Heritage RV Park

Our first RV park in California was Heritage RV Park in Corning:

Heritage RV Park

Heritage RV Park map; it’s a fairly small park, with somewhat tight spaces, but nice and quiet, compared to several previous places:

Heritage RV Park map

Info:

Heritage RV Park info

Our coach and truck in our campsite:

Coach and truck in campsite

Coach in campsite

The campground has a pool, though it’s now closed for the season:

Pool

Bocce ball… decorated as graveyards for Halloween:

Bocce ball graveyards

An RV storage shelter made of solar panels; a clever idea:

Shelter made of solar panels

The street outside the park has several eating options, though we didn’t partake of any of them other than the Olive Pit cafe, and Starbucks for breakfast one morning:

Street

Street

Weirdly, the park is through a strip mall:

Mall

Mall

Mall and RV park entrance

RV park entrance

The RV park had several empty sites throughout our stay (you can see our coach in the middle):

RV park

This was the first time (other than at our homestead) that we used our outdoor rug; previous sites had grass, so we couldn’t use it:

Coach

A couple of bonus pictures of Paladin:

Paladin

Paladin

Another bonus: Corning is known for growing olives, and has a roadside attraction of a giant green olive:

Large olive

Valley of the Rogue State Park drone shots

While at the Valley of the Rogue State Park in southern Oregon, I flew my drone above the campsite. In part because it’s a fun thing to do, but also for a practical reason: to check the roof and slide toppers for branches, since we were parked amongst trees.

Here’s our campsite, with our coach and truck:

Coach and truck

From higher up:

Campsites

From this height, you can see most of the campground loop (and nice fall foliage):

Campground

A little higher to see the whole loop; not quite as bright, as starting to get into clouds (this was at just below the legal height limit for a drone):

Campground

Tilting upwards, a view of the Rogue River and the next-door campground loops, which are being used for FEMA trailers from last year’s wildfires:

Rogue River and campground

Looking to the left:

Rogue River and campground

The campground is right next to the I-5 freeway (as seen from the base of cloud level), which was a bit noisy at night:

Freeway

Freeway

Freeway

Heading back down again:

Campsites

Views of our coach roof, showing all the leaves. This was also my first look at our two extra solar panels, installed by Poulsbo RV:

Coach

Coach roof

Coach roof

Coach roof

I was particularly interested in the slide toppers, to make sure no branches were going to damage them. Though we don’t have a ladder, so it would have been difficult to remove them if there had been any:

Coach roof

Coach roof

I did fly my drone low over the toppers, which blew off most of the leaves. You can see me flying by looking at the screen:

Coach roof

Valley of the Rogue State Park

As you may have seen in the timelapse video, our next stop after McMinnville was Valley of the Rogue State Park near Gold Hill, Oregon.

This was our first state park, and quite a pleasant place, too. The campsite was much larger than in most private campgrounds, with lots of trees around, and a path by the Rogue River.

The only downside was that while most of the sites in this campground have full hookups, our site didn’t have sewer. So we had to watch our water usage, to avoid having to move the coach to dump the tanks. We made it, though!

Here’s our truck and coach in our campsite:

Truck and coach in campsite

Truck and coach in campsite

Campsite from below:

Campsite from below

Campground info:

Campground info

We were in B loop, in site B33. The inner C loop was closed, so we had even fewer neighbors than we would have in peak season:

Campground info

Open space:

Open space

Rogue River:

Rogue River

Some barely visible ducks:

Rogue River and ducks

Rogue River

Rapids:

Rogue River

Rogue River

Riverside viewing platform:

Riverside viewing platform

Info signs:

Info sign

Info sign

Info sign

Didn’t notice a power cut

A quick post; while staying at Olde Stone Village RV Park, we were cooking dinner in the convection microwave oven, and noticed that our dishwasher and cooktop lost power (we weren’t using them at the time). I was concerned that there was a malfunction, but we eventually noticed that the street lights were out, and other RVs were firing up generators. A nice thing about RVs being self-contained; we were able to continue during a power outage without even noticing for a while!

But hey, when we looked at the power control panel, it did indeed say that it had no service:

Power control with no service

And the inverter was supplying 110V power from our batteries:

Inverting

Olde Stone Village RV Park

After a night at the Boondockers Welcome site, we continued down I-5 and across the bridge into Oregon:

I-5 bridge into Oregon

Here’s the sign on the bridge saying “Entering Oregon”:

I-5 bridge into Oregon

Near downtown Portland, with a glimpse of the arch of the Fremont Bridge:

Fremont Bridge

Part of downtown Portland:

Portland

Our destination: Old Stone Village RV park. It’s an interesting combination of manufactured homes and a quite nice RV park:

Old Stone Village

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:

Coach in campsite

And after (notice the window awnings, too):

Coach with slides out

Since this campsite has full hookups, I connected the power, water, and sewer. Here’s the wet bay with the sewer hose:

Wet bay and 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:

Sewer hose

Here’s our coach and truck:

Coach and truck

This RV park is literally next door to the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, with a walking path between them:

Evergreen Aviation Museum

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:

Gazebo

Water feature:

Water feature

Play areas:

Grounds

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:

Two Allegro Buses

Kevin and Julie’s Boondockers Welcome site

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:

Driving on the freeway

The coach is a bit messy at present, especially with the slides in, but we’ll get things more organized soon:

Mess with slides in

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:

Campsite

Campsite

We’ll definitely stay there again in the future.

Aerial pictures of our coach

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:

Coach roof

From the driver-side front:

Coach roof

From the driver-side back:

Coach roof

From the passenger-side back:

Coach roof

From the front:

Coach roof

Higher up:

Coach roof

Coach roof

A closer look at the roof, starting from the front (right side), with the two radio antennas, the front AC, and the awning:

Coach roof

Next, again from the front, the TV antenna, a solar panel, the kitchen vent, the middle AC, and the half-bath vent:

Coach roof

The satellite dish, the back AC, the shower skylight, and the bathroom vent:

Coach roof

The same as above, plus the back cap:

Coach roof

A lower view, showing a puddle on the living room slide topper. Not a problem; it’ll drain off when the slide is closed:

Coach roof

Same on the other side:

Coach roof

 

Driving to Mom’s place

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):

Jenn driving the coach

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:

Step cover

Driving down the freeway:

Driving

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):

Sunset driving

Here we are parked at Mom’s house:

Parked at Mom's house

Yellowstone trip day 9, to Coyote Run RV Park

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:

Two trailers

Before long, several other trailers and trucks joined us:

Trailers and trucks

Across the road, a gas station, restaurant, and shops; we visited the restaurant for a tasty lunch, then the gas station to refuel:

Shops

Our destination for the night, the Coyote Run RV Park in Connell, WA; here’s the map:

Coyote Run RV Park map

Our campsite:

Campsite

Right next to the laundry building; the aesthetic kinda fit the fact that the major industry in this town is a big prison:

Campsite

But it was just a quick stop on the way home, with a nice sunset:

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.

Yellowstone trip day 8, to Jim & Mary’s RV Park

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:

Yellowstone west gate

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):

Traffic

Our next stop was at Jim & Mary’s RV Park in Missoula, MT; here the map:

Jim & Mary's RV Park map

The rental trailer and our truck in the campsite:

Trailer and truck

This park has delightful landscaping; each site has a large grassy area and a little garden with unique decorations; here was our one:

Landscaping

Our site was on the end of a row, so had extra landscaping on the other side:

Landscaping

Landscaping

Across the driveway, more landscaping:

Landscaping

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:

Shower

We’ll definitely stay at this campground again in the future.