Newport Oregon

It took us about 3.5 hours to get from Fort Stevens State park near Astoria to South Beach State Park near Newport. We traveled US-101 all the way. I had talked with a person while at Fort Stevens that said 101 was boring. He said the coast looked the same the whole trip. He was wrong. It was a nice drive traveling through small towns along the way. Some of the views of the coast were outstanding. We first pulled into Beverly Beach State Park north of Newport but it didn’t look like we could get much Satellite TV in there and we had no cell phone reception so we moved on to South Beach. No problem here. You really can tell we are on the coast here with the sound of 2 fog horns in the distance and if you listen carefully you can hear the seals on the jetty. The photo is one of the lighthouses here in Newport. This one is unique because it combines the light keepers house and the light in the same building. We will be spending 3 nights here before moving on further down the coast.

More Rain?

We were going to do some sight seeing yesterday but guess what? It rained! I did mention that rain has followed us all around the country. Well I can’t really say this was our fault since they get 10 inches a month during the winter and 1 inch a month the rest of the year. It always rains here. Today we got a chance to get out with only a short burst of rain and then the rest of the day was nice.


We visited an old ship wreck which is the rusting remains of an English sailing ship that ran aground in 1906 on the beach in the State Park we are in. Then we went over to The Ft Stevens Historic Area at the mouth of the Columbia River where a number of Batteries were set up to protect the rivers entrance. The photo is a replica of what they called the disappearing guns.


These guns were hidden behind earth mounds and could raise, fire, and lower leaving the enemy wondering where the fire was coming from. We took a drive through Astoria and view some of the historic homes in the area. Tomorrow should be a good day which is good because we will be traveling. We have been lucky that we have only had to travel one day out of the year in the rain.

Astoria Oregon

We are at another fine Oregon State Park. We are in Astoria Oregon which is located in the extreme northwest corner of the state. Right on the coast. Although it is on the coast, you wouldn’t know it because of all the trees. It feels like we are in a forest. It is a bit cooler and damper here than what we have seen for the last few months so you can tell we have reached the coast. There is a lot to see here so we will spend 3 nights. Susan seem to thing Astoria is where the movie The Gooneys took place.

We got a bonus

When we mapped out our route from Susan’s Sister’s place to the coast, we decided to follow the Columbia River just because it was the most direct route. It looked pretty grim for a while as we traveled the eastern part of Washington and Oregon. There was nothing but miles of dry nothing. However, we didn’t count on The Columbia River Gorge and The Historic Columbia Highway. This is listed as one of Americas Scenic Byways, and rightly so. There are seven waterfalls, a couple of overlooks, and the Crown Point Vista House within a 15 mile stretch. It just so happens the Oregon State Park we stopped at is right in the middle of it all. Sometimes you just get lucky.

Ainsworth State Park

Today we went from dry barren rolling hills to green lush mountainous terrain. We ended up in an Oregon State Park near Dodson, right in the Columbia River Gorge. The above photos show how it looked when we started our trip today and how it looked when we ended. We traveled half the trip in Washington then crossed over the Columbia River to complete the rest of the trip in Oregon, just because we can. The photo below is a view of Mt. Hood, 11,239 feet high. I do believe it does have snow all year round. There is a drive that circles Mt. Hood but we are not going to do it this time. It is 146 miles and takes a little over 3 hours. Instead, tomorrow we are going to view the many waterfalls in the area along the Historic Columbia River Highway. The State Park we are in is nice but it is so thick with trees that we have no view at all. I was hoping for something along the river. Susan did enjoy picking black berries all day since the park is full of them. When we got here there were plenty of spaces but the park has filled up since then. That’s the beauty of getting off the road by 2:00p. We usually get first pick of sites. Actually we were done by noon today because we got an early start.

Plymouth Washington

We are back. We finally have Internet access again. After Kamiah Idaho, we stayed two nights at a nice park called Chief Timothy just outside of Clarkston Washington. We were on Extended network so I could not access the internet.

Tonight we are in Plymouth Washington. What a dry barren drive to get here. We did pass through some nice little towns and farms along the way so it was scenic at times. We will only be spending 1 night here and don’t know for sure where we will be staying tomorrow night. It will be somewhere around the Columbia River Gorge. I don’t know if we will have internet access or not.

Kamiah Idaho

We drove from Missoula Montana to Kamiah Idaho today. Another nice drive. We went over the Lolo pass which is not very LoLo, in fact it is pretty HighHigh. It wasn’t as steep as some I went over but long, especially the down grade. I dropped it down to 2nd gear and coasted all the way down. At the bottom of the grade Susan spotted the sign that said we were in for 77 miles of windy road. Susan does not handle curvy roads well but I took it slow and she did well. We traveled through the Clearwater National Forest, Nez Perce National Forest, and Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness following the Clearwater River all the way to Kamiah. This river is named appropriately. It is crystal clear the whole way. There are periods of rapids and periods of deep glassy water with sandy beaches. There were wild berries growing along the way but we didn’t stop to pick any.


We are camped out on Susan’s sisters property. They live out, and I do mean OUT, in Kamiah. You hang a right just before town and travel 20 miles over the hills into the wilderness. No cell phone coverage out here. They cleared a spot of land and are in the process of building a log cabin on the property. The cabin is really nice with 3 stories, the bottom level being underground. In the evenings the deer come up and graze on the grasses in the yard. Of course as soon as we arrived it rained. I think we are going to hire ourselves out as rain makers.

Kamiah Idaho

We are now in a little town called Kamiah Idaho. We are visiting Susan’s sister. We are out 30 miles from anywhere. There is no cell phone, internet, or anything for that matter, so updating this site will be difficult. You may not here from us for a couple of days so check back later for updates.

Good timing

I sat down to download the photos from my camera’s memory card and it went caput. Well, it turns out that I was wanting a new camera anyway. And guess what…There is a Costco right across the street from the campground. Just a short visit to Costco and I got a new camera. Hopefully I can get some really good pictures now that I have zoom. The bad part…We just left Yellowstone.

Speaking of Yellowstone, I just added some Yellowstone photos to our photo link.

Missoula Montana

Seems like we have been in Montana for a long time. We have since we spent 9 days at Yellowstone. We are in Missoula right now. We were going to stop over for 2 nights in Garrison but we got there by 11:00 and it was too early to stop and the drive was good. We climbed a pretty good mountain at a 6 to 7% grade for a few miles. I just dropped it down to 3rd gear and let up on the accelerator and never got below 50 mph. The motorhome wasn’t even straining. We pulled into Missoula just before 12:30 so that worked out good. We will spend a few days here then head on into Idaho.

Three Forks Montana

Today was a bit depressing. We left Yellowstone this morning. We are now in a little town called Three Forks. I haven’t seen the town yet but I don’t expect much. We are in a nice KOA that has horses for petting and feeding. There are also chickens running around. Kind of cool. Tomorrow we will venture into town and check it out. We will be here for 2 nights then it’s on the road again. Oh by the way, it’s raining. We are thinking of hiring ourselves out as rain makers.

Yellowstone again

Monday we planned to go back into the park. We got a late start and by the time we got going the line to get into the park was backed up into town. That’s a little more than a mile so we turned around and went back to the motorhome and relaxed all day. Yesterday we played it smart and got an early start. We put another 130 miles on the car in the park. We traveled all the way to the little town of Mammoth to visit the Mammoth Hot Springs. On the way we stopped at the Artisan Paint Pot and spotted the big guy in the photo above. He was just grazing along side of the parking lot not caring about the spectators. On the way back from Mammoth we stopped by the Norris Geyser Basin but only had a brief look because a good friends of ours was stopping by for the night on their way to Whitefish. We had a great time last night starting out with a pizza party then later a slumber party. There were 6 of us in a coach that is really designed to sleep 2 but the couch folded out for 2 and the other 2 were on the floor. There was plenty of room. Today will just be another lazy day of lounging around.

Yellowstone National Park

Old Faithful

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

What a full day. Today we saw Forests, Mountains, Geysers, Lakes, Water falls, Canyons, Pastures, Elk, Buffalo (Lots of Buffalo), Deer, and all in one day. We even crossed over the Continental Divide. This is the point where the snow melt runs into 2 rivers, one running all the way to the Pacific Ocean and the other running all the way to the Mississippi and eventually into the Gulf. This peak is over 8300 feet. I put over 120 miles on the Toad. And we only saw a small portion of the park. We are going to go back to see more in the next couple of days. Everyone knows about Old Faithful. Well, it was neat but the real treat of Yellowstone is what is knows as The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. This is a deep gorge dug out by the Yellowstone River. The colors of the walls are amazing and the waterfall is taller than Niagara Falls. We liked it so much that the next time we go into the park, we are going to go directly to The Grand Canyon and spend more time. We have to drive the upper loop also, which has the highest concentration of wild life. While driving through the park today we were held up a couple of times by buffalo just standing in the middle of the road like they own the place…Oh yeah, they do own the place. Also there was a big bull Elk standing in the middle of the road looking at the line of cars he was holding up as if he was saying, “What!”. Such a cool place!

What a beautiful drive

No Interstates today. It was a straight shot from Bozeman to West Yellowstone. The whole way was a very easy drive down a two lane mountain highway. We followed the Gallatin River the entire route with lots of trees and mountains in the background. All along the way we saw many rafters tackling the rapids in the river. We climbed over 3000 feet but it was so gradual that I did the whole thing in 5th gear with no strain. The weather was beautiful and the big plus was at the end of the drive, Yellowstone Grizzly RV Park. This is a very nice resort style park full of nice Big Rig coaches. We are already talking about extending our stay. We are actually outside Yellowstone park but only less than a mile from the entrance. We will be spending a lot of time in the park.

It’s been raining all year

I think that every stop we have made this year with the exception of about 3 or 4, it has rained. Fortunately the rain has usually come during the late afternoon so driving has not been a problem since we are off the road before 2:00p. At least the rain has given me the chance to locate all the leaks and fix them, yes I have had a few. Since we don’t drive during the rain, keeping the motorhome and car clean has not been a problem. Usually the rain washes the dirt away. Today I spent half the day washing and cleaning the motorhome and car to remove the road grime that the rain didn’t wash away. When I find a park that will let you wash the rig, I take advantage of it. Most parks do not allow washing.
Tomorrow we will be heading for West Yellowstone. We are looking forward to the drive that follows the Gillian River and is suppose to be very scenic. And there are no Interstates.