After more than a year of planning, designing, shipping gear, and running through every what-if, we were finally in Portland to pick up our new van. It felt surreal to be handed the keys after all that waiting.

The plan: a one-week "shakedown trip", testing our new van while exploring Oregon. We'd stay close to the builder for backup, yet sleep by the ocean, explore vineyards and hike desert trails.

Day 1–2: ocean air in Pacific City

After picking up the van and completing our onboarding, we drove just two hours west to Pacific City on the Oregon coast. I was nervous at first since I'd never driven anything this big, but it felt manageable within minutes.

For the first two nights, we stayed at Hart's Camp, also known as Cape Kiwanda RV Park. The campground had full hookups, a small grocery store, and a brewery just across the road. While the RV park felt more like a parking lot than a forest, it was exactly what we needed. Something easy and practical. A soft landing.

That night, we cracked the windows and slept with the ocean air drifting in. People always ask how someone six foot four (or almost 2 meters) manages to sleep in a van. The truth? I slept better than I do in most hotel beds.

We spent most of the next day settling in. We organized, unpacked the gear we had shipped ahead, figured out what all the switches did, cleaned the dishes, and debated what to put in which cabinets.

Day 3–4: Wine tasting in Willamette Valley

From the coast, we headed inland into Oregon wine country. The drive to Champoeg State Park took about an hour and a half, winding through farmland and small towns.

Champoeg is a beautifully laid-out campground, quiet and easy to navigate, with wide sites and excellent showers. The surrounding area is a patchwork of vineyards, barns and backroads.

We visited several vineyards in the Willamette Valley. The Four Graces was our favorite. Their 2021 Windborn Pinot Noir stood out, and the inn next door looked tempting for a future non-camping trip. We also visited Ken Wright, Lemelson, and Dominio IV. We ended up buying 15 bottles of wine. One of the perks of van life: your wine cellar travels with you.

That evening, Vanessa cooked salmon in red curry, outside in the rain, over a wood fire. We ate inside the van, warm and dry, with music playing. We opened a 2023 Still Life Viognier from Dominio IV that we had liked so much during the tasting. There was something magical about being cozy in a small space while rain drums overhead.

The next morning, we drove to McMinnville to do laundry. Laundry isn't exactly a bucket-list item for me, but Vanessa found it oddly satisfying. There was a coffee kiosk nearby, so we walked through the drive-thru on foot, standing between cars to order lattes while our clothes spun.

Day 5: Smith Rock and steep trails

We left wine country behind and headed into Central Oregon, crossing over the mountains on a three-hour drive that was scenic the entire way. Pine forests, wide rivers and lakes came and went as we climbed and descended. We passed through small towns and stretches of open road that felt far from anywhere.

I kept wanting to stop to take photos, but didn't want to interrupt the rhythm of the road. Instead, we made mental notes about places to come back to someday.

That night we stayed at Skull Hollow Campground, a basic campground without hookups. Our first real test of off-grid capability. This was deliberate. We wanted to know how our solar panels and batteries would handle a full night of heating, and whether our water supply would last without refilling.

It was cold, down to 37°F, but the van handled it well. We kept the heat at 60°F and slept soundly under a heavy duvet. When we woke up, the solar panels were already soaking up sunlight.

Smith Rock State Park was just fifteen minutes away. Vanessa wanted to drive the van somewhere more rural, and this was the perfect chance. She handled the van like a boss.

Day 6: Bend and our first HipCamp

We continued to Bend, just forty minutes from Skull Hollow. Bend is a small city in Central Oregon known for its outdoor lifestyle. We resupplied, filled our water tank and stopped by REI (think "camping supermarket").

We had dinner at Wild Rose, a Northern Thai restaurant that had been nominated for a James Beard award. The food was excellent. The service was not.

That night we stayed at our first HipCamp, a campsite on a working ranch with cattle just outside of Bend. A lone bull stood at the entrance, watching us with mild interest. We followed the long gravel driveway past grazing cows, getting our first real taste of ranch life.

The setup was simple: a grassy parking area, a 30-amp electrical outlet, a metal trash bin and a water pump with well water. We shared the space with an old Ford that had clearly been there longer than we planned to be. A pair of baby owls watched us from a tree. It was peaceful, with wide views and almost total quiet. Nothing fancy, but memorable.

Day 7: Camp Sherman and quiet rivers

On our final full day, we drove about an hour and twenty minutes to Camp Sherman Campground, nestled along the Metolius River. The Metolius is a spring-fed river known for its crystal-clear waters and world-class fly fishing.

The campground is "first-come, first-serve", and we were lucky to find a site right by the water. This was our first time using an "Iron Ranger", the self-pay envelope system used in many public campgrounds. A refreshing throwback to simpler times.

We hiked a trail along the river, upstream through forests that had clearly burned in recent years. Signs along the path explained it was a prescribed burn area, which gave the charred trunks and new growth a different kind of meaning.

We watched a family of deer move through the trees at dusk very close to our van. They seemed as curious about us as we were about them.

Later that evening, we cooked, read, and talked. We sat by the fire, wrapped in the camping blankets we had picked up at REI. It was quiet in the way we needed it to be.

The next morning, it was time to move on. I had to get to Chicago for a Drupal Camp, even though neither of us felt ready to leave.

530 miles, one van and zero regrets

This loop, starting in Portland, heading to the coast, through wine country, over the mountains, and back again, turned out to be the perfect test run. Each stop offered something different, from ocean breezes to vineyard views to rugged high desert hikes. The drives were short enough to stay relaxed, ranging from 40 minutes to three hours. In total, we covered about 530 miles.

By the end of the trip, we had gone from full hookups to fully self-sufficient, using solar power and our onboard water supply. The van passed every test we threw at it. Now we knew we could take it anywhere.

This year's keynote was inspired by President John F. Kennedy's famous "Moonshot" speech. After being global leaders, the U.S. had fallen behind in the Space Race. Challenged by the Soviet cosmonaut program, President Kennedy rallied Americans around the ambitious goal of landing on the moon before the decade was out.

Drupal Starshot, a new version of Drupal

Drupal has always been known for its low-code capabilities. However, many competitors now offer similar features, and in some areas, they even surpass what Drupal provides. While Drupal is celebrated for its robustness, it can be challenging for newcomers, especially those with limited technical expertise. So in my keynote, I was excited to introduce Drupal Starshot, our "Moonshot" to make Drupal more accessible and easier to use.

Twenty-three years after Drupal's inception, we are preparing to launch a second official version of Drupal. For the time being, we're calling this second version "Drupal CMS". It will be built on top of Drupal Core and common contributed modules, and available as a separate download alongside Drupal Core.

Drupal Starshot will be designed to have a great out-of-the-box experience. It will enable Ambitious Site Builders without Drupal experience to easily create a new Drupal site and extend it with pre-packaged recipes, all using their browser.

The vision for Drupal Starshot is the outcome of highly productive brainstorming sessions with Drupal Core Committers, the Drupal Association, colleagues at Acquia, various Drupal agencies, and others.

From an implementation standpoint, it will primarily rely on the Project Browser and Recipes initiatives, while also incorporating the Experience Builder initiative. We actually started prototyping Drupal Starshot a few weeks ago and showcased our progress at DrupalCon. Our goal is to launch a first version of Drupal Starshot within 8 months.

At DrupalCon, hundreds of people pledged to get involved, and we had two "super BoFs" with over 50 people each. If you're interested in getting involved with Drupal Starshot, you can register your interest at https://drupal.org/starshot. Additionally, join the conversation in the #Starshot channel on Drupal Slack.

Drupal's brand refresh and marketing strategy

Alongside our technical efforts, we've launched a bold marketing strategy. At DrupalCon Lille, I discussed the need for a fresh marketing approach. Since then, we've made tremendous progress.

I introduced a Drupal brand refresh, which includes updated brand guidelines to ensure a consistent and modern visual identity. This refresh aims to invigorate our brand – making it more vibrant and appealing to newcomers, while still honoring our history and representing our diverse, global community.

I couldn't cover all the details around the brand refresh in my keynote, so I'm expanding on them in this blog post. For a detailed explanation of Drupal's refreshed brand, check out this video by Shawn Perritt: Drupal 2024 brand refresh explained.

Our efforts went beyond just a brand refresh. The Marketing Committee has also guided the community in developing a comprehensive marketing toolkit, which includes messaging guides, pitch decks, and more. All these resources will be available at https://www.drupal.org/marketing.

Let's reach for the stars

As we advance with Drupal Starshot, I recall President Kennedy's famous words:

We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.

Embracing the Drupal Starshot initiative reflects a similar ethos; we're not choosing the easy path, but the one that tests our strength, creativity, and ability to do hard things. The success of Drupal Starshot will be a testament to the incredible collective power of the Drupal community. It's a challenge we are also unwilling to postpone, and intend to win.

Drupal Starshot is more than a technological leap; it represents a shift in how we think, innovate, and collaborate. It's about reaching for the stars and making the Open Web accessible to everyone.

Thank you for being part of this journey. I can't wait to see where it takes us together. The feedback from the last two days at DrupalCon has been overwhelmingly positive. I am more committed than ever and excited to pledge a significant amount of my time to this mission, and to the future of Drupal.

In good tradition, I delivered my State of Drupal keynote. You can watch the video of my keynote or download my slides (262 MB).

I covered a lot of ground in this presentation, so I broke down my written summary into a three-part blog series. Part 1 below focuses on Drupal 10 updates. I'll be publishing Part 2 and Part 3 later this week, which will focus on Drupal's evolved vision and Drupal 11 proposed initiatives.

Drupal stands with Ukraine

I couldn't begin my presentation without acknowledging the loss of life and destruction in Ukraine. It's impacting many in the Drupal community, which is heartbreaking.

You may not be aware, but Ukraine is the sixth most active country in the world in terms of Drupal contributions. If you were to look at these contributions per capita, Ukraine's contributions are even more significant.

Both myself and the Drupal Association strongly condemn the Russian attacks on Ukraine. Many of us might want to know how to help. The Drupal Association has compiled a list of organizations that are accepting charitable donations.

Updates on Drupal 10

From there, I gave an update on Drupal 10. We had targeted a Drupal 10 release date of June 2022, but we made the decision to postpone until December 2022.

We had to move the date back because we have more work to do on the CKEditor 5 migration path. We're upgrading from CKEditor 4 to CKEditor 5. CKEditor 5 is a complete rewrite, with no upgrade path or backwards compatibility.

The Drupal community (and Acquia in particular) has spent thousands of hours working on an upgrade path for CKEditor to make the upgrade easy for all Drupal users. While that has gone well, we need some additional time to work through the remaining upgrade challenges. Fortunately, we are getting great support from CKSource, the company behind CKEditor.

Next, I walked through three important facts about Drupal 10.

1. Symfony 6.2 – Drupal 10 will upgrade Symfony – a PHP framework that Drupal relies on heavily – from Symfony 4 to Symfony 6.2. At the time of the Drupal 10 release, Symfony 6.2 will be the latest and greatest release. For planning purposes, if you use Symfony components in your custom Drupal modules, you will have to upgrade those to Symfony 6.x.
2. PHP 8.1 – We have changed the minimum PHP requirement from PHP 7.4 for Drupal 9 to PHP 8.1 for Drupal 10. This is in large part because Symfony 6.2 will require PHP 8.1. Drupal users will benefit from various improvements in the new version of PHP. It also means you might have to upgrade any custom code. Because Drupal 9.3 works with PHP 8.1, you could start that work now with Drupal 9.3. It's a good way to prepare for Drupal 10.
3. Drupal 9 end-of-life – Drupal 9 end-of-life will happen in November 2023. Once Drupal 10 is released, you will have 11 months to upgrade your Drupal 9 sites to Drupal 10. The good news is, this should be the easiest upgrade in the history of Drupal. On Drupal 9's release date, 71% of deprecated API uses in contributed projects had automated conversions. Today, 93% of deprecated API uses for Drupal 10 across all contributed projects have automated conversions. And we're working on getting that even higher by the time that Drupal 10 is released.

With that, I provided some exciting updates on the five major Drupal 10 initiatives.

Olivero

Drupal's new frontend theme, named Olivero, is now stable. It's the most accessible theme we've ever shipped. During DrupalCon, Olivero also became the default theme for Drupal 10. Everyone who installs Drupal 10 will be greeted by a new frontend theme. That is significant because we used the current default theme, Bartik, for 11 years.

Claro

Drupal's new backend theme, called Claro, also became the new default administration theme at DrupalCon. Another major milestone and reason to celebrate!

Starterkit

Starterkit, a new way of creating themes in Drupal, is on track to be stable by Drupal 10's new release date. Releasing Starterkit means that we can move faster with theming improvements in Drupal Core. It also means that end users won't need to worry about whether upgrading Drupal breaks any of their sites' themes.

Instead of sub-theming a core base theme, Starterkit generates a starter theme for you from its latest defaults. This new theme will be more of a clone or fork, and will not have a runtime dependency on a core base theme.

CKEditor 5

We have made great progress on our content authoring experience. Check out this video for the latest update:

Automated updates

Automated updates, the Drupal community's number one feature request, is progressing well.

The plan is to have Automatic Updates in one of the first minor versions of Drupal 10, or even in 10.0 in December if the community can help us test and finalize it in time. Check out this video to learn more:

In Parts 2 and 3 of this blog series later this week, I'll focus on our strategy and proposed initiatives for Drupal 11.

I'd like to thank everyone who made our first in-person DrupalCon in two years a reality. It was amazing to see everyone's faces again and collaborate in person. Your contributions and hard work, as always, are inspiring to me!

I would also like to thank all the people that helped with my keynote. In no particular order, they are: Ash Sullivan, Alex Bronstein, Matthew Grasmick, Gábor Hojtsy, Jess (xjm), Ted Bowman, Baddy Sonja Breidert, Leslie Glynn, Tim Lehnen, Adam Bergstein, Adam Goodman, Theodore Biadala, and Alex Pott.

In good tradition, you can download a copy of my slides (PDF, 29 MB) or you can watch a video recording of my keynote (keynote starts at 14:00). The video of the White House guest appearance and the Drupal 8 demo video area also embedded in this post.