Places we stay in our coach.
We have now purchased our motorhome. It is a 40-foot 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP diesel pusher.
I know everyone is waiting to see pictures, but we are busy moving into the coach, and preparing for a trip to Yellowstone (ironically in a rental trailer instead of the coach, for reasons). So for now you’ll have to make do with a couple of exterior shots from the campground:
Continuing from yesterday, here’s day 1 of our Yellowstone trip.
To make the drive there and back less painful, we had decided to take two days each way. The first leg was from home (in the Portland, OR area) to La Grande, OR.
Here’s the trailer and truck at a view point stop:
La Grande viewpoint:
We checked in to Grande Hot Springs RV resort for the night:
The trailer and truck in the campsite:
A super-fancy Mac and Cheese and hot dogs for our first dinner of the trip:
Some art in the driveway:
Pond and fountain:
An adjacent pond:
The RV park:
A hot water stream:
Hot pools (of which we didn’t partake, though probably should have):
Stay tuned for day 2!
Continuing the journey to Yellowstone, on day two we went from La Grande, OR to Jerome, ID. Each leg was about six hours driving.
We spent the night in the Twin Falls / Jerome KOA:
Here’s our campsite:
The trailer:
The messy side of RVing: power, water, and sewer hookups:
The KOA office:
The pool and playground; we enjoyed a swim in the pool to help cool off:
This campground also had a nearby pond:
Including some ducks:
Mini golf (we didn’t play):
Next time, arriving in Yellowstone.
On day three, we went from Jerome, ID to Yellowstone National Park.
Very flat in Idaho:
Looking back at the trailer in the side mirrors, including an extended mirror to account for the wider trailer:
An interesting building in a rest area in Firth, Idaho:
Rest area truck and trailer parking:
At last, we reached Yellowstone! Here’s the entrance road:
Our campsite in the Madison campground within Yellowstone:
An amusing result of the higher elevation; puffed up bags of chips:
That evening, a pleasant fire and conversation with the family:
Tomorrow, we explore some of Yellowstone.
On day eight of our Yellowstone trip, we started the two-day journey home from the park.
Here’s the west gate of Yellowstone National Park, on the way out:
As usual for a morning, the traffic was backed up almost all the way through the town of West Yellowstone; glad we weren’t going that way (a tip for anyone going into Yellowstone: go in the afternoon):
Our next stop was at Jim & Mary’s RV Park in Missoula, MT; here the map:
The rental trailer and our truck in the campsite:
This park has delightful landscaping; each site has a large grassy area and a little garden with unique decorations; here was our one:
Our site was on the end of a row, so had extra landscaping on the other side:
Across the driveway, more landscaping:
But as nice as the landscaping was, after a week in Yellowstone without a functioning shower, one of the main attractions of this campground was a shower facility:
We’ll definitely stay at this campground again in the future.
On day nine of our Yellowstone trip, one last campground on the way home.
We stopped off in a large unpaved parking area for a rest break, near another truck and trailer:
Before long, several other trailers and trucks joined us:
Across the road, a gas station, restaurant, and shops; we visited the restaurant for a tasty lunch, then the gas station to refuel:
Our destination for the night, the Coyote Run RV Park in Connell, WA; here’s the map:
Our campsite:
Right next to the laundry building; the aesthetic kinda fit the fact that the major industry in this town is a big prison:
But it was just a quick stop on the way home, with a nice sunset:
That concludes our Yellowstone journey in a rental travel trailer. It was a very enjoyable trip; great to see Yellowstone National Park again, and spend more time with family. One last trip before our new motorhome lifestyle.
After getting the toad stuff installed (see the previous post), we headed north to Mom’s house, where we’ve been staying since, doing some modifications to the coach, and waiting for a service appointment.
This was the first time I’ve been able to ride in the coach with Jenn driving, too; previously I had been driving our truck, instead of having it towed by the coach.
Here she is in the captain chair (waiting for a traffic light):
The entry steps are immediately before the passenger chair, so there is a carpeted cover that slides out over the steps at the press of a button, for more comfortable travel:
Driving down the freeway:
We normally won’t drive in the evening, but did this time due to the toad installation, so we used the day shade on the windscreen to cut down the glare of the setting sun (much like a sun visor in a car):
Here we are parked at Mom’s house:
Our coach is currently being serviced at an RV dealer, but I recently flew my drone above it while it was parked at Mom’s place. Since this coach lacks a ladder, this was the first time I’ve seen the roof, other than via the pictures from the inspector.
Here’s an aerial shot of the coach from the passenger-side front:
From the driver-side front:
From the driver-side back:
From the passenger-side back:
From the front:
Higher up:
A closer look at the roof, starting from the front (right side), with the two radio antennas, the front AC, and the awning:
Next, again from the front, the TV antenna, a solar panel, the kitchen vent, the middle AC, and the half-bath vent:
The satellite dish, the back AC, the shower skylight, and the bathroom vent:
The same as above, plus the back cap:
A lower view, showing a puddle on the living room slide topper. Not a problem; it’ll drain off when the slide is closed:
Same on the other side:
Yesterday we picked up our coach from Poulsbo RV in Kent, WA, where it had been for a week getting some routine maintenance done, some minor issues fixed, plus adding a couple of extra solar panels and upgrading the batteries.
It was getting a little late by the time we were heading down the freeway, so once again we had the solar shade down a bit:
The coach is a bit messy at present, especially with the slides in, but we’ll get things more organized soon:
We didn’t have too far to go, though the horrible Seattle traffic made it take longer than it could have. We spent the night at Kevin and Julie’s Boondockers Welcome site near Chehalis, WA. Boondockers Welcome is a service where people can list their property as available for people to come stay for a night (or a few nights), at no cost (though a small donation to cover any electricity used is appreciated). Some people just provide a driveway without any hookups, but Kevin and Julie offer a few very nice sites, with 30-amp power and water, plenty of room, and even Wi-Fi:
We’ll definitely stay there again in the future.
After a night at the Boondockers Welcome site, we continued down I-5 and across the bridge into Oregon:
Here’s the sign on the bridge saying “Entering Oregon”:
Near downtown Portland, with a glimpse of the arch of the Fremont Bridge:
Part of downtown Portland:
Our destination: Old Stone Village RV park. It’s an interesting combination of manufactured homes and a quite nice RV park:
We’ll be here for a couple of weeks, while we take care of a bunch of things in the Portland area, and continue to get the coach set up.
Here’s our coach in the campsite, before we put the slides out:
And after (notice the window awnings, too):
Since this campsite has full hookups, I connected the power, water, and sewer. Here’s the wet bay with the sewer hose:
The sewer hose is draped across a rack for a proper drainage slope; the first time I’ve had occasion to use this rack:
Here’s our coach and truck:
This RV park is literally next door to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, with a walking path between them:
We’re very busy with Portland-area chores and setting up our coach, but hopefully will find time to visit the museum while we’re here. We’ve been there before, but I’m sure we’ll enjoy checking it out again.
The RV park has nice grounds, including a gazebo:
Water feature:
Play areas:
Unlike in previous campgrounds we’ve stayed at (admittedly a very short list so far), there are several similar coaches to ours in this park, e.g. here are two Tiffin Allegro Buses opposite each other:
