A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 75 miles from Buxton, Oregon to Welches, Oregon.
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Travel from Buxton to Welches, Oregon
We drove our coach 77 miles, about two hours of driving, from Buxton, Oregon to Welches, Oregon.
This is the start of our eastern migration, as we head from the west coast toward the east coast, ending the year in Florida.
Here’s the map route, heading east:
Interactive map (no stops):
We drove our coach and truck separately to the welcome center, as a convenient place to toad up:
Leaving the state park:
Roadworks, replacing a bridge:
Heavy traffic near the Vista Ridge tunnel, as usual:
A bike and pedestrian bridge over the Willamette River:
Jenn driving, with a glimpse of downtown Portland beyond:
Portland downtown:
Overpasses:
Freeway with the convention center towers in the background:
Bridge:
MAX light rail station:
A water tower and a glimpse of Mt Hood:
A plane coming in for a landing, and Mt Hood:
We took NE 238th Drive, which used to be unsuitable for RVs and trucks, but was widened a few years ago:
Some somewhat close trees:
Our RV GPS kept warning of 40 foot length limits, which no longer applied since the road was improved. It’s a nice feature when up-to-date, though:
Totally fine, though:
Turning on to Burnside Road (with some roadworks; good thing we didn’t want to go straight):
US-26 highway:
Downtown Sandy:
Our homestead was somewhat near Sandy (25 minutes away, but it was where we went shopping). But we never made it to the rather distinctive Joes Donut Shop:
Mt Hood Pet Resort was where we took our dog for playtime and boarding, often grabbing a coffee at Mountain Moka Cafe next door:
Interesting structure:
A glimpse of Mt Hood:
Motorcycles:
Our destination, Mt Hood Village:
Driving to our site:
Our site before parking:
When we get into a site, we are always careful when opening cupboards and the fridge for the first time, as things can shift. On this occasion, our fridge was rather full, and an expensive bottle of bubbly, some juice, and some food fell down; if we had just pulled the fridge door open without being careful, they would have smashed on the floor, and we would have been very sad:
LL Stub Stewart State Park, Dairy Creek East
We stayed in the Dairy Creek East campground of LL Stub Stewart State Park in Buxton, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)
We stayed here last year in the west loop, and really enjoyed it. So we decided to stay again this year, this time in the east loop.
Unfortunately it was a relatively late change to our plans, so we weren’t able to get a more private site on the outside of the loop, but we still enjoyed our stay.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-06-25
- Check out: 2023-06-30
- 5 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny
- High temps ranging between 73-79°F, lows around 46-50°F
- Fairly negligible wind, up to 23 MPH gusts
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train noise
- Quite a lot of neighbor noise (kids playing)
Site:
- #81, back in, gravel
- Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
- Unlevel; used blocks on the front jacks
- Large site: about 28 feet long asphalt driveway, plus about 40 feet long and 35 feet wide gravel area
- Grass between sites, about 25 feet space between sites, about 75 feet behind
- Picnic table and fire pit on gravel
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 47 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 8-11 Mbps down, 12-18 Mbps up, 28-90 ms ping
- AT&T: 105 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 32 ms ping
- Verizon: 25-42 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 30-140 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage compactor and recycling outside campground entrance
- No pool
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Nice state park in the Coast Range
This was our second time staying here, and have enjoyed it both times. Last year, we stayed in the West Loop and enjoyed the trees. This year, because it was a last-minute plan, we got a site on the inside of the East Loop. I would have preferred an outside site on the East Loop, as the inner sites have no trees or shade and back up onto a large grassy area where people play loud field games. Still, the sites in both loops are large, with plenty of room for our 40′ motorhome and tow vehicle, a screen tent, a fire pit, and a picnic table. We would definitely stay again and make sure to plan in advance to get a site on the outside of the loop. We camped at L.L. Stub Stewart Memorial State Park in a Motorhome.
The RV park map:
An embedded map, that you can zoom and scroll around:
Our site:
Even though we only stayed five nights, we set up the CLAM tent, in part to help discourage people from taking a shortcut through our site, since we were next to a path leading to the bathroom block:
We both worked outside in the tent at various times:
The aforementioned path, with our coach visible in the background:
At the other end of the path, the bathrooms:
Other sites:
A camp host ran after this T@B trailer to tell them that their tongue jack was still down; oops (T@B trailers are cute; this is a slightly larger one than the one Jenn’s father has):
Earlier in the week there were a lot of empty sites:
Central grassy area, with the playground in the background:
We would have preferred a site on the outside of the loop, but we still really like this campground, despite all the kids. We generally like state park campgrounds a lot.
Video: Shelton, Washington to Buxton, Oregon motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 182 miles from Shelton, Washington to Buxton, Oregon.
Travel from Shelton, Washington to Buxton, Oregon
We drove our coach 180+ miles, about three hours of driving, from our home base in Shelton, Washington to Buxton, Oregon.
