Day Four saw Big Thor touch pavement in three states: Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. More of the boring interstate in Idaho felt like we were back in dry west Texas. We cut across the northeastern corner of Oregon and we finally started seeing trees and mountains. Dull landscape gave way to picturesque vistas through the mountain passes. Viewing the scenery through our giant windshield gives it a panoramic quality. You just have to look past the splattered bugs.
Our journey took us in the area of the old Oregon Trail used by pioneers. Our son Ryan and Chris's mom used to love playing that computer game. We passed a sign in eastern Oregon saying we were crossing the 45th parallel which is halfway between the North Pole and the equator. There's actually a town near there called Halfway.
After crossing the Columbia River we had made it into our destination state of Washington!
Our resting spot for the night was Wine Country RV park in Prosser, in the south part of the state near the Columbia River. Apparently, it really is in wine country as there are several wineries and vineyards here. The RV park office even does wine tastings, but unfortunately not on the night we stayed. Not to worry, a bottle in our fridge tasted just fine to me.
We are nearing our cell phone data limits on this trip as WiFi isn't always available. That is a common complaint with RV parks: spotty WiFi. The campground in Idaho charged for the use of it and we decided we could live without it for a night. Now we may end up paying for extra cell data anyway. We'll have to go old-school and use our road atlas more and Apple maps less.
It's crazy that a special driver's license is not required to drive this huge behemoth. I swear it feels like we are wider than the lane. Chris prefers driving on divided highways. It's a bit scary when the oncoming traffic comes so near you. I find myself leaning in when we are passing a large vehicle as if I can help us avoid contact. When we pass big trucks, you can feel a wall of air from the truck hitting the wall of air coming from us.
Wind is much more noticeable than in a car. Chris has learned to steer gently and not make sudden movements to keep things smooth and under control. When the turn signal is on, a side camera shows a view of the blind spot on our console to help with changing lanes. Wide turns are a must. Thank goodness for rumble strips to help keep us in our lane and for cruise control so Chris's leg doesn't get so tired. The work he does steering has been getting counted as steps on his Fitbit. Who knew you could get a workout from driving an RV?
Russells Returned: Our Life Back in the Good Old USA
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Russells on the Road - Day 3
Day three: Even though we pulled in to our campsite late last night after midnight, neighbors this morning said they didn't hardly hear us. Fellow RV'ers are so nice. The friendly Vermont man at the site next to us shared that he was recently diagnosed with a thickened heart condition with 2-5 years to live. So he and his wife bought a camper and headed out on a month-long vacation.
We are over halfway to our destination now. Chris mapped out a shorter day today, only 260 miles, from Provo, Utah to Eden, Idaho, which is near Twin Falls. This five-hour day was such a contrast from yesterday, shorter and not as scenic; a desolate, hot, boring, drive along the interstate.
We saw our first snow of the trip on distant mountains in Utah. There must be a heatwave going on because temperatures are still in the 90s. Where is that cooler weather? Onward we plod in search of it.
While on the road I keep busy with a book I'm reading, or writing this blog, or on my iPhone: googling places we are seeing, monitoring the weather, tracking our progress on the maps app, checking Facebook. I have to remind myself to pay attention to the view! It was probably a gift yesterday when I had no cell phone service in the remote parts of Utah where the spectacular scenery was.
We arrived at the campground in Idaho early enough to go visit the beautiful Shoshone waterfalls along the majestic Snake River. Not all of the Idaho landscape is boring.
Day three ended with a pleasant sunset-viewing and cocktails at the campground and the nice feeling of being able to sleep in the same bed every night of our trip.
We are over halfway to our destination now. Chris mapped out a shorter day today, only 260 miles, from Provo, Utah to Eden, Idaho, which is near Twin Falls. This five-hour day was such a contrast from yesterday, shorter and not as scenic; a desolate, hot, boring, drive along the interstate.
We saw our first snow of the trip on distant mountains in Utah. There must be a heatwave going on because temperatures are still in the 90s. Where is that cooler weather? Onward we plod in search of it.
