Kara and Nate Buchanan cut short their van trip down the West Coast after new quarantine requirements from Washington, Oregon, and California forced them to cancel the rest of their Pacific Coast Highway route and head back to Nashville.
Chapters
We are driving our van on the beach right now.
We're Karen Nate, and we traveled the world full time for four years, visiting 100 countries. But 2020 brought us back to the US where we bought our first home.
It does not feel real.
A converted sprinter van that we spent the whole summer driving 3,000 miles from Tennessee to Washington. In the last video, we announced our new plan of driving all the way from the Canadian border to Mexico down the Pacific coast highway.
Yay. We have nothing booked, and our only plans are to be home for Christmas, which gives us about six weeks.
And the trip was off to an awesome start.
Nate just saw an orca.
We made it about halfway down the Washington coast, and today we're continuing south to the Oregon border, which, unfortunately, is where our journey comes to an abrupt end.
Morning.
Not a bad place to wake up.
No, this was the best place to wake up.
All right, look where we ended up last night. Here's our van. 1, 2, 3, 4. Five steps away from the beach.
Oh. The Washington coast is pretty majestic. It's a little windy, but the blue skies are trying to come out.
I don't think I've ever seen this much whitewash and seafoam in the water. The Washington coastline just has this rugged beauty unlike anywhere else we've ever been.
Very sad to have to leave this place so soon.
We just drove through three very rainy hours down the coast to Long beach, and I've been drooling over this restaurant that I found online called the Chowder Stop. Hundreds of reviews, 4.9 stars, and warm, beautiful, comforting clam chowder. So our first stop of the day is lunch.
Oh, my God.
So we were talking on the way here, and we decided that we're going to make it our mission on this trip to find the best clam chowder and the best fish and chips on the whole west coast. And when I walked into this restaurant, I had all intentions of ordering a big red bowl of clam chowder, because that's what we had in Seattle, and it was so good. But this place said something on the menu that I'd never seen before. And the waitress told us she doesn't know anybody else who does this. I just had to try.
Chowder fries. It is literally a plate of french fries with clam chowder on top, sprinkled with cheese and bacon bits. Probably one of the most unhealthy things I could have ordered. But when in Long Beach.
Whoa.
This is brilliant.
It's perfect. I mean, we can't let the fries get soggy and take it to go. I'm gonna have to eat the whole thing.
The fish is beer battered, and the tartar sauce is made with fresh dill and fresh capers.
That one is going to be hard to beat. We also learned that that place actually started as a food truck and then got so popular that they turned it into a restaurant.
I'm so full, but so happy.
Still raining.
You driving? It has been raining for the last 48 hours, and at first I was just blaming it on being in the Pacific Northwest, But I did a little research and learned that it's actually from a tropical storm that's blown from Taiwan all the way across the Pacific, and it's now just settled here above the west coast. It's also, like 40 degrees outside, like, just cold enough to not be snowing, which makes the rain very uncomfortable.
So this is Long beach, which, according to the sign, claims to be the longest beach in the world, which got me pretty excited. But I've learned the Internet disagrees after reading several articles. It seems like no matter how you slice it, there's really no way it can make that claim.
But actually, after a little more research, if you put enough qualifiers in front of it, it may just be the longest beach in the world, I guess. World's longest continuous peninsula beach wouldn't fit on the sign.
This surf's pretty impressive from this storm.
Here goes nothing. We watched a lot of other cars do it. No one's gotten stuck yet.
We're doing it. Turns out you can drive on this beach. There are a ton of cars out here. But I'm a little nervous about our giant van on the sand. This is probably a terrible idea, but we had to try it. Oh, man. Oh, gosh. Nate.
Why are you going so fast?
Okay. Yeah, you're probably right.
This is crazy.
Feels pretty good so far. How's it feel?
Surprisingly normal. I thought it'd just feel like we were sinking.
I'm sure if you're from Washington, this is no big deal, but being from Tennessee, getting to drive on the beach is so cool. I know we can say we've done it, but it was cold and wet. Worth it, though.
That's our Pacific Northwest motto. Goodbye. Not longest beach in the world.
This was one of the places that we had starred on the map. Somebody told us to come here, and we thought it might be fun to mix up the nature with something a little weird and quirky. I know.
I was about to go in the side, and I almost said, excuse me.
All right. Well, we ran in and Saw the what they claim to be world famous Jake the Alligator Man. But trying to avoid indoor places with lots of people right now, so probably would have been cool any other time.
All right, from here, we have a short drive to our next stop, which is called Cape Disappointment. And on the way there, I'm going to research wide spots, names that's still raining. So this is where the Columbia river meets the Pacific Ocean. And according to the Internet, there was a British trader in the late 1700s who was sailing south looking for the mouth of the Columbia River. And when he got here, he saw it, but he thought it was a bay, and so he missed it. And that's why it's called the Cape of Disappointment. And Cape Disappointment actually is disappointing for two reasons. Because a little bit later in 1805, the Lewis and Clark expedition got here, and they were mad that westerners had already been here before them. So they were also disappointed.
Nate is out there in the freezing cold rain. He's soaking wet. All to get a good video of that lighthouse. I think he's the most dedicated person I know.
It's hard to open my eyes. The wind's blowing so hard.
The weather is crazy.
They say this is one of the foggiest places in the US and it's the only place on the west coast that has two lighthouses within two miles. For some reason, Kara didn't want to come see this one.
I lost all feeling in my face. Now I'm smiling.
Oh, wow.
What?
How did it go?
Oh, the door's smushing me because of the wind.
Was it worth it?
So worth it. I don't think you'll be able to see anything in the camera. It's so wet. Everything's probably broken. All right, should we find somewhere to camp for the night?
Yeah, I need a s'.
More.
One of the benefits of doing the Pacific coast highway in November is that we haven't had trouble finding a camping spot. There's always availability. Hopefully we're not stuck here.
Well, we were supposed to drive to Oregon today.
We can't be the only ones that feel this way. But it's seems like just when we're starting to get some momentum. In 2020, Governor Jay Inslee is teaming up with the governors of Oregon and California issuing a travel advisory urging everyone to stay home.
We recommend that those who have traveled out of state self quarantine for 14 days upon return.
The Washington coast is a beautiful, rugged place with terrible Internet.
So yesterday we stopped at an Internet cafe to upload a video and as soon as we walked in, the first thing we heard playing on the TV over in the corner was a news clip about new travel advisories in Washington, Oregon and California. Anyone going to or from Washington will need to quarantine for 14 days. As a reminder, this was supposed to be our route.
As we were listening to the news, I think we were both in a little bit of, like, shock, disbelief. Like we literally just were staring at each other, hearing these words and feeling like it was a punch in the stomach. Like it was the strangest thing.
We had just been living the past three days in this, like, wilderness fantasy land. And then as soon as we get back to civilization, we were just brought back to real life immediately.
Like from the highest of high to just like, nope. And then we just acted like nothing happened and got the work we needed done with the WI fi and came back to the van and had to make a really hard decision.
So to be respectful of the local government's new regulations, we've decided to cancel the rest of the trip. It's just.
Such a bummer. This is how we were gonna finish out the rest of the year. It's also the most pre planning that I've ever done for a trip. Google Maps was organized. I had a spreadsheet with the days that we were gonna film and the days we were gonna edit so that we could fit everything in. It was even color coded.
We literally never do that.
So yesterday I had to hit delete on that entire spreadsheet and start all over from scratch. And of course, of course we're disappointed, but we're not asking for sympathy. We know that our problems pale in comparison to what a lot of other people are going through this year. We're super grateful for our health, that we've been able to continue to make videos for this channel and the opportunity to explore as much as we have. But it's still okay to be a little disappointed, right?
As diamond minigame, california.
So now that our plans have been completely flipped upside down, we've decided to take this as an opportunity to start heading home. We both have some personal things with family going on that it'll be nice to be present for.
So we're gonna sit here for a couple days, come up with a new plan, and then start the 2500 mile journey back to Nashville.
This plant will not be color coded just in case. Oh, I don't have my mask.
Oh, no. Are you sure it's not in your pocket?
Yeah.
Gone in without you.
We chose two very fat things.
Maybe we should try to find the best salad on the coast. I'd also like to find the best coffee on the coast. The best wine on the coast, the best chocolate on the coast, the best shopping on the coast. Are you guys the people from YouTube?
We are. Can I totally. Take my picture with you? My daughter wants to live. Of course. Of course.
When she texts me, she's like, they're in Graylin, Mom. I watch them every day.
Our life is so crazy. You wanna putt putt?
No.
Putt putt. No.
No.
Come on.
Oh, so cold. Left part touched my belly. I think I feel more disappointed for you than anything because I know that California was at the very top of your list. And we've been putting it off because I don't know why. Just took us longer than expected to get there. I think when we bought the van, I pictured us driving it down the Pacific Coast Highway. That was the vision van life experience that I had in my head.
It was kind of like the grand finale of the year. In my mind, like, this was how we were going to end the year. Doing, like, the coolest road trip that I can think of. And it's just one more thing that 2020 is like.
It was.
No, you're not.
Come up with a new plan.
Yeah, it's going to be great.
You're see tear ducts. You're so big.
Maybe that's why.
Can you see tear ducks in my eyes? Do I have them?
No.
Oh, yeah. The little hole, like on your lid.
Yeah.
Maybe I have a disorder. Maybe, like, my tear ducts are too big and that's why I cry so, so much.
That was not recorded.
Are you serious?
