Back in the Midwest

Friday 7/24 Hoquiam, WA

Took our time getting going this morning, nice walk around the park. Loaded up and on the road about 10:15. Easy trip south on US 101. Stopped at Little Creek Casino for lunch since we knew there was a large parking area and decent choices for lunch. Had a good lunch at the Buffet.

On into Aberdeen and Hoquiam, neither of which were very impressive looking towns. Arrived at Hoquiam River RV Park in early afternoon. Older, medium size park, but kept up very well with really nice hosts. 

In the afternoon we took a short walk along the river and into the nearby woods. The park is right on the river with nice overlooks and benches as well as the walking path. Walked as far as an old pier that had a long abandoned and overgrown railroad track leading away from it.

Looked at a couple of places for dinner and settled on Rosa’s Taqueria based on Yelp. Turned out to be a really good choice! Small place with just six booths and run by the owner (Rosa was his Mother-in-law!). Limited menu, but excellent Mexican food! Really tasty with large portions, plus they make all their own sauces from scratch.

Thursday 7/25 Hoquiam, WA

Nice walk along the river and through the woods to an abandoned shipyard, almost like a widely scattered junk yard. Pretty interesting. With the sun hitting the river near the old pier we could see that there were a series of huge stringers mounted on pilings just below the water line. My guess is that they brought barges up to the pier and the stringers were to support the barge when the tide went out.

Late in the morning we drove into town, parked by the Grays Harbor Farmers Market and walked along the river walk. There are pictures on plaques showing the town at the height of the lumber industry. It is amazing what used to be here and the only traces left are rotting pilings along the river bank. The lumber mills covered everything we could see! One of them was 9 acres along the river.

Stopped into the Grays Harbor Farmers Market and then drove down the street to the Polson Museum. This turned out to be a delightful museum with a huge collection of pictures from the timber and lumber industry. In the late 19th century Gray’s Harbor was the largest shipping point for lumber in North America and the Polson's were owners of one of the largest mills and lumbering operations.

Went to the 8th Street Ale House for lunch, then we drove west to Ocean Shores for one last look at the ocean before we head east. Ocean Shores is a typical beach town and when they say “beach access” they apparently mean it, cars are allowed on the beach. We parked the truck and walked a quarter mile or so to get a view of the beach and the ocean. The ocean was fine, but the beach was just a line of cars on the sand!

Friday 7/26 Randle, WA

Fog and mist this AM so we just took a short walk around the RV park. Fairly short day today, got on the road about 9:45 and even though we had to go all the way through downtown Hoquiam and Aberdeen we were out of town on US 12 by 10:20 and arrived at Shady Firs RV Park just after noon.

Pretty easy drive other than the 20 miles on I-5 where traffic was heavy and came close to a complete stop twice in the 20 miles!

Shady Firs is a small park with a friendly and most helpful hostess. Park is grassy sites with a lot of tall pine trees. We were afraid we would miss the F1 race this weekend, but she helped us get into a site where our satellite dish will work!

She also suggested that since it will be Saturday we should visit Mt St Helen’s rather than Mt Rainer. “Bus load after bus load of tourist out of Seattle at Mt Rainer on Saturdays!”

Decided to unload the car even though we are only here two nights. Was able to do it right where the truck is parked.

Into warmer weather now, bright sunshine and mid-80’s this afternoon. First 80 degree day since we left Arizona! After checking Yelp we drove a few miles back to Randle and had dinner at Tall Timber. Excellent meal and good draft beer at a small place. Their specialty is loaded spuds! Nancy had a baked potato stuffed with pulled pork, mine was stuffed with pepperoni, salami, sausage, marinara sauce and mozzarella!

Quick stop at the small grocery in town and back home for the evening.

Saturday 7/27 Randle, WA

Fog and drizzle this morning, so we skipped our walk. Headed for Mt St Helens looked like a good choice as we could see that there were nothing but low clouds to the northeast towards Mt Rainer. Not a bad drive, it would have been quite nice if the road had not been falling apart most of the way along. A lot of really rough spots so it was slow going. At the first overlook we had an excellent view of a reforested valley punctuated by the skeletons of trees that had been killed in the initial blast of super-heated air from the volcano. We are on the north side of the mountain and unlike many volcanos that erupt straight up this one blew out the north side of the mountain. Through low clouds we could just get a glimpse of the far rim of the caldera.

At the next overlook there were good informational signs and a nice view of a valley that had been blasted by the eruption. We could see the end of Spirt Lake which is covered with downed trees.

At Windy Ridge we were socked into the clouds, as we were leaving they lifted a bit and we could see the other end of Spirit Lake. Just past here there is supposed to be a view into the cone, but it was solid clouds.

Stopped back at Tall Timber for lunch and then back home. Nancy did laundry while I loaded the car.

Sunday 7/28 Vantage, WA

Early morning walk around the RV Park, nice little place but not very busy. Hooked up and on the road a little before ten.

Uneventful trip into Yakima where we picked up I-82 for five miles and then got off for the scenic road through the Yakima River Canyon, nice pretty drive. We had debated about staying on I-82, glad we took the scenic one. Twenty-five miles to Ellensburg, then back on I-82 for a short stretch and then onto I-90 East to Vantage. Not much there. A gas station (where you register for Vantage Riverstone RV park, two closed restaurants (like in out-of-business), and a store closed on Sunday. From the map I had thought the park was right in the middle of town. In fact, it is the town! Pizza tonight, so we weren’t looking for a place to eat anyway. Arrived in time to relax and watch this morning’s F1 race, which was another amazing show, mostly due to the rain.

Monday 7/29 Lewiston, ID

Short walk around RV Park, weekend campers gone, but a good  number in the transient pull-throughs. On the road by 9 AM, across the Columbia on I-90 and then off immediately and onto WA 26 for an hour and a half of flat straight two-one highway. My original plan had been to go straight east to Colfax and then south to Lewiston, but looking at the map I saw a state highway that cut down to US 12. So we took WA 261 - which turned out to be through the Snake River Canyon! 28 miles of 20-30-40 MPH turns, rarely above 45 MPH all the way through. Pretty though.

Arrived at Hells Gate State Park in Lewiston, ID at 12:10 only to find out that there is no check-in until 2 PM! Bummer! Parked at the visitors center and looked through, watched the excellent movie (about Lewis & Clark of course), went out to the trailer and had a snack. Finally got checked in and into our campsite. As expected, a lot of trees so no satellite service. No big deal, we have the DVR.

Tuesday 7/30 Lolo, MT

Left campsite at 8:45, but as expected it took 15 minutes just to get out of the state park and another 10 to get to US 12. Once we got on the road it was one of the prettiest drives of the trip! We followed one bank or another of the Clearwater River from where it empties into the Snake River at Lewiston all the way across Idaho to where the now mountain stream turned south away from the climb up to Lolo Pass.

At one point along the river Nancy spotted a bald eagle high in a tree. When I looked I could also see a female a little lower in the tree.

A good part of the trip we saw a lot of signs like this one:

Then, as we started up into the Bitterroot Mountains headed toward Lolo Pass we saw this one:

Yes, that sign says curvy road next seventy-seven miles! It does not mention that you will also climb 4,000 ft in that 77 miles!

All day the way there were gorgeous views, particularly when we started up into the mountains still along the Clearwater.

Don't know why I did not think of saving screen grabs from our dash cam earlier in the trip!

Stopped in a pullout at level spot in the climb and had lunch that Nancy had packed. The truck performed admirably, climbing all the up to Lolo Pass, 5,233 ft. Then the engine brake held it to the recommended 25 - 30 MPH on the four mile downgrade!

Arrived at Square Dance Center and Campground at 1:50, pretty close to my prediction of 2 PM. Of course it was actually 2:50 since we moved into the Mountain Time zone

When I went into the office there were 25 or 30 people sitting at table in the snack bar area. While I was registering the music started in the other room and they all got up and went in to dance! Nice campground with large sites well spaced around tall pine trees. Other visitors were very friendly and outgoing. Had more conversations about the smart and the duals on the trailer here than anywhere else.

Drove into the community of Lolo and had good beer and dinner at Lolo Peak Brewery and Grille. Stopped at the Pilot/Town Pump to add enough fuel to get us to Fargo where diesel is cheaper.

Wednesday 7/31 White Sulphur Springs, MT

Short walk around the park and on the road just about 10 AM. Through Missoula and then on to Helena on US 12, around bypass, with heavy traffic, to I-90 and east to rejoin US 12.

Nice drive all the way, not as scenic as yesterday but some pretty spots along the way.

One begins to see why Montana is called Big Sky Country.

Arrived at Conestoga Campground in White Sulphur Springs a little after 2 PM. Very friendly hostess, park is just an open field with gravel roads and sites fairly close together.

Drove into town and had an excellent selection of beer at 2 Bassett's  Brewing, then walked down the street to Bar 47 for more good beer and quite a good dinner!

Thursday 8/1 Miles City, MT

After a stop for ice we headed east on US 12 exactly 10 AM. All the way across the state on US 12, not as scenic a drive as yesterday but it had it’s good points. 

The trip should have taken 5-1/2 to 6 hours and we arrived at 4:15. However, we could have arrived much earlier. First, I missed a turn and we went 20 miles out of our way, 40 miles round trip. Second two construction zones, one about 4 miles, the other 11, on dirt roads at 20 to 25 MPH!.

The last 40 miles were on I-94, we’ll be on interstates for the rest of the trip after we had a good look at central Montana. Hot here, in the low 90’s. Big Sky Camp and RV Park is a simple little campground just off of I-94. For dinner we had salmon from Josephson’s Smokehouse in Astoria with the fresh growler of beer we bought last evening at 2 Bassett’s.

Friday 8/2 Miles City, MT

We did several circuits around the small campground this AM, Warm night, first night this summer with the AC running all night.

Drove into town for some groceries and brought them back home. Located a quarter car wash and cleaned the truck - it was coated with dead bugs! And dirty besides. Had lunch at the Black Iron Grille. Once again we found excellent local beer on tap!

