A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 242 miles from La Grande, Oregon to Glenns Ferry, Idaho.
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Travel from La Grande, Oregon to Glenns Ferry, Idaho
We drove our coach 242 miles, about four hours of driving, from La Grande, Oregon to Glenns Ferry, Idaho.
Here’s the map route, heading southeast:
Interactive map, with potential stops marked:
Another interactive map, with the places we actually stopped:
I-84:
Cementworks:
Rest area stop:
Snuggling with Paladin:
A video from our internal security cam while our coach was driving down the road; it’s a rolling earthquake, but much more stable than a trailer. If you look closely, you may notice Paladin asleep on the stacked dining chairs in the lower-right corner:
River:
I-84:
“Oregon Thanks You, Come Back Soon”; yep, we’ll be back every year, as we tour around the country and return to Washington each year for health checkups etc:
“Welcome to Idaho”:
Another rest area:
A biplane crop duster:
Fuel stop:
Paladin asleep:
River:
Murals:
Water tower:
River:
Y Knot Winery:
Our coach parked at the winery while we checked in:
Their RV park, still under construction:
Grande Hot Springs Resort
We stayed at Grande Hot Springs Resort in La Grande, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Our second visit to this resort; our first visit was in a rented trailer on the way to Yellowstone. This time we were also on our way to Yellowstone, via the Tetons, but in our motorhome.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-07-09
- Check out: 2023-07-11
- 2 nights
Weather:
- Sunny, thunderstorm
- High temps ranging between 84-92°F, lows around 51-59°F
- Some evening wind, 20 MPH gusts
Noise:
- No road noise
- Rumbling train noise (no horns)
- No neighbor noise
Site:
- #31, pull-through, gravel
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad; left it connected
- Fairly level
- Gravel about 90 feet long by about 11 feet wide
- Grass between sites about 20 feet wide
- Tiny picnic table on grass
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 50 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 15 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
- Verizon: 13-27 Mbps down, 9-13 Mbps up, 36 ms ping
- AT&T: 5 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 140 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Thermal pools
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Convenient spot to stop in Eastern Oregon
This was our second stay here, and it was just as nice as the first time. However, I didn’t remember feeling the earth move whenever one of the huge freight trains went by, which we definitely felt this time. If you’re a light sleeper, just be aware they go by all night. Our site was a decent-sized pull-through with the most ridiculously tiny picnic table I’ve ever seen. The hot springs soaking pools were nice after a long day of driving, but the mosquitoes put a damper on the experience. As did the loud, obnoxious group of partiers in one of the pools. Having said all that, though, we did enjoy our stay here as it’s a nice, convenient stop along I-84, and the grounds are very nice, with a small stream running through it. We camped at Grande Hot Springs Resort in a Motorhome.
The campground map:
Interactive map:
Our site:
Tiny picnic table:
Utilities:
Our site:
We went for a dip in the big pool on our first evening, during the adults-only time after dark (which was not as pleasant as it could be, due to several very loud people, and mosquitos):
Pools:
The entrance sign:
Fountain in center of driveway:
Office:
Bridge over hot canal:
Tent sites beyond canal:
Open area:
Feral cat (notice the ear tip); probably staff:
Fire pit:
Group tent area:
Cabin:
Yurts:
Garbage and recycling:
Other sites; the park was mostly empty:
Neighboring hot lake:
Sunset:
Video: Welches to La Grande, Oregon motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 262 miles from Welches, Oregon to La Grande, Oregon.
Travel from Welches to La Grande, Oregon
We drove our coach 262 miles, about four hours of driving, from Welches, Oregon to La Grande, Oregon.
