Silvie goes to Salem

[Al and Missy]

I'm going use this thread to document our trip to the WBCCI International Rally in Salem, OR. I'll never come up to the level of Brian's documentation of his, Sue Ellen's and Lucy's travels, particularly on the trip up when we will be traveling with a group with the intent of ensuring arrival on a schedule. On the way back we plan to take our time and see some sights - Crater Lake, Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Tetons National Parks and I'll try to do a better job.

Day 1, combined with Day 2 - We worked for weeks getting ready for this trip. New axles, disc brakes, plus all the normal stuff to get ready to go on the road. The plan was to leave 6/7 and go to Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center for the night. We ended up delaying departure a day and drove all the way to our second stop, the Forsyth, Ga KOA, in one leg. Here we are all loaded up and ready to go:



Here we are at Forsyth KOA:



Next we spent two nights at Doll Mountain Campground near Elljay, GA. Doll Mountain Campground is on Carter's Lake, a COE lake. We have stayed here several times and love it.



Sunset at Doll Mountain



We did manage a picture through the windshield in Newnan, GA on the way to Doll Mountain. Apologies to Brian....



More to follow as I catch up.


Al

[moosetags]

Hi Al,

It looks like you are getting a pretty good start to me. Have a safe and great trip and, by all means, keep us posted on your adventure.

Brian

[Jarrod White]

Al
Good thread but any reference to Newnan is incomplete if it doesn’t mention Lewis Grizzard - Newnan’s most famous resident - and his favorite bbq joint Sprayberrys.
It sounds like your trip is off to a fun start. What route are you taking from Elijay? Blue Ridge, Georgia is nearby and has a great downtown area if it’s on your route.

[Al and Missy]

Originally Posted by Jarrod White

Al
Good thread but any reference to Newnan is incomplete if it doesn’t mention Lewis Grizzard - Newnan’s most famous resident - and his favorite bbq joint Sprayberrys.
It sounds like your trip is off to a fun start. What route are you taking from Elijay? Blue Ridge, Georgia is nearby and has a great downtown area if it’s on your route.

Loved reading Lewis's books! I didn't remember that he was from Newnan.

I used the wrong tense in the first post; I am posting after the fact. The itinerary was/is:


Melbourne Beach, FL
Forsyth, GA
Doll Mountain/Ellijay, GA
Duck Creek RV Park, Paducah, KY
Cottonwoods RV Park, Columbia, MO
Wilson State Park, Wilson, KS
I-80 Lakeside Campground, North Platte, NE
Riverside Campground, Riverside, WY
Rock Springs/Green River KOA, Rock Springs, WY
Willow Bay RV Cafe, American Falls, ID
Neat Retreat RV Park, Fruitland, ID
Bend/Sisters Garden RV Park, Bend, Oregon
WBCCI International Rally, Oregon State Fairgrounds, Salem Oregon
Crater Lake RV Park, Prospect, OR
Windy Cove Campground A, Winchester Bay, Oregon
Harborview RV Park, Garibaldi, OR
Tonight we are at Plymouth Park COE, Plymouth, WA

I'll be trying to catch up with posts and photos in the next few days.

Next stops are:

Bonner County Fairgrounds, Sandpoint, ID
West Glacier KOA, West Glacier, MT
West Yellowstone KOA, West Yellowstone, MT
Teton Valley RV Park, Victor, ID

and then a bunch more stops on the way home.

Al

[Hans627]

Enviously tagging along!

[Al and Missy]

Sorry for the lack of reporting. My Ram's Nav system failed in Glacier NP. We have been navigating with turn by turn listings from RV Trip Wizard and checking them off as we make the turns. Not getting great internet connections and now I have hit my data limit. More in a few days.


Al

[Al and Missy]

Next stop – Duck Creek RV Park near Paducah, KY, where we joined two other members for the rest of the trip. In addition to their Airstreams, there were two others there. A small commercial park without much in the way of amenities but clean and well maintained.


From Paducah we headed west. We saw corn, lots of corn. At least in KY it is mostly for cattle feed, I’m told. I figured it was for ethanol.


We crossed the Ohio River at Cairo, IL and the Mississippi at Cape Girardeau, MO. At their junction, the Ohio dwarfs the Mississippi. Our friends Mike and Nancy are in the lead on the bridges.











We went on, headed for Cottonwoods RV Park. Somehow we managed not to get any pictures there, but here’s another bridge – over the Missouri River.


Another river crossing, the Kansas River.


We passed Fort Riley, KS, the home of The Big Red One, the First Infantry Division. Lots of HumVees, MRAPs, etc. in the next lot.


We saw wheat, lots of wheat. At harvest time some of the grains blow onto the road shoulders. The subsequent plants are called “road wheat”. We took some stalks to see if we could grow it.


I think I'm getting the hang of this. I'll try to do another segment tomorrow.


Al

[Al and Missy]

Well, I didn't get back to this for a long time. As Paula said today, "life happened". All is well now, but we are still trying to finish up a major remodeling job with landscaping and paving works.

