Many of you have been asking us these two questions for quite some time now:

1. When are you leaving (which I think is oftentimes accompanied by a silent question: are you EVER leaving?)

2. Where are you going?

Well, here’s the scoop. We are leaving tomorrow! Seriously. Saturday! We’ll hit the road by 10:00 because a lovely family friend is getting married on Mt. Ashland in southern Oregon and we don’t want to miss this wonderful event. I can’t think of anything more special than spending Saturday night with our adopted Oregon family on our way out of the northwest.

From there, we’ll head to Crater Lake National Park to officially say goodbye to Oregon. Then we’ll continue south and east across Nevada on the “loneliest road,” Route 50. We’ll cross the salt flats of Utah, then head south toward the four corners of Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico. Our plan is to follow our noses and watch the weather, reading state-specific gazetteers to guide us along. A few weeks ago, we met with my former colleague Kristin, who used to work for the National Park Service. She gave us many tips and pointers about routes, geography, and ghost towns. Now that we have our trusty minivan outfitted with a bed, we’ll be able to camp, inside or out, anywhere along the way.

We plan on arriving in Holland, Michigan, in mid-October to spend a few weeks with my parents. Family and friends will be the focus as we travel to New England and down the East Coast. We’ll spend Thanksgiving (and a few weeks) with Harry’s family and my brother’s family in Virginia. At some point in January, we’ll find ourselves down in Miami with tickets to fly to South America.

And that, my friends, is our plan. Perfectly vague, with lots of unknowns tossed in.