A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 250 miles from Ephrata to Shelton, Washington.
Author: David
Travel from Ephrata to Shelton, Washington
We drove our coach about 250 miles, about four hours of driving, from Ephrata to Shelton, Washington.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading west (with the ultimate destination omitted for privacy):
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
There was roadworks on the bridge over the Columbia River, with a 9-foot width restriction, so we considered avoiding that and taking a more scenic route, as follows, but it would have added 1.5 hours to the travel, and been more stressful with curvy highway roads, so we stuck with the above route instead of this alternative:
I-90 West and the aforementioned Vantage Bridge:
Narrow, but good enough for trucks, so good enough for us:
Thorp Fruit & Antique Mall:
Rest area:
Wildlife bridge:
Keechelus Lake:
Snoqualmie Pass:
Crossover intersection:
Joining I-5 South:
Fuel stop:
Tacoma Dome:
Route 101 North:
We previously took this exit, but it is more difficult getting through Shelton:
Instead we took this exit, which is much more straightforward:
Downtown Shelton:
Starlink Mini mounted on our truck
We sometimes explore areas without cell service, as we travel around the US… plus we are exploring New Zealand in a van.
We really enjoy using Starlink with our coach, and wanted to bring a dish to NZ, but our gen 2 dish is rather bulky. We decided to get a Starlink Mini dish, which is much smaller, and has the router built in. It was small enough to fit in carry-on luggage for our NZ trip, and mounts on our truck and the NZ van via a magnetic mount, powered from a 12V outlet (aka cigarette lighter).
It isn’t needed all the time, so we can pause the dish when not needed. In fact, with Starlink’s current policies, they charge $5/month for Standby Mode, which has unlimited slow data (500 Kbps), so is still useful for occasional or minimal use.
Here’s the 12V power in our truck (the white USB dongle is a wireless CarPlay adapter):
The cable is routed out the rear window, which can still latch closed:
The cable is clipped to the roof, with a couple more clips on the edge to hold the cable when the dish is removed from the roof:
The Starlink Mini dish is securely attached to the roof via a magnetic mount:
Handy!
Ephrata RV Park & Campground
We stayed at Ephrata RV Park & Campground in Ephrata, Washington. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Our last stop on our way home. Good to be back in Washington!
Dates:
- Check in: 2025-09-03
- Check out: 2025-09-04
- 1 night
Weather:
- Sunny
- High temp 100°F, low 68°F
- Little wind, gusts to 10 MPH
Noise:
- Some highway noise
- Occasional train horn noise (including overnight)
- Little neighbor noise
Site:
- #P23, pull-through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t, since only one night
- Somewhat level site; a little high in the front; used air leveling, since only one night
- Gravel driveway about 60 feet long by 10 feet wide
- 10 feet to neighbors on both sides
- Picnic table
- Tall trees
- Clean site
- Elevation 1,240 feet, front facing SW
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 60 PSI water, conveniently located
- Didn’t connect sewer until departure; good sewer connection, inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 111-240 Mbps down, 9 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
- RoamLink: 8-13 Mbps down, 1-3 Mbps up, 270 ms ping (RoamLink uses whichever is best of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile)
- AT&T: 3 Mbps down, 0.25 Mbps up, 85-235 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Pool
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Convenient stop off I-90
We stayed for one night on our way through Washington, and it was just fine for that. I don’t think I’d stay any longer, though, between the narrow site and the aroma of cow manure. The internal roads and sites are gravel, making it difficult to distinguish between the site and road edges, and if we were parked within the boundaries of our site. We camped at Ephrata RV Park & Campground in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Other sites:
A tight site, but a fine place for a brief stay. We’d be happy to stay here again.
Video: Missoula, Montana to Ephrata, Washington motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 334 miles from Missoula, Montana to Ephrata, Washington.
Travel from Missoula, Montana to Ephrata, Washington
We drove our coach 334 miles, about six hours of driving, from Missoula, Montana to Ephrata, Washington.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:
This map showing timezones, as we crossed from Mountain to Pacific time (west coast best coast), and the state borders between Montana (right), Idaho (middle), and Washington (left):
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Fuel stop:
I-90 West:
Clark Fork River:
Curves ahead:
Truck stop:
Roadworks:
Rest area closed due to roadworks:
Trucker info:
Welcome to Idaho and Pacific Time Zone:
Roadworks:
Elevation 3,069 feet:
Rest area:
Welcome to Washington:
Spokane:
Train:
Rest area:
Sprague Lake:
Train:
Another closed rest area:
Exit to Quincy:
Field planting sign:
Arriving at our campground:
And our site:
Jim & Mary’s RV Park
We stayed at Jim & Mary’s RV Park in Missoula, Montana. (Campground Reviews listing.)
This is our fourth stay here; our first time with a trailer on our Yellowstone trip, and in our coach the following year and the year after. It’s a convenient stop on our way home, and a very pretty park.
Dates:
- Check in: 2025-09-01
- Check out: 2025-09-02
- 2 nights
Weather:
- Sunny
- High temp 92°F, low 60-62°F
- Little wind, gusts to 10 MPH
Noise:
- Some road noise
- Nearby train horn noise
- No significant neighbor noise
Site:
- #A2, pull-through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad, and didn’t, since only two nights
- Somewhat unlevel site; high in the rear, though might have been more level if parked towards the back; used air leveling, since only two nights
- Gravel driveway about 72 feet long by 15 feet wide
- 20 feet to neighbors on both sides
- Picnic table
- One big tree
- Clean site
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, a little inconveniently located
- 60 PSI water, a little inconveniently located
- Good sewer connection, a conveniently located (1.5 10-foot pipes needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 56-118 Mbps down, , 50 ms ping
- RoamLink: 6-7 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 200 ms ping (RoamLink uses whichever is best of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile)
- AT&T: 55-100 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 110 ms ping
- Campground Wi-Fi: 10-14 Mbps down, 2-10 Mbps up, 13 ms ping
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Gardens
See our previous review on Campground Reviews.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Utilities:
View of the office and entrance from our site:
Other sites:
See our previous visits for more photos. We still like this RV park, and will likely stay here yet again in the future.
Video: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming to Missoula, Montana motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 329 miles from Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming to Missoula, Montana.
Travel from Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming to Missoula, Montana
We drove our coach 329 miles, about five hours of driving, from Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming to Missoula, Montana.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading northwest:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
An interesting trailer:
Check-out box:
Crowd watching something on the hill; I couldn’t see anything:
A lone bison:
Thermal feature:
Madison River:
Leaving the park:
Welcome to West Yellowstone, Montana:
Hebgen Lake:
Madison River:
Ennis:
We had originally planned to stay at Ennis RV Park, but decided to just push on through:
Route 359 North:
Truck parking closed on I-90 West:
… because they diverted traffic through the parking area due to road works:
Continental Divide:
I-90 West:
Rest area:
Wildlife escape ramp:
Interesting rocks:
Arriving at Jim & Mary’s RV Park:
Our site:
Dashcams
If you’ve enjoyed my RV travel videos on YouTube, you may have wondered what I use to record them.
I use a dashcam, listed on Amazon as the “ROVE R2-4K Dash Cam Built-in WiFi 6 GPS Car Dashboard Camera Recorder with UHD 2160P, 2.4″ IPS Screen, 150° Wide Angle, WDR, Night Vision”.
I actually have four of these cameras: one in the coach windshield to record a timelapse of our travels, and a second one next to it to record real-time, in case of accident; one in a side window to record a timelapse of campground activities (which I occasionally post, but is usually not that excitng), plus a fourth in our truck, again recording real-time for accidents.
Here are the two in the coach windshield; the one on the left is the one used for timelapses, and the one on the right is for real-time (the box between them is the Mobileye sensor):
The left one is attached via Command Strips to ensure it remains straight:
Not the fanciest dashcams, but they get the job done.