After Fort Riley, we continued west. We saw almost as many wind turbine generators as we had seen wheat fields.


We continued westward to Wilson State Park at Sylvan Grove, KS. There are two separate campgrounds, each with multiple loops. Our group made their reservations separately so Missy and I ended up in a different campground from the others in our group, but both campgrounds are located around Wilson Reservoir and most sites have water views. But the flies, oh, the flies. Large housefly-like flies that bite! Here we are arriving. That's Nancy and Mike in front of us.
Attachment 337970

Now we are heading north and west to North Platte, NE. It is FLAT out here. I guess I didn't take any pictures of the campground.


From North Platte we headed for Riverside, WY. WE chose an indirect route via Highway 130, also known as the Snowy Range Scenic Byway. Here's the Snowy Range in the distance.


Hiway 130 climbs up to 11,000 feet through some beautiful scenery in the Medicine Bow National Forest.

Although it was 66 degrees there was a lot of snow still on the ground and an ice skim on roadside ponds.



IN Riverside we stayed at the Lazy Acres Campground on the Encampment River. This picture was taken out our back window, through the screen so it has some structure in it.


From Riverside we headed North to I-80 and then West to the Rock Springs KOA. It is starting to look like we are in the West!



Settled in at the KOA, just before the sandstorm hit.


I'm out of upload space for this message. I'll continue later.

Al

[Al and Missy]

It is now three months since my last post, a year since we started the trip, and 9 months since we got home. We spent the fall in NC, but unfortunately left a fantastic vent open in the bedroom. We discovered it when we noticed the rug under it was wet. What we didn't know until we discovered it two months later was that the water went under the furniture in the bedroom saturating the leftover carpet and pad. To repair it I had to pull all the furniture. The shoulder area bulkhead of the roadside twin bed had wicked water all the way up to the top and rotted it. I took the bed apart and used the old piece to make a pattern and rebuilt it. At this point we pulled the flooring the second owner put in to inspect the subfloor. The good news is it was fine so I sealed it and reinstalled the furniture.

I had just gotten the furniture reinstalled but little else when, on New Years Day in the evening I discovered a severe infection in my toe. Treatment put me out of commission until mid-March.

Then we decided to replace the flooring since we had already pulled the bedroom floor. The TrafficMaster Allure Ashray Slate vinyl tile was thin and flexible enough that, in the two years we had owned the trailer the staples across the subfloor joints were printing through. We settled on Mannington Adura Rigid vinyl plank in Coastline Oak. We found a local distributor who bid to do the install for such a good price I decided to have them do it.


About the same time we decided to replace the jackknife/gaucho sofa with a recliner loveseat. We ordered the loveseat and I am now stalled waiting to get the front end electrical distribution relocated; this because I decided to go ahead and have my left hip replaced. Recovery is progressing well, so I hope to be back in the Airstream upgrade process in a couple more weeks.

Here are a few pictures to keep the story going:

Our next stop was Willow Bay Campground. This is a great little campground, very well maintained, with an on-site restaurant. Sites are shady with a view of the lake.



The stop here included some down time to enjoy with our fellow travelers.



Shoshone Falls was on the way to our next stop. We were able to pull in there and walk around to see the various falls areas and read the signboards with historic information.








Departing Shoshone Falls we started running along with the various emigrant trails. There were frequent pullouts with signboards describing the scenery.





I'm using my down time to (hopefully) finish documenting this trip. Brian does such a better job, posting almost every night. I'll make that a goal for the next long trip.


Al

[Al and Missy]

As we drove westward we continued to encounter historical markers regarding the emigrant trails.



We stopped for a tour of the Oregon Trail Center in Montpelier, ID. They have several areas of historic artifacts and a simulator ride that depicts what the travelers encountered on their way west.





Our caravan of four Airstreams continued westward with our next target being Bend, Oregon. We finally left the plains as we started seeing mountains again.





We stayed at the Bend/Sisters RV Resort. This was truly a resort, but it was probably the most expensive place we stayed en-route. Nice enough that I'd probably stay again and take time to enjoy the area, but we were on a mission to get to Salem to park the next day.





Crossing the Continental Divide the flora took on a very different appearance. Everything was thick and green.



Finally we arrived at Salem for the WBCCI International Rally. Our parking date was the last day, so we ended up about as far from the hub of activities as we could. We were parked in a field with water and electric and had a dump-out truck come by once while we were there.





Al

[Al and Missy]

We stayed at the rally in Salem for a week. While there we saw some gorgeous sunsets. One day Missy took a familiarization towing ride with a coach riding shotgun, provided by Airstream NW.



Our friends Jim Cocke and Debbie Wood were recognized as outgoing WBCCI International President and First Lady. A familiar face (Sandlapper) was on stage as well.





After the rally we headed out on a whirlwind tour of the Northwest - Crater Lake, the Oregon Coast, Washington, Glacier National Park, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons before heading home.


