“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

That seems like pretty sound advice considering we can’t do much about the rain! It is still beautiful, and the sound of rain on the roof of the motorhome is relaxing in a way that only rain can be.

The rain has been fairly constant lately. With all the sun we’ve soaked up over the past couple of years, I knew a bit of rain would be welcome. But this…this is a bit much even for me who wanted to live in the Pacific Northwest.

I have always looked forward to autumn; it is normally my favorite season. But I don’t remember it being quite so…wet.

However, we refuse to let it keep us down!

We loaded up the dogs, strapped on some life jackets and our wet suits, and headed out on the water in the kayak.

The wet suits and rain jackets were a good idea — even though I didn’t feel super cold, my legs felt like icicles when we were done. I didn’t know beforehand that it would be our last kayak trip of the season, but the rainy and cold weather made the decision for us. We pulled the kayak away from the water and put it in storage for the coming winter months.

Even with both cold and rain, we’ve been taking regular walks — weather be damned!

The temperature has begun to drop. Days are in the 40s and 50s (I know, that’s not that cold, but I lived in SoCal for 2 years!), and the nights are even lower. We’ve started using the cold-weather methods we learned from our winter on the road.

We put blankets over the “doghouse” area and around the dashboard to help with the cold that leaks in. The cats seem to love the added blankets and can often be found snuggled up in front of the space heater.

During our last dump, we filled our propane tank so that we could run the furnace. Based on how often our furnace is running, it seems we can last a little more than two weeks on a tank of propane at this temperature. If we need to, we can hook up external tanks of propane (if we were to run out before a planned dump).

Our furnace motor has a little squeal to it when it is winding down, and some of you may remember the day we abruptly woke up to it squealing loudly and having to do an emergency motor replacement. I’m wondering if the motor only lasts a few years…I guess time will tell, but we are keeping an eye on it for now.

Aside from the weather, we are really enjoying watching the leaves change color. The drive home is gorgeous.

When we can’t be outside, we make sure to make time for plenty of puppy snuggles!