Venturing Towards the Great Unknown...Home

White Pass, WA

      Each year it happens; we must decide when and from where to finally set our sails towards our home port in NW Michigan and get underway.  This is usually decided by weather reports, as well as road and mountain pass reports if necessary.  If we are coming from the south we usually stage somewhere around St. Louis and watch the forecast north.  If we are coming the from Far West, as we are this year, we need to watch forecasts and mountain passes.  We have 4 of them between Western Washington and Great Falls, MT alone.  We can stay over in between passes if needed depending on the coming forecast.  We don't carry chains or snow tires or studded tires so we are hamstrung by what the law allows.  We have to watch carefully and pick our spots.  In the end we can't get home unless the snow has melted enough to get up our driveway.  All of this takes place sometime around the middle to the end of April.  It is the beginning of springtime, but Mother Nature can be a funny bird.
      This year was especially tricky with the onslaught of Coronavirus and all the havoc it caused throughout the nation let alone the world.  We were moved around quite a bit prior to departure from the beach last month.  We also tried to stay in one place for 2 weeks in case we became symptomatic.  We ended up in our self imposed quarantine in East Olympia for 17 days; a success.  We did not know what lay ahead for us, how far and where we would be allowed to travel.  We planned to be as completely 'self contained' as possible.  We figured we'd have to be.  We finally made our break on April 11th.  We boondocked the first 3 days enroute to Great Falls, MT.  This would allow us to camp very cheaply, usually FREE, and still be 'socially distanced' without RV parks and other folks.  I guess you could say we were traveling 'under the radar'..in this climate, a valuable commodity.   Power via solar panels, propane, and the generator if needed.  We did not travel far each day; just far enough to make progress and still get off the grid when available.  We have stayed at all of these places before.

Walmart Yakima, WA  T+183 miles. Short I-5 south then US Hwy 12 east over White Pass.  Makes for a short first day to work out the travel kinks, gets us in early to chillax.  We usually like to boondock overnight at Roza CG up the Yakima River Canyon, but it was closed this trip due to the
virus.  Still a nice overnight for FREE.

Lookout Pass Idaho/Montana

Lincoln's 50,000 Silver Dollar Bar, Haugan, MT.  Mileage T+430 miles.  All I-90 interstate travel.  FREE camping in the back with electricity and a central water station. Good food and a few slot machines inside, but due to the virus only the truck stop and RV park were open.  This is a big truck stop with diesel and all the needs. There were only 2 other rigs in camp.  They have done some power renovation since our last time through here.  They now have 8 new 10/30/50A GCFI boxes for hookups.  Depending on power requirements they can handle up to 24 units for overnight or a couple of days.  They no longer allow 'long term camping'.  We celebrated Easter here with a 2 day stay and some mountain air.
www.campendium.com/50000-silver-dollar-casino

Lincoln's 50,000 Silver Dollar Bar RV Camping

New 10/30/50A boxes

Easter Dinner
Garlic Parmesan Rockfish w/Garlic Sour Cream Yukon Gold Taters & Corn

Dick's RV Park Great Falls, MT.  T+695 miles.  I-90 from Haugan to Missoula, then 2 lane MT Hwy 200 for the last 3 hours into Great Falls.  We usually stay on Malmstrom AFB at the Fam Camp, but due to the virus it is closed.  Our only big break in the trip, we stayed here several days to address any required maintenance and visit with a friend.  137 sites, full hookups and all the amenities. We left Haugan early as they were predicting another spring snow storm in Great Falls that evening.  Fortunately that did not materialize, except for some flurries.  $43/day.  NOTE:  We were self contained here with full hookups; due to Coronavirus their community bathrooms and laundry were closed.

Black Eagle Dam, Missouri River

Great Falls Skyline from the airport

Pilot Flying J Truck Stop Beach, ND  T+1083 miles.  This is all two lane driving across the prairie on MT Hwy 200.  A gas stop in Lewistown is almost essential.  Pilot Flying J is a nice big truck stop just across the MT/ND border on I 94 Exit 1 in the middle of nowhere.  They do have fuel discounts, FREE RV overnight parking spots, and free water/dump access. FREE boondock.  Interestingly enough travel across Montana usually involves seeing lots of wildlife, but in the past 10 years or so that has not been the case.  There was a devastating winter several years ago that decimated the Pronghorn Antelope population.  However, today between Great Falls and the North Dakota border we counted 532 antelope 185 mule deer, and 4 pheasant.  This is all just driving down the road,   making a 344 mile drive a bit more interesting.  Even the Yellowstone River was down and looked like there was plenty of beach and islands to peruse for agates.

Yellowstone River @ Glendive, MT

E-zry RV Park, Moorehead, MN  T+1435 miles.  All I-94 driving.  WHAT A SHOCK!  Located in the country several miles from town it is a homestead in disarray with junk, old, RVs, and cars everywhere.  There are some sites, but the owner doesn't know how many of them still work.  He is waiting on his hearing next week to see if he can get his license restored.  That should have been my alarm signal.  We parked next to his house and another RV with power, but shared water via Y connector with the other RV.  WHAT A SHITHOLE.  $30 per night is what he asks, but that became negotiable quickly.  DO NOT STOP HERE.

Walmart Ironwood, MI T+1780 miles.  All US highways and two lane roads with a bit of I-35 for awhile outside of Duluth, MN.  Strictly an overnight boondock.  FREE

Chocolay River RV Park  T+1935 miles.  Marquette, MI  A great group of folks that let us stay overnight even though not open yet.  They set us up in the winter caretakers lot.  They even reduced the rate:  $25 per night.  We stayed here an extra night for the peace and quiet.

Chocolay River RV Park Marquette, MI

      We don't eat out much when on the road, easy this trip with the health restrictions and all. So my cooking dictates the cuisine.  We dined on Fried Clam Strips n FF,  Garlic Parmesan Rockfish, Herb Crusted Horseradish Venison Chuck Steak, Ham Steaks, Lasagna, Tillamook Moondog Grilled Cheese, and Venison Carnitas to name a few.  We did make sure to order out one night in Great Falls for some Howard's Pizza, an old favorite.  We also began making a habit of keeping both our RV freezers full.  We've heard stories of meat shortages ahead and so when we make room we restock with whatever meat we need or want.

Fried Razor Clam Strips

Venison Carnitas

Herb Crusted Venison Chuck Steaks w/Horseradish Crème Sauce

Ham Steak

       Finally we arrived home.  We averaged 13.5 mpg towing nearly 2400 miles with the cheapest price for diesel at $1.98 in Fargo, ND.  It has been a long 2 years with another trip to Alaska and 2 long trips around the country as well.  We haven't been home more than 1 month in the past 24.  It will be good to spend the summer here.

NOTE:  WE ARE GOING TO SELF QUARANTINE FOR AT LEAST THE FIRST 3 WEEKS AT OUR PLACE SO PLEASE DON'T ATTEMPT TO VISIT.  

"Wherever you go, go with all your heart"  

Confucius 

WiFi courtesy of Verizon MiFi