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.

I dropped the 5er at a local repair shop around 9 AM. Discussed the repairs with the tech, made sure to tell him about the cat closed up in the bedroom. Went to the YMCA for a quick hot tub and steam sauna session, then headed for the nearest Chinese buffet since I skipped breakfast. Halfway there I get a call from the repair shop. They say there’s a few problems. First is the wind. It really started gusting so there’s no way they can work on awnings until it dies down.  Second, all the parts are wrong. ??????? I was so upset over that I told him I’d have to call him back after I got parked. After talking in the parking lot for a few minutes, we got most of the parts issues resolved. The 2 awnings were good to go, along with the slide glide. The slide topper didn’t have all the necessary hardware (chalk that one up to the previous RV shop that didn’t get the order right) but I could live without that for awhile.

Later that afternoon, they got the patio awning up and rewired. Looks and works great now. I even got 2 bonus items that afternoon. Found out that the thermostat fuse I’d been pulling also controlled all the 12v in the kitchen slide. Great FYI for the future. And I was able to find a troubleshooting document online for the leveling system which has been giving me fits since October.

I stayed in the RV in their parking lot that night, plugged into a 15 or 20 amp circuit. It was just enough to keep the frig running and a small space heater in the bedroom. I was up early the next morning, before the shop opened, so I tried my newfound knowledge from the previous afternoon. Hallelujah! The leveling system finally quit beeping at me and the error code cleared. It took a few extra minutes to manually level the rig and recalibrate the system but after that life was good.

The techs arrived about then and we discussed the plan for the main awning. They wanted to detach the brackets from the RV, assemble the awning inside, then reattach. I asked about just cutting off the old awning material and sliding the new material on. After looking at it a few more minutes, they chose that route and about an hour later I was out of there.  Big kudos to Eric’s RV of Sequim WA

I made it back to the RV park in short order. Ever drive through a traffic circle with a 40 ft 5th wheel? I had to navigate 2 of them. Fortunately, they were well designed and I didn’t run over any curbs. Setup was pretty quick since I’d left my hoses in position and the auto-level was working again. I even extended an awning, just to show off.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to get the slide topper parts in TN and do that repair myself. The previous RV shop also ordered the wrong slide glide. It was thinner than the original and crumpled on first use. I’ve seen DIY plans in the Open Range forum for a stainless steel glide that works much better. That’s also on my list for TN.

Back in August 2018, I had an encounter with an awning-eating tree in a campground in NW Indiana. I was able to get partial repairs done in South Dakota but haven’t been in one place long enough to get parts delivered and work scheduled. I assumed that my time in WA would be sufficient to get it all done.

Well, the first place I dealt with near Sequim WA was really a disappointment. I have no idea about the quality of their work but their ability to communicate with customers sucks. It took about 3 weeks just to get them to order the parts even though I’d provided all the info they requested and they had their parts guy see the RV personally (half mile from their shop). The last voicemail I got from them said they could probably get the parts in and work completed before Christmas.

Guess what? That was the last time they initiated any communications with me. I emailed them a couple of days before Christmas. No reply. I called a few days after Christmas. Had to leave a message for the right guy to call me back but they did confirm my parts had arrived. Several days went by, still no callback. So, the day after New Year’s, I arrived at the shop with my truck and loaded up my parts. I now have an appointment with a different repair shop early next week to finish up the saga…..hopefully. I really don’t want to strap the new parts to the truck for the drive to TN.

I’m usually very happy with my choice of living in an RV but some days it’s even better. A few days ago there was a pretty fierce windstorm up here on the Olympic Peninsula. A lot of trees got blown down and took down numerous power lines. The outage map for the area was covered with so many dots you couldn’t see actual town names. One of the stats posted on the website said that 87% of the people in Clallam county were without power, and the outage lasted about 8 hours for the RV park where I’m at, even longer for some parts of town.

Power outages are nothing new for RVers and most of us can get by just fine on batteries for the duration of the outage. Of course, the park wifi was also out so I had to use my phone as a hotspot to check the outage status. The park uses well water so we lost that when the pump had no electricity. Fortunately, my freshwater tank was full and my 12v water pump supplied adequate pressure. I didn’t have to sit in the dark since I have numerous 12v lights throughout the RV. The water heater and stove would run on propane gas. It wasn’t cold enough that I felt the need to run the propane furnace. My only concern was my refrigerator. It’s a residential model so it runs only on 110v electric. So, after a couple of hours,  I turned on the inverter to power the frig.

I do NOT carry a generator so if the outage had lasted longer, at some point I would need to connect to the truck to recharge the batteries. Overall, it wasn’t a bad experience. Except for no television and having to watch my battery usage, I was much better off than folks in traditional homes.

After 1.5 days on the road, I made it safely to Tacoma WA. Big difference from my previous long drives.

I started out at an RV park in Rapid City SD. My main concern when leaving that park was a tree limb at the front of the site. Sure enough, as I started slowly pulling forward, it contacted the roofline of the RV. Fortunately, the site behind me was still empty (I’d pulled through that site earlier to get into mine). I backed up in the dark, frequently stopping and getting out  of the truck to check for hazards, then was able to pull forward through another site without tree limbs. The park was Happy Holiday RV Resort and there was a world of difference between high season and off season. The quality of the employees seemed to be much higher during high season.

Another bonus this time was that I was able to pick my travel days based on the weather. Just prior to this drive, my onboard computer average MPG was showing single digits since I was fighting winds most of the way. Now, with favorable winds for most of 1200 miles, the MPG never got close to single digits. And this was despite the fact that I traveled over the continental divide and through several mountain ranges. There was one bad spot in the middle of Montana where a rainstorm with headwinds hit but I pulled into a rest area for most of it.

Overall, the trip was non eventful except for my phone coverage. Somewhere in the middle of Montana, I lost my data connection, then couldn’t make outgoing calls. I switched to T Mobile a few months ago. I was still able to get enough info from the Trucker Path app to see upcoming rest areas and truck stops so that worked out OK. Soon after entering WA, I still didn’t have service even though I could see numerous cell towers on the side of the highway. I decided to reboot the phone and immediately got service back. I guess somewhere along the road, possibly when it dropped out of a partner coverage area, it just lost its mind.

is not what you want to see when you’re just going from point A to point B with a 15000 lb, 40 ft 5th wheel but that’s exactly the sign I saw as I let Google maps direct me this morning. So there I was on a washboard gravel road, reduced to about 20 mph. I also saw another sign about a road being closed. The sign indicated a county road and Google maps insisted I was on a numbered street. I kept going, thinking that it was only 3 more miles before I turned on to a different (hopefully paved) road. Well, in another half mile I could see barricades across the road ahead of me. Fortunately, I was right in front of a farmhouse that had a generous driveway to the unpaved street. Ever do a 3 point turn with a large 5th wheel? I think this was my 3rd time where I HAD to. The driveway was plenty big enough and no obstacles at the corners. In just a couple of minutes, I was heading back towards paved roads and civilization. Next time Google maps suggests secondary roads, I’ll double check with another app, or just take known good roads that might take me 5 minutes longer.