Two Months, Four States, Twelve RV Parks, and over 100 degrees

And checking off some items from our Bucket List

Our Maiden Voyage  back in April was short and bittersweet, read more here. We then returned to Anacortes, where after a brief stint home we decided to try again and took to the road. This time it got off to a great start, read about it in our article, Airstreaming, Alpacas, and Sunsets.

We’re back home, again, after two months on the road, after traveling through four states (Washington, Oregon, Northern California, and Reno Nevada area.) We discovered twelve RV parks, some were fantastic (didn’t want to leave), a couple were so-so.

And when we entered Northern California in early June, we also hit temperatures over 90+, then over 100 or more by mid-June, lasting for over a month. When you are from Washington state (the west side of the Cascades) anything over 75 is considered hot. If we hit 80, we moan and groan and start to melt, so just imagine what happened when the whole PNW hit 100 degrees or more. I knew that I was finally adjusting to the heat, when I decided that 90 was considered cool after hitting over 100.  :-)

With the heat upon us, our original trip plans took a detour and instead of going where the road took us next, we had to make more concrete plans and find RV parks with full hook-ups so we could run our A/C. In an industry, where RV parks are supposedly full and hard to obtain, I was worried it might prove to be challenging, especially with a holiday weekend in the mix (the 4th of July) but with some good research and calling around, we somehow managed.

We picked locations that interest us, especially for photography, and places we had never been to. We also needed to allow time in some locations to just relax, when we could get it we would stay for a week. RV Life is fun, but it can also be quite draining when you are moving too much or doing too many activities. We needed our down time. Plus we had a few loads of laundry to do here and there.

Though it wasn’t part of any plan, I suddenly found myself checking off things that were on our list of Someday (Bucket List.)

The first Someday - River Rafting - see the article Why Are Adventures Always Fun…Afterwards. This was on my Someday list, I just never thought I would be brave enough for that adventure.

Crater Lake

The next Someday(s) - We ended up spending a lot of time in central and southern Oregon between Medford and Eugene, since we were there we decided to knock off two of our Someday items: Crater Lake and Oregon’s Covered Bridges, during the heat, these two items were great ways to cool down.

Oregon Covered Bridges

Mt. St. Helens

Our last Someday(s) on this trip, took place in Washington State. We spent a week in Kelso, WA. This is not usually a destination we would choose, but I chose it because it wasn’t normally a destination and it was a place we had never visited. It felt like a good place to have some great down time and it was. While there we finally ventured up to Mt. St. Helens, a Someday item that finally found its day. What a beautiful and scenic drive up to Johnson Ridge. We also wanted to attend a small town rodeo and on our last night in Kelso, the Cowlitz Fair started and so did the Thunder Mountain Pro Rodeo. It was fun and so entertaining, a great end to our final night on this journey. As a bonus - we found our first “Largest” item, right here in Winlock, WA

Due to the change of plans and having to find RV parks, most of the parks we found were along I-5. I soon called our trips, ‘the I-5 Shuffle’, I felt sometimes like all we did was go up and down I-5, especially in Oregon.

The rates in parks have gone up considerably for various reasons, even state parks, making our stays a little bit more pricey, but it was also during this time that I found I was more of a Glamping RVer (see my article What Kind of RVer Am I. At least that is what kind of RVer we were during these two months on the road.

But all of that is about to change…well, at least, slightly. Stay tuned.

We left Anacortes on May 20th and returned on July 23rd. We are home until August 12th, then it’s off to an even longer adventure…

May 20 - Midway RV Park, Centralia, WA
May 21-  Wings and Prayer Alpaca Farm (Harvest Host) Amity, OR
May 22 - Meadows Estate Winery (Harvest Host) Oakland, OR
May 23 - June 1 - Turtle Rock Resort, Gold Beach, OR
June 1-5 - Bay Point Landing, Coos Bay, OR
June 6 - Yreka RV Park, Yreka, CA
June 7 - Chico Rice Farm (Harvest Host) Willows, CA
June 8-10 - Jackson Rancheria Casino, Jackson, CA
June 10-17 - Gold Ranch Casino, Verdi, CA
June 17 - Susanville RV, Susanville, CA
June 18-21- Yreka RV Park, Yreka, CA
June 21-26 - Seven Feathers Casino RV Park, Canyonville, CA
June 26-29 - Casey’s Riverside RV Park, Westfir, OR
June 29 - July 3 - Olde Stone Village, McMinnville, OR
July 3 - 9 - Seven Feathers RV, Canyonville, OR
July 9- 16 - Premier RV Resort, Salem, OR
July 16- 23 - BrookHollow RV Park, Kelso, WA

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