogenic. As is typical for the Pacific Northwest in autumn, it has been raining intermittently since we left Lava Beds. We arrive at the Painted Hills just as the rain stops. The moisture helps intensify the colorful, ancient landscape against the gloomy, gray sky. At this point, I’ve been on the road less than two weeks and it already feels like living a dream.

One of the reasons we’ve chosen to start off in this direction is because it leads us to Chris’s mom. They have some family financial business to deal with that can best be handled in person. So, we make our way to Pasco, Washington. As we arrive, the sunset is painting the wide open sky with an unbelievable palette of gold, orange, pink, purple and red. I want to find a place away from all the obstructions where I can photograph this stunning spectacle. Welcome to Washington. But alas, I have to hurry to get parked and set up before dark. Backing in to a driveway on a residential street proves difficult and stressful. After several attempts and a lot of coaching, I manage to get parked. This is the first time I have stayed in a friend’s driveway. Not having water and sewer hookups is a little inconvenient, but access to the house for bathroom, shower and laundry needs makes up for it. Plus, you can’t beat the price—free!

There’s nothing like moving from a 2000 square foot space to a 240 square foot space to teach you how to let go of things, but some habits die hard. While not exactly a reality-TV-level hoarder, I do have a habit of keeping things for the reason “I might need it someday.” After two weeks on the road, I’ve discovered it’s best to wait till someday to acquire what I need. Until then, extraneous stuff must go. Spatial efficiency must trump frugality. To this end, a TV mount will replace the small table I had been using as a TV stand. What a relief it will be to just let the TV ride instead of taking it down and packing it away every time I move the motor home. And how nice not to trip over that table any more.

The fabulous sunsets here, which seem to happen almost every day, are a photographer’s dream. The landscape is wide open with only a few hills on the distant horizon, making the sky and clouds the dominant scenery. Not only that, there are numerous bridges and lots of water, which makes for great sunset vantage points and heavenly reflections. After checking my sun and moon app, I decide to find a place on the levee to shoot the full moon rising over the photogenic Cable Bridge. I arrive at my chosen spot well in advance of moonrise, only to find another photographer already there. I set up my tripod behind and to the left of him so as not to interfere with his shot. As we both wait for the moon to rise over the bridge, we chat about photography and life in general. I tell him I am embarking on a full time RV life and my next stop is the Columbia Gorge. He tells me of a beautiful lake near the gorge that is a must for photographers. The full moon over the bridge scene exceeds my expectations and the generous sharing of information has made my day. I head back to the RV feeling like I just won the lottery.

While we are in the area, Chris and I both want to visit Palouse Falls. What a fantastic experience it is. From the car, the Palouse appears to be endless rolling farmland. One would never expect a canyon hundreds of feet deep and a 200 foot waterfall in the middle of all that seemingly “flat” landscape.

After a couple weeks in Pasco, and especially after talking with the local photographer about the Columbia Gorge, I’m getting antsy to move on. I start making calls to find a place to stay. My plan is to make my next stay a month, so I know state parks are not an option. I must find a private RV park that allows monthly stays and has availability. After many calls and no luck, I’m starting to think I may have to either settle for a shorter stay, or alter my route. Then, finally, I find a place on the Washington side of the river with a vacancy. What a relief! For those who may not be familiar with the area, the Columbia Gorge is the border between Oregon and Washington. One side of the river is in Oregon and the other side is in Washington. The middle of the river is the state line.