Here’s the map route, heading east:
Interactive map:
Preparing to toad up in the maintenance area:
Mount Hood:
Our tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) reported a high temperature on the front passenger-side tire, which was concerning, but resolved itself (they normally run at less than 99°F):
Columbia River:
A stop at a rest area:
Paladin was enjoying sitting on the stacked dining chairs:
Interesting overpass:
Dam:
Sternwheeler river boat:
Bridge:
Wind turbines:
Another dam:
Bridge:
Another rest area; we were amused by the motorhome towing a jet-ski:
We ran the generator so we could use the ACs, but got a wiring status error; when I looked at the generator later, I noticed that the breaker was off; no doubt from when we got it serviced recently; I’m glad it wasn’t an actual fault:
Solar farm:
A viewpoint stop:
A sharp corner onto a dirt road towards our destination:
Our destination:
Mt Hood Village RV & Camping Resort, again
We stayed at Mt Hood RV & Camping Resort in Welches, Oregon. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Our second visit to this nice Thousand Trails Encore park; we stayed here last year in late July.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-06-30
- Check out: 2023-07-09
- 9 nights
Weather:
- Sunny
- High temps ranging between 74-90°F, lows around 50-61°F
- No significant wind
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train noise
- Negligible neighbor noise
Site:
- Hemlock Meadows #97, back in, gravel
- Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach (on gravel)
- Unlevel; used blocks on the front jacks
- Fairly large site: gravel about 50 feet long by about 22 feet wide, plus about 20 feet wide weedy bark area
- Picnic table and fire pit on gravel
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 55 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, a little inconveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 22-83 Mbps down, 5-11 Mbps up, 35-110 ms ping
- T-Mobile: 11 Mbps down, 0.5 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
- Verizon: 10-13 Mbps down, 5-8 Mbps up, 150 ms ping
- AT&T: 6-8 Mbps down, 6 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Closed indoor pool
- Onsite restaurant
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Excellent campground near Mt Hood
This was our second stay here, and still really love it. We were originally assigned a site in the Vine Maple Loop that would have been too small for us, so we asked if there were any open sites in the Hemlock Meadows section, which is a more open area with bigger sites. The helpful staff member at the front gate gave us a couple of choices and told us to let her know which one we picked. Seeing as it was the weekend of the 4th of July, we were so relieved that there was availability. We picked site 97, which was on a corner and gave us a large living area backing onto trees, with a good view of the sky for the Starlink. On a side note: We had dinner at the Dragonfly Cafe, which has really good food, but they seemed to be having some massive staffing issues. It took nearly 2 hours from ordering to checkout, and I’m pretty sure the one and only waitress walked off the job while we were eating as the one and only cook had to act as cashier. We never went back, fearing a repeat, which is a shame because I’d been dreaming of their eggs benedict for the past year. We camped at Mt Hood Village RV Resort in a Motorhome.
The campground map:
Interactive map:
Our site was nice and spacious, and we made use of our new flagpole for the Starlink dish (and you may notice something different about our truck; more on that on Monday):
Steak and potato salad, watching a Mariners baseball game on the outside TV from the tent:
Unlike normal Thousand Trails parks, Encore ones assign sites. We had originally been assigned a different site, but asked when checking in if they had other options, since we thought this wouldn’t fit us; they agreed it wouldn’t be a good fit.
Looking at it later (the left one in the following picture), we were definitely right to change; it was narrow and very sloped:
The main plaza area, with the (closed) indoor pool, rec center, offices, and cafe:
We enjoy when there’s an onsite restaurant; this campground has the Dragonfly Cafe:
We went there for dinner on our first evening (always nice not having to cook on a travel day). Which was a rather drama-filled experience; we waited over an hour for our food, then the server walked out partway through, and the cook had to come out and accept payment from us and others. It was tasty, though; burger for me:
Prime rib for Jenn:
Laundry:
Other sites in the Hemlock Meadows loop:
See our previous visit for lots more pictures of other loops.
We enjoyed our stay here, and would definitely stay again in the future.
Video: Buxton to Welches, Oregon motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 75 miles from Buxton, Oregon to Welches, Oregon.
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.