We left Sonora and headed straight for the Pacific Northwest. California, another painfully long state, much like it’s sisters Texas and Florida, all are easy to get into and hard to get out of when traveling by road.
As we neared our future home state of Washington, and reality hit that the time to knuckle under and look for a job was approaching, Verizon essentially quit on us. The mobile hotspots that we mistakenly thought were unlimited, along with our data, turned out to be quite limited in fact. Shut down, just when we needed it most! Our phones continued with internet, which became painfully slow when attempting to access well… anything. It felt like returning to the days of dial up.
Our Verizon Wireless bill comes in at over $200 each month. As serious data junkies we know we need to pay. But now I ask myself why we pay top dollar for this elusive unlimited data?
The representative cheerfully informed us that all data renews on the 12th of August. Sadly, this news arrived before the end of July. As the internet slowed to a crawl the tears began to flow. Maybe they were crocodile tears, but still.
We camped for one night at a rest area in Oregon, after driving past a smokey wildfire, we found a fairly breathable place to stop. The next morning we sailed past Portland and Seattle and headed for Monroe. For a week we languished at a state fairgrounds there, that doubled as an RV Park in the off months. It consists of a really large parking lot with hook ups. The activities there proved to be seriously loud until about 9:00 pm, as it doubles as a raceway and sits in close proximity to railway tracks. In the end, it served our purposes for a reasonable price and we met a few interesting people along the way.
The data work around we found involved going into town and bringing our laptops to Starbucks. We were rewarded with quicker internet service in exchange for five dollar beverages and a tip. Now I get why so many people hang out there with laptops. They’re probably just out of their monthly allotment of data. That’s what I am thinking.
The City of Monroe is very functional. It offers a lot of countryside and sells pretty much whatever you might want in town. The outskirts, near the highway, consist of a movie theater, Fred Meyer and Walmart, along side many restaurants and chain stores. Further down the road is a very cute little downtown. We were particularly happy to find the Monroe Laundry Company. A clean and efficient laundromat with style. Our small collection of clothing sparkled in short order. Overall, I felt thankful to be in Monroe and ready to explore the area to find the perfect place to settle.
After Waco we traveled for an entire day through central Texas without any phone, internet or even text messaging. If that gives you the shivers, maybe drive down to Interstate 10 or up 20 when you leave Waco. We took state road 84 to 190 and caught back up with Interstate 10 around Fort Stockton, where we camped in a truck stop. Along the way we passed miles and miles of sparsely populated agricultural land. It’s beautiful, ringing with the song of cicadas, and virtually endless.
Another helpful solution in the kitchen was base cabinets with drawers. It’s fairly conventional and allows so much more useful storage than the more typical doors and shelves. That set up ends up involving squatting or kneeling and dragging things out from the back at times. With drawers, even the lowest ones let you see what you have and access it easily. We used the four lower drawers in this set of cabinets to hold food, pots and pans, mixing and storage bowls, and tea towels. It’s a little more money for drawers, but so much more functional. 
In the living room we found a little second hand toy storage chest. It allowed extra seating and storage without shrinking the room too much. A remarkable number of things ended up in that bench– paper, the scanner, the printer, blankets, and little odds and ends. 
American Tiny 