A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 80 miles from Yellowstone, Wyoming to Cody, Wyoming.
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Travel from Yellowstone to Cody, Wyoming
We drove our coach 80 miles, about 2.5 hours of very scenic driving, from Yellowstone, Wyoming to Cody, Wyoming.
Here’s the map route, heading east:
An interactive map, with potential stops; we had lunch at Newton Spring Picnic Site, and got some fuel at the Sinclair station:
We paused bringing in the slide to let the pooled rain drain off:
A GIF of checking the brake controller; the air brakes of the coach triggers this piston that pushes the brake pedal in our truck for proportional braking assistance:
Checking the truck lights:
Another check, moving the coach forward a couple of feet to engage the tow bar and make sure the truck wheels turn freely (reversing GIF):
Leaving the campground; starting the Bluefire app for coach info:
The coach GPS mistakenly said “No Recreational Vehicles Allowed” again inside the park:
Yellowstone Lake:
One of the last glimpses of a geyser:
And a bison:
And deer:
A very scenic drive on the way out of the park:
Leaving from the east entrance of Yellowstone National Park:
The scenic drive continues outside the park; rather Utah-like:
We stopped at Newton Spring Picnic Area for lunch:
Lunch:
Paladin sitting on upturned dining chairs:
Onward:
Three tunnels by Buffalo Bill Reservoir:
Cody:
A fuel stop at a Sinclair station; not needed, since only down a third of a tank, but gives us peace of mind, since there are no truck stops along this route, other than stations like this:
Unexpectedly, the fuel pump stopped at $75; 16 gallons doesn’t help much. So we did two of these to get mostly full:
Buffalo Bill Center of the West museum:
Downtown Cody:
Our destination:
Pulling in to our site:
SnapPads
When we park our coach on an unlevel site, typically high in the back, our front hydraulic jacks sometimes can’t cope, so we need to add extra blocks between the jacks and jack pad:
To help with that, I purchased a couple of SnapPads, just for the front jacks. We can’t get them for the back jacks, as the jacks are too close to the rear wheels. SnapPads are permanently-attached pads that expand the footprint of the jack a little, and add an extra inch of height, so I hoped that’d help with unlevel sites.
(If you’re in the market for them, you can save 10% off SnapPads with the discount code: DAVID08638.)
Here’s a SnapPad before installation:
It’s simple to install a SnapPad; just squirt a little dish soap around the inner rim, to make it easier to get it on, then line it up below the jack, and lower the jack into place (it helps to have two people, one to control the jack, one to tweak the alignment. Here’s a SnapPad after attaching and lifting up a bit:
Two SnapPads:
Retracted jacks (fun fact: that big box between the jacks is our 150 gallon fuel tank):
The jacks on top of my usual jack pads, which I use on all surfaces other than concrete:
A nice addition.
Fishing Bridge Campground, Yellowstone National Park
We stayed at Fishing Bridge Campground in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Our third stay in Yellowstone, though the first in our coach; our first stay was in a cabin back in 2011, and our previous stay was in a rented trailer in 2021 (while our coach sat back at our homestead, as the campground we stayed at, Madison, wasn’t big enough; a trip planned before we bought our coach). See the Yellowstone trip posts for details. That’s for the two of us; Jenn practically grew up in Yellowstone, visiting several times as a kid.
The Fishing Bridge campground (at 7,790 feet elevation) is the only one big enough for us in Yellowstone, and was recently significantly overhauled to include nice big paved sites in the E loop.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-07-22
- Check out: 2023-08-05
- 14 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny for most of the time, drizzly and thunder storms the last few days
- High temps ranging between 58-80°F, lows around 48-52°F
- Some wind, up to 28 MPH gusts
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train noise
- Not much neighbor noise (kids)
Site:
- #E302, pull-through, concrete
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
- Level
- Concrete pad about 70 feet long by about 12 feet wide
- Grass between sites about 12 feet wide
- Mature trees around campground, few within
- Concrete patio with picnic table
- No fire pit
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 75 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 105-122 Mbps down, 2-10 Mbps up, 75 ms ping
- Verizon: 13-17 Mbps down, 3-6 Mbps up, 75-625 ms ping (unreliable)
- AT&T: 0.5 Mbps down, 0.02 Mbps up, 1500 ms ping
- T-Mobile: no service
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- National Park
Our review on Campground Reviews:
FHU in Yellowstone? Yes Please!
