Category Archives: Elks

Burger Night

Yesterday was a lazy day for me. I dropped Donna off at the hair salon, then rode the Spyder down to the City Park and Beach on Lake Couer D’Alene. It was warm but breezy, so I was surprised by the number of people on the beach. The traffic in Couer D’Alene can be challenging. All of the north-south routes have many stoplights and traffic backs up.

On the way back, I stopped at Home Depot and bought a cage for Donna’s tomato plant. This thing is growing so fast, it’s sure to need support soon. I didn’t want to get a very large one, the smallest they had was 42″. I think I’ll try to cut it to a smaller size today.

After I posted yesterday, I received a message from our friend Mark Fagan. Mark and Emily are currently camped in McCall, Idaho. Mark cautioned me about wildfires in the area – we’ll need to keep an eye on it as we head south. So far, it looks like our planned route will be okay.

We’ll head out of here tomorrow. Our plan is to drive south on US95. We’ll stop at an RV park south of Grangeville for two nights. They have 80′ pull-through sites which is very convenient. Then we’ll move on to Mountain View RV park in Boise. We’ve booked four nights there and plan to meet up with Donna’s friend Dina Martin and her husband Mike. They’re in their fourth year on the road, but this is the first time we’ve been in the same area at the same time. Dina writes a blog at themartinsamericanadventure.com.

Last night was burger night at the Elk’s Lodge. We walked over around 5:30pm for burgers. The place was packed! It took over an hour for our burger order to come up. It was okay, it gave me a chance to sip a couple of pints of IPA.

We met a neighbor at the lodge the night before and he stopped by our table. It turns out his son-in-law is Ken Schutz, married to his daughter Leann. Ken Schutz was the Darrington High School principal where my daughters graduated. He said he talked to Leann the night before and got the scoop – she remembered me and my family. I lived in Darrington, Washington for about 12 years.

While we were in Alana’s driveway in Arlington, Washington my project was replacing the front shock absorbers on the coach. When we first left Arlington, I thought the front suspension felt a little stiff. Now that I have a few hundred break-in miles on the shocks, I’m very pleased with them. Parts of I-90 through eastern Washington are rough. The shocks kept the front end planted and under control. It made driving the coach much easier. Now I’ll have to see how durable they are. I’m hoping the new design from Koni holds up in the long haul.

Today we have cloudy skies and cooler temperatures – the high is predicted to be in the upper 70s. I need to run a few errands. We’ll pull out of here tomorrow morning and make about a 200-mile drive south through a variety of terrain. I’ll post about the drive on Friday.

Coeur D’Alene Elks Lodge

Donna sent me a text message Sunday afternoon saying she was stuck in traffic on I-90 due to an accident, but thought she would make it to Wenatchee by 3:30pm. I rode the Spyder to Pangborn airport in East Wenatchee to meet her at the rental car return and arrived at 3:20pm. Ten minutes later I saw Donna drive into the parking lot.

I grilled salmon patties and Donna served them over a mixed green salad for dinner. We had a quiet night and planned to be on the road around 9am on Monday morning.

I was out of bed by 7am and put away the windshield cover and packed the grill. After breakfast, we did our usual routine making the coach road ready – I worked outside while Donna prepped the interior. Ozark the cat has been a little funny on travel days lately. The last two times she saw us preparing to move, she hid under the sofa and wouldn’t come out until we were rolling down the road.

I don’t like operating the slides with the cat out – it would be horrible if she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. If I know for sure she’s under the sofa, it’s safe to retract the slides. This time she just laid in front of the refrigerator and watched us get ready to roll. She didn’t complain when Donna put her in her crate.

I pulled out of our site and then loaded the Spyder in the trailer. We drove out of Crescent Bar RV Resort at 9:30am. Crescent Bar RV Resort is on the bank of the Columbia River and is at an elevation of just under 700 feet above sea level. The road out of the RV park immediately climbs up a steep, twisty grade and gains a few hundred feet of elevation. From there we drove east on WA28 to Quincy, then south on WA281 to George, Washington where we hit I-90 east.

The traffic was fairly light and we cruised at a steady 60mph. We stopped after we crossed into Idaho at the Pilot/Flying J travel center in Post Falls and filled up with 80 gallons of fuel. I added a full ounce of Biobor JF to the tank before pumping, guessing that we would need about 80 gallons and that’s exactly how much it took. With the Pilot/Flying J RV Card discount, we paid $2.58/gallon.

Speaking of expenses, July turned out to be our least expensive month for campground fees ever. Moochdocking in my daughter Alana’s driveway for 15 days had much to do with that. But we also took advantage of our Thousand Trails membership. We had six days remaining on our “free” four weeks which I amortized at $19/day to cover our membership fee and paid $20 for five additional days. Our total campground cost for July was $279 – that’s just nine dollars per day. I think I spent that much on beer!

