Month: May 2018

Whew, April just flew by. When I look at the map of where we’ve been I can see why. We have covered some serious territory. This trip up the coast is a very long standing dream and it is amazing. Our route included:

• Olema Campground near Point Reyes National Seashore (North of San Fransisco)

• Ancient Redwoods RV park in Redcrest CA, on the Avenue of the Giants

• Mountain Gate RV Park in Redding CA, near lake Shasta Dam

• Waterwheel RV Park in Chiloquin OR, near Crater Lake National Park

• Bend/Sisters RV Resort in Sisters OR, near Bend OR.

• Beverly Beach Oregon State Park, near Newport OR.

• Old Stone Village RV Resort in McMinnville OR, near Portland OR.

• Cannon Beach RV Resort, in Cannon Beach OR, near Astoria OR.

The trip has included several different State and National Parks with giant Redwood forests. These forests are the most impressive we have ever seen and a joy to hike in. Crater Lake is one of the most beautiful lakes you will ever see. The Bend area is a really cool area to spend time and one of our favorite stops. The entire Oregon coastline is breathtaking. Oregon has been lots of fun to explore and not very crowded this time of year. The month of May will be really exciting with a few weeks around Olympic National Park, Seattle, and Vancouver B.C. area followed by the start of our Alaska journey. We can’t wait!

It’s crazy!!! We’ve been on the road now for 3 months! Here are some reflections on 3-months on the road. We are still super excited to be on the road. Every day is a new adventure. This road trip is pretty much like we imagined it, and that is great! The three of us still love spending time together. The traveling has been spectacular and we are really pleased with the itinerary we set. The main limitation has been the mountainous areas are all pretty much closed until June or July. That’s ok for our upcoming Alaska journey but leaves us wanting more in the lower 48. Places missed include Yosemite, Sequoya, Kings Canyon, Lassen Volcanic, and parts of Crater Lake. Also, we won’t be trying Glacier NP for the same reason. We just have to come back.

The national park annual pass has been awesome. Not only does it get us in the National Parks but also any other federal park, monument, or fee area. It also saves a ton of time getting into the parks. We also got a Texas annual pass at the beginning of our trip and it paid for itself in about 4 nights of stays. We intend to use it more when we finally return home.

Our thoughts on the coach. This morning we discussed how we still really loved the coach and the mods we made. Nearly everything worked just as we hoped. The only thing that didn’t work out exactly like we expected is the satellite not working on the main network/local channels. There is quite a bit of TV we like to watch on those channels so that is disappointing. That said, bringing our home receiver is great because it gives us a bunch of recorded shows to watch all the time compared to the RV receiver with only one tuner. We talked about how we thought it would be nice to have a little larger shower, BUT we really don’t want a larger coach to get it. The shower is pretty decent for an RV, just not “home”sized. We absolutely LOVE the separate sink in the bedroom that gives us a second place to get ready in the morning and get ready for bed at night. I was worried that the 40ft length would be a big limitation, but it hasn’t been much of an issue. We originally thought we would spend up to ½ time boondocking (dry camping not in an RV park). The idea was to save money and enjoy more remote settings. The reality is we really like having hook-ups for running the washer/dryer and we really like having a known/firm/reserved destination. Part of that is due to the big rig size. You really don’t want to explore a new location while driving the big rig and the size means there isn’t an abundance of handy parking options once you get there. When I planned this trip I budgeted as if we were staying in a park every night so the money isn’t a restriction. So far we have averaged about $45/night for the entire trip. Nightly rates have been as low as free and as high as $100 (in LA).  We have had a few maintenance issues, but well within our expected parameters. The “jetpack” cellular Internet has been fantastic. Probably over 90% off our locations have passable coverage for Verizon, though we have yet to traverse the Alaskan highway. The jetpack supports the computers, iPads, and smart TV’s. We never have to worry about connecting to the park wifi and nearly all parks have extremely limited or unusable Internet.

Today we packed up and headed to the town of Cannon Beach. We have reserved the RV Resort at Cannon Beach for four nights. It was about a 2 hour drive, the first half of which was pretty heavy traffic through small communities South of Portland. Once we hit the highway West it was pretty smooth driving. The RV park is another well maintained park with beautiful, large trees throughout. The downside is that means no satellite again. Thank goodness for DVR. We do have decent Verizon/Internet though. This park has both Diesel and Propane sales on site. I am excited because finding Big-Rig accessible Diesel on the travel days can sometimes be a challenge, especially in California and Oregon. The prices were decent as well.
After a quick coach setup we went in search of lunch. Just a mile or so away we drove to the beach and there was a nice looking restaurant with full coast views. Sold! The cafe is Mo’s which is a chain in Newport all the way up the coast to Astoria. We saw it in Newport but didn’t give it a try. We had fish and chips and the food, service, and view were all great. Mo’s has a really nice beach vibe. After lunch we walked the coast. This part of the coast has the much photographed Haystack rock formations. You have probably seen them if you have seen pictures of the Oregon coast. We had a nice walk but we kept Maverick on the leash as he wants to eat the dried outer skin(?) of a jelly fish variety that washes up in great numbers all along this section of coast. He ate some in Newport and vomited the next two nights. We aren’t eager for a repeat. Next we drove the coast all the way past Astoria. Very cool! Washington (state) is very scenic on the other side of the Columbia river. We will see more of Washington next week!
Once back at the park we checked out the indoor pool and spa. They both seemed pretty warm so we came right back and tried them out. The pool wasn’t quite a warm as it originally seemed but the spa was great. We had it all to ourselves.