While on the road I keep busy with a book I'm reading, or writing this blog, or on my iPhone: googling places we are seeing, monitoring the weather, tracking our progress on the maps app, checking Facebook. I have to remind myself to pay attention to the view! It was probably a gift yesterday when I had no cell phone service in the remote parts of Utah where the spectacular scenery was.
We arrived at the campground in Idaho early enough to go visit the beautiful Shoshone waterfalls along the majestic Snake River. Not all of the Idaho landscape is boring.
Day three ended with a pleasant sunset-viewing and cocktails at the campground and the nice feeling of being able to sleep in the same bed every night of our trip.
Russells on the Road - Day 2
Day two of our RV trip was a very long day of driving, heading out at 8 am and, 16 hours later, parking it in Provo, Utah for the night just after midnight. We saw some spectacular scenery, traveling through three states: New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. We visited the spot where those three states meet up with Colorado at the Four Corners Monument so, actually, we stepped foot in four states today.
We detoured through Monument Valley where five John Wayne movies were made in this iconic American West landscape of majestic sandstone rock formations. A billboard proclaims it the World's Largest Outdoor Museum. It was awesome! Well worth the extra hours it added to our trip.
We crossed the continental divide in New Mexico. Our trip should be downhill from here on haha! Our ears have started popping as we traverse the mountains. After the rugged, dry terrain of New Mexico and Arizona, we, and our dogs especially, were so happy to step foot on green grass in Utah. I saw my first dust devil when one swirled just a few feet away from us in the dusty parking lot at Four Corners.
Parts of the drive today felt like a twisting rollercoaster ride, with the skinny ribbon of highway going up and down and around the rolling hills. Only instead of being in a small rollercoaster car, our 22,000 pound motor home was negotiating the turns. Yikes! Scenic but scary.
Today was our 29th wedding anniversary. Our sunset, mountain-view, picnic dinner of Burger King whoppers in a parking lot with our dogs resting comfortably nearby may not have been the fanciest, but it was sweet and part of a memorable, enjoyable day together.
Russells on the Road - Day 1
Day one of our five-day journey hauling our new motor home to Washington State for the summer went well overall. Chris mapped the trip from Houston to Santa Rosa, New Mexico at 766 miles. We can't figure out why our trip odometer reported only 690 miles traveled at the end of the day. Perhaps the miles when we were flying didn't register. Chris driving fast? Surely not!
Our twelve-hour day on the road consisted of lots of annoying road construction, a heavy rain storm, an air-conditioner that couldn't handle the humid 90-degree temperatures, a leaky windshield, the refrigerator door flying open after a curb-bumping turn, hitting a low-flying bird, losing an exterior light cover, and two rejected credit cards when filling up the 100-gallon tank. But we reached our destination safely, right on schedule, in 20-degrees cooler weather, and still married!
Chris maneuvered the shoulderless, winding narrow lanes in the construction zones like a pro but said he really didn't enjoy it. I think he managed to flip off only one driver who wouldn't let him over. Well done Chris!
Through our giant windshield we saw pretty, changing scenery, loads of semi-trailer trucks, other RVs, and splattered bugs galore! We went from trees in east Texas to dry scrub brush of west Texas, across rolling hills and flat plains, and ended up on Historic Route 66 in New Mexico.
Our highway path took us right by the giant Sam Houston statue in Huntsville and then later past the Cadillac ranch near Amarillo where old Cadillacs are lined up nose-first in the ground. In Amarillo, you can't miss seeing the Big Texan Steak Ranch restaurant where, if you eat the 72-ounce steak dinner, you get it for free. You can't miss the Big Texan due to the numerous billboards proclaiming it across the Texas panhandle.
We are kind of missing our Sirius satellite radio. Big Thor just has old-school radio where we have to keep finding new stations as we move out of range. We encountered a dearth of radio stations in west Texas. But along some stretches there was definitely some good road music.
So our day ended pleasantly, eating dinner outside at our campsite while viewing the most incredible sunset. How nice to not have to check into a motel, take bags in and then pack back up in the morning.
Our twelve-hour day on the road consisted of lots of annoying road construction, a heavy rain storm, an air-conditioner that couldn't handle the humid 90-degree temperatures, a leaky windshield, the refrigerator door flying open after a curb-bumping turn, hitting a low-flying bird, losing an exterior light cover, and two rejected credit cards when filling up the 100-gallon tank. But we reached our destination safely, right on schedule, in 20-degrees cooler weather, and still married!
Chris maneuvered the shoulderless, winding narrow lanes in the construction zones like a pro but said he really didn't enjoy it. I think he managed to flip off only one driver who wouldn't let him over. Well done Chris!
Through our giant windshield we saw pretty, changing scenery, loads of semi-trailer trucks, other RVs, and splattered bugs galore! We went from trees in east Texas to dry scrub brush of west Texas, across rolling hills and flat plains, and ended up on Historic Route 66 in New Mexico.
Our highway path took us right by the giant Sam Houston statue in Huntsville and then later past the Cadillac ranch near Amarillo where old Cadillacs are lined up nose-first in the ground. In Amarillo, you can't miss seeing the Big Texan Steak Ranch restaurant where, if you eat the 72-ounce steak dinner, you get it for free. You can't miss the Big Texan due to the numerous billboards proclaiming it across the Texas panhandle.
We are kind of missing our Sirius satellite radio. Big Thor just has old-school radio where we have to keep finding new stations as we move out of range. We encountered a dearth of radio stations in west Texas. But along some stretches there was definitely some good road music.
So our day ended pleasantly, eating dinner outside at our campsite while viewing the most incredible sunset. How nice to not have to check into a motel, take bags in and then pack back up in the morning.
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Russells Retired
Chris is retired now. Some people buy a vacation home when they retire. We chose to buy a vacation home on wheels. We now own a 38 foot Thor Tuscany motor home. Isn't that a cool name? The plan is to drive it to Washington state for the summer where we get to see our son and his wife in Seattle and also partake of some cooler weather than the Houston heat.
We are brand new to the RV world so before our cross-country journey we took the big beast for some practice camping runs. A perk of retired life is being able to take quick trips during the week when the parks are not so weekend-crazy-crowded. We spent two nights at Sam Rayburn lake in east Texas and a couple nights at McKinney Falls state park in Austin. Chris got to practice driving our bus-sized vehicle, which I am not brave enough (or dumb enough!) to attempt. Our dogs were thrilled getting to travel with us.
I like this "glamping" business: glamour camping. We are now the folks that used to annoy us when we went tent camping, pulling up in our giant, view-blocking, generator-running machine. Being able to sleep with air-conditioning and use our own bathroom is so worth it. The cost of the overnight camping site is much cheaper than a motel room, not taking into account the cost of the RV! Ha!
Our two practice trips were quite enjoyable with lots of relaxing leisure time. There was some effort required ahead of time like buying supplies, prepping food, loading up the motor home, but then you reap the rewards later..... Kind of like working and then enjoying retirement!
We are brand new to the RV world so before our cross-country journey we took the big beast for some practice camping runs. A perk of retired life is being able to take quick trips during the week when the parks are not so weekend-crazy-crowded. We spent two nights at Sam Rayburn lake in east Texas and a couple nights at McKinney Falls state park in Austin. Chris got to practice driving our bus-sized vehicle, which I am not brave enough (or dumb enough!) to attempt. Our dogs were thrilled getting to travel with us.
I like this "glamping" business: glamour camping. We are now the folks that used to annoy us when we went tent camping, pulling up in our giant, view-blocking, generator-running machine. Being able to sleep with air-conditioning and use our own bathroom is so worth it. The cost of the overnight camping site is much cheaper than a motel room, not taking into account the cost of the RV! Ha!
Our two practice trips were quite enjoyable with lots of relaxing leisure time. There was some effort required ahead of time like buying supplies, prepping food, loading up the motor home, but then you reap the rewards later..... Kind of like working and then enjoying retirement!
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