In one of yesterday’s posts I talked about the five-year anniversary of leaving to move to Washington.

I went back and looked at that September 10th, 2012 post again and it feels like yesterday. I had actually left Colorado about three days before that post, but the 10th was the first day of really having nowhere to go or call home. I was leaving South Dakota and exploring the next few weeks on my way to a new, unknown life in the Pacific Northwest.

In the spirit of that adventure, and in the same Scotty Hilander that is now mine (thanks to my mom’s wishes), I am taking off next week to head toward Montana to visit Meghan and see some sights along the way. I was originally going to take off just a few extra days from work but I decided today I was going to take the entire week and enjoy some well-deserved time off.

I wasn’t sure about taking the trailer, or just doing the hotel thing, but after deciding to take the whole week off I got really excited to take another trip with the trailer. I am not sure where I’ll go yet since I just decided today to do this, but I probably won’t plan too much anyway. I know where I will end up and when I need to be back. That is more than enough planning.

Tomorrow I am going to get the trailer ready to go. I am pretty well set for the most part. I need to put some things away inside, get a tire put on, and wash the trailer – it’s a bit dirty after sitting a while. I am probably going to cook up some food ahead of time to take with me to save cleaning up from cooking in the trailer.

It is a good time to go travel – work has slowed down since people are back in school, and that will help my traveling, too. Fewer crowds and cooler weather – I just have to avoid the smoke as much as possible. Yeah, some things may not be open but I’ll find plenty to see and do.

I might take a day to go see some friends in Sequim, but not sure yet. It is expensive enough to go on the ferry but taking a trailer will be damn spendy just one way let alone round trip and I’d rather put that kind of cash in the gas tank and go farther. If I was going that way on my trip I would just take the trailer (which, I guess I could do but it’s a bit out of the way). I can make a day trip out of it though. I also want to save some money and put that towards going to Europe in the next few months.

So a much needed break is on the horizon for me, and I have been looking forward to this opportunity for a while. I am gonna enjoy it!