I’ve been coming to Yellowstone since before I could walk. I’ve camped in the rustic campgrounds and stayed in lodges. The only other option if you have a big rig and need full hookups is to stay outside the park and wait in traffic every day to get in, so for for my money, this is the best option around. We had a nice pull-through site in the new section and were very impressed with the concrete pads. The site was level and had excellent hookups, even if the water spigot was a bit weird. There are few trees around the campsites, so there was a good Starlink connection if you need to stay connected. We camped at Fishing Bridge RV Park in a Motorhome.
The campground map:
An interactive map, still showing the old layout of the campground as I write this:
Our site:
On a non-rainy day:
We were very glad for our Starlink dish and flagpole, as there was little cellular coverage:
Check in area:
Other sites:
A nice campground, and with a park the size of Yellowstone, certainly beneficial to be able to stay within the park. We’ll definitely stay here again in the future.
Video: Alpine to Yellowstone, Wyoming motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 136 miles from Alpine, Wyoming to Yellowstone, Wyoming.
Travel from Alpine to Yellowstone, Wyoming
We drove our coach 270 miles, over four hours of very scenic driving, from Alpine, Wyoming to Yellowstone, Wyoming.
Here’s the map route, heading north:
An interactive map, with potential stops; we only actually stopped at Flagg Ranch:
Leaving our site:
Leaving the RV park:
Alpine:
Snake River:
Interesting rocks:
Snowmobile:
Jackson:
HQ of the rafting company we patronized:
Entering Grand Teton National Park:
Paladin in his safe space:
For some reason, the entrance station for Grand Teton National Park is nowhere near the entrance:
The built-in GPS in our coach claimed that no RVs were allowed (and the wrong speed limit); bad data:
We stopped at Flagg Ranch for lunch, since it had a huge mostly empty parking lot:
Paladin on upturned dining chairs:
Entering Yellowstone National Park (with people taking selfies in front of the sign, thanks for that):
The Yellowstone south entrance station:
Lewis River:
Roadworks:
Continental Divide:
West Thumb of Lake Yellowstone:
Fishing Bridge over Yellowstone River:
Yellowstone General Store:
Checking in to Fishing Bridge RV Park:
Arriving at our site for the next two weeks:
Such a scenic drive!
Replacing bathroom faucets and soap dispensers
Jenn didn’t like the bathroom faucets and soap dispensers that came with our coach, as the faucets were rather splashy, and the dispensers let water into them, diluting the soap.
So we bought replacements from Home Depot, and I installed them.
Here’s the old faucet in the rear bathroom:
The new faucet:
Looking under the sink, one can see manifolds of hoses to various parts of the bathroom (sink, toilet, shower, and washing machine); the sink hot and cold connectors are on the top:
This being an RV, of course the hose for the faucet was non-standard, so I needed to get a “hex nipple” to adapt the 1/2 inch MIP hose connectors:
Disconnected:
The old and new faucets:
A new hose, with the hex nipple adapter on the left, and the adapter that came with the faucet on the right:
Holes in the counter for the faucet and dispenser:
New hoses connected:
New soap dispenser:
The soap dispenser bottle installed:
The new faucet and soap dispenser installed:
Similarly, the old soap dispenser and faucet in the half bath:
Hoses under the half bath sink, nicely labeled:
Disconnected hoses:
The new faucet mounted:
Connected hoses under the half bath sink:
The installed new soap dispenser and faucet in the half bath:
Finally, I also replaced the soap dispenser in the kitchen. That was the most difficult to get to. I accessed it by removing the drawers:
A peek of the old soap bottle:
To install the new one, I reached back through the drawers space and poked the assembled soap bottle and tube up through the hole, before screwing the top on:
The new soap dispenser in the kitchen:
Alpine Valley RV Resort
We stayed at Alpine Valley RV Resort in Alpine, Wyoming. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A new RV resort at 5,670 feet elevation, where we stayed to visit Grand Teton National Park, an hour north.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-07-13
- Check out: 2023-07-22
- 9 nights
Weather:
- Sunny
- High temps ranging between 79-88°F, lows around 50-58°F
