Travel from Kelso to Plymouth, Washington

We drove our coach 231 miles, about 4 hours of driving, from Kelso, Washington to Plymouth, Washington, with a stop in Woodland to get a new couch and cabinets installed (more on that later).

The first leg map route, heading south:

Map route 1

The second leg map route, heading south then east:

Map route 2

Since the first leg was less than half an hour, and we weren’t sure of the situation on arrival, we drove separately, i.e. without hooking up the truck to the coach:

Driving separately

After the installation, we continued down I-5:

Bridge

A rest area stop:

Rest area

RV passing:

RV passing

The I-205 bridge over the Colombia River:

Bridge

Entering Portland:

Entering Portland

Welcome to Oregon:

Welcome to Oregon

Driving along the Colombia Gorge:

Gorge

Paladin asleep in his safe space:

Paladin

A tunnel… not a huge amount of clearance there:

Tunnel

Tunnel

Gorge:

Gorge

Another rest area:

Rest area

Rest area

Wind turbines and a barge:

Wind turbines and arge

Dam:

Dam

Gorge

Paladin sleeping:

Paladin sleeping

Wind turbines (and dirty window):

Wind turbines

Irrigation:

Irrigation

I-82 bridge, crossing back into Washington:

Bridge

Welcome to Washington:

Welcome to Washington

Rail bridge:

Rail bridge

Plymouth Park entrance:

Plymouth Park entrance

Plymouth Park entrance

Approaching our site:

Our site

Little did we know of what was in store for us!

Ride around Brookhollow RV Park

While staying at Brookhollow, I did a quick ride along the dike that wraps around the park.

The entrance:

Dike entrance

Views from the dike path:

View from dike

Dike path

David

Dike path

View from dike

View from dike

View from dike

View from dike

View from dike

A video of the route:

I rearranged the contents of the bed of our truck. I previously had the bikes side-by-side, with the hammock and canopy tent on top:

Bikes etc in bed of truck

Bikes etc in bed of truck

Instead, I rearranged things so the bikes are front-to-back, with other stuff beside them:

Bikes etc in bed of truck

Bikes etc in bed of truck

Bikes etc in bed of truck

Bikes etc in bed of truck

Bikes etc in bed of truck

This seems to be a better layout, as I can get the bikes out without having to remove other items, and vice versa.

Brookhollow RV Park

We stayed at Brookhollow RV Park in Kelso, Washington. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A convenient stop.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-08-21
  • Check out: 2022-08-24
  • 3 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny
  • High temps ranging between 81-85°F, lows around 59-63°F
  • A little wind

Noise:

  • No road noise or train noise
  • No neighbor noise

Site:

  • #13, pull through, cement
  • Needed to disconnect toad; parked across road from coach
  • Level
  • Small site: about 50 feet long by about 35 feet wide
  • Full hookups:
    • 50 amp power conveniently located
    • 60 PSI water pressure; conveniently located
    • Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10 foot hoses used)
  • Picnic table on cement, no fire pit
  • One shade tree between each site

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 36-54 Mbps down, 3-6 Mbps up, 75 ms ping
  • Verizon: 30-60 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
  • AT&T: offline (we need a new SIM card)
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Dumpsters
  • No pool

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Convenient Stop on I-5

We stayed here for a few nights while we had business in the area. It was quick and easy access to I-5, which was convenient. Looks to be mostly permanent residents, but the park is clean and tidy. A bit spendy for what it is, however. We camped at Brookhollow RV Park in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

RV park map

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

We needed to park our truck across the road from our site:

Truck parking

Paladin in our doorway:

Paladin in doorway

Our site from the dike opposite:

Our site

Our site

Entrance sign:

Entrance sign

Other RVs:

Other RVs

Our site

Our site

Other RVs

Other RVs

Other RVs

Other RVs

Next to the RV park is the Brookhollow 55+ mobile home park:

Brookhollow mobile home park

Brookhollow mobile home park

Brookhollow mobile home park

Travel from Concrete to Kelso, Washington

We drove our coach 215 miles, about 4 hours of driving, from Concrete, Washington to Kelso, Washington.

