A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 188 miles from Declo, Idaho to Caldwell, Idaho.
Author: David
Travel from Declo to Caldwell, ID
We drove our coach 188 miles, about 3 hours, from Declo, Idaho to Caldwell, Idaho.
The map route, heading northwest:
Leaving the RV park:
Paladin:
I-84:
My devices: iPad with RV gauges, tire pressure monitor, Mac with map, and iPhone with navigation:
Rest area stop:
Paladin:
Snake River:
We saw several wind turbine blades on trucks, plus these ones on the side of the road:
Another rest area stop:
Paladin:
Triple trailer truck:
Our destination:
Village of Trees RV Resort
We stayed at Village of Trees RV Resort in Declo, Idaho. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Dates:
- Check in: 2022-06-23
- Check out: 2022-06-24
- 1 night
Weather:
- Mostly sunny
- High temp 86°F, low 48°F
- No significant wind
Noise:
- A little road noise, no train noise
- No neighbor noise
Site:
- #E9, pull-through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t since only one night
- Not very level
- Medium site: about 70 feet long by about 25 feet wide
- Full hookups:
- 50 amp power conveniently located
- Didn’t hook up the water; conveniently located
- Didn’t hook up the sewer, conveniently located
- Picnic table
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 8-13 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 100 ms ping, unreliable
- AT&T: 5 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
- Verizon: 16 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Tiny pool
- Restaurant
Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:
Convenient to I-84
We only stayed one night on our way through Idaho. Having a restaurant on-site was a huge bonus after a long day of driving (they’ll even deliver to your site). Nice short walk to the Snake River, only marred by the noise of the semis going over the bridge. Not much road noise at our site, though, which is always a plus. Lovely tree-lined streets and most sites seemed to have some shade. We camped at Village of Trees RV Resort in a Motorhome.
The RV park map:
They included a menu for the on-site restaurant when checking in:
Our site; since this was a one-night stay, and we didn’t have anywhere to go, we left the truck connected:
The restaurant:
Convenience store:
We had dinner at the restaurant; I had cheese-filled tots and a burger:
A tiny swimming pool:
Dragon sculpture:
Other RVs:
Our site again:
The park is next to Snake River, and has a path to it:
Video: timelapse of motorhome driving from Heber City, UT to Declo, ID
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 219 miles from Heber City, Utah to Declo, Idaho.
Travel Heber City, UT to Declo, ID
We drove our coach 219 miles, about 4 hours, from Heber City, Utah to Declo, Idaho.
The map route, heading northwest:
Leaving Heber City:
We planned to stop for fuel in Salt Lake City, so I left the step cover open. Paladin took advantage of that to look out the lower window:
Roadworks:
US-40 freeway:
Paladin in his safe space:
I-80:
Paladin on the steps again:
Exit to Love’s for fuel:
Onto I-215:
And I-15 (with a triple trailer truck merging):
Paladin again:
One nice thing about interstate freeway travel is rest areas. We stopped at one for lunch:
Paladin on the back of my chair:
Scenic hills by I-84:
Goodbye Utah, welcome to Idaho:
Another rest area stop:
Continuing on I-84:
Sleepy Paladin; he’s definitely getting more comfortable with travel days:
Exit to Declo:
Our destination RV park was right off the freeway:
Ceiling fan motor replacement
Our coach has a ceiling fan in the bedroom, which is nice when it’s warm:
But it has been squeaking when turning in the blowing down direction (but not when in reverse). I asked the Tiffin techs about it at the rally, and they said it’s a common issue, and the solution was to replace the motor. So I ordered a replacement:
I started the repair by removing the nut and washers holding the blades:
Then removed the motor cover:
And dismounted the motor:
I then cut the wires to remove the old motor, dismounted the retaining cord, and attached the new motor:
Then I connected the wires, and mounted the new motor to the ceiling. But when I went to attach the cover, it turned out that the cover holes didn’t quite line up with those in the new motor:
So I used a couple of washers to adjust the position:
Washers between the ceiling and motor, to make the cover holes line up:
Covered:
The blades reattached:
All better!
Here’s a GIF of it working:
Utah Alpine Loop scenic drive and Bridal Veil Falls
We did a day trip drive along the Utah Alpine Loop scenic drive, to the Timpanogos Cave National Monument visitor center, through the outskirts of Salt Lake City, and to Bridal Veil Falls.
Here’s an embedded map of the route, as an experiment (alternative link):
Alpine Loop scenic drive:
We stopped at the Timpanogos Cave National Monument visitor center, since it was on the way. We didn’t go to the actual cave, since (a) it requires reservations, (b) it requires a fairly long hike to reach it, and (c) it requires having never been in a cave before:
We stopped at The Holy Grill for lunch, a BBQ restaurant:
And a stop at Eddie Bauer to return some clothing:
Mountains:
Great Salt Lake
We visited Great Salt Lake in Utah.
The visitor center:
Brine shrimp in the visitor center:
Info sign:
Olympics 2002:
Great Salt Lake:
It was a little breezy:
Next to the lake is a copper smelter:
Also by the lake is the historic Saltair:
We then drove through downtown Salt Lake City on the way back:
Mountain Valley RV Resort
We stayed at Mountain Valley RV Resort in Heber City, Utah. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Dates:
- Check in: 2022-06-18
- Check out: 2022-06-23
- 5 nights
Weather:
- Mosty sunny
- High temps ranging between 65-82°F, lows around 28-50°F
- Some afternoon wind
Noise:
- No real road noise, slight train noise
- Some neighbor noise
Site:
- #U10, pull-through, cement
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
- Nicely level
- Large site: about 75 feet long by about 30 feet wide
- Full hookups:
- 50 amp power conveniently located
- I didn’t note the water pressure; conveniently located
- Acceptable sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10 foot hoses used)
- Picnic table
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 1-2 Mbps down, 1-16 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
- AT&T: 8 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
- T-Mobile: 2-28 Mbps down, 17-21 Mbps up, 45-87 ms ping, unreliable
- Verizon: 18 Mbps down, 13 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage collection from site
- Multiple pools
- Package pick up in office
Here’s the review Jenn wrote on Campground Reviews:
Check-in’s at two! Check-in’s at two!
This was a fantastic resort, but check-in is at two. We’d never stayed at a place with such a late check-in time, so when we pulled in just before 1 pm and the guy behind the counter asked if we’d called beforehand to see if we could “come in early” I was a little confused. There were at least three other RVs checking in at that time because the lanes for registration were all full, so I didn’t realize our faux pas. I’m guessing we were the last in a long line of RVs who were coming in early from the Tiffin Rally so he was a bit frazzled because he mentioned in every single sentence that check-in is at two. I think his co-workers were getting used to his mood because when he asked one to go see if our site was ready because we were early and check-in’s at two, the other guy finished his sentence before smiling at me with a wink. Anyway, our site was ready and we were efficiently guided to it and parked on a nice, level concrete slab.
This resort has three pools, one of which is in the 21 section of the park, where we’d choose to stay next time. Everything is beautifully maintained and the staff (other than Mr. Check-in’s At Two) were super friendly and helpful. Here’s the punchline. Check-out is at noon. We were out by 11 am and an hour up the road when I got a voicemail from someone in the office to ask if we were heading out soon because check-out is at noon. There was then a second voicemail a few minutes later to apologize and that she’d been looking at the wrong site. We camped at Mountain Valley RV Resort in a Motorhome.
The RV park map:
Our site:
Entrance:
Office:
One of three swimming pools:
Games:
Other RVs:
Our coach and others:
Mountains in the background, and a wall dividing the park:
About half of the park is 21 and over only… unfortunately we weren’t in that part:
Adults only clubhouse:
Pools:
Video: timelapse of motorhome driving from Rock Springs, WY to Heber City, UT
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 176 miles from the Tiffin rally in Rock Springs, Wyoming to Heber City, Utah.
The video starts with a montage of several Tiffin motorhomes departing.