A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 75 miles from Buxton, Oregon to Welches, Oregon.
Author: David
Travel from Buxton to Welches, Oregon
We drove our coach 77 miles, about two hours of driving, from Buxton, Oregon to Welches, Oregon.
This is the start of our eastern migration, as we head from the west coast toward the east coast, ending the year in Florida.
Here’s the map route, heading east:

Interactive map (no stops):
We drove our coach and truck separately to the welcome center, as a convenient place to toad up:


Leaving the state park:

Roadworks, replacing a bridge:

Heavy traffic near the Vista Ridge tunnel, as usual:





A bike and pedestrian bridge over the Willamette River:

Jenn driving, with a glimpse of downtown Portland beyond:

Portland downtown:

Overpasses:

Freeway with the convention center towers in the background:

Bridge:

MAX light rail station:

A water tower and a glimpse of Mt Hood:

A plane coming in for a landing, and Mt Hood:

We took NE 238th Drive, which used to be unsuitable for RVs and trucks, but was widened a few years ago:

Some somewhat close trees:

Our RV GPS kept warning of 40 foot length limits, which no longer applied since the road was improved. It’s a nice feature when up-to-date, though:

Totally fine, though:

Turning on to Burnside Road (with some roadworks; good thing we didn’t want to go straight):

US-26 highway:


Downtown Sandy:

Our homestead was somewhat near Sandy (25 minutes away, but it was where we went shopping). But we never made it to the rather distinctive Joes Donut Shop:

Mt Hood Pet Resort was where we took our dog for playtime and boarding, often grabbing a coffee at Mountain Moka Cafe next door:

Interesting structure:

A glimpse of Mt Hood:



Motorcycles:

Our destination, Mt Hood Village:


Driving to our site:

Our site before parking:



When we get into a site, we are always careful when opening cupboards and the fridge for the first time, as things can shift. On this occasion, our fridge was rather full, and an expensive bottle of bubbly, some juice, and some food fell down; if we had just pulled the fridge door open without being careful, they would have smashed on the floor, and we would have been very sad:

LL Stub Stewart State Park, Dairy Creek East
We stayed in the Dairy Creek East campground of LL Stub Stewart State Park in Buxton, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)
We stayed here last year in the west loop, and really enjoyed it. So we decided to stay again this year, this time in the east loop.
Unfortunately it was a relatively late change to our plans, so we weren’t able to get a more private site on the outside of the loop, but we still enjoyed our stay.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-06-25
- Check out: 2023-06-30
- 5 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny
- High temps ranging between 73-79°F, lows around 46-50°F
- Fairly negligible wind, up to 23 MPH gusts
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train noise
- Quite a lot of neighbor noise (kids playing)
Site:
- #81, back in, gravel
- Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
- Unlevel; used blocks on the front jacks
- Large site: about 28 feet long asphalt driveway, plus about 40 feet long and 35 feet wide gravel area
- Grass between sites, about 25 feet space between sites, about 75 feet behind
- Picnic table and fire pit on gravel
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 47 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 8-11 Mbps down, 12-18 Mbps up, 28-90 ms ping
- AT&T: 105 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 32 ms ping
- Verizon: 25-42 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 30-140 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage compactor and recycling outside campground entrance
- No pool
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Nice state park in the Coast Range
This was our second time staying here, and have enjoyed it both times. Last year, we stayed in the West Loop and enjoyed the trees. This year, because it was a last-minute plan, we got a site on the inside of the East Loop. I would have preferred an outside site on the East Loop, as the inner sites have no trees or shade and back up onto a large grassy area where people play loud field games. Still, the sites in both loops are large, with plenty of room for our 40′ motorhome and tow vehicle, a screen tent, a fire pit, and a picnic table. We would definitely stay again and make sure to plan in advance to get a site on the outside of the loop. We camped at L.L. Stub Stewart Memorial State Park in a Motorhome.
The RV park map:

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





Even though we only stayed five nights, we set up the CLAM tent, in part to help discourage people from taking a shortcut through our site, since we were next to a path leading to the bathroom block:



We both worked outside in the tent at various times:

The aforementioned path, with our coach visible in the background:

At the other end of the path, the bathrooms:

Other sites:







A camp host ran after this T@B trailer to tell them that their tongue jack was still down; oops (T@B trailers are cute; this is a slightly larger one than the one Jenn’s father has):

Earlier in the week there were a lot of empty sites:

Central grassy area, with the playground in the background:



We would have preferred a site on the outside of the loop, but we still really like this campground, despite all the kids. We generally like state park campgrounds a lot.
Video: Shelton, Washington to Buxton, Oregon motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 182 miles from Shelton, Washington to Buxton, Oregon.
Travel from Shelton, Washington to Buxton, Oregon
We drove our coach 180+ miles, about three hours of driving, from our home base in Shelton, Washington to Buxton, Oregon.
Here’s the map route, heading south (exact origin omitted for privacy):

Interactive map, with potential stops:
We were “moochdocking” at our home base, with 15 amp electric, water, and no sewer. We had showers and most bathroom usage in the house, while sleeping in our coach. But our grey and black tanks still reached about half full over the two weeks we were there. We dumped them at our destination:

Paladin on passenger chair prior to departure; he would probably have preferred to stay there, but sorry, I need that chair:

When you come to a fork in the road, take it:

US-101 South:

Heading to I-5 South:

A motorhome towing a boat; we wondered if they had another vehicle to put the boat in the water, or had just bought it and were transporting it somewhere, or something:

We stopped at a Love’s for fuel, with an extra long truck and trailers going out the entrance:



80 gallons of diesel; our first fuel stop since Eugene:

Bridge:

Paladin wasn’t having a good time; sometimes he forgets about travel days:

I-5 and Columbia River:

Another bridge:

Nice day for a Classic Beetle convertible:

A pickup with oversized tires crossed the median barrier and got stuck, causing miles of slow traffic in both directions:


Rough concrete roads almost worthy of California in southern Washington:

Interstate bridge:

Entering Oregon:

Entering Portland:

Exit to west:

Fremont Bridge:

A glimpse of downtown Portland from the bridge:



Freeway tunnel:

Paladin hadn’t been using the steps, so I closed the step cover, and re-introduced him to his safe space next to the passenger chair; he was happier there:

Arriving at our destination, Stub Stewart State Park:



Untoading at the welcome center:



I followed our coach to our site:


I parked the truck by the bathroom, and took the path to our site:

Our site before parking:

Preparing to back into our site:

15 amp to 50 amp power adapter
While staying at our Washington home base, we “moochdocked”, plugging our coach in to the house power.
15 amp power from a house isn’t enough to run air conditioners or multiple heavy-draw gadgets like the microwave, but is enough to keep our fridge going, power computers, and keep the batteries charged for the 12 volt lights and such.
To do this, I previously used a 15-to-30 amp adapter and a 30-to-50 amp adapter (“dogbone”). But this time I bought an adapter that goes straight from the 15 amps to 50 amps plugs, along with a surge protector:


I also bought a heavy-duty 30-foot, 50-amp extension cord to reach from inside the house to our coach (in addition to the cord on the reel built in to the coach):

I plugged the power cord from our coach into my Power Watchdog smart surge protector, as usual, then connected that to the extension cord, which went through a window into the house:

And into the adapter, which was plugged in to an outlet in the house:

(We did try plugging in to an outside outlet, but it popped the breaker, as that was on the same circuit as a freezer in the garage.)
We had to be careful not to use too much power at a time. The Power Watchdog was useful in monitoring this, since it has an app that connects via Bluetooth that shows the current power usage. But we managed.
Staying at campgrounds, we won’t need this adapter and extension cable, but useful to have when moochdocking.
Baseball: Ferry to Seattle, Mariners team store
We took the fast ferry from Bremerton to Seattle, Washington, to go to the Mariners team store, and walk a little around the city.



Lumen Field for feetball:

T-Mobile Park baseball field:


Mariners Team Store:



Pioneer Square and environs:






MOD Pizza for dinner:






Skylight for underground area:






Line for ferry:

Glimpse of stadiums:

Baseball: Seattle Mariners vs Chicago White Sox
We took Mom to a Seattle Mariners baseball game.
Jenn’s game summary:
The Mariners lost 4-3 in 11. They had the lead most of the game until Sewald blew the save and went into extra innings. Saucedo really blew it then. J.P. Crawford led with a home run on the first pitch. It was “Salute to the Negro Leagues” day so they wore Steelheads uniforms and everything had a retro vibe, which was cool. The roof was closed, so it was not the best day for baseball, but it’s still a beautiful ballpark. Sat in the Club level, but couldn’t park in the connecting lot—$60 to park two blocks away.
T-Mobile Park:

Jenn with a picture of her hero, Cal Raleigh:

View from the club level:

Media booths:

Pizza:

Mariner Moose:

Play ball!

Salute to the Negro Leagues Day:

Closed roof:

Home run!

Home run trident:





Line for food (fairly fast moving):


Fish and chips:







Retro sailboat race:


Selfie:

Panorama:





















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: 2023-06-11
- Check out: 2023-06-25
- 14 nights
Weather:
- Partly cloudy, a little drizzle
- High temps ranging between 64-83°F, lows around 47-53°F
- Wind gusts to 26 MPH in the area, though much less when sheltered amongst trees
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train noise
- Occasional neighbor noise
Site:
- Front in, gravel and concrete
- Disconnected toad; parked next to coach
- Fairly level
Utilities:
- Only 15 amp power from the house
- 27 PSI water from the house (just used to top up tank)
- No sewer
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 12-37 Mbps down, 8-23 Mbps up, 32-50 ms ping
- House Wi-Fi: 12 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 20 ms ping
- AT&T: 13 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
- Verizon: 16-26 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 53-84 ms ping
- T-Mobile: no service
Amenities:
- House
Our coach parked in front of the house:




A pile of packages waiting for us:

Video: Ocean City to Shelton, Washington motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 80+ miles from Ocean City to Shelton, Washington.