The map route, heading south:

Map route

Paladin looking a little concerned in the steps:

Paladin looking a little concerned in the steps

Rail bridge:

Rail bridge

Do you think they’d wash a 40-foot motorhome?

Car wash

Historic train:

Historic train

Entering I-5:

Entering I-5

Bridge:

Bridge

Paladin:

Paladin

Rest area exit:

Rest area exit

A nice rest area dump station:

Dump station

Dump station

Pink car:

Pink car

Bridges:

Bridges

Trains:

Trains

Seattle Space Needle:

Seattle Space Needle

Seattle:

Seattle

Seattle

Seattle Convention Center:

Seattle Convention Center

Seaplane:

Seaplane

Paladin on the back of my chair:

Paladin and David

Seattle traffic:

Seattle traffic

Green car:

Green car

Tacoma Dome:

Tacoma Dome

Paladin:

Paladin

Another rest area:

Rest area

Lunch:

Lunch

Paladin:

Paladin

Gee Cee’s Truck Stop, a nice fuel option on I-5:

Gee Cee's Truck Stop

Gee Cee's Truck Stop

Kelso exit:

Kelso exit

Arriving at the RV park:

RV park

RV park

RV park

Map and sticker art

To personalize our coach a bit more, we decided to replace a generic artwork in the kitchen with something a bit more meaningful to us.

Here’s the old artwork, after removing it from the wall:

Old artwork

The empty wall:

Empty wall

We got a wooden US map to feature in its place:

Wooden US map

The map comes in several pieces:

Map pieces

Map pieces

We also got a 24×36” wooden frame, an opaque white plexiglass sheet of the same size, and some foam boards to fill out the space behind it:

Frame with foam boards

Frame with foam boards

I used Command-brand double-sided strips to help adhere it to the wall:

Frame with Command strips

I also used screws through the plexiglass to secure it to the wall; the screws were later hidden behind stickers (the PostIt notes mark the map placement):

Frame mounted

The wooden map is attached with double-sided adhesive strips:

Double-sided adhesive strips

And mounted to the plexiglass:

Map mounted

It has a nice 3D relief:

Wooden map

Wooden map

Hawaii:

Hawaii

Alaska:

Alaska

Some hummingbird decorations:

Hummingbirds

We added pins (that came with the map) on states we’ve visited:

Pins

Plus stickers around the map for some places we’ve been:

Stickers

The current state:

Picture

Over time, we will add more pins and stickers, to help commemorate our travels.

Mount Baker day-trip

We took a six-hour day-trip around and up Mount Baker in northern Washington.

Here’s an interactive map of our route:

Our first stop was at the Acme Diner for brunch:

Acme Diner

Acme Diner

Acme Diner

Acme Diner

Acme Diner

Acme art:

Acme art

Continuing on:

Bridge

Our second stop was at the Glacier Public Service Center, where Jenn collected a cancellation stamp, and we got a paper map with local info:

Glacier Public Service Center

Glacier Public Service Center

Log

A one lane road:

One lane road

Next was Nooksack Falls:

Nooksack Falls

Nooksack Falls

Nooksack Falls

Nooksack Falls

Nooksack Falls

Nooksack Falls

Nooksack Falls

Nooksack Falls

Nooksack Falls

Then up Mount Baker to the Heather Meadows Visitor Center, a very picturesque area:

Mt Baker

Mt Baker

Wild Goose Trail

Wildflowers

Wildflowers

Wildflowers

Visitor center

Lake

View

View

View

Visitor center

Visitor center

Visitor center

Cancellation stamp

View

Visitor center

Visitor center

Gift store

And to the end of the road, Artist Point:

View

View

View

View

International Overlander:

International Overlander

View

View

View

View

View

View

View

An enjoyable day-trip.

Hammock

Jenn won a prize to choose an item from Amazon, and opted for another useful addition for our travels, a foldable hammock.

It folds up fairly compactly in a carry bag:

Hammock bag

The hammock frame easily unfolds:

Hammock frame

Hammock frame

The fabric is attached:

Hammock

Hammock frame

Pillow:

Pillow

Extendable poles:

Extendable poles

Support an optional shade:

Cover

The assembled hammock:

Assembled hammock

We probably won’t use it often, but it’ll be nice to have when wanted.