On January 31st, I started a 3000 mile journey from Sequim WA to Cornersville TN. I elected to move the departure up from February 1st so I would hopefully miss some forecast snow in Utah. I had already decided to start the trip southbound to Portland OR so I could avoid the mountain passes in Washington state. I’ve never put snow chains on a tire and had no desire to try it on this trip while towing my 5th wheel.
Day 1 started off easy. I had already disconnected and stowed everything except electric the day before, and brought the slides in the night before. I’m naturally a morning person so I was able to get started before the traffic got too bad on highway 101. There was a toll (westbound only) on the Tacoma Narrows bridge. I’d already paid this a few times when driving onto the mainland and there was an oversized lane that I could have used but since they have a Pay By Mail option, I chose to drive straight through with the RV. The toll will be probably be about $14 if they decide to mail it to me. It would have been $12 if I’d stopped and paid then.
Traffic along I-5 and I-84 wasn’t too bad. My first overnight stop was a small RV park in Stanfield OR. Since I’d filled up before leaving and it was a fairly short drive, I only planned one fuel stop at a Pilot truck stop on the west side of the Colombia River Gorge. Under most circumstances, that would’ve been easy but my luck changed as I turned west from Portland. I noticed tree branches bending towards me. Thank goodness for technology. I was able to say “OK Google, what are the winds at my current location” and found out the exact headwind I was dealing with. Since I had plenty of time, I slowed down to about 55 MPH and continued down the road. At that speed I was able to take in a little more scenery and spotted a bald eagle in a tree top. I was a little worried as I got further away from civilization but finally made it to the truck stop. After filling up, I discovered that I had 1.5 gallons left in the 35 gallon tank as I made it to the pumps.
Back on the interstate with a full tank, I called ahead to the Redtail RV park in Stanfield. The owner was very helpful with directions and I was fortunate that they had a site for me. Typically, I just sleep in rest areas or truck stops but this trip I wanted an electric hookup at night so I could recharge the batteries for the residential refrigerator and run a space heater to stay warm. One of the problems I’ve noticed recently is that many RV parks are mostly full of permanent residents. This park was no exception but they did have a pull thru site available for an overnight. I didn’t have to unhitch the truck and was able to get a very early start the next morning.
My next planned stop was the famcamp at Hill AFB UT. The drive through the rest of Oregon, Idaho and Utah was uneventful until I was about 2 hours north of the base. I had not been using Google maps until then because it was straight interstate driving. As soon as I plugged in the address, I got a warning that there was a 30 minute delay due to an accident on the interstate. No problem I thought, it should be cleared by the time I get there. Well, every 15 minutes or so, Google maps would update the delay and it kept getting longer. By the time I was within 10 miles of my exit, the interstate had been closed just 2 exits north of my destination. Google faithfully routed me through residential sections of Odgen (BTW they have very wide streets) for about 30 minutes until I finally arrived at the west gate of Hill AFB. I couldn’t tell which lane to use so I stopped short and a security policeman came out to the RV to notify me that they’d had too many scrapes and scratches going through that gate so I had to go to a different gate – the one I had originally programmed into Google maps! Apparently, the interstate had reopened while I was cruising through Ogden and I was able to get to the original exit and the famcamp. Again, I’d called earlier in the day and the camp host gave me excellent directions and I got to my site without problem. There was snow on the ground all over the place but the streets and sites were dry and clear. After a nice hot shower in the bath house and a decent nights sleep, I was on the move again before dawn. My next planned stop was just west of Albuquerque NM.
On day 3, I had to disagree with Google maps. It looked like they wanted to route me on a very scenic route between I-15 and I-70. These are usually great for cars but murder on big rig RVs. I stuck with the interstate until a different, 30 mile stretch of state highway offered to save me many miles getting to I-70. I have to admit the scenery through southern Utah was just unbelievable. I’d heard all the talk about the area and just never thought a bunch of rocks could be that impressive. I was WRONG! I wish I’d had more time to stop and see the sights but I do have plans to find a workamping gig there in the near future. I did see numerous hawks on the side of the road and even a couple of coyotes loping across a field. I took US 191 and US 491 to get to I-40 in New Mexico. 191 was a good road with frequent passing lanes so folks could get around me. 491 started off good but when it entered the Navajo Nation lands in New Mexico I had to reduce speed by about 10 mph. There were numerous stretches where dips in the road had my 5er acting like a bucking bronco at normal speeds. Also, there were no rest areas or stations to refuel anywhere along 491. I had just filled up before I turned off 191. I made it to the Dancing Eagle Casino rv park in Casa Blanca NM. This spot is a real gem for an overnight. Right off the interstate, plenty of open spots and the cost was only $11.38. As a bonus, there was a tribal truck stop right across the street where I filled the tank with inexpensive diesel the next morning.
Up to this point, I’d really been pushing it, driving long hours each day, to get ahead of a weather front and NOT get snowed in somewhere. Now I could finally relax a little. I had excellent tailwinds going through the rest of New Mexico and the Texas panhandle and ended a driving day when the sun was still up in Amarillo Texas, at the same RV park where I had my first workamping job. I was there so early, I unhitched the truck and headed into town for a Chinese buffet and more inexpensive diesel. The environmentalist in me was very happy to see huge wind farms across the panhandle with hundreds of wind turbines, generating countless gigawatts of electricity without destroying or burning anything.
Just 2 days left now. Another early start from Amarillo, still decent tailwinds, across Oklahoma and into Arkansas. One more RV park before sunset and decided to unhitch again and drive into town for the best deal on diesel. What did we do before Gas Buddy? Also stopped at a grocery store for some traveling snacks for the next day. I’d been surviving mostly on fresh fruit, hard boiled eggs and fried ham slices. Up before dawn again for the last leg. Traffic wasn’t too bad through Little Rock, Memphis and Nashville. I made the Texas T Campground in Cornersville TN with plenty of daylight to spare, no new damage to the RV and no mechanical difficulties with the truck – a very successful 3000 mile trip in my book. Both Dakota and I were very happy to put all the slides out and looking forward to being stationary for a few months while workamping and exploring the local area.