- Some wind, 26 MPH gusts
Noise:
- Some road noise
- No train noise
- Some neighbor noise (kids)
Site:
- #20, pull-through, concrete
- Kinda needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
- Level
- Asphalt driveway and concrete pad about 70 feet long by about 10 feet wide (rather narrow)
- Grass between sites about 12 feet wide
- Young trees
- Concrete patio with table and chairs
- Fire pit
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 75 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Campground Wi-Fi: 80 Mbps down, 90 Mbps up, 5 ms ping
- T-Mobile: 21-40 Mbps down, 7-16 Mbps up, 80 ms ping
- Verizon: 3 Mbps down, 1-5 Mbps up, 200-1000 ms ping
- AT&T: negligible service (phones work, MiFi didn’t)
- Starlink: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage pickup from site
- Package delivery to site
- Coffee shop and grocery store in walking distance
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Beautiful new park, beautiful mountain views
This is a very nice, new park that definitely has had a lot of care and attention put into it. Sites were immaculate, with spacious grassy areas and concrete patios. When the trees grow up a bit, they’ll provide nice shade, but for now, you get really nice views of the surrounding mountains. At check-in, we were escorted to our site and guided in, which is always a nice touch. When folks checked out, each site was cleaned and prepped for the next arrival. Not every place does this, but the best ones do. Another small thing that makes a huge difference is the frequent trash pickup from your site. My only regret was not getting a back-in site so we’d have fewer neighbors and better views, but that gives me something to aspire to for next time. We camped at Alpine Valley RV Resort in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Book a whitewater rafting trip with Dave Hansen with pickup from the resort. You basically get concierge service between the resort and the river, which makes for a fantastic experience. Broulim’s is a nice grocery store within walking distance from the resort. Good coffee at Punkins, also within walking distance.
The campground map:
Our site:
Interesting water faucet; looks like they can remove the tap for winterizing:
Adding the Teton sticker to our coach:
Other sites:
A path to a river overlook:
Snake River (no access from the campground; there’s a steep bank):
The park is still under construction; they have a temporary building for the office currently:
A white-water rafting water feature also under construction:
Playground:
Bathrooms:
Nearby gas station:
A nice nearby grocery store; it was very convenient to walk to get groceries:
Nearby Subway etc, also in walking distance:
Nearby mercantile:
Nearby coffee shop:
A nice park. We’d stay here again, though would choose a back-in site next time, for an un-obstructed view over the river to the mountains.
Video: Glenns Ferry, Idaho to Alpine, Wyoming motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 270 miles from Glenns Ferry, Idaho to Alpine, Wyoming.
Travel from Glenns Ferry, Idaho to Alpine, Wyoming
We drove our coach 270 miles, over four hours of driving, from Glenns Ferry, Idaho to Alpine, Wyoming.
Here’s the map route, heading east:
An interactive map, with potential stops marked:
Our actual stops:
Preparing to leave:
Mural:
Snake River:
Love’s travel centers have been adding RV parks; this looks like a decent one, with pull-through sites:
Wide load:
Shoshone:
Zoomed perspective of the road (highway 26):
Another wide load:
We chose this route so we could visit Craters of the Moon National Monument:
It has some RV parking, which barely fits us, so we were able to visit on a travel day — a first for us:
We unhooked our truck, and drove around the park (see a forthcoming post about that):
When we got back, the RV parking was full:
Onward on US-20:
Arco, Idaho, the first city in the world to be lit by atomic power:
We made an unplanned stop at a rest area, to take a break from unnervingly high wind gusts:
Peaks:
Fuel stop:
We had to wait for a long time due to an inconsiderate truck driver that had parked and gone inside; the convention at truck stops is after fueling you can pull forward and stop for up to 15 minutes, but this driver was gone much longer than that:
Potato fields:
Snake River:
Palisades Dam:
Palisades Reservoir:
“Welcome to Wyoming”:
Our destination:
