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Laura-n-Sasha 3.2

A descriptive look at traveling and full-timing with our second RV, a fifth wheel toyhauler.
  Laura and Sasha started this adventure in April of 2005
 for a two week vacation in a truck camper.
 

The Road Trip of 2009! Laura & Sasha's Excellent Adventure
The Next Adventure Begins!

Oregon - Wines & Solar & Safety


Checking Out the Wineries, Getting Solar Panels & Getting Safe

We are headed down to Springfield/Eugene Oregon to get solar panels put on our new rig. We want to be completely self-sufficient when we are boondocking out in the wilderness, wherever that might be.

Our Rig (and Truck) has:

I figure I will stock up on food products (dried especially) down in Eugene or Springfield, they have a WinCo there with all their bulk dried food stuff, we should be good.

We are also going down to Grant's Pass, Oregon to get a safety rating on our new rig. I am not sure of what it all entails, but as soon as I know, I will update.

November 10th, Tuesday: Tuesday Tire Day then off to Washington again! We just can't seem to get enough of Washington, going in and out of the state on our way up to Idaho. But this time we were headed across and south, kind of on a diagonal to the middle southern part of the state. 

November 11th, Wednesday - Drove Slowly down and up the hills of Washington. 5% grade is not too bad, but still, although the rig was not pushing on the truck, Sasha felt the tow haul on the truck was not good enough. And if we go to higher hills or mountains with steeper grades, we will have to use the brakes more often. That would be the kiss of death to the truck, the brakes would wear out too quickly.

We also had a devil of a time finding a truck stop around Yakima, Washington that would accommodate our rig size and that had diesel. Finally found something after doing several cloverleaf turns. Like I stated above, we have 38 gallons of diesel in the truck, we might just have to get an auxiliary tank.

Pictures of Coeur D'Alene Lake
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On 11/10 we stayed near Moses Lake (the town) which was near the reservoir, however, we just stayed in a Walmart. These couple of pictures show how large the lake is - I was pretty amazed. We went into the Walmart when it was dark so we could not see the beautiful scenery until we left.

Moses Lake - Huge!

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Back into High Desert yet again. But you can see the hills and mountains in the distance.

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While we were driving down the road a SnowRiver Truck Camper was passing us. At first we thought it might be Norm but the trailer was different.

Map Gotta love the west - they use the ridges around here well - you might have to click on the picture, but there are wind turbines on the ridge. Pretty cool, but I could not get as close a picture as I would have liked, they were too far away.  
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The Columbia River in all of its glory. We will be seeing that river for quite a ways as we make our way down to Portland Oregon.

We stopped at a rest stop called Priest Rapids and while I was at the overlook, I took this picture. Must say that Washington State does great by their overlooks and rest stop areas. This one had a large area for RVs and we could have had an overnight here, but we did not know.

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Map Even their rest stops have nice signage!
Map Map Although there was no one to take our picture, a little splice here and there is not so bad. I thought it pretty cool that they had small trails here too. The west really knows how to do rest stops up right.
Map Our Rig! And the Blue Blue Sky! Fabulous!  
Map We would be going over this bridge. Pretty Bridge (just so you know, in Washington, the Columbia flows north to south before it starts going west.)  
Map Here is a small shot of the Delorme map; on the right side you see the road, and then this M139 - that is the rest stop. We were able to see the bridge from there, and the Gingko Petrified Forest State Park. But as you can see, the river is oriented North - South.  
Map Looks like a water spout, only thought we would see those on the ocean, so what's the deal?  
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So as you can see, we are going down from the rest stop, 5% grade, not too bad, but look, a curve in the road!

BIG CURVE!

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The Bridge and Columbia River and a wind sock!

The water spout is a fountain, pretty cool! and look at the blue blue river against the dark rocks. Beautiful!

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We had lunch with this view - an ATV track on the side of the road. We were again at a rest stop.

I thought this sign was like of funny as it was around 40 degrees F, definitely NOT like Palm Springs.

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We are now in the Yakima Indian Reservation and Toppenish National Wildlife Refuge. It is still fall here!

Getting on Dusk, we hardly went anywhere, and still have to get through the reservation.

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Man, I would have loved to see these viewpoints, but alas, we were coming down in the dark so not possible. This was one pull-out that was just not a good place to stay, people coming down the hills really too fast for comfort. We will have to find a better place to stay.

Cool map of where we are. We will just go a little farther, to Maryville, WA and stay at the State Park there.

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November 12th, Thursday - Did not go anywhere, stayed at the state park for another night. We do not have to rush down to Eugene area as we do not have to be there until Monday night.

Pictures of Oregon State Park
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Excellent shots of the Columbia River taken by Sasha while I was taking a snooze.
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Some more Windmills, then the sun setting, and a nicely framed picture. Sasha really does them up nice.

 

November 13th, Friday - Yikes, it is Friday the 13th! Well, that makes sense now. I was just about to take a shower when....the water ran out. We first thought that the pipes had froze (this is after all, a three-season rig, unlike the SnowRiver which was four) and we really needed to get to someplace warm. But Sasha checked the tanks and found that the fresh water was really empty. So I could not take a shower this morning.

Note to self, take a shower before Sasha, he seems to take long ones, while I take quick ones. I think the last one I took used less than 1 gallon of water. To the environmentalists in the reading world out there, can you do better than that? You can check by not allowing your tub to drain, and then calculate out the water. I swear I am going to do that with Sasha's showers - I think he uses way too much water.

So anyway, crack of noon club again. Sasha is going to get one of the fresh water tanks filled up, pour the water into the tank, and then I can take a shower. The rest of the water will be used for washing the dishes and having some in reserve.

Pictures of Oregon State Park
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Windy Day on the Columbia, this is one of THE places to go wind surfing and I bet kite boarding, but it was way too cold today.
Map View out of our window, beautiful trees  
Map Going over the Columbia River  

 

We left around 4:00 pm, to head into Portland Oregon's evening rush hour. But we were going the wrong way to be in their "rush hour" until we had come around to the south side on I-205, where two lanes came down to one to get onto I-5 going South. We only went about 150 miles today, which was fine for us, we do not have to get to the solar panel place for a couple more days.

Pictures of Oregon
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Finally into Oregon, home of hazelnuts, wineries, and blackberries as big as your thumb. I should know, I lived here for a year. I did go to school in Oregon, but all I learned how to do was cross-country ski, single-track mountain bike, and make beer. Drank a bit of wine too.
Map Sort of hazy only from angle taken  
Map Gotta love those wind mills, see them on every ridge.  
Map While driving along the road, we see the beautiful Columbia  
Map Water coming out of the dam - serious water power!  
Map Do you have to go to the bathroom yet? Lots of water here.  

We stopped at a HUGE Rest stop, there are other campers here as well as trucks. As long as you have a generator or other way of powering yourself, and are self-contained (no bathrooms here, just great privacy), things are great. It is close to the Willamette River and is milepost 282 (not an exit, just a rest stop.)

Pictures of Oregon Rest Stop
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Rest Stop, really good, lots of spots and no problems here.
Map View from window at Rest Stop  

 

Check out Taking a Stroll through Oregon, fleeing the snow on the way to Springfield, Oregon for solar panels for the truck.

Check out the month, November for what we were doing and expenses of November - that will be a doozy!