11-18MAR12 - Various (tx, az, ca, or, & wa)

Sunday, 11MAR, we commenced the long drive to Sultan, WA. To make the logistics work – it was decided that Dan would drive the Penske rental truck pulling a small trailer (the trailer had outdoor lawn furniture & some heavy planters; & we soon learned we would be constantly re-tying the load to keep it on the trailer!!!), & Corrie would follow with the RV pulling the Toad. After some debate it was agreed that we would take the long way through New Mexico, Arizona & up I-5 north thru California; rather than the shorter route thru Utah & Oregon. The trip didn’t start smoothly – first we lost an hour due to daylight savings time, then the Penske rental truck couldn’t get traction in the wet grass of the RV park. Thank goodness for four wheel drive low on the Toad & a 10 ton tow strap! Despite the delays in getting started we made it to Saddleback Mountain RV park outside Balmorhea, TX.

Monday, 12MAR, we made our longest drive of the trip to Willcox, AZ. About one hour after leaving Balmorhea we experienced once again the wonderful traffic (NOT) on I-10 thru El Paso, TX. Entering New Mexico we encountered our first weigh station. The regulations for which trucks must enter the weigh stations vary state to state. Dan tried researching the internet to find out what the rules were, but was not successful. So we decided that if the weigh station was open we would enter it & get weighed (even the RV). As we drove along the I-10 westward we noted that some truckers seemed to have problem with Corrie passing them in the RV? Some would speed up to see if she would back down, & some would try & box here in so she couldn’t get into the left lane.

We finally stopped in Willcox, AZ, & stayed at the same park we stayed at back in APR10. Unfortunately the Mexican restaurant at the RV park we really enjoyed last time was gone; & the downtown which was pretty vacant before was now almost dead. As has happened to most small towns in the USA, all the business has moved out to the interstate highway & consists of the same “national chains” you find everywhere in the USA. One of the casualties to the national fast food outlets by the interstate was Carters drive-in who had been serving burgers & shakes since 1958; on our last visit we got photos of three large fiberglass figures (mom, dad & son) holding large burgers & root beers. Since AZ does not observe daylight savings time, we gained two hours.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/04/10-13apr10-willcox-phoenix-az.html

Tuesday we continued westward thru AZ on I-10. The Penske rental truck has a smaller diesel tank than the RV & gets poorer mileage; end result was having to stop twice or three times as often for the truck compared to the RV. Passing thru the bumper to bumper traffic of Phoenix we almost lose the lawn chairs off trailer. We finally made it to Quartzsite, AZ, & checked into same RV park that we stayed at in NOV10. This was a good thing because they weren’t going to let us park the rental truck in the park until they found our name was already in their computer. We did not visit the nearly naked book seller this time!

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2010/11/01-05nov10-various-or-ca-az.html

Wednesday, 14MAR, we had a hard drive to Bakersfield, CA. Entering the state of California we had to pull over three times – first for the Border Patrol, then CA Agriculture, & lastly at a weigh station. Traffic thru San Bernardino to bypass Los Angeles was a bitch, & once again the load on the trailer came loose forcing an emergency stop to re-tie the entire load. Unfortunately we had pulled into a small side street & Dan soon discovered that the Penske truck cannot turn as tight as our RV. He is not sure how he made the U-turn, but some suburbanite now has big tire tracks thru their front yard! Corrie has never driven the RV thru mountain passes before & the last portion of highway into Bakersfield goes thru the Tehachapi pass. It was “white knuckles” for her, but she made it.

Thursday we got an early start & finally connecting to I-5 north to drive straight thru to the Seattle area. We still continued to fight to keep stuff in trailer & eventually made it to Dunnigan, CA. We decided drive past Happy Times RV where we stayed in 23APR11 & stay at Campers Inn RV (used to be Campers Inn RV & Golf Resort). The description of this so-called resort in the RV camping books did not reflect reality, but it was quieter than Happy Times RV.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2011/04/22-30apr11-various-enroute-wa-nv-ca-or.html

Friday, 16MAR, continuing north on I-5 Corrie had to endure hours of mountain driving thru the mountains of northern CA & southern OR; along with Siskiyou Summit, Grants Pass, Sexton Mountain Pass, Stage Road Pass, & Canyon Creek Pass, all in the rain. We finally got the load on the trailer tied down once & for all, but one clay flower pot bit the dust. Our intention was to spend the night in Medford, OR, but snow was forecasted so we pushed onward into the Umpqua valley. We had difficulty finding a RV park & ended up in Sutherlin, OR (where we spent two days back in APR09), at the Hi-Way Haven RV park in an old drive-in theater. It turned out to be one of the better parks we have stayed at & they show movies on the drive-in screen every other Saturday night.

http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/2009/04/13-14apr09-sutherlin-or.html

Saturday we decided not push thru to Sultan, WA, in one day; but to take it easy & only drive about 200 miles. We overnighted in a nice park in Kelso, WA. Before we got there we had to endure the wall-to-wall traffic on I-5 thru Portland, OR. Once again we were reminded that the advertised diesel fuel prices in OR are a sham! The prices you see from the highway for diesel are if you have a PUC (whatever that is); the real price is twenty to thirty cents higher. Also OR has laws against using your cell phone while driving, BUT they have electronic highway signs saying call 511 for latest road conditions; & there was one sign requiring you to dial ten digits to get highway info!

Sunday morning, 18MAR, we got on the road early & made it to our house in Sultan at lunch. To Corrie’s dismay we endured driving in snow, sleet & rain. After backing the RV & the rental truck down our four hundred foot driveway, Dan headed to cousin Paul’s to borrow a hand truck; & we started unloading the truck with the assistance of our neighbor’s son, Cameron.

Statistically the trip covered 2509 miles in 49.4 hours of driving, & averaged 7.4mpg in the rental truck. The hero (or heroine) of the trip was Corrie! She has driven the RV a little in the past, almost always with Dan in the passenger seat to answer questions and/or give suggestions. She has never driven up mountain passes, & more hair raising – down mountain passes. Throw into the mix driving thru El Paso, Tucson, Phoenix, San Bernardino, Sacramento, Portland, Tacoma, & Bellevue; & as she says – Dan owes her big time!!!