On the way to Crater Lake




Al

[Al and Missy]

At Crater Lake we stayed at a small campground outside the park. The management and hosts were very friendly. There was entertainment and a hot dog dinner on the weekend. We drove about halfway around the lake before we decided we had seen enough. We had lunch at the lodge.




On our way to the coast we drove along the Rogue River and the Rogue River Gorge.




We also drove through the vicinity of the prehistoric Mount Mazama.



Al

[Al and Missy]

Well, we made it to the coast. We stopped several times to appreciate the view.




After arriving we stopped at the Umpqua River Lighthouse and took the tour.



The climb up the lighthouse to the light area gave us a great view of the fresnel lens. Each of those horizontal elements is a separate piece of glass. I should have taken notes as I don't remember how many there were but it was in the hundreds if not over a thousand.



At one lookout we did manage to see some whales. If you look a little to the right and above the center of the last picture and zoom in you can see a puff of spray from a sounding and the whale's back to the right.



Al

[Al and Missy]

We spent three nights on the coast in two campgrounds to break up the trip from Crater Lake. The first night was in a campground adjacent to the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. Boondock camping is apparently allowed on the dunes but we didn't know that and probably wouldn't have done it anyway. The weekend we were there was some kind of a four-wheeler convention/rally. The place was crawling with them; but they were exceedingly well behaved. The last two nights were spent further up the coast.




We visited the Tillamook Cheese factory. It is apparently well known for its cheese. We had never heard of it but now we see it everywhere. WalMart even carries it. They have tours and a huge food court that looks a lot like something from Disney.



After our visit to the coast we headed north and east toward Glacier with a day stop in Portland to visit a friend from years ago in Melbourne and then an overnight stop near the Canadian border in Idaho (but that's another story).


Al

[Al and Missy]

After a nice visit and lunch in Portland with our friend, Karen, we headed out for what we thought was a reservation for a campsite at the Bonner County Fairgrounds in Sandpoint, ID. First there was a drive following the Columbia River on I-84. There is some serious wind here as evidenced by the kite sailors and the wind farms.




Then we hit the high desert on the way to Sandpoint



So this is where the story gets interesting. We allegedly had a reservation at the Bonner County Fairgrounds for an overnight stay. When we got there it was a zoo. Apparently they were holding a draft horse show and they had filled the campground. The parker offered us the opportunity to park partially off the road and piggyback off of the water and electric for another trailer but we declined. AFter some negotiation she agreed to give us a refund. She then pulled out a huge roll of bills and counted out our reservation fee. I wonder how much of that roll the county actually got after the show. We searched every conceivable resource, and tried to stay at a Casino that said they had space but the sites were too tight to get into. We ended up contacting Idyl Acres Campground in Bonners Ferry. We told the person on the phone we were coming and she said "do you know where we are? They were only a few miles inside the US-Canada border and quite a drive from where we were. She said she would wait for us. We had a beautiful drive through the woods at sunset and found the campground to be a small (10 sites) family-run place that this couple had built and run forever. She met us at the front door of her house in her robe and slippers. Obviously we had kept her up. As luck would have it, she only took cash, not credit. We raided all our pockets, the change holder in the truck, Missy's purse and my wallet and still came up $5 short but she let us stay anyway. I mailed her a $20 when we got home.




Al

[Al and Missy]

So we headed across Idaho and into Montana on US-2 and US-95 along the Kootenay River. We saw some unusual signage in the town of Libby, MT.





We got in to our campsite outside the west side of the park and set up camp. The next morning we headed out for Apgar Village on Lake MacDonald and to drive the Going to the Sun Road.




Next - More Going to the Sun


Al

[Al and Missy]

Continuing toward the east side on the Going to the Sun Road




Now that's a good looking couple right there.....



Next - A GPS mystery and on to Yellowstone


Al

[Al and Missy]

So coming out the east side of Glacier, and relying on my GPS to get us back to our campsite on the west side, I noticed that the truck icon on the screen was going in circles when I was going straight. Luckily we had a paper atlas we had bought for the trip and managed to find our way home before anyone started looking for us. Several days later, while south of Yellowstone, this was my GPS screen.



On the way to Yellowstone



While in Yellowstone, we saw Bison, mud pots, and geyser fields before going to see Old Faithful. Between eruptions we had lunch at the lodge, with a view of Old Faithful, at least I did.




We took a side trip on a rough road to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone



Al

[Al and Missy]

We drove down the west side of the Tetons and stayed at the Teton Valley Resort. We were in a new area that was essentially a gravel parking lot, but the park was well maintained and the staff friendly. We chose the west side because of some warnings of the road leaving the east side for towing. We drove over the Teton pass to check things out and then went back the next day for a full up park drive.

Do I look a little frazzled?



Al

[Al and Missy]

So we are finally on the return leg. We looked for Oregon Trail sites and Pony Express Sites. We used an e-book on the Oregon Trail to help us find places of interest.

Oregon Trail sites

On the road again


The Virginian Hotel


More Oregon Trail. So many wagons passed through the area that the wheels wore ruts in the rock.





Al