Our destination was the Elks Lodge #1254 in Coeur D’Alene. They don’t take reservations – it’s first-come first-served. As we pulled in, I saw several RVs behind the lodge and wondered if we would get a site. It turned out they had 30 sites with 50amp electrical service and freshwater hookups and only a dozen or so RVs there. We have a fairly large pull-through site, but we had to drop the trailer in the back of the park.

Our pull-through site at the Coeur D’Alene Elks Lodge

In the photo you can see Donna’s tomato planter in front of the coach. The heirloom cherry tomato plant a vendor gave her at the Camas farmers’ market has really taken off. I’m guessing we’ll have fresh cherry tomatoes before the end of the month.

I had to walk to the end of the park to retrieve the ladder from the trailer so I could put the windshield cover on. That’s one of the reasons I don’t like to drop the trailer – it’s inconvenient when we need something that’s stored in the trailer. Another reason is security. I have two locks on the tongue so it would be very difficult to hook up and tow our trailer away like those Dirty, Rotten Thieves did in San Diego. The doors also have padlocks on them.

One thing I’ve noticed on the 20-foot-long slab-sided trailer is the effect of thermal expansion on the aluminum skin. The side facing the sun heats up and the aluminum siding expands. The skin is screwed into the steel frame and can’t move, so the expansion of the aluminum skin results in a wavy surface. Once it cools down, the aluminum contracts and the side is smooth and tight again.

Wavy trailer siding in the sun

We paid for three nights here at the Elks Lodge at a cost of $20/night. With 50 amp electrical service and the need for air conditioning, I think this is a bargain. The temperature hit the mid-80s yesterday with clear skies and we expect more of the same over the next few days. The elevation here is around 2,200 feet above sea level.

Today Donna has an appointment with a hair stylist that cut her hair when we were here two years ago. As always, that’s one of her biggest challenges – finding a good stylist who knows how to cut curly hair. We need to plan our next stop – I’m thinking we’ll head south on US95 toward Boise. All I know for sure is that we need to be in Colorado Springs by the end of the month to crew for the Heart’s A’Fire hot air balloon at the Labor Day Lift-Off balloon festival.

Contingency Plans

It was nearly 2pm by the time we pulled out of Celilo Park on the bank of the Columbia River on Friday. While Donna worked on a project, I changed our fuel filter before we packed up and left. I change the fuel filter annually and always mark the month/year with a permanent marker so I know when it was changed.

Diesel fuel filter

Before I changed the filter, a COE employee stopped at our rig. He asked how long we planned to stay. I told him we would be leaving in an hour or two. He said he expected a lot of wind surfers to arrive for the weekend and said we were taking up too many parking spaces to stay over the weekend. Good to know for future reference.

We planned a short drive of about 35 miles to the Walmart in Hood River. I had looked at it on Google Earth, the lot looked large and I could see a few RVs in the image. When we got there, the lot was large enough, but it was posted “No Truck or RV Parking.”

The thing is, you never know when the Google image was taken and things can change. We had a plan “B”. We would continue west on I-84 to Troutdale, a suburb east of Portland. We stayed at the Fairview RV Park on Sandy Boulevard there two years ago and saw RVs overnighting at the Walmart. It was another 45 miles away.

The parking lot at this Walmart was a nightmare. It was busy and I had drivers in cars cutting me off, other drivers stopping and waving me through when I couldn’t possibly get by them – I even had a car pass on my right when I had my right turn indicator on and swung wide to make the turn. It’s a good thing I checked my mirror or I would have pinched the car.

Then we saw that the lot was posted – no overnight parking. Donna called the store and was told a city ordinance had been passed prohibiting overnight parking in public areas. I could go on a rant about politicians taking control of corporate business decisions. On the other hand I’ve seen too many people taking advantage of Walmart by setting up long-term, not just overnight. Bottom line: we needed to find an overnight spot.

Donna phoned the Columbia River RV Park to see if we could move our reservation up one day. No dice, they didn’t have any open sites. Next, I called the Elks Lodge across the river from Portland in Vancouver, Washington. They very friendly as always and told me they had one back-in site with electric and water open or I could dry camp in their lot. The lodge was about 15 miles away.

It was 4pm by then and the rush hour traffic was building. I was already feeling tired from maneuvering through Walmart lots. The bumper-to-bumper traffic getting on I-205 didn’t help. The 15-mile drive took about 40 minutes. I missed the entrance to the Elks Lodge – it’s hidden in what appears to be a residential street. I made a loop through a residential area and found the lodge. We went inside and were welcomed to stay in their lot. I paid a dry camping fee of $10.

When we’re traveling and winging it, looking for cheap or free overnight stays, it pays to be flexible and have contingency plans. If the Elks hadn’t worked out, I’m not sure what our next move would have been, but we would have come up with something. There are a number of state parks along the Columbia River, but we’re too large for most of them. Sometimes a smaller rig can be advantageous.

