Shed

As mentioned, we bought a shed for our Washington home, to store stuff we want to keep for the future, but not carry around the country with us (storage space even in a 40 foot motorhome is limited!).

We got the shed from Home Depot, a 10 x 8 foot wooden shed with shingles on the roof. The purchase included delivery and installation, since we would not be home at the time; we wanted to have it ready for when we arrived.

Here’s the shed as installed, unpainted:

Shed

With the doors open:

Doors open

Inside:

Shed

Roof rafters

Window in door

Door latch

I caulked the joints:

Caulked

Then Jenn and I painted it, starting with the main color:

Painting

And the trim:

Shed

Nice.

U-Haul to move stuff from a storage unit to a shed

Ever since we started preparing for our current RV lifestyle, we’ve had a storage unit in the Portland area, somewhat near our old homestead. But paying for ever-increasing storage rental was getting old. So we bought a shed for home, and one of our projects during our annual visit home this year was to move the contents of the storage unit to the shed.

To do this, we rented a 15 foot U-Haul truck near the storage unit:

U-Haul pickup

At the storage unit, before loading the truck:

At storage unit

(Unfortunately I didn’t get a photo of the loaded truck; it was full, just big enough.)

The truck at our shed:

At shed

Looking in the empty truck after we had unloaded it:

Empty

Not too hard. Nice to have our stuff at our Washington home.

Baseball: Seattle Mariners vs New York Mets

The second Seattle Mariners game vs the New York Mets, at the Mariners’ ballpark, T-Mobile Field was originally going to be an afternoon game, but was pushed back a few hours as it was featured on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.

We were there very early, having done the ballpark tour beforehand, so had ample opportunity to sample more ballpark food:

Burgers and fries

Pizza

Julio Rodríguez exercising, having been on the injury list until this game:

Julio Rodríguez exercising

Marking the batting boxes:

Marking the batting boxes

Jenn with inflatable trident:

Jenn with inflatable trident

Pitching:

Pitching

Batting:

Batting

Cal on base:

On base

ESPN Sunday Night Baseball:

ESPN Sunday Night Baseball

Pitching:

Pitching

Run scores:

Run scores

Salmon Run:

Salmon Run

Salmon

Home run:

Home run

Two runs score:

Two runs score

Even though I’ve been in this ballpark more times than any other over the years, and had explored in the previous game, plus the guided tour, I still wanted to explore some more, to take pictures from other angles and places:

Exploring the ballpark

Seattle

Exploring the ballpark

“Hotdogs from heaven”, a Mariners innovation where they drop hotdogs on little parachutes:

Hotdogs from heaven

The wave:

The wave

Cal Raleigh is nicknamed “Big Dumper” (because he has a big butt), and they played on that by having him read out messages to dump people:

Big Dumper

The M’s did rather well:

Scores

Mariners win:

Mariners win

Mariners winning dance

Sweep:

Sweep

Cal interview:

Cal interview

Mariners win

Baseball: Seattle Mariners T-Mobile Field guided tour

We had a guided tour of the Seattle Mariners’ ballpark, T-Mobile Field.

But first, a stop at the team store for some swag:

Team store

T-Mobile Park home plate entrance:

T-Mobile Park

The tour started at the club level:

Club level

Press boxes and suites:

Press boxes and suites

Press boxes

Selfie:

Selfie

Mariners history:

Mariners history

Club level

A look in a suite:

Suite

Ramp up to the 300 level:

Ramp

300 level

Batting practice:

Batting practice

300 level

Cranes

Seattle skyline

Home plate entrance chandelier:

Home plate entrance chandelier

Mariners hall of fame:

Mariners hall of fame

Bullpen:

Bullpen

An interesting tour of T-Mobile Park:

T-Mobile Park

Baseball: Seattle Mariners vs New York Mets

While our coach was at home, we spent a couple of nights in a hotel in Seattle (across the road from the ballpark), to attend a couple of Seattle Mariners games vs the New York Mets, at the Mariners’ ballpark, T-Mobile Field (which I’ll always think of Safeco Field).

The first game was an evening one.

T-Mobile Park

We went in early via the bullpen gate, and grabbed some nachos from Edgar’s Cantina:

Edgar's Cantina

Nachos

The crowd out by the bullpens:

Crowd

Out-of-town scoreboard:

Out-of-town scoreboard

Retired numbers:

Retired numbers

Dave Niehaus, late voice of the Mariners:

Dave Niehaus

The Walk-Off Market, where you can just pick things up and walk out, via Amazon technology:

The Walk-Off Market

Root Sports TV set:

Root Sports set

Welcome to T-Mobile Park:

Welcome to T-Mobile Park

Later we got some clam strips from Ivar’s Seafood & Chowder:

Ivar's Seafood & Chowder

Clam strips and fries

Cal heading to the bullpen:

Cal heading to the bullpen

Cal info:

Cal info

Heading back:

Heading back

Catching:

Catching

Batting

Baseball

Run scores:

Run scores

Pitching

Salmon run:

Fish race

Fish

Sweeping

Cameras

Exploring the ballpark:

Consessions

Ballpark

Screen

Ballpark

Hydro Challenge

Seattle skyline:

Seattle skyline

Retractable roof over train tracks:

Retractable roof over train tracks

Hit It Here Cafe:

Hit It Here Cafe

Ballpark

Moose:

Moose

Getting a lead

T-Mobile Park

Lights

Selfie

Pitching

Mariners win:

Mariners win

As soon as most people left, flocks of seagulls swooped in to scavage the waste food:

Seagulls scavaging the waste food

T-Mobile Park

We like it when the Mariners win.

Our Washington home

We stayed at our official domicile, aka Mom’s house, in Shelton, Washington.

It was good to be home! An opportunity to catch up on dentists, doctors, optometrists, etc, and of course with family.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-08-03
Check out: 2024-08-25
22 nights

Weather:

Partly cloudy, rain
High temps ranging between 68-88°F, lows around 52-60°F
Wind gusts to 20 MPH in the area, though much less when sheltered amongst trees

Noise:

No road noise
No train noise
Occasional neighbor noise

Site:

Front in, concrete in front, gravel in back
Disconnected toad; parked next to coach
Fairly level; high in front; used hydraulic leveling

Utilities:

50 amp power, located on house in front of coach, used extension cord
37 PSI water from the house
No sewer hookup; used tote or macerator and hose to dump into house septic system

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 11-18 Mbps down, 9-11 Mbps up, 45-65 ms ping
House Wi-Fi: 9-11 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 20 ms ping
Verizon: 3-5 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 45-75 ms ping
AT&T: 0.5 Mbps down, 0.01 Mbps up, 120 ms ping, negligible service
T-Mobile: no service

Amenities:

House

Our coach parked in front of the house:

Our coach by the house

We added an RV electrical outlet box on the house, so were able to have 50 amp power:

Electrical outlet

Starlink dish on a flagpole:

Starlink dish on flagpole

Nice to have full hookups at home. (I’ll have a blog post about the sewer options in a couple of weeks.)

Video

Video: Quincy to Shelton, Washington motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 248 miles from Quincy, Washington to Shelton, Washington.

Travel from Quincy to Shelton, Washington

We drove our coach 248 miles, about 4 hours of driving, from Quincy, Washington to Shelton, Washington.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading west (with exact destination omitted, for privacy):

Route map

An interactive map:

Columbia River:

Columbia River

Upside-down vehicle:

Upside-down vehicle

Eastern Washington hills:

Eastern Washington hills

Columbia River:

Columbia River

Vantage Bridge over Columbia River:

Columbia River bridge

Columbia River

Rest area:

Rest area

Truck with corn:

Truck with corn

Wildlife bridge:

Wildlife bridge

I-90 along Keechelus Lake:

I-90 along Keechelus Lake

Guye Peak:

Guye Peak

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Joining I-5 South:

Joining I-5 South

Tacoma Dome:

Tacoma Dome

Heading into Shelton:

Shelton

Narrow bridge entering Shelton:

Shelton

(Probably the last time we go this way; we found an easier route.)

You should vacuum out under the fridge occasionally

Under the fridge in our coach is a vent and some radiator fins. We hadn’t previously cleaned it out, and noticed our fridge making weird noises, so I removed the cover and investigated (a couple of screws and some clips). The fins were chock full of dust and cat fur. Oops! I’ve added a recurring reminder to vacuum that out in the future.

Vent under fridge

Vent cover

Vacuum

Dusty

Thousand Trails Crescent Bar

We stayed at Thousand Trails Crescent Bar in Quincy, Washington. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A Thousand Trails campground overlooking the Columbia River.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-08-02
Check out: 2024-08-03
1 night
We had booked two nights, but decided to leave after one, since it was so hot, and we just wanted to get home

Weather:

Partly cloudy
High temp 102°F, low 71°F
Little wind, gusts to 17 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
Little neighbor noise

Site:

#81, back-in, sandy gravel
Needed to disconnect toad
Fairly level site; a little high at the back; used air leveling, since only one night
Sandy gravel driveway about 55 feet long by 12 feet wide
15 feet to neighbors on both sides
Picnic table
Fire pit
A tall tree
Somewhat clean site (some paper trash)

Utilities:

50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located
55 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 15 Mbps down, 5-12 Mbps up, 108 ms ping
AT&T: 230 Mbps down, 28 Mbps up, 160 ms ping
Verizon: 12-18 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Typical older TT, but killer views

This park is typical of an older Thousand Trails park and needs some TLC. As usual, it’s first come, first served, which is not our favorite. We were lucky to find a 50A site that was 1) in working condition, 2) large enough for our 40′ motorhome, and 3) had a peek of the Gorge. All the best sites with views of the Gorge seem to be taken up by seasonals, but it was nice to see what we could between them. All the short-term sites are a bit run down, with sparse landscaping. We camped at Thousand Trails Crescent Bar in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

There’s a clip for the tag, but it’s broken, so they’ve replaced it with shoelaces, rather than replacing the clip; really says something about Thousand Trails maintenance:

Shoelose to attach tag