Here’s the map route, heading south (exact origin omitted for privacy):
Interactive map, with potential stops:
We were “moochdocking” at our home base, with 15 amp electric, water, and no sewer. We had showers and most bathroom usage in the house, while sleeping in our coach. But our grey and black tanks still reached about half full over the two weeks we were there. We dumped them at our destination:
Paladin on passenger chair prior to departure; he would probably have preferred to stay there, but sorry, I need that chair:
When you come to a fork in the road, take it:
US-101 South:
Heading to I-5 South:
A motorhome towing a boat; we wondered if they had another vehicle to put the boat in the water, or had just bought it and were transporting it somewhere, or something:
We stopped at a Love’s for fuel, with an extra long truck and trailers going out the entrance:
80 gallons of diesel; our first fuel stop since Eugene:
Bridge:
Paladin wasn’t having a good time; sometimes he forgets about travel days:
I-5 and Columbia River:
Another bridge:
Nice day for a Classic Beetle convertible:
A pickup with oversized tires crossed the median barrier and got stuck, causing miles of slow traffic in both directions:
Rough concrete roads almost worthy of California in southern Washington:
Interstate bridge:
Entering Oregon:
Entering Portland:
Exit to west:
Fremont Bridge:
A glimpse of downtown Portland from the bridge:
Freeway tunnel:
Paladin hadn’t been using the steps, so I closed the step cover, and re-introduced him to his safe space next to the passenger chair; he was happier there:
Arriving at our destination, Stub Stewart State Park:
Untoading at the welcome center:
I followed our coach to our site:
I parked the truck by the bathroom, and took the path to our site:
Our site before parking:
Preparing to back into our site:
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: 2023-06-11
- Check out: 2023-06-25
- 14 nights
Weather:
- Partly cloudy, a little drizzle
- High temps ranging between 64-83°F, lows around 47-53°F
- Wind gusts to 26 MPH in the area, though much less when sheltered amongst trees
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train noise
- Occasional neighbor noise
Site:
- Front in, gravel and concrete
- Disconnected toad; parked next to coach
- Fairly level
Utilities:
- Only 15 amp power from the house
- 27 PSI water from the house (just used to top up tank)
- No sewer
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 12-37 Mbps down, 8-23 Mbps up, 32-50 ms ping
- House Wi-Fi: 12 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 20 ms ping
- AT&T: 13 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
- Verizon: 16-26 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 53-84 ms ping
- T-Mobile: no service
Amenities:
- House
Our coach parked in front of the house:
A pile of packages waiting for us:
Video: Ocean City to Shelton, Washington motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 80+ miles from Ocean City to Shelton, Washington.
Travel from Ocean City to Shelton, Washington
We drove our coach 80+ miles, about two hours of driving, from Ocean City, Washington to our home base in Shelton, Washington.
Here’s the map route, heading north (exact destination omitted for privacy):
Interactive map (to Shelton instead of our actual destination):
We had no sewer at the campground, and hadn’t been particularly careful, so our grey and black tanks were both very full, as indicated on the main control panel:
We dumped the tanks on the way out (I didn’t get any photos of that, as there was a line).
But before that, here’s our coach preparing to leave; if you look closely, you’ll see the step partway closed; I had just closed the door, as water was dripping from the slide topper:
A closer view of the dripping water; that always happens after it has rained:
On our way, with a curvy road (kinda looks like the Sinclair Trails logo!):
Chehalis River delta:
Paladin watching my iPad:
Hoquiam:
A rather narrow bridge; we drove down the center of the two lanes:
Artwork:
International Mermaid Museum:
Mural:
More bridges:
A fiver pulled over after a tire blowout:
The Elma rest area, with four lanes of dump stations:
A very spacious rest area:
Bear artwork:
Entering Mason County, our home county:
Exit to Shelton:
We’re not a fan of this narrow bridge, but it’s doable:
Rail bridge work:
Bay:
Flagpole for Starlink dish
The Starlink service is a great option when we don’t have cellular service (or when we only have a network with limited data). But not so great when there are trees or other obstacles that block the signal.
RVs with a ladder will often use a FlagPole Buddy kit, that enables mounting a flagpole on the ladder. But our coach doesn’t have a ladder, so I needed a different solution.
Inspired by a post by Rick in my Tiffin Allegro Bus 2016-2018 Owners community on Facebook, I purchased a 20 foot telescoping flagpole and accessories to mount it on our coach, so we can raise the dish above our coach, giving it a better chance of a clear signal.
Another nice benefit of this system is that I can position the pole and dish anywhere around the coach, to have the most clear view of the satellites.
I bought the items Rick suggested:
- 20 foot telescoping flagpole from Harbor Freight
- TEYOUYI adapter bushing for Starlink from Amazon
- FCHO glass suction cups from Amazon
- Wrap-It heavy duty velcro straps from Amazon
To attach the adapter to the flagpole, I removed the two screws that hold the top of the flagpole on, then the adapter simply slips in. I used the same screws to attach the adapter, only screwing one of them in partway, to avoid intruding into the tube space:
The Starlink dish simply slides into the adapter and clicks in place on the pole:
On this occasion, I put the Starlink modem in the wet bay, running the cord through the hose space:
The cable and the flagpole sitting on the ground:
Suction cups and velcro straps holding the flagpole:
The dish has a nice clear view of the sky:
The dish on the flagpole:
Later, the flagpole with the Starlink dish and a Mariners flag, mounted at the front of the coach:
With a US flag:
At another campground, mounted lower without a flag (more stable that way):
Second anniversary of buying our motorhome
Today marks the two year anniversary of purchasing our 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP motorhome!
Check out the one year anniversary post for a tour of what the coach was like when we bought it. One day I’ll get around to doing an updated tour; much has changed.
Here are some previously unpublished pictures of the exterior of our coach from when we first saw it and paid a downpayment, contingent on an inspection:
And at our first campground with the coach, on the day we paid the remainder, and took possession — two years ago today:
We’ve certainly put lots of miles on the coach since then! We’ve explored a lot, and changed a lot of things on the coach. What will the next two years bring? Follow along on our travels!