We had dinner in the Elks Lodge – it was a busy Friday night there. The lodge is next to I-205 so we had traffic noise throughout the night, but other than that, we had no complaints.

Ozark the cat has been acting strange the past few days. When we were at Celilo Park, the passing trains with their loud horns frightened her. She took to hiding behind the vanity in the bedroom slide or hiding behind the sofa. We had to entice her out before I could pull the slides in. I won’t move the slides until I know where the cat is. The slides are powerful and trapping the cat in the mechanism would not be good.

Donna went out for a quick bike ride in the morning and then we left the Vancouver Elks Lodge a little past 11am and arrived at the Columbia River RV Park just past noon. It’s off Marine Drive, right on the river west of the airport. We’re looking forward to biking on the paved paths in the area. Checking in gave me a moment of concern. The guy behind the counter asked for my last name and said, “Mike, right?” Then a cloudy look came over his face and he said, “Uh-oh.” The sign on the door said no vacancy – I wondered if they overbooked and our confirmed reservation maybe wasn’t so confirmed. Then the woman at the counter said we may have to wait as check-out time is noon and they had to see if our site was available.

It turned out the people had already left site 109 and we had a choice of taking either 109 or 101. We looked the sites over and decided to take 109 – it had more space for the trailer. The site is a 50-foot pull-through. The concrete pad for our coach is level, but it’s narrow. There’s a shorter pad beside it for the trailer.

I pulled all the way through, then Donna directed me as I backed the trailer in place and dropped it. Then I backed the coach into the site. We had a few obstacles to overcome. There’s a four-inch steel pole protecting the electrical box that extends at least 12 feet high. Our first position would have the bedroom slide hit the pole, so I moved back. Now the slide was clear, but I couldn’t open the wet-bay door. I need to open this door to hook up water and sewer and access it when I dump.

I ended up parking the coach at an angle that gave me clearance for the slide and wet-bay. Then I moved the trailer slightly by hand to allow us access to the large basement compartment on the passenger side. It’s tight but it all worked out. Our neighbor was impressed by the way we dropped the trailer and got everything positioned.

Steel pole at utility box

Not much room

Trailer and coach staggered to allow basement access

The skies were overcast all morning and wouldn’t you know it, as soon as we started to back the trailer in, the skies began pouring rain. By the time I had the coach positioned, it stopped raining. Donna was drenched from directing me and I was wet from disconnecting the trailer.

After we set up, I went for a walk in the park. I couldn’t believe it when I saw a coach that was painted black with spray paint. I thought it was the Black Coach Guy from Mission Bay that I wrote about two years ago. I also saw a rig I recognized two sites down from us. It belongs to Eric and Brittany Highland (RvWanderlust). Eric has a Facebook group called Full-time Diesel RVers. I met them at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta last October. Their car was gone, so they must have been out for the day. I’m sure we’ll get a chance to visit before they leave.

Could it be the Black Coach Guy?

Later, when I took out trash to the dumpster, I met a long term park resident. He told me the black coach had been there for two years and was occupied by two women. So, it wasn’t Black Coach Guy, but it had a similar paint job.

Today the weather forecast looks good. Partly cloudy with zero percent chance of rain and a high in the upper 70s. Donna plans to write an article this morning, then ride her bike to meet up with her friend Marlo at a coffee shop. I’ll start with the Formula One race from Baku, Azerbaijan. Then I’ll get my bike out or explore on the Spyder.

Celilo Park

After looking at our options, we pulled out of our boondocking spot on the Biggs-Rufus Highway around 11am. I looked at the Google Earth image of the Elks Lodge in Hood River again and decided it would be too tight for our rig. We didn’t want to risk getting into a place we couldn’t exit from.

One of the places we found is a small Corps of Engineers (COE) park on the Columbia River called Celilo Park. It’s off exit 97 from I-84, between the interstate and the river. Celilo Falls is a place of historical significance to northwest native Americans. There were a series of waterfalls, pools and eddies here where the Columbia River squeezed through basalt formations. This created a natural choke point for salmon swimming upriver to spawn. It’s said the native Americans gathered here to fish for 15,000 years, using dip nets or spears to catch salmon. This ended in 1957 when the COE completed construction of The Dalles Dam. The dam flooded the back water and covered the falls.

The drive westbound on I-84 to exit 97 was only about seven miles. We pulled into Celilo Park and found a large paved lot with parking stalls for RVs about 40 feet long. The lot was mostly empty. We checked the sign boards and found the eastern end of the park and lot were for day use only. The west end has free camping for up to 14 days. There’s also a boat ramp.

