Month: June 2018

Today was a big deal for us. We finally crossed the border into Canada to start our Alaska trek. We got a late start from the KOA in Burlington and headed North to Sumas WA for the border crossing. The crossing was no big deal and we were asked very few questions. Only a few miles North of the crossing was Canada Hyw 1. The highway was 4-lane, divided, limited access and made for easy driving. It was lunch time after crossing the border and very soon we came to Chilliwack where Donna’s phone search turned up a Mooyah Burger joint. Mooyah is one of our favorites in McKinney. The restaurant had a large gravel lot next to it so we had a place for the big rig. After a delicious lunch we continued on to Hope. The GPS wanted be to continue on Hwy 5 and my research had suggested Hwy 1. We stopped in Hope to reconsider our path and since Hwy 5 looked like the easier drive we chose to aim for Kamloops 2 ½ hours away. The Hwy 5 drive was beautiful with mountain views and was a 120 km/hr or 75 mph big highway that was easy with the big rig. Once in Kamloops we looked for an RV park and headed for the closest park. Silver Sage is situated right on the large, swift South Thompson river. Not a fancy park but nice. They had room for us in a long back-in spot with a river view right out our windshield. The park only had water and 30A electric which we understand is pretty typical. We really only need 50A when it is very cold or very hot to run both Heat Pumps or multiple heaters so that is no big deal. They have a dump for our holding tanks so the only real downside is no laundry. Its not a good idea to try to run laundry using only the holding tank. Our entire route today was 224 miles and about as long as we care for in a day. We will probably travel about the same distance on average through Canada. The weather today was intermittent rain and Kamloops is about 54 deg F with rain possible. We are so excited to be across the border and on our way!

We got up pretty early to make sure we were out of the coach by 7:45 AM so work could continue without delay. I made sure the technician understood my antenna findings. The weather today is much nicer than yesterday. We headed off to Billingham WA about 12 miles North. The Billingham area is very pretty with mountains and forests. Billingham has a lot of retail and we brought our laundry to do it all at once. Donna is pretty good at keeping the laundry up to date when we have full hook ups but being two nights on the parking lot put us behind. While Donna did laundry I took Maverick to a self dog wash location in town. By the time Maverick and I returned Donna was just finishing up. We then headed to the Chuckanut Brewery for lunch. Pretty good food and beer but the water view promised online wasn’t really viewable. Still a nice lunch. Next we found the Farmers Market downtown and enjoyed walking around. After the market I looked up the nearest dog park and Maverick enjoyed some play time in the beautiful weather. Finally we went to REI camping store just to walk around.
We headed back to Camping World and I really feared the worst with the antenna problem. I was thrilled to discover the coach was about ready. Winegard had indeed sent the wrong antenna. Camping World decided I we had suffered long enough and put a new antenna unit on the coach so we wouldn’t have to wait even longer. They had over 7 hours of shop labor into the antenna warranty work. They also had the new awning fully installed. The installation looks nice and we look forward to using it. Before we left I fully checked out the satellite operation on the parking lot. Everything checked out! Yay! We headed 7 miles North to a local KOA to spend the night and play with our new toys. Tomorrow we head North toward Alaska. We are really excited.

We got up early this morning to be ready to check the coach into service. We slept pretty well despite some traffic noise and occasional train. Check-in went pretty quickly. The awning was expected to complete easily today but there was some doubt about getting the antenna installed today. We grabbed some breakfast and Diet Cokes and then took Maverick to a nearby veterinarian. Mav’s Bordatella (sp?) just expired so we wanted to get him caught up before heading to Alaska. Next we bummed around some shops before Mav’s 1200 grooming appointment at Pets Mart. We checked in at Pets Mart to discover they wouldn’t touch him if he had any shots in the past 48 hours. Bummer. We ate lunch at Five Guys Burgers and then took Maverick to a nice big dog park. After the park we went to see the Ocean’s Eight movie. It was time for Maverick and I to return to camping world before the shop shut down for the night. Donna headed to a massage. Turns out they have the awning installed and the antenna installed but won’t finish a couple of brackets until tomorrow morning. They pulled the coach out a 5pm just outside the work bay so we could camp on the parking lot again. This time Camping World provided 50A that made the camping much easier. The technician suggested I check out the satellite tonight since he didn’t have a chance to inside the bay. The new antenna found 3 satellites as expected BUT it became apparent they were the WRONG satellites. After a little Internet digging I discovered Winegard sent us the antenna for DIRECTV instead of DISH. I hope that doesn’t mean waiting for another antenna to be shipped by Winegard. Today it rained on and off all day.

