Washington – Migration Finalized

Laugh at your problems, everybody else does.

After a good night’s rest and not being on the road, my plan is to bring this blog nearly current.  Looking back and checking the weather behind us it was a good thing we did leave.  Evidently there wasn’t much snow accumulation through the mountains but the snow and icy conditions lasted longer than predicted.  Also, snow blew into Salt Lake City even as unplanned.  It actually was a good trip.  It’s always a good trip when you make it to your destination without any issues.  I’m sure you know what issues are when you’re traveling on the highway with a motorhome or RV of any kind.  The time to move north was definitely the time others were doing the same.  The highways looked like a mass migration of RVs moving with us.

As mentioned in my previous blog, we woke Tuesday morning to a changed weather report.  The strong winds forecast for that afternoon had already arrived.  We knew the winds could get strong through the canyons and open spaces.  When the winds are strong the gusts can get pretty nasty.  The weather station had already clocked winds around 47 mph.  That’s way stronger than we like to be in but it looked like those winds just might be tailwinds --- we hoped.  However, it was either the winds or the expected snowstorm – meaning we would be grounded for a few days or move forward a little hoping the winds would abate.  We decided our best option was to start our journey into Oregon.

Other than more mountains and more mountains, the first 100 miles seemed to be peaceful.  We stopped at the rest area outside of La Grande.  This was supposed to be the location of the strong winds.  Remember I had said these were also supposed to be tailwinds.  When you get tailwinds you don’t notice them so much when you’re driving but you certainly do when you get out of your vehicle.  WOW!!  They were really strong.  

As the road continued to twist through the hills and mountains, the winds became much less. Just ahead of us was the big one and as much as I always dread this mountain, I was looking forward to getting it behind us and dropping down to the valley floor and the Columbia River.   The road wraps around the side of the mountain and then it descends for about six miles.  The view from the road is awesome.  You can see for miles.   Highway 84 is one of the most gorgeous drives ever.  It follows the Columbia River through the Gorge for miles.  During the summer months this is one of the prettiest drives but in the winter it is notorious for icy conditions as the winds bring the cold from the east and moisture come from the west.

Our planned overnight stay was just east of Rufus, Oregon.  It was a gem of a COE park nestled on the river.  At this point we were traveling due west  on I-84 and the winds we encountered through the Gorge were actually the strongest winds of all.  The mighty Columbia River was raging from the winds too as white caps and swells appeared to be between 4’ and 5’ high.  We were ready to pull off.  The park was Lepage Park at exit 114.  Cousin Wally agreed that these winds were the strongest of all and he was ready to pull off too.  You can only fight them for so long.  We spent the evening recapping the drive from Arizona through Nevada, Utah, Idaho and into Oregon.  We both agreed that even though the terrain was beautiful at times, neither of us would choose this route again over I-5 thru California or 95 thru Nevada unless we had a specific reason for doing so.

Being a COE park meant we could use our America the Beautiful card.  With the card our nightly rate was $11.  There aren’t many places you can stay right on the river with hookups for that price.  All we needed was a little sunshine, calm winds and a fishing pole to make it perfect.  ATT signal was stronger here than Verizon signal but with our antenna and amplifier we could get intermittent internet.  

As we traveled the next morning into Portland we still followed the mighty Columbia.  Again, it is a beautiful drive with several dams on the river and waterfalls cascading down from the cliffs.   Multnomah Falls is even visible with a pull-out along this route.  Multnomah Falls is the most visited attraction in Oregon.  It is well worth the stop at exit 131.  

Of course, since this is a very windy area windmills were noticeable on many of the cliffs. They weren’t there the last time we traveled through but that was a very long time ago. Hang gliding is popular so if you’re timing is right you might even catch of glimpse of that.

We crossed over into Washington on the I-205 bridge.  I-205 connects to I-5 north of Vancouver.  We headed straight to the rest area at exit 11.  We needed an RV dump before we moved and knew this was a perfect place to find one.

 

Check out the map of RV dumps at rest areas in Washington.

I was thankful to be able to put our trailer away for a while. Traveling with a trailer is quite different than traveling without it. Terry got it parked and we moved on to our next destination -- the Kelso Elks. However, with all the recent rain this is a very temporary stop as we’re in a pretty muddy location. We’re thinking about mooch-docking for a while (to copy a Dahl phrase). Now it’s time for catch up.

The plan is to take the ATVs off the trailer in the next day or two.  I wonder if that garage is big enough to hold Justin’s truck while he’s away in the Navy plus four ATVs.  I guess we’ll just have to find out won’t we?

‘Tis life on the road.