The Adventures of Jim & Rhonda

Well, we are actually doing the job hunt thing and, basically, it sucks. It’s a new thing for me since I was at Grand European Tours for 10 years, and then took 1 year off , so it’s been over 11years since I actually looked for a job, interviewed, etc. And, when I started there I already had a job so there was no pressure.

Jim has had a bit more experience with the job hunting over the last few years, which doesn’t mean he’s liking it any better. We did attend a job fair and have each had several interviews so, fingers crossed, we’ll both get something soon. If not we may just need to take our remaining funds and buy a one way ticket to Puerto Vallarta and start working down there!!! There is a great little coffee shop called the Coffee Cup that is for sale…hmmmm, tempting!

We’re living in Ken & Wendy’s camper and helping with their new house. Thankfully the weather has been just fantastic and it makes it a lot easier to enjoy working outside. We are still hoping we can get their roof on by November but, we’ll see…Jim & I may be moving into an apartment for a while once we get jobs. Either way, we’re pretty used to being on the move so no big deal.

We did have a great camping trip last weekend to Deschutes State Park, which is right where the Deschutes enters the Columbia. A bit windy but otherwise pretty good weather. When they first made the reservation there were no electrical sites so we got a non-electrical one. Well, since it wasn’t great weather Wendy & I took it upon ourselves to see if there were any no-shows for a different site. Luckily, there were so on day 2 while the boys were fishing we moved the entire camp over…made quite a spectical of it for all the surrounding campers for sure.

We took our boat, Springbok, out on the Columbia on Sunday and did some fishing but alas, no catches…oh well, guess that’s why they call it fishing.

Now, back to the grind of  job hunting….wish us luck and we’ll keep you all informed on whether we get jobs or whether we get an airplane ticket…who can tell! Still living the dream, Jim & Rhonda

We had a great time in Canada. The first night we stayed at the Best Western Sunrise Inn in Osoyoos. We decided to splurge a bit for our last night in a hotel on the road and got the honeymoon suite..complete with canopy bed, fireplace and jacuzzi! Very nice. We ordered dinner in and had some great wine we’d purchased earlier in the day and enjoyed a lovely evening.

For breakfast the next morning we stopped at a little place advertising Indian & American food….they had exceptional eggs benedict and, even though it wasn’t on the menu, the lovely Indian owner made us true Chai tea like we’d had in India..sooooo good.

The Okanagan region of B.C. is just amazing. Gorgeous mountain scenery with dozens of lakes and rivers crisscrossing the landscape. It’s the wine region as well with over 100 wineries and tons of farmers markets and orchards. Too bad we only had the 1 night there but we’ll definitely try to go back someday. It was about a 5hr drive to Vancouver from Osoyoos, a beautiful drive all along the way.

We stayed with our friends Mike & Malisa for 4 nights, with friends Dana & Dallas driving up from Portland to join us. On Friday the boys all went golfing..unfortunately, in the pouring rain. Not a great golf day. Poor Malisa had to work so Dana & I lazed about and then drove downtown to join her for some great dim sum for lunch. The balance of the weekend was just a few nice walks and lots of eating and drinking. Luckily, the weather broke and was great for most of the time.

Monday we drove back down to Portland to once again take up residence in Ken & Wendy’s camper. It was wonderful to see how much progress they’ve made in building their new house and we’re all geared up to help take on that BIG project! For now, we are truly looking for jobs and have both sent out some resumes and we’ll be attending a job fair soon to get that part of our life back on track. In some ways we’re looking forward to it but then again, this year of freedom from schedules as been the most fantastic year ever and I’m already thinking of where we can head to on our next trip!

We ended up driving around 9200 miles on our road trip, and after the 8000 in Africa we are certainly not taking another driving trip anytime soon. But, the Coffee Cup restaurant in Puerto Vallarta is for sale and hmmmmm??? Possibilities, possibilites!!! Who knows where we’ll end up next. For now, we’re just hanging out and attempting to assimiliate into “normal” society….how long do you think it will last?? Cheers, Jim & Rhonda