We took our time this morning getting to Burlington. It was only a 1 ½ hour drive so we got there very early. We parked the coach in a shopping area near Home Depot. Donna found a Brew Pub at the Burlington airport called Fliers Brewery. We headed there for lunch. The food was exceptional and the restaurant was very upscale for an airport cafe. I should know. We sat against a glass wall with full view of the mountains and all of the airport activity. After lunch we went back to the coach where Mav and I hung out while Donna performed more retail therapy. About 4:30 we took the coach to Camping World and parked in the service lane with enough room for our slide outs. We will spend the night here on the parking lot so the coach can be serviced first thing.

The Gorge waterfall in the park

We departed Grand Coulee RV park at a leisurely 9:30am and headed North West. The first half of the drive took us through high plains that wasn’t too interesting. Gradually the terrain changed to apple orchards. The road followed the Columbia river for a good part of the drive. The terrain gradually changed to mountain foothills and intermittent forests as we pulled through Winthrop. The town of Winthrop looked really cool. The main street looks like an old west town and is lined with cool shops and restaurants. As we passed main street we came to a huge RV parking lot so we pulled in. We had a burger at the Duck Brand Hotel and Resaurant. Food was great and the meal was super pleasant and relaxing on the outside porch in perfect weather. The restaurant was pet friendly so Maverick made friends all around. After our lunch we walked both side of the main street. I checked out three really nice outdoor supply stores and Donna checked out a few general merchandise stores. If you get a chance it is worth a stop. We had originally planned on stopping here for the night but didn’t expect to find anything to see here. It would have been a nice and scenic stop.
After our several hour diversion we headed out of town and drove through the North Cascades National Park. This section of of SR-20 is one of the more beautiful drives we’ve ever driven. The views with lakes, rivers, and mountain ranges are breathtaking. If at all possible drive this road. The drive does have up to 8% grades and the coach handled them well. We pulled off at many of the overlooks to take in the views. Eventually we drove out of the park and soon found our Alpine RV Park in the town of Marblemount. The park was ok and very affordable. We got the only remaining 50A site and found this particular site had a bizarre hook up arrangement. The sewer was far left of the electric and water leaving no way I could figure out to hook up everything at once. I chose to put the sewer on the passenger side where I could NOT hook it up and then use the 50A and the water. Pretty weird. All of the other sites I saw had normal hook ups so this was unique to this site. The park manger was super nice.
After getting setup we took off in the Jeep back into the park. We saw a nice waterfall we wanted to check out that didn’t have RV parking. We stopped by the park visitor center as usual then headed on to Light City inside the park. This small village is mainly for park personnel and the nearby dam utilities. There was a nice Trail of the Cedars with a bridge over the river. Maverick enjoyed running around the trail and cooling his paws in the river. Next we headed to the Gorge to see that waterfall. We weren’t disappointed. There is a deep narrow gorge running down to the lake. The waterfalls starts really high and falls through many steps underneath the road bridge. There was also a nice paved trail. We all enjoyed a nice cool hike of about 0.5 miles with nice views of the Gorge, the lake, and the dam. Despite the short time we felt we had really seen a lot of the National Park between the drive in and the afternoon exploring.

This morning we headed to the dam to take the tour. It turns out the tour is free. Unfortunately we got about what we paid for. Oddly you drive to the other side of the dam to board the tour shuttle bus. The shuttle bus then brings you back to the opposite side of the dam. The tour took us into the west pump room where lake water is pumped over the mountain to Blake Lake for irrigation. These pumps are enormous and look much like the hydroelectric generators we’ve seen in the other dams. We came right back out of the dam and then to an overlook. Tour over. Normally the tour would drive you out onto the dam but today work prevented that.
After the dam tour we ate at R&A cafe, a small local place in Mason City very near the dam. We ordered a french dip and the food was excellent, the service was good and friendly, and the meal was super inexpensive. A very pleasant surprise in a very small town.