We had to park across a number of the painted lines marking the parking stalls – we’re too long to fit in a single stall. There weren’t many people here, so we thought it wouldn’t be a problem. The view is great and the park is well-maintained. The downside is noise. On the south side, between the park and I-84 are two railroad tracks. Several trains come down the line – day and night. The tracks cross the road at the park entry. Due to the road crossing, the engineer is required to blow the train horn – two long blasts and one short – 15 to 20 seconds before crossing the roadway. That puts eastbound trains right at the end of the park when they blow the horn. There’s also a train track on the Washington side of the river, but it doesn’t contribute much noise.

Train tracks run next to the lot

Noise notwithstanding, we thought it was a beautiful spot and decided to stay for the night. Donna had a project she needed to work on, so we settled in. There were a couple of tent campers when we arrived, but they packed up and left around 1pm. One tent was left behind. It seemed odd. Several RVs – motorhomes, fifth-wheels and travel trailers stopped in the lot in the afternoon, but they only stayed a short while then moved on. One other RV stayed overnight – a Volkswagen Rialta van conversion by Winnebago. These were made in the ’90s.

I went for a walk through the park and saw barge heading upriver. The tow had two barges pushed by a tugboat. It’s nothing like the huge barge tows I wrote about on the Mississippi River. Barges have transported goods on the Columbia River and Snake River since the 1800s. Until the dam system and locks were installed, barges had to be off-loaded and goods portaged to another barge above the falls at a few points on the Columbia – including Celilo Falls.

Columbia River barge

We had nice weather – a few high clouds at times, but it was mostly sunny. We’ve dropped nearly 4,000 feet of elevation from Bend-Sunriver. The elevation here is less than 300 feet above sea level. Using the standard calculation of three degrees temperature drop per thousand feet of altitude, I would expect it to be about 10-12 degrees warmer here under normal conditions. Sometimes the standard calculation doesn’t work out due to atmospheric anomalies like temperature inversions and such.

The color of the clouds before sunset was reflected off the river. It was gorgeous – I shot a couple of photos but really couldn’t capture the beauty of it.

Looking up river – that’s Washington on the far bank

Looking down river toward The Dalles

The wind blowing from the west made small white caps on the water in the afternoon – it looked like the river was flowing east as the white caps were pushed along the surface. Of course, the Columbia flows westward to the Pacific Ocean.

When I took the photos just before sunset, I looked at the tent that was left behind. No one had come out of or into the tent all afternoon. I wondered if someone was inside, maybe ill or in need of assistance. I walked next to the tent and called out, “Hello.” After walking around a couple of times, I pushed against the sidewall with my foot in a few spots. I thought I felt something or someone inside. I opened the door zipper a few inches to take a look. No one was inside, just a pile of bedding and clothing. No one came that we saw in the night and the tent is still here this morning

We’ll hang out here for a while, then we’ll move on west after lunch. The weather forecast calls for another 70 degree day with a possibility of rain showers in the afternoon. We’ll look for a spot in Hood River for the night before we move to the Columbia River RV Resort in Portland tomorrow.

Can’t Stand the Cold

With the temperature still in the 30s at 9am on Wednesday and continued cold and wet weather in the forecast, we made the decision to move on from the Bend-Sunriver Thousand Trails campground.

I had much to do. All of our gear – chairs, Traeger, Weber grill, awning mat and bicycles needed to be put away. I also needed to remove and store the front window covers, water filters and hoses, check tire pressures and load the Spyder. This took some time. It was close to noon by the time I finished, so Donna fixed a plate of leftovers for lunch before we pulled out of our site.

Before leaving the campground, I spent another half-hour at the dump station dumping and flushing our holding tanks. We hit the road with empty holding tanks and a full fresh water tank. We had three more nights available at Thousand Trails but felt it wouldn’t be good to hang around. With cold, rainy weather we wouldn’t be doing much and I would have to pack things away before everything got wet anyway.

Flexibility is one of the keys to this lifestyle. We don’t have a reservation in Portland until Saturday so I found a couple of boondocking options and we winged it. We drove up US97 about 150 miles to Biggs, Oregon where US97 and I-84 meet. After filling up at the Pilot/Flying J we drove west on Biggs-Rufus highway a few miles to the Deschutes River State Recreation Area.

I crossed the Deschutes River bridge and pulled in at Heritage Landing. Looking at Google Earth, it appeared to be a likely boondocking spot. But, it had signs prohibiting overnight camping. So, I drove back across the bridge and pulled into the recreation area campground. Sites were $10/night but they were too small for our rig.

We drove back toward Biggs and pulled off in a large, level gravel lot overlooking the Columbia River. We found a nice spot in the back of the lot with trees protecting us from the wind. We thought it would be a good place to spend the night.

Boondocking site for the night

A train track runs between our location and the Columbia River. There’s another train track on the Washington side of the river. There were a few trains in the night but it wasn’t too bothersome.

View from our boondocking site

It was windy but much warmer than Bend. Last evening Donna went out for a walk around 6pm and it was 65 degrees out. It’s 50 degrees at 8:30am this morning. Much better than the overnight lows in the high 20s at Sunriver.

Today we plan to move on to Hood River. There’s an Elks Lodge there that will allow us to overnight in their parking lot. It looks a little tight on Google Earth, but if it works out, the location is good – right in the heart of town with restaurants and a brewery within walking distance.

A Day in Bend

We dry camped in the Bend Elks Lodge parking lot Friday. I unloaded the Spyder and we took a ride into town. We rode down Colorado Avenue so Donna could see where the hair salon is located – she has an appointment there next week. Then we crossed over the Deschutes River at Mirror Pond where Tumalo Avenue becomes Galveston Avenue. This is an older neighborhood with commercial buildings on Galveston mixed with residential housing on the side streets.

This is also an area with many brew pubs and small restaurants. We parked on a side street between 10 Barrel Brewing and the Sun River Brewing Galveston Pub. We went into 10 Barrel first and found seats at the bar. Donna is getting more adventuresome with her beer tastings and went for their Deep Root – an ale with honey and ginger which she absolutely loved. I had their Apocalypse IPA.

Deep Root – ale with honey and ginger

The woman sitting next to us at the bar was a local. She told us a few things about the area – including the fact the residents in the area aren’t too happy about all of the brew pubs. The parking is limited, so on busy nights the side streets are full of cars parked in front of their houses. She also told us her parents were full-time RVers and she is contemplating making a move to the RV lifestyle.

After we finished our beer we moved on to Sun River Brewing. I had their Vicious Mosquito IPA and Donna tried their SUP summer ale. Two beers was our limit – we had to ride the Spyder back to the Elks Lodge.

We went into the lodge for dinner. I had fish and chips while Donna had a plate of spaghetti and meatballs. This lodge is very nice and we especially liked that no smoking is allowed. We’ve found that some Elks Lodges are exempt from public smoking laws because they’re private clubs. Not so in Oregon. This lodge also had a selection of local brews on tap.

On Saturday morning, I got Donna’s bike out of the trailer so she could take a ride. She was out for about an hour and called me for directions once after making a wrong turn. We packed up and pulled out of the Elks Lodge a little past 10am. The drive to the Thousand Trails Sun River RV park was only about half an hour.

We checked in and were told there may be some sites long enough for us to back in without dropping our trailer. We drove slowly through the dusty dirt roads in the park. I found a long back-in site, unloaded the Spyder and backed the rig into it. It was so narrow that I had to crowd the door side of the coach near trees to have enough room to put the slides out on the driver’s side. I rode the Spyder down the road and found another long site that was wider.

We decided to move to the other site. With Donna directing me with her handheld Cobra CB radio, I maneuvered slowly but always ended up with obstacles – trees and a dumpster – preventing me from being able to get us into the site. We finally gave up and went back to the first site we found. I backed into it, but we still weren’t happy with the situation. Our neighbor told us there were some big, open sites on a grassy area by the road. I rode the Spyder there and saw all the those sites were full. On the way back, I saw a few long, wide sites in the “F” area.

I pulled out of the narrow site with Donna following me on the Spyder. We backed into a long, wider site and are much happier with it.

Long and wide site F12

We were set up in no time. Ozark the cat is always excited to see new surroundings outside the windows. Donna calls it cat TV when Ozark sits and stares out the window watching birds and other wildlife or people with dogs walking by.

Ozark watching cat TV

Donna’s friend Julie Muller and her husband TJ stopped by our coach. They’re in a site near us with their twin teenage sons. The four of them have been on the road for four years. They invited us to come over and join their group for a taco bar dinner.

We went over to their area around 5pm and found them along with four other families they often camp with. They are all full-timers. We had a nice meal and enjoyed meeting new people. It was a little different for us – we don’t often find ourselves among families with children. All of them had kids and were home (road) schooling them. One of the children was a baby celebrating her first birthday.

It was a fun evening. We came home around 8pm and sat outside until the mosquitoes chased us inside. Today the forecast calls for partly cloudy skies with a high of 91 degrees and a slight chance of a shower. We plan to play pickleball with the group we met last night and maybe get the kayak out on the river.

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Mount Shasta View

Wednesday was our last full day in Corning, California. Donna went for a bike ride in the morning. It was already well into the 80s when she left and the temperature would top 100 degrees by the time she returned. But she pledged to ride 250 miles in the month of June and raise $500 for children’s cancer research in the Great Cycle Challenge and wanted to log some miles on day one.

After her ride, she helped me prep a whole chicken to roast on the Traeger wood pellet fired smoker/grill. The chicken was lightly coated with olive oil, then I rubbed it with Lambert’s Sweet Rub O’Mine – my go-to rub for chicken.

Chicken prepped for the Traeger

I took it off the grill at 2pm. I cooked it at a lower temperature and kept it on the grill longer than the recipe I used called for. It came out great. Excellent flavor, juicy with crispy skin. We had a late lunch/early dinner of chicken, sauteed kale and a blend of brown and wild rice.

Traeger chicken, sauteed kale and brown rice-wild rice blend

I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the grills and loading the trailer. I had the Spyder in the trailer and everything buttoned up by 5pm.

Me, taking a break between chores

We were up early and on the road by 9am on Thursday. I don’t know what I was thinking when we left the Rolling Hills Casino RV Park – I got on I-5 south. When Nally – our Rand McNally RVND7720 GPS told me to take the next exit – five miles down the road – I wondered why. Then it dawned on me – I should have got on I-5 north! So, I wasted about 20 minutes and a gallon of fuel before we were headed in the right direction.

Corning, California is just under 300 feet above sea level. Our route had us climbing a gentle incline to Redding, California, then we hit some steeper grades. We drove past Shasta Lake and stopped at a scenic viewpoint to look at Mount Shasta – a 14,179-foot volcanic peak that last erupted in the 1700s. I took a photo, but it really doesn’t do justice to the spectacular sight.

Mount Shasta – 14,179 feet above sea level

There are seven glaciers on Mount Shasta. At the viewpoint there were a few signs with facts about the mountain. One of them showed routes climbers use to climb the mountain. It said that about 15,000 people attempt to climb the mountain every year, but only about a third of them make it to the summit.

Mount Shasta climbers routes

We got off I-5 at the town of Weed, California at an elevation of 3,400 feet and continued north on US97. We crossed a couple of passes through the Klamath National Forest that were over 5,400 feet high. The Cummins ISL pushed our coach along comfortably. Even on the steepest grades we kept our speed over 50mph and the coolant temperature never exceeded 200.

After crossing into Oregon, we stopped in Klamath Falls at the Pilot/Flying J travel center. I put 57 gallons of fuel in the tank and we got Subway sandwiches for lunch. We continued north on US 97 for about 15 miles and pulled into the Kla-Mo-Ya Casino. I had checked out the parking there on Google Earth and it looked doable.

We arrived a little before 2pm and the lot was mostly empty. We found a prime area of pavement on the west side of the lot that was fairly level and parked. Donna and I walked down to the casino and I asked the guy at the security desk about staying overnight. He said, “No problem as long as you don’t plan to stay for weeks at a time.”

The casino is very RV friendly. First-time visitors get a $10 credit on their club card to gamble with. When they heard we were in an RV, they added an extra two dollars! They also gave us a 20% discount coupon for the restaurant – and added a two dollar discount on top of that for being RVers!

Kla-Mo-Ya Casino dry camp – look close and you’ll see Donna in the living room window

Donna and I played a few hands on the poker machines, then went back to coach. Later, we went back to the casino to spend the rest of our free credits. I should have quit while I was ahead but ended up spending all of the free money.

Our spot in the lot was good, but it was close to the highway and somewhat noisy. It wasn’t a problem for me though, I slept soundly. The overnight temperature dropped below 50 degrees. By morning there were more than a half-dozen RVs in the lot.

This morning we had breakfast in the casino restaurant and used our discount coupons. Full breakfast for two came out to eight bucks. Nice! We hit the road around 9:30am and continued north on US97. We had a short climb north of Chiloquin as we drove through the Willamette National Forest. We went past the Sun River Thousand Trails campground where we’ll set up for two weeks beginning tomorrow.

We went another 20 miles north to the Elks Lodge in Bend, Oregon. We’ll dry camp in their lot for the night, then head back to Sun River. This afternoon we’ll take the Spyder out and hit a couple of brew pubs downtown.

Sitting Tight in Vegas

After another quiet night at the Kingman Elks lodge, we woke up early on Wednesday. Donna finished writing an article that was due. Then we rode the Spyder up Stockton Hill Road. After a mile or so, Stockton Hill Road becomes Hualapai Mountain Road. The road goes uphill as you head east, rapidly climbing to 5,000 feet above sea level at the Hualapai Mountain Park ranger station. The peaks in the park reach elevations greater than 8,400 feet. Hualapai (pronounced wah-lah-pie) is the name of an Indian tribe. It means “People of the Pines.”

Hualapai Mountain Park

We rode to the resort – it’s a small hotel, restaurant and store popular with ATVers.

Motorcycle parking

We went into the restaurant for lunch.

Donna in front of the restaurant

It’s a typical rustic setting with tables mostly set for parties of four. There’s also a bar and patio. It was larger inside than it looked from the entry. Donna had half a grilled turkey and cheese sandwich and a bowl of minestrone soup. I had the chili burger which was real man food. It was a ground beef patty covered with chili, smothered with cheese. The chili had chunks of beef and beans – lots of protein.

We took a look around but didn’t hike anywhere. There are a number of hiking trails in the park, but after a big lunch we weren’t up for it. The views coming down Hualapai Mountain Road were spectacular. On the way home, we reconnoitered the Super Walmart parking lot. We thought about stopping there on our way out of town to pick up groceries. However, the entry/exit was narrow and I decided it was too risky to try to get in there with the coach and trailer. The truck entrance led to a loading dock – not a place for us to park. We went back to the Elks Lodge and I loaded the Spyder in the trailer.

Later we popped in to the Elks Lodge for a cold one at happy hour, then returned to the coach to prepare dinner. Donna made yet another version of lemon-butter chicken – this one with chicken breasts instead of thighs.

Lemon-butter chicken breasts with roasted zucchini and tomatoes

She served it over leftover herbed brown rice and roasted zucchini and tomatoes. Yummy!

It rained overnight. On Thursday morning, we had a few sprinkles as I prepared to move. Donna went for a short run and did some exercises, then we finished packing up. We pulled out of the Kingman Elks Lodge a few minutes after 10am.

I expected rain on the way out of town. Heading up US93, I figured we would put the rain behind us after thirty miles or so. This turned out to be the case – and the forecast called for 0% chance of rain in Las Vegas.

Google maps and our GPS showed a route to the Thousand Trails Las Vegas RV Resort that took us up US93 until it becomes I-515. Then we would exit onto Boulder Highway and backtrack south, make a U-turn and enter the park. This may be the fastest route, but I wasn’t too keen to try it. The exit from I-515 onto Boulder Highway south requires a sharp right turn of about 135 degrees. Also, making a U-turn isn’t advisable with our overall length.

I modified the route to exit I-515 at Tropicana so I could make an easy 90-degree turn to the right. Then I turned left on Nellis taking me north. Nellis intersects Boulder Highway, which is a diagonal road compared to the north/south – east/west grid of the other major roads in the area. It was a gentle left turn of about 45 degrees onto Boulder Highway.

With our overall length of nearly 65 feet now, it pays to take a few minutes to study a map and plan for alternate routes. We could easily find ourselves in a bad situation otherwise. We pulled in to the RV park just after noon. The girl at the security station told me the biggest site they had available was 55 feet long and 24 feet wide. I said it sounded big enough for me to drop the trailer and park the motorhome next to it.

Once we were in the park, I could see we had our work cut out for us. The roads in the park are narrow, the sites are tightly packed together and I have my doubts about the 24-foot site width. We found site 34 and Donna and I talked over our plan for getting the trailer in it. With the narrow road, I was limited on how much maneuvering I could do without hitting anything with the coach.

Donna stayed in the site at the rear of the trailer and directed me with her handheld Cobra CB radio. I was having problems at the front of the coach. There were a couple of vehicles on the opposite side of the road. As I backed the trailer in, I had to swing the front of the coach to the right, toward the vehicles. As I got close to the vehicles, they disappeared from sight as they are much lower than the front of the coach. A neighbor came over and started directing me from the front. With Donna at the back and another set of eyes at the front, I worked my way into the site. It took a few attempts to get the trailer positioned where I wanted it.

We finally dropped the trailer, then I had to maneuver the coach into the site right next to the trailer. It took more than 35 minutes of jockeying back and forth to get the trailer and coach into the site. It’s tight. Our door clears the trailer with only a few inches to spare.

It’s a tight site – the yellow line marks the boundary

I got the Spyder out and made a quick beer run. I had a few raindrops on the way. I hurried back to coach as I could see heavy, dark clouds looming. At the park entrance, a car was stopped at the entrance barrier. The guy in the car stuck his head out the window and asked me if I knew the entry code. I said I knew the code, but I didn’t know him. He got out of his car and started yelling at me and cussing me out for not letting him in. A few big rain drops started falling. I punched in the code and told him to move his car. He kept yelling at me. Now it was really starting to rain. He finally got the message and got in his car and pulled through, letting me get into the park.

I got to our site and covered the Spyder just as the clouds really opened up and started pouring rain. So much for the 0% chance of rain in Las Vegas.

Donna made sweet and spicy salmon in the convection oven – last time I cooked it on the grill. It came out great. She served it with spinach sauteed with garlic oil and leftover Israeli couscous.

Sweet and spicy salmon with spinach and Israeli couscous

We had more rain into the night. We sat up and watched another recorded episode of The Americans that now brings us up to date with the live series. We expect a sunny day today with the temperature in the high 70s. Rain is forecast to return tomorrow, then we should have nice weather for the rest of our week in Las Vegas.

Dust in the Wind

As I mentioned in the previous post, we had to change up our plan on Monday. We took our time getting ready to leave the Thousand Trails Verde Valley RV Resort and Campground. Our original plan would have had us on the road earlier to make the drive to Flagstaff. But there were high wind advisories – sustained winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph. Up toward Flagstaff it was worse.

We headed out of the campground just before noon. Our destination was about two miles away on the west side of Thousand Trails Road before we reached AZ260. We spotted free dispersed camping there on National Forest land while we were out on the Spyder on Friday and Saturday. There were two distinct camping areas with a number of rigs in them. The dispersed camping was not so dispersed.

We bypassed the first area – I was concerned about getting our 65-foot length turned around to exit there. The second area was larger and had more room to maneuver. After looking around, we found a fairly level pullthrough spot and set up to ride out the wind storm.

After getting the coach leveled and putting the slides out, we were hit with a few strong wind gusts. The gusts rocked the coach and had the living room slide topper flapping like crazy. I decided to pull the living room slide in. It was better to be safe and not damage the slide topper – our layout works okay with the living room slide in. The bedroom slides are smaller and the toppers on those are less susceptible to wind damage.

Our dispersed camping boondock spot

With wind gusts slamming the coach, I was glad we made the change in plans and didn’t risk driving. We were hit with a few raindrops at times – passing showers that dropped just enough moisture to wet the windshield and the ground. Wetting the dirt was beneficial – before the rain fell wind gusts were kicking up clouds of dust.

Dust in the wind

Donna braved the elements during a lull and went out for a short hike around the area. I spent most of the day reading and looking at possibilities for Tuesday and Wednesday nights. We will check in at the Thousand Trails RV park in Las Vegas on Thursday.

After looking at a number of options, I called the Elks Lodge in Flagstaff. Local ordinance prohibits overnight parking there. Then I called the Elks Lodge in Kingman – that would position us more than half way to Las Vegas. They welcomed RVers in their lot – no hook ups, but no charge either. After talking it over, Donna and I thought two nights at the Kingman Elks Lodge was the best option.

The storm passed shortly after sunset

We ended the day by watching a couple of episodes of Homeland before hitting the sack. The wind finally died down after dark. We both slept soundly. It was cool – the outside temperature fell to the 40s after the front passed through and the temperature inside the coach was 55 degrees when we woke up at 6am. We stayed under the comforter until nearly 7am. I could hear a generator running and cars moving about the campsites, so I got up and fired up our generator. Then I turned on the heat pump.

We pulled out of the area around 8:45am and headed north on I-17. This had us climbing out of the Verde Valley up to the Mogollon Rim. By the time we hit I-40 west near Flagstaff, we were nearly 7,000 feet above sea level. The traffic was fairly light and the going was easy. I-40 westbound from Flagstaff drops gradually for the most part but there are a few steep downgrades.

We stopped at the Pilot/Flying J travel center in Kingman, a few miles short of the Elks Lodge. They had construction going on and only three truck lanes were open. It was crowded and we were in for a wait. After topping up with 66 gallons of diesel fuel at $2.26/gallon, we were on our way again after about 30 minutes.

When we found the Elks Lodge, I drove up slowly looking the parking lot over before I committed to anything. The parking lot on the east side of the lodge looked tight and I didn’t see a way out. Driving past the lodge to the west side I found a large open paved area that looks like it was once the site of two tennis courts. I pulled in there and made a U-turn. I positioned the coach next to a retaining wall separating the old courts from the parking lot.

After entering the lodge and verifying that it was okay to park where we were, we leveled the coach and put the slides out.

Paved and fairly level at Kingman Elks Lodge

Paved and fairly level site at Kingman Elks Lodge

In the photos of the coach and trailer it looks like the trailer rides nose down. This is because I dump the air from the coach suspension, lowering the coach before I level it. When the coach is at normal ride height, the trailer is level.

Our windshield view is a golf course and around the lodge is a nice, well-kept neighborhood. Behind us there are a few houses and desert bluffs. All in all, pretty nice surroundings and you can’t beat free! We’re at an elevation of about 3,500 feet above sea level – nearly the same as Verde Valley.

Windshield view

Not only does Elks membership give us the ability to stay at certain Elks Lodges with our coach, it also ensures that we’re within walking distance of food and drink! I went to the lodge at 4pm for happy hour. It was Tuesday – taco Tuesday to be precise. I texted Donna who was working on an article back in the coach and she joined me at 5pm to take advantage of the taco bar.

We had a drink and a couple of tacos and met a nice couple, Jason and Mona. They gave us a few tips for interesting things to do and see while we’re in Kingman. We’ll probably go to the Hualapai Mountain resort to take in the views and have lunch.

On Thursday, we’ll head up US93 to Las Vegas and the Thousand Trails Las Vegas RV park. I probably won’t post again until Friday.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Elks

Burger Night

Coeur D’Alene Elks Lodge

Contingency Plans

Celilo Park

Can’t Stand the Cold

A Day in Bend

Mount Shasta View

Sitting Tight in Vegas

Dust in the Wind

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