Nevada to Oregon

Driving North towards Wells, Nevada

We took a new road from Las Vegas up the back side of Nevada to Ely where we spent the night at the Prospector Casino which had about 20 spaces for $15 a night.  The drive was very interesting with a wildlife reserve in the high valley filled with rushes, birds, and of course, water.  We were not aware that the eastern side of Nevada was so verdant.  As we drove further into the high desert plateau, the area around us was green with irrigated fields and high mountain rivers.  But after we left Ely, we began to climb higher, over 7000 feet and we could see the snow on the mountains that surrounded the plateau.  It was beautiful scenery, especially since the ambient air temps were still around 65-70 where we were.  We spent the next night at Anderson Camp RV in Twin Falls, Idaho and it was a special place for the dogs as they had a huge field where we went with Elsie, Murray, and the BALL which they chased all over the field, off leash.  Elsie let Murray have the ball for the first few throws, then got the ball and took off in giant circles with Murray on her heels, running, running, panting, running, panting, falling over on his back with his tongue hanging out, and literally giving up on catching her.  It was a hoot.  She is one fast dog.  Wednesday we headed for Eagles Hot Springs RV in LaGrande, Oregon.  This was a great park, off the highway by a couple of miles, next to an old hot springs hotel which used to be the Mayo Clinic of the West.  Good experiences for the dogs here too.  Elsie found her first frogs and it was all Allan could do to keep her from jumping in the pond after them.  Murray found a gopher hole and stuck his head down into it so far that only the back of his ears were showing.   All around us were wetlands, with ducks and birds flying in and out of the reeds and waterways. 

Looking North towards Pendleton, Oregon

And finally on Thursday we headed out on I-84 for Portland where we arrived at the Columbia River RV Park a little after noon.  This park is across the street from the river itself and also the Yacht Club and several marinas.  It is just down the road from the I-5 onramp and one exit from Janzen Beach. 

Heading West

Monday morning we left Durango and headed for the OK RV Park http://www.okrvpark.com/ in Moab, Utah (Moab in the distance in the photo to the left). This is a PA park and we were given the PA rate of $19. as their busy season is actually not the scorching hot summer, but the cooler spring and fall when the jeeps, atvs, and other off road vehicles arrive to motate around the many dusty trails near Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. We were hot and tired by the time we arrived and the owner directed us to the BrewPub in town where we had a cold beer and a barbequed sandwich. Now that we were feeling so much better, we decided to drive through Arches NP which is only 5 minutes north of town. Allan's Golden Age Passport gave us free admission and we spent the next two hours driving and photographing as much as we could. This park is really for the serious hiker/walker as all of the famous arches are down trails. Everywhere you look are spires and formations in very red sandstone with beveled layers cut away by the wind and rain. Underneath the sandstone layer is an old salt bed layer and it is cut away easily by the wind leaving a hole underneath the harder sandstone. In the evening, when the sun is setting, all of the reddish rocks around Moab glow with a brilliant red, purple, or orange color. Quite spectacular. But the next morning we were off by 6:30 a.m. to Ogden, Utah. We stayed just off the freeway at the Century RV Park, no web site, but found on Google Maps and in the PA directory. No discount here, as this is their season with many seasonal perms in the park. We had dinner at the Olive Garden and went to bed early so that we could get up early for another long drive, this time to Meridian, Idaho. Meridian is just past Boise and we stayed at the Boise Meridian KOA. http://www.boisemeridiankoa.com/ Normally we do not use KOA as they are so expensive, but the person who answered the phone said that their rates had stayed the same as before they were KOA. This was another long day, but again with beautiful scenery. As you can see in the photo to the above right, at least we had a cloud cover for the day which made the drive more comfortable for all of us. Ned was up on his perch so he could see out of the window and Alice rode in her nest right behind Allan's seat. Both of them are looking at me to see if "we are there yet". On Thursday we drove from Meridian to Pendleton, Oregon where we stayed at the Wildhorse Casino and RV Park. http://www.wildhorseresort.com/ We were very glad to see the resort since just as we came over the hill from LaGrande, the wind picked up to gusts of 40-60 mph. We got set up and headed over to the casino for lunch, not expecting anything great, but it turned out to be one of the best meals we have had from a casino anywhere and one of the better meals we have had on the road. Everything was fresh, the salad bar was plentiful, the entrees included pork chops, really good fried chicken, swedish meatballs, chicken teriyaki, fresh sauteed vegetables, and beautiful desserts with the best custardy bread pudding I have had in ages. All this for $8.99. Plus they gave us coupons for free breakfast cold buffet, or discounted hot breakfast, which we had this morning and it also was terrific. Their RV Park (see above right) was beautiful and all the sites were well landscaped, FHU's, cable, and free wifi. There was a golf course available and a heated pool. A shuttle could pick you up to take you over to the casino to eat if you did not want to make the short walk. We would definitely stay there again. After breakfast we drove west along the Columbia Gorge to Tualatin where we are again staying at the RV Park of Portland. (See photo to left) http://www.rvparkofportland.com/ We will be here for two weeks this time, catching up on some ethnic restaurants, Powells Bookstore, Tualitin Concerts on the Commons, and visiting Gardens of note.

Blackwell Island RV Park in Coeur d'Alene

On arriving in Coeur d'Alene, we checked in at the Blackwell Island RV Park http://www.idahorvpark.com/ where we had a rude awakening in regards to the rate for the site. We paid almost $300 for the week and it is because I made some assumptions that won't be happening again any time soon. They had no rates on their web page, and I assumed from the look of the place (and we had physically cruised thru their park on a previous visit to the city) that it would be in line with other parks that we had visited. Also I did not ask when I made the reservation and so we got a pull-through site on gravel with poorly cared for grass between sites. We were all in a line with the other rigs, nothing fancy to warrent the high rates. In addition, a couple of days later Mike and Rose stayed across the Spokane River from us, we could actually see their park, and they paid almost half of what we paid. Oh well, live and learn. One of the reasons we wanted the island park was that we could kayak around the island and up the river right from the park as opposed to driving the kayaks somewhere to launch. And we were able to do this but I'm not sure it was worth what we paid just to do that one thing. Enough said. We had a good time with Rose and Mike taking a jeep trip around the East side of Lake Coeur d'Alene and then up country on the way back. We got some photos of the lake filled with water lilies. (Enlargement shown on the right). And we had lunch in a tiny town with a tiny cafe on the lake with an even tinier menu which had three items on it, two of which were not available. So we all had the hamburger and a good laugh with the bartender who was also the waiter. He said that if we really wanted the fish for lunch he would drop a pole over the side of the railing and catch one for us but we decided to let them live another day. So instead he fed them french fries and they ate them right up. We were sad to see Mike and Rose leave for Yellowstone but we knew we would be meeting up with them down the road, probably this Fall or Winter in the Phoenix Area. On Saturday we headed north of Coeur d'Alene up as far as Sandpointe. The drive was beautiful and the town was very cute and we were there just in time for the farmers market where we bought goat cheese, granola, berries and many other items of produce which filled our market bag to the top. This is a beautiful area but was not what we were looking for in our never ending quest to find a summer spot where we want to spend several months. So the search goes on.