After lunch we drove the length of Banks Lake. The lake is beautiful. We stopped at the Steamboat Rock State Park. The park was a camping location we had considered. It would have been very nice but a pretty long drive into the dam. Once we returned we followed Hwy 174 past our RV park to the dam overlook. The overlook really gave a great view of the dam.

Todays drive was 4 hours back through Spokane before heading North West. The town of Grand Coulee is small with not many businesses. We stopped on the way in at Lapresa Mexican restaurant. We were pleasantly surprise by excellent Tex-Mex style food. The service was excellent and friendly. For a small town with few businesses it was really good. Only a few more miles later we arrived at Grand Coulee RV Park. The park is austere, quiet, and affordable. The surrounding terrain is desert with lots of sage. The park has a trail into the desert that Maverick really enjoyed. The manager of the park was really friendly and offered lots of great advice for visiting the park. One of the suggestions was to watch the laser light show from the visitor center at 10pm.
After getting setup we relaxed around the coach for a while. We ate snacks in the coach for dinner. Just before 10pm we headed to the nearby dam visitor center to watch the laser light show. The show was kind of a movie describing the the dam and impact on the local Indian culture. While there were some really cool laser effects that spanned the full 1 mile width of the dam face, most of the show was pretty slow.

This morning we headed out for a special Donna treat. We were headed to tour the Seven Stars Alpaca Ranch. We had extra time so we stopped to enjoy the waterfall and dam in the nearby suburb of Post Falls. The park was beautiful and Maverick had a great time. We arrived just on time to the ranch. Uh oh, it didn’t look right. Donna went to the house and startled the older farmer there who knew absolutely nothing about an Alpaca ranch. Somehow we had put the wrong farm in the GPS. Donna called the ranch and let them know we wouldn’t make it on time. She was really disappointed. We decided to head the 30 minutes to the Alpaca ranch anyway to check it out. We arrived 30 minutes after the tour started but found the group was just leaving the initial briefing so we didn’t miss much of anything. We had a great time playing with the very affectionate mini-donkeys and with the Alpaca herd. The tour was very affordable and fun. The ranch was located in beautiful mountains and forests.

After the tour we headed for lunch. While in the Seattle area we checked to see if our favorite Texas Roadhouse restaurant was anywhere nearby. It turns the only one in the Pacific Northwest was in Coeur d’Alene. We were very excited to enjoy our favorite meal for the first time since leaving home and it was awesome.

After our awesome lunch, we went back downtown to try out the dog park. Maverick had a great time and we enjoyed being out in the super nice weather. We did one last drive through downtown before heading back to the coach. Back at the coach I cleaned the windshield and washed off the bugs from the front of the coach. Not a small job.

Another great Month of travel for the Red Dog crew. During May we explored Washington state, Victoria British Columbia in Canada, Idaho, and Montana. First we explored Mount Ranier and Mount St Helens, then we explored the Washington coast from Aberdeen to Port Angeles. After seeing the sites in the Seattle area we headed out for Glacier National Park visiting Spokane WA in the process. We had hoped to be on the road to Alaska already but minor maintenance issues changed our schedule and added our unplanned Glacier National Park visit.

Today was a beautiful day with rain giving way to a sun and very warm temperatures. We retraced our steps back to Coeur d’Alene (CDA). Again, the drive was beautiful and about 3 ½ hours. We arrived at the Blackwelll Island RV park. The park is a nicely landscaped and maintained park. The park is located on Lake Coeur d’Alene. Once we were setup we headed into downtown CDA to check it out. CDA is a very active college town and downtown was covered with young people enjoying the weather, downtown restaurants and bars, and the lake. The city park on the lake had an outdoor bar and grill. We had a sandwich sitting outside watching the lake and the people. It was really nice.