Saturday 8/3 Menoken, ND

Uneventful drive into North Dakota. Eastern Montana not as scenic as the western part. Only scenic bit was as we passed through Theodore Roosevelt National Forest.

Some confusion when we arrived at A Prairie Breeze as we first set up in the wrong spot and had to move - my bad, but we got it sorted out. Moved into the central time zone today.

Sunday 8/4 Buffalo, ND

Short drive today, we took a chance and planned on a city RV park that does not take reservations and only has 8 sites. Only a little over two hours so we waited until after ten AM and finished recording the Formula One race. Easy drive, a fair amount of one lane the last couple of days but the 80 MPH limit drops to 65 in the one lane zones and we are traveling at 63 MPH anyway! With the light traffic it does not slow us down a bit.

Got to Buffalo  RV Park and I was glad I looked carefully at Google maps as getting to the park was on a gravel street that wrapped around a school and then four blocks to a lovely little RV park.

This is the entire RV Park! One RV at the far left, another in site 8 to the right.

This is the view after we were parked. I did an amazing job backing into the site, one shot, never had to pull forward to straighten out! Of course there was no one around to witness my performance other than Nancy and I! One more RV came in later in the afternoon so there were four rigs here that night.

Turns out there is a more straight forward way to get in here. Late afternoon we took a walk around town, not much here and nothing open on Sundays. A grocery store open four days a week, a bar/grill open Tuesday through Saturday, a library/heritage center, a post office and several churches. Nice neat little town with mostly well kept houses and a number of plaques on historic buildings.

Monday 8/5 Maple Grove, MN

Pretty good thunderstorm during the night, but cleared off by morning. Mosquitos were fierce outside last evening, a bit better this morning, but still there.

Got on the road about 9:45. Light traffic most of the way until we got into the Minneapolis area. We had planned on stopping for lunch but really did not see anything until a Culver’s about 1:30. It was on a stretch of one lane road on the opposite side from the exit and we decided neither of us wanted to do the construction zone merge back onto the highway so we skipped it. Turns out the road work ended right there and the merge would have been easy! Oh well. 

Ended up going right on in to Minneapolis Northwest KOA about 3 PM. Good thing too as a severe storm passed through just north of us about 5 PM. We had time to get settled and do some brats on the grille before the storm came through.

The fellow that guided us to our site has a 2000 Volvo (ours is a ’99) and a white smart car. He just had a hydraulic loader for the smart installed on the truck! A good looking truck as well with pickup style rear fenders and a nice repaint. 

Tuesday 8/6 Lake Delton, WI

Nice walk around the RV park this morning, then on the road a little after nine. Uneventful trip other than the traffic getting heavier as we got into Wisconsin. Getting around Minneapolis proved to be no problem. Biggest issue we had was finding a place to eat lunch. Took a little tour of Menomonee just to see a Culver’s with nowhere nearby to park!

A second exit for a Culver’s was signed at the exit as several miles away. Finally caught one at the Black River Falls exit. Culver’s right off the exit with a gravel parking lot next to a hotel right next door.

Arrived at Country Roads RV Park just after three. Nice park, we stayed here many years ago.

Stayed in for dinner, a bit of  tiring day and neither of us thought much about going out.

Wednesday 8/7 Lake Delton, WI

Nice morning, a bit humid. Took a long walk around the RV park as usual and mid-morning we drove into Baraboo to the Wednesday farmer’s market. A bit of a disappointment, only 6 or 7 booths almost all selling vegetables. No fruit of any kind.

Not a complete loss though as it was not much out of the way from our plan to visit Carr Valley Cheese in La Valle. A little hassle getting there as they are repaving the road out to the cheese factory and there was a delay in both directions, but it was well worth the trip! They had some really nice, interesting cheeses - including fresh curds from today’s cheese! Bought several items. Along the way we passed Quigley’s Quality Quackers! (duck farm - we did not stop)

Stopped at Culver’s in Reedsburg for lunch. Back home early afternoon.

Quick trip into town for dinner at Moosejaw Pizza and Brews. Big touristy/family place. Pretty good beer and above average pizza.

Thursday 8/8 Lake Delton, WI

Hung around home most of the day. We did some cleaning on the trailer - I did the back windows, Nancy did most of the rest while I repaired a couple of minor items on the truck.

Late in the afternoon we drove into Wisconsin Dells to pick up some more cheese from the Carr Valley Cheese shop in downtown Dells, which does not seem to have changed a bit. Lake Delton on the other hand has a lot of new attractions since we were last hear.

Stopped at the nearby Cracker Barrel for dinner and back home.

Friday 8/9 Sycamore, IL

On the road about 9:45, arrived at Sycamore RV just after noon. Stopped at the last Pilot in Wisconsin to top off the tanks before going into Illinois. Got an honest 10 MPG since fueling up in Fargo, ND!

Settled in now for almost a month, other than taking the trailer in to Erhardts RV on Monday for some maintenance. Won't be much worth posting until early September, but I'll update once in awhile.