Cusick (WA) to West Glacier (MT) - 248 miles

Sept.10, 2011 - Got an early start to our day.  We were on the road by 8:45 am!  Drove out of Washington, across the Idaho panhandle, and into Montana.  We are on Highway 2 now.  It will take us all the way to Munising, Michigan.  By late afternoon, we had made it to West Glacier, just west of Glacier National Park.  We’re in Mountain Time Zone now.  We are going to stay three nights at Glacier Campground so we can relax and explore Glacier National Park.  We’re nestled into the trees tonight listening to the Amtrak train whistle as it arrives and departs from the West Glacier train depot. 

While traveling in the RV today, I started reading The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame, aloud to Tom.  It’s a classic that I remember reading when I worked as a children’s librarian in the Janesville, WI schools.  Tom has never read the book, but he was very familiar with one of the passages:  “...there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”  We’re planning to paddle our kayaks in Lake McDonald tomorrow.

On the open road...

Winthrop (WA) to Cusick (WA) - 235 miles

Sept. 9, 2011 - We kayaked on Pearrygin Lake after breakfast - a wonderful way to start the day.  Drove the Subaru into Winthrop to buy a few groceries before getting on the road with the RV at 11:50am.  Then it was a steady day of driving through 90+ degree temperatures.  By late afternoon, we wanted to find an RV park for the night.  Our iPad has been so helpful to locate RV sites, but it failed us today as we looked for a site along the Pend Oreille River in Washington.  The first two places listed were actually RV resort communities that you buy into and they were both abandoned.  We saw a billboard sign for another RV park, but that one was also a resort that you buy into.  A woman at that resort community told us about a DNR site nearby on the Skookum Creek.  So, we drove the RV down a gravel road for a short way and “dry camped” for the night - no electric or water hookups.  We ate a light dinner - a tuna wrap and chips with Roger’s chocolates from Victoria for dessert.  Tom was surprised to get truffles on this trip!  Even though we have battery power to use in the RV when we can’t hook up to an outside source, we called it an early night and crashed at 8:30 pm.  Waking up in the night, I could look through the back window above our heads to see a forest of tall trees reaching up into the stars... 

Rockport (WA) to Winthrop (WA) - 98 miles

Sept. 8, 2011 - Leisurely morning... I just love drinking a cup of tea in bed first thing in the morning while I'm journaling.  I don't do that at home!  We were on the road by 11:00 am today.  The drive through North Cascades National Park was gorgeous - high mountain spires still holding snow fields and aqua blue lakes created by a series of dams.  A sign outside the small town of Marblemount just west of the national park proclaims that it is the "Entrance to the American Alps."  We hiked to Blue Lake, a 4.5 mile round-trip hike with a 1,050-foot elevation gain.  The larch trees were just starting to turn yellow.  We saw a chubby little pika scurrying through the rock boulders.  Two mountain goats, a female and a young one, were grazing 20 feet off the path as we passed by.  There were even fish in the alpine waters of Blue Lake.  It was a great hike.

Tonight, we're parked in a private RV park near the shores of Pearrygin Lake.  Silverline Resort is only a few miles outside of Winthrop (WA).  It has nice sites for RVs with a view of the lake in one direction and a view of the mountains in the other.  We sat in lawn chairs behind our RV tonight to watch the sunset over the mountains.

Pat at Blue Lake in North Cascades National Park

Tom on trail to Blue Lake

Sequim (WA) to Rockport (WA) - 123 miles

Sept. 7, 2011 - We started our trip at 10:40 am on Wednesday, Sept. 7.  Everything I’ve read online about stress levels rising as two people pack the RV and get things ready to roll is so true.  I stayed up until 12:30 am the night before to get things ready, thinking I was going to be ahead of the game.  Woke up at 5:30 am the next morning and really thought I was going to be ahead of the game.  But no -- I wasn’t ready to go by the time Tom had the Subaru hooked up behind the RV and was ready to roll. 

Once we were on the road, though, we both felt the excitement of a road trip in our new RV, hauling our favorite toys - kayaks, bikes, and hiking gear.  A woman on the ferry trip from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island commented that we must have won the lottery to have a new RV, new car and new kayaks.  We didn’t win the lottery, but we have decided to spend our retirement years following “blue highways” and enjoying all that the road has to offer.  (P.S.  Our car isn't new.  It was just really clean because Tom washed it before we left home.)

By the time we arrived at Howard Miller Steelhead Park in Rockport, WA on the Skagit River, we were ready to relax.  It has become our routine to select a site as soon as we arrive at an RV park or campground, register, park the RV, then go off to explore the immediate area.  We are right on the Skagit River, a wide, clear, wild and scenic river.  Setting out our lawn chairs on the shore of the river, enjoying a glass of wine and beer, it wasn’t long before we saw an eagle flying down the river!

It is so much warmer here than our Olympic peninsula.  It didn’t take us long to change into shorts and sandals.  I found a large, flat rock along the shore that I could sit on to read my book.  Tom also relaxed along the river with a book.  The start to the day was hectic and stressful, but the end of the day has been a dream. 

Washington to Michigan

Our travel plans have been made.  We're driving Highway 20 through northern Washington, one of the most scenic drives in the state.  We'll catch Highway 2 in Idaho and stay on that route all the way to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan.  Wednesday, Sept. 7, is our departure date.  We are so excited about traveling the blue highways across the northern United States.  We're prepared to paddle the lakes along the way, fish the streams, hike and bike the trails, eat the local food (especially trout if Tom doesn't catch any), shop at any General Stores and Farmer's Markets we find along the way...

The RV is about ready to go.  I've made hundreds of trips out to the driveway to load it with food, dishes, traveling clothes, and odd 'n ends.  The tow bar and brake system have been installed on the Subaru and appear to be doing what they are supposed to do.  At least, the car is following closely behind our traveling home and turning when we turn.  I drove the RV for the first time last Friday.  Tom was beginning to wonder if he was ever going to get me behind the wheel.  That thing is BIG!  I'm sure I'll be more comfortable with it by the time we get to Michigan.

We'll be in Munising, Michigan by Sept. 20 where we will be meeting friends for a four-day backpack at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior.  We'll spend another week in northern Wisconsin visiting friends and family.  We should be in southern Wisconsin by Oct. 8 where we will be staying for the next three weeks.  Then it's on the road again on Nov. 1 to head back home.

In front of our house on a foggy day (Sept. 5)

Kalaloch Trip

Kalaloch (pronounced clay lock)  June 8-10, 2011

Kalaloch is an Olympic National Park campground on the Pacific Ocean.  We backed into a site on the cliff right over the water!  The site was not level, which meant we had to make a few adjustments to living in our home on wheels.  We slept with our heads at the foot of our bed and ran the refrigerator for only very short periods of time - something about the refrigerator needing to be level to work on the LP gas.  Next trip, we will have some kind of outside leveler gadget to straighten us out.

It was a relaxing two-night getaway, though.  We walked along the beach and through the forested campground.  Read books and wrote in journals and baked cookies.  RV Tip:  When we make cookies at home now, we freeze some of the dough.  On the road, we can bake a dozen cookies in our little oven with the bit of dough we have brought along.  Mmmmmmm!

We paid only $7.00 per night for a site at Kalaloch.  Tom was able to get the senior discount, aka the geezer discount.  The campground does not have any hookups.  We are finding that we like this kind of dry camping.  

A home with a view of the Pacific Ocean

On the edge

How is this tree hanging on?

The First RV Trip

Sequim to Walla Walla, Washington  May 17-21, 2011

We set out on our first RV trip two weeks after we bought our Winnebago.  It was fun planning and packing for a five-day road trip to southeastern Washington.  I love sitting higher in the cab where I get a slightly different perspective of the passing scenery and can even see over bridge railings to the water below.  Every time we pull over for a driving break, I set out some kind of snack for us to eat - stuffed dates, tortilla wraps, smoked salmon, cheese and crackers, nuts, fruit, chocolate, cookies.  We're going to gain weight just from the rest stops we take along the way!

Our cats, Cooper and Teva, have to learn to be RV cats.  Tom has been taking them out to the RV for a little bit each day to help them get familiar with their second home.  They are not so sure that they like this lifestyle yet.  They do move fairly well around the RV when it is moving.  Except the time that Tom stepped on the brake and a cat fell on top of his head from the loft overhead, knocking his glasses off!  Fortunately, no one was behind us and there was a good pull-out space along the side of the road.  We were soon back to being one happy family moving down the road again.

We stayed at a nice RV park in Toppenish, WA the first two nights - pool, hot tub, walking paths, nice mountain views.  We were having trouble finding an overnight RV space in Walla Walla, WA the next night and I thought we were going to have to stay in a Walmart parking lot.  A quick change of plans led us to Pierce's Green Valley along the Walla Walla River west of town.  The RV Park has been created out of a hay field that is no longer being mowed.  We met the owner, a woman who was given the tract of land when her husband no longer was able to hay it.  I love meeting people as we travel and hearing their stories.

Filling the RV with gas is quite an experience.  It takes two times to get it filled.  The gas pump shuts off at $75-99, depending on where you get gas.  So, we have to start the pump a second time to get the tank filled.  I don't mind spending the money for gas.  I love being on the road, seeing the sights, and meeting people.  I'd rather spend money on a tank of gas than a night in a hotel room where you sleep the time away.

I have also learned that RVs move slower than cars, especially uphill.  I will have a lot more patience while following an RV from now on.  You need to walk a mile in someone's moccasins to know a thing.  I have traveled in RV moccasins now and have learned a thing or two...