Travel from Welches, Oregon to Ashland, Oregon

We drove our coach 321 miles, about six hours of driving, from Welches to Ashland, Oregon.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:

Map

An interactive map:

Toading up in the maintenance area, as usual:

Toading up

“Welcome to Boring, Paired with Dull, Scotland”:

Welcome to Boring

Our favorite garden center in the Sandy area, Tony’s:

Tony's Garden Center

Willamette River:

Willamette River

Joining I-5 South, with heavy traffic:

Joining I-5 South

Rest area:

Rest area

I-5 South:

I-5 South

Lunch stop at Coburg Crossing Cafe at a TA Travel Center in Coburg, Oregon:

Coburg Crossing Cafe

Coburg Crossing Cafe menu

Breakfast for lunch

Rail bridge over North Umpqua River:

Rail bridge over North Umpqua River

“Slow Down” for a sharp curve:

Slow Down

Rest area:

Rest area

Nice Southern Oregon view:

Nice view

A glimpse of Mount Shasta from I-5 South:

Glimpse of Mount Shasta from I-5 South

A glimpse of downtown Ashland:

Glimpse of downtown Ashland

Emigrant Lake entrance:

Emigrant Lake entrance

The lake was very low (and has been for a long time):

Emigrant Lake

Unstaffed fee station (campers continue to site):

Emigrant Lake entrance

Entrance to The Point RV Campground (with a disconcertingly tight corner):

The Point RV Campground

Our site:

Our site

Mt Hood Village RV & Camping Resort, yet again

We stayed at Mt Hood RV & Camping Resort in Welches, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our third visit to this nice Thousand Trails Encore park; we stayed here last year in September, and the previous year in late July.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-08-25
Check out: 2024-08-31
6 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny
High temps ranging between 64-88°F, lows around 43-61°F
Only a little wind (fairly sheltered); gusts to 20 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train noise
Negligible neighbor noise

Site:

Hemlock Meadows #94, back in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach (on gravel)
A little unlevel; high on passenger side and front; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel driveway about 50 feet long by about 22 feet wide, plus about 20 feet wide
15 feet to neighbor on driver side
18 feet to road on passenger side
Picnic table & fire pit
Somewhat clean

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
70 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, a little inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 20-35 Mbps down, 15 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
Verizon: 1-5 Mbps down, 1-3 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
AT&T: 2-6 Mbps down, 0.05 Mbps up, 300-2,500 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Indoor pool
Unfortunately the onsite restaurant has closed

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Same as it ever was, minus the restaurant

We stay here every year to do errands in the Portland Metro area. We requested a site in the newer Hemlock Meadows area so we could use our Starlink, but our original assignment was in the trees in a site that would’ve been too short for us as well. Since we’ve been here several times, we knew we needed to confirm these things at check-in, and they were able to move us to a more appropriate site. The newer Hemlock Meadows sites are more open than some of the other areas of the park, so there’s no separation between you and your neighbors…but if they keep letting the weeds grow unabated, they may eventually give you some privacy between sites. The biggest disappointment was that the onsite restaurant closed, and I had been looking forward to their eggs benedict. Alas. We camped at Mt Hood Village RV Resort in a Motorhome.

The campground map:

Map

Interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

We were disappointed to discover that the Dragonfly Cafe & Bakery was closed down, having enjoyed their food during previous stays:

Dragonfly Cafe & Bakery

Tiny homes:

Tiny homes

Other sites:

Other sites

See our previous visit and the one before that for lots more pictures.

We enjoyed our stay here, and would definitely stay again in the future.

Video

Video: Shelton, Washington to Welches, Oregon ome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 187 miles from Shelton, Washington to Welches, Oregon.

Travel from Shelton, Washington to Welches, Oregon

We drove our coach 187 miles, about four hours of driving, from Shelton, Washington to Welches, Oregon.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:

Route map

An interactive map:

A bay near Shelton:

Bay near Shelton

I-5 South:

I-5 South

Rest area:

Rest area

Another rest area:

Rest area

Deer next to the freeway entrance:

Deer next to freeway entrance

I-5 bridge:

I-5 bridge

Roadworks on another I-5 bridge, which caused major traffic delays:

Roadworks on I-5 bridge

Yet another rest area:

Rest area

Entering Oregon:

Entering Oregon

PDX airport across Columbia River:

PDX airport across Columbia River

Welcome to Oregon:

Welcome to Oregon

A glimpse of Mount Hood:

Glimpse of Mount Hood

Arriving at Mt Hood Village:

Mt Hood Village

Campground

Our site:

Our site

Shed

As mentioned, we bought a shed for our Washington home, to store stuff we want to keep for the future, but not carry around the country with us (storage space even in a 40 foot motorhome is limited!).

We got the shed from Home Depot, a 10 x 8 foot wooden shed with shingles on the roof. The purchase included delivery and installation, since we would not be home at the time; we wanted to have it ready for when we arrived.

Here’s the shed as installed, unpainted:

Shed

With the doors open:

Doors open

Inside:

Shed

Roof rafters

Window in door

Door latch

I caulked the joints:

Caulked

Then Jenn and I painted it, starting with the main color:

Painting

And the trim:

Shed

Nice.

Our Washington home

We stayed at our official domicile, aka Mom’s house, in Shelton, Washington.

It was good to be home! An opportunity to catch up on dentists, doctors, optometrists, etc, and of course with family.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-08-03
Check out: 2024-08-25
22 nights

Weather:

Partly cloudy, rain
High temps ranging between 68-88°F, lows around 52-60°F
Wind gusts to 20 MPH in the area, though much less when sheltered amongst trees

Noise:

No road noise
No train noise
Occasional neighbor noise

Site:

Front in, concrete in front, gravel in back
Disconnected toad; parked next to coach
Fairly level; high in front; used hydraulic leveling

Utilities:

50 amp power, located on house in front of coach, used extension cord
37 PSI water from the house
No sewer hookup; used tote or macerator and hose to dump into house septic system

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 11-18 Mbps down, 9-11 Mbps up, 45-65 ms ping
House Wi-Fi: 9-11 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 20 ms ping
Verizon: 3-5 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 45-75 ms ping
AT&T: 0.5 Mbps down, 0.01 Mbps up, 120 ms ping, negligible service
T-Mobile: no service

Amenities:

House

Our coach parked in front of the house:

Our coach by the house

We added an RV electrical outlet box on the house, so were able to have 50 amp power:

Electrical outlet

Starlink dish on a flagpole:

Starlink dish on flagpole

Nice to have full hookups at home. (I’ll have a blog post about the sewer options in a couple of weeks.)

Video

Video: Quincy to Shelton, Washington motorhome travel timelapse

A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 248 miles from Quincy, Washington to Shelton, Washington.

Travel from Quincy to Shelton, Washington

We drove our coach 248 miles, about 4 hours of driving, from Quincy, Washington to Shelton, Washington.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading west (with exact destination omitted, for privacy):

Route map

An interactive map:

Columbia River:

Columbia River

Upside-down vehicle:

Upside-down vehicle

Eastern Washington hills:

Eastern Washington hills

Columbia River:

Columbia River

Vantage Bridge over Columbia River:

Columbia River bridge

Columbia River

Rest area:

Rest area

Truck with corn:

Truck with corn

Wildlife bridge:

Wildlife bridge

I-90 along Keechelus Lake:

I-90 along Keechelus Lake

Guye Peak:

Guye Peak

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Joining I-5 South:

Joining I-5 South

Tacoma Dome:

Tacoma Dome

Heading into Shelton:

Shelton

Narrow bridge entering Shelton:

Shelton

(Probably the last time we go this way; we found an easier route.)

You should vacuum out under the fridge occasionally

Under the fridge in our coach is a vent and some radiator fins. We hadn’t previously cleaned it out, and noticed our fridge making weird noises, so I removed the cover and investigated (a couple of screws and some clips). The fins were chock full of dust and cat fur. Oops! I’ve added a recurring reminder to vacuum that out in the future.

Vent under fridge

Vent cover

Vacuum

Dusty

Thousand Trails Crescent Bar

We stayed at Thousand Trails Crescent Bar in Quincy, Washington. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A Thousand Trails campground overlooking the Columbia River.

Dates:

Check in: 2024-08-02
Check out: 2024-08-03
1 night
We had booked two nights, but decided to leave after one, since it was so hot, and we just wanted to get home

Weather:

Partly cloudy
High temp 102°F, low 71°F
Little wind, gusts to 17 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
Little neighbor noise

Site:

#81, back-in, sandy gravel
Needed to disconnect toad
Fairly level site; a little high at the back; used air leveling, since only one night
Sandy gravel driveway about 55 feet long by 12 feet wide
15 feet to neighbors on both sides
Picnic table
Fire pit
A tall tree
Somewhat clean site (some paper trash)

Utilities:

50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located
55 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, very conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

T-Mobile: 15 Mbps down, 5-12 Mbps up, 108 ms ping
AT&T: 230 Mbps down, 28 Mbps up, 160 ms ping
Verizon: 12-18 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Typical older TT, but killer views

This park is typical of an older Thousand Trails park and needs some TLC. As usual, it’s first come, first served, which is not our favorite. We were lucky to find a 50A site that was 1) in working condition, 2) large enough for our 40′ motorhome, and 3) had a peek of the Gorge. All the best sites with views of the Gorge seem to be taken up by seasonals, but it was nice to see what we could between them. All the short-term sites are a bit run down, with sparse landscaping. We camped at Thousand Trails Crescent Bar in a Motorhome.

Campground map:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

Utilities:

Utilities

There’s a clip for the tag, but it’s broken, so they’ve replaced it with shoelaces, rather than replacing the clip; really says something about Thousand Trails maintenance:

Shoelose to attach tag