IKEA storage cabinets

One of several criteria when choosing an RV was that we needed to keep working as we travel, so we wanted a desk (or two). So soon after we bought our coach, we removed the couches, and replaced one with a desk:

Desk

From the start, I used a lap tray with my laptop, sitting in my living room chair, while Jenn used the desk. Over time, she decided that she didn’t need the second screen, and ultimately didn’t need the desk either.

So we removed the desk, while temporarily leaving its drawers:

Removed desk

We might get some custom furniture to go there in due course, but in the meantime we decided to replace the desk with IKEA KALLAX drawers and cupboards; a very flexible system that we’ve enjoyed in the past.

Here are the drawers being assembled:

IKEA KALLAX drawers

IKEA KALLAX drawers

To prevent the drawers from sliding open when the coach is in motion, I added roller catches:

Roller catch

Roller catch

The new drawers next to the old ones, while transferring the contents:

Drawers

Next I assembled IKEA KALLAX cupboards; the bottom-right cubby is a cat bed for Paladin:

IKEA KALLAX cupboards

I got brackets to connect the two units, for extra stability:

Connected

The two brackets on the back are covered in self-adhesive felt, to avoid scratching the wall:

Felt cover

I also added a bracket to mount the units to the wall:

Bracket

The drawers and cupboards:

Drawers and cupboards

Drawers and cupboards

Related, I added velcro to Jenn’s laptops and laptop stand, so they stay put while driving:

Velcro

She uses the laptop stand on the dining table when she has meetings, or uses a lap tray in her living room chair like me.

Seaside and Astoria

We took a day trip to the Oregon coast.

We had planned to go to Mo’s in Seaside for lunch, but they were too busy, so we continued up the coast.

Some pics of Seaside:

Seaside

Seaside

Seaside

Seaside

Seaside

Astoria:

Astoria

Astoria

We ended up going to Bridgewater Bistro, which we had fond memories of from staying in Astoria for our anniversary in 2008:

Bridgewater Bistro

Bridgewater Bistro

The restaurant is on the pier, and has a cute window in the floor showing the water below (and a skeleton on a rope ladder):

Window in floor

Bridge view

We had a tasty breakfast for a late lunch:

Breakfast for late lunch

After that, we drove over the Astoria–Megler Bridge between Oregon and Washington; a 4 mile long bridge across the Columbia River:

Astoria–Megler Bridge

Astoria–Megler Bridge

Astoria–Megler Bridge

And back again:

Astoria–Megler Bridge

Astoria–Megler Bridge

Astoria–Megler Bridge

Astoria–Megler Bridge

Astoria–Megler Bridge

Astoria–Megler Bridge

Cannery Pier Hotel:

Cannery Pier Hotel

Astoria–Megler Bridge

Bike rides around Stub Stewart

Stub Stewart State Park was a great place to have a new bike, as it has a number of interesting places to ride, plus is in the middle of the 21-mile Banks-Vernonia State Trail.

One of the first places I rode was the Stub Hilltop area, which has a picnic shelter and tables, nice views, a disc golf course, and a mountain bike area:

Stub Mountain Bike Area

Stub Mountain Bike Area

Stub Hilltop Shelter

Stub Hilltop Shelter

Bikes

Stub Hilltop area

View and bike

View

I used Strava to track my ride, and Relive to convert the route into a 3D video:

The start of the disc golf course through the trees at the hilltop area:

Disc golf course

Disc golf course

Disc golf course

I also rode along a very small portion of the Banks-Vernonia State Trail:

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

Ride video:

And another portion of the trail, with a nice bike repair station where the trail crosses the Stub entry road:

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

Ride video:

A short ride video around the campground:

Heading further towards Banks:

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

The trail crosses the Buxton Trestle, a 733-foot long, 80-foot high former rail bridge:

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

Banks-Vernonia State Trail

A rather green pond by the Buxton picnic area:

Pond

The picnic area below the Buxton Trestle:

Picnic area

Picnic area

Picnic area

Picnic area

Picnic area

Prison work crew doing landscaping:

Prison work crew

Ride video:

A video of the first ride Jenn and I did together:

Another day, Jenn and I took a picnic lunch on our bikes to the Buxton Trestle:

Picnic on bike

Picnic via bikes

Picnic via bikes

Ride video:

Was this post interesting? I figure our exploring by bikes is not too different to exploring by hiking or driving, in terms of post topics, and may be of interest to some people.

CLAM screen tent

Another useful addition to our campsites: we purchased a 9×9 CLAM pop-up screen tent, to provide shade and/or protection from bugs.

It’s pretty compact folded up in its bag:

Bag

It pops up quickly by pulling tabs in the center of each wall:

Popping up

Popped up, with wind and sun panels attached, and tie-down ropes attached, sitting on a new outdoor mat:

Popped up

With our chairs and small table inside:

With our chairs

Chairs and table

We also got a combo light and fan that can hang from the ceiling, or sit on the table:

Light and fan

On our site:

On our site

We brought Paladin outside in his harness and leash; only the second time he’s been outside, so he was a bit unsure about it:

Paladin

Paladin

Jenn and Paladin

Paladin

Paladin

Paladin

Paladin

Eating dinner in the tent:

Dinner

Propane fire pit

Back in November last year we purchased a portable propane fire pit, which we carried around in the back of our truck for several months without using it, for various reasons — mostly because we tend to go inside in evenings (remember that we’re not on vacation, but living our life on the road), and when we do sit outside, it’s usually too warm to need a fire.

But having enjoyed the wood fire in Bend, we finally got around to using our fire pit at Stub Stewart:

Here it is, with the cover on, looking a bit dusty:

Propane fire pit

Connected to the propane cylinder:

Propane fire pit

Let there be light!

Propane fire pit

A GIF of it on high:

Propane fire pit

And a GIF of it on low, with me working on my laptop next to the fire:

Propane fire pit

Another GIF, while watching YouTube videos on another day:

GIF

LL Stub Stewart State Park, Dairy Creek West

We stayed in the Dairy Creek West campground of LL Stub Stewart State Park in Buxton, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A pleasant state park.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-07-11
  • Check out: 2022-07-25
  • 14 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny
  • High temps ranging between 73-90°F, lows around 49-62°F
  • No significant wind

Noise:

  • No road noise or train noise
  • Some neighbor noise (kids and dogs), mostly quiet
  • Crows making a racket on the roof

Site:

  • #46, back in, gravel
  • Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach (on asphalt)
  • Fairly level, once we moved the coach away from the edge
  • Large site: about 64 feet long by about 45 feet wide
  • Full hookups:
    • 50 amp power conveniently located
    • 30 PSI water pressure (we boosted from our tank); conveniently located
    • Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10 foot hoses used)
  • Picnic table, fire pit on gravel
  • Several trees for privacy

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 4 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 38 ms ping
  • AT&T: 8 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
  • Verizon: 30 Mbps down, 12 Mbps up, 23 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

  • Garbage compactor and recycling outside campground entrance
  • No pool

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Huge sites in a beautiful park

We loved our stay at this campground. Our site was beautifully tucked into the trees, and it just felt like what a campground should be. The place has an awesome vibe. It feels like a rustic campground but has full hookups. It feels like you’re a long way from anywhere, but it’s pretty convenient to Hwy 26, so you can head to Portland or the Coast for an easy day trip. The camp hosts are really on top of things; they rake and tidy things up almost as soon as the previous occupant has left. And the sites are just massive. We had room for our 40′ motorhome, tow vehicle, screen tent with table and chairs, plus the campground-provided picnic table and firepit, with room left over. I can see why this park is popular with groups. We saw several campers with multiple sites booked, who all hung out at one site in the evenings.

We stayed in the West campground, which has a lot more trees around the loop than the East one and has a few that need to be trimmed along the road because they twanged the antenna on top of our rig, but it’s a minor thing because we will stay here again when we’re in the area. We camped at L.L. Stub Stewart Memorial State Park in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

Map

An embedded map, that you can zoom and scroll around:

Our site before parking:

Our site

Our coach in our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

From the hill behind the site (and yes, the tent is new; I’ll do a separate post about that):

Our site

Our site

A peek of the roof:

Roof

Woods behind our site:

Woods behind our site

A murder of crows; they had an annoying habit of walking on our roof, making a racket:

Murder of crows

The crows did enjoy the drip tray of our griddle:

Crow on griddle

Another recent addition was a milk crate to help carry and stabilize the propane cylinder:

Milk crate for propane cylinder

Griddle breakfast for dinner:

Griddle breakfast for dinner

More pics of our site:

Our site

Our site

Another dinner:

Dinner

Oh deer:

Deer

Levitating squirrel:

Squirrel

Butterfly:

Butterfly

Another deer:

Another deer

Aerial views of our site:

Aerial view of our site

Aerial view of our site

Aerial view of our site

Aerial view of our site

Aerial view of other sites

Aerial view of other sites

Let’s explore. The welcome center:

Welcome center

The campground didn’t have any garbage bins or dumpsters, but did have a trash compactor just outside:

Trash compactor

And it being Oregon, of course there were lots of recycling bins, too:

Recycling

Self registration station for late arrivals:

Self registration station

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

More bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Tent sites:

Tent sites

Other RV sites:

Other RV sites

Other RV sites

Other RV sites

Other RV sites

Other RV sites

Other RV sites

Other RV sites

Other RV sites

We will probably come back here in the future, but might like to stay on the opposite side of the road, for better shade. Site 41 could be a good choice:

Site 41

Or site 43:

Site 43

Or site 45:

Site 45

Behind site 45:

Behind site 45

A seating area by a path to the adjacent campground:

Seating area

We were in Dairy Creek Campground West; the East campground is nearby:

Dairy Creek Campground East

Both campgrounds have a couple of Park Hosts:

Park Host

Dairy Creek Campground East is a bit more open:

Dairy Creek Campground East

Dairy Creek Campground East

Dairy Creek Campground East

Dairy Creek Campground East

Dairy Creek Campground East

Dairy Creek Campground East

Dairy Creek Campground East

Dairy Creek Campground East

Dairy Creek Campground East

This campground might be better for our coach; it brushed some of the foliage in the west campground. Sites 82, 84, 86, 88, 89, 90, and 92 would all be excellent choices for afternoon shade and a decent amount of privacy:

Site 82

A very nice couple of campgrounds. We’ll likely stay here again when visiting Portland.

Travel from Lebanon to Buxton, Oregon

We drove our coach 190 miles, about 4 hours of driving, from Lebanon, Oregon to Buxton, Oregon, with a detour to the Oregon Motorcoach Center in Eugene.

The map route for the first leg, heading south:

Map route

And the second leg, heading north:

Map route

We hooked up our toad on the way out of Gill’s Landing RV Park:

Our coach

Heading south on good ol’ I-5:

I-5

I watched a travel day video on travel day:

Watching travel day video on travel day

Eugene exits:

Eugene exit

Eugene exit

Eugene exit

Arriving at Oregon Motorcoach Center:

Oregon Motorcoach Center

Oregon Motorcoach Center

Our coach surrounded by others:

Our coach

Reception:

Reception

We hung out in the waiting area, enjoying the company of one of the two resident dogs; a very well-behaved dog, who liked to play, but wasn’t overly pushy about it:

Waiting area with resident dog

Waiting area with resident dog

Our coach:

Our coach

We went out for a Shari’s breakfast for lunch:

Shari's breakfast for lunch

Our coach, with a tech installing SoftStartRV units on the roof ACs:

Our coach

Our coach

Other coaches:

Other coaches

Once they were done, they backed up our coach for us, so we could hook up our truck:

Our coach and truck

A great company to work with; they were responsive via email in scheduling the appointment, and got several things done, including replacing the engine air filter, installing two SoftStartRV units, fixing some interior accent lighting, and investigating a couple of other minor issues. And they were happy for Paladin to stay in the coach while we hung out in the nice waiting room, started work promptly, and wrapped up in time for us to continue our journey. We’ll definitely use them again in the future, probably every year as we head back to Portland.

Back on the road, a diesel fuel stop on the way out of Eugene (our tank is 150 gallons, but we usually don’t let it get below halfway); spendy stuff:

Diesel

Back on I-5, heading north:

I-5

A rest area stop:

Rest area

Rest area

Hey #vanlifer, you may be an RV, but you don’t need to be in the truck parking:

Van does not need to be in the truck parking

My Pokémon buddy brought me a gift:

Pokémon gift

217 exit:

217 exit

Typical 217 traffic:

Typical 217 traffic

26 exit:

26 exit

26 westbound:

26

Vernonia exit:

Vernonia exit

Arriving at our destination, Stub Stewart State Park:

Stub Stewart State Park

Stub Stewart State Park

Stub Stewart State Park

Our coach backing in to our site:

Our coach