Washingtonians

We have been Oregonians since moving from New Zealand to the US in 2001, but now that we’re traveling the country, we have fewer ties to Oregon. We decided to move our domicile (i.e. where we vote and have as a home base) to Washington state, since we have family there, so more of a connection.

The first step in officially changing our domicile was to get new driver licenses, and re-register our truck and coach. Here’s the old Oregon truck license plate:

Oregon truck license plate

And the new Washington truck license plate:

Washington truck license plate

The old Oregon coach license plate:

Oregon coach license plate

The new (and very expensive!) Washington coach license plate:

Washington coach license plate

I guess we’ll need to remove that “heart in Oregon” sticker now; Washington is now our home base.

We have a new mailbox service in Washington, to forward mail to us as we travel. We’re working on changing bank accounts and my Dejal company registration. We’ll change doctors and dentists when due for our next checkups. And more. There are lots of things to update, so it’s certainly not something we do lightly.

Travel from Eatonville to Shelton, Washington

We drove our coach 84 miles, about 2.5 hours of driving, from Eatonville, Washington to Mom’s place near Shelton, Washington.

The map route, heading northwest (exact destination omitted for privacy):

Map route

Jenn driving our coach:

Jenn driving our coach

Paladin:

Paladin

Windy road:

Windy road

We turn around our knife block to prevent it from falling over while driving… but forgot this time, oops:

Knife block fell over

I picked it up while we were driving down the road; Paladin watching me, plus the GPS on the TV:

Paladin

A water tower:

Water tower

Not a huge fan of tight roundabouts in our coach:

Roundabout

Entering I-5:

Entering I-5

Paladin on the dash; unusual when driving:

Paladin