O! OREGON

As we've mentioned before, we often get asked about what part of Oregon we hail from. Actually, we believe the most useless question nearly everyone asks is: "Where are you from?" Honestly, who cares? What difference does it make where one is "from?" It's far more instructive to find out the answers to these questions: "Where have you been?" and "Where are you going next?" Golly, if someone is from Albuquerque, that's fine, but if someone has just VISITED Albuquerque, then I want to know what they have seen there, is it worth my while to visit, how do you get there, and so forth.

As for "Where are you going next?" -- maybe I want to go there too, and maybe we can meet up, or at least exchange ideas on what to see when we get there!

But I digress.

The license plates on our car and on our motorhome are from Oregon, and we have to decide whether to renew them this year, or pick another "domicile." You understand "domicile," of course. Legally, "domicile" is kind of the place you might be "from," but certainly the place you expect to return to when you decide to return somewhere! Every RVer, whether full-time or part-time, can be "from" somewhere, will have just been "somewhere," and will be going "somewhere." Also, every RVer must have a domicile somewhere. It's a legality that a lot of us never think about.

For us right now, Oregon is our domicile. Why?

Initially for RVing purposes, we decided to establish Texas as our domicile, using the Escapees Mail Service as our Texas residence, all quite legal. However, when Suzy needed some medical stuff, we found that her Kaiser Health Plan coverage (she was under 65 at the time) didn't cover her anywhere except within Kaiser's coverage area.

We had never been really happy with Kaiser in California and decided to try the Pacific Northwest. I had been born in Portland, Oregon, we had spent a bunch of our honeymoon in Oregon, and we just enjoyed the beautiful state, so we began spending a lot of time in Oregon for Suzy's medical stuff. I found a great doctor there also, and we soon were regular visitors.

In fact, we stayed long enough at the Pheasant Ridge RV Park in Wilsonville, just off I-5 south of Portland, that we qualified to pay state income taxes in Oregon! And that established Oregon as our domicile.

Today we still pay income tax to Oregon, we vote (by mail, as everone in Oregon does), and we have Oregon license plates and Driver Licenses. If we were to show you a picture of our Driver Licenses (which, by the way, we aren't about to do!) you'd see our address: "Continuous Traveler, P.O. Box 190, Jefferson, OR 97352." That designation, "Continuous Traveler," is special to us, because it tells us that the State of Oregon values us as taxpayers and is willing to let us have Driver Licenses and vehicle licenses as long as we pay state income taxes. We don't even have to go to Oregon to renew our licenses! The Internet will be sufficient.

So, where are we from? We're "from" the last place we visited! We are "from" the last place we had a stick-built home. We are "from" the open road. These days we are "from" Benson, Arizona, where we have a winter site at the SKP Saguaro Co-op Park.

Where are YOU "from?"

We have gathered a bunch out of our many hundreds of pictures of Oregon in our web album. If you've got time, we invite you to visit "O! Oregon."We had so much fun picking out scenes to show you -- if you get a chance, please visit and enjoy. OR -- make a note to come back sometime when you need a change of scenery! Oregon used to advertise itself with this phrase -- "Relax, in a state of excitement!" Oregon has been a major part of ... Our Life on Wheels!