Recreational Vessel

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Summer hangs there like a basket, waiting to be loaded full of memories and feelings.

We paddled the Columbia River Slough, the Willamette and the Siltcoos Rivers and we talked about time and birds and life. We explored the hills and rivers near the Middle Fork of the John Day and fell in love with a meadow. We spent the day canoeing on Timothy Lake trying to catch a fish but instead caught an old man who’d fallen out of his boat and we wondered: What would have happened if we hadn’t been there? We hiked to the top of Mount St. Helens and we felt powerful and proud.

We played in the dunes near Florence and sprinted on the beach near Manzanita and embraced the energy of the Pacific Ocean. We ran Hood to Coast and asked ourselves, Why do we keep doing this? We cycled the Gourmet Century and nearly collapsed from the heat, yet we were content. We ran and played in the woods with friends near Mount Rainier and didn’t want to go home. We mountain biked along the McKenzie River and had to stop every few minutes to smile and take it all in because it’s just that beautiful.

Bouncing down the road on our way to the coast one weekend, names scripted on RVs in elegant fonts kept the wonder and the wanderlust alive. They say something. They say, go! and do! They evoke ideas and memories not yet created. But the true vessel that needs to be filled – that ship, that container, that artery – is Summer.

Sundance, Adventure, Safari

Arctic Fox, Wildcat, Cougar

Dutchman, Pilgrim, Bigfoot

Tesla, Avion, The Designer

Amped, Fusion Chrome, Attitude

Cyclone, Bullet, Voltage, Excel

Flagstaff, Georgetown, Elk Ridge

Trailblazer, Sprinter, Nomad

Patriot, Passport, Freedom Express

Desert Fox, Kodiak, Eagle

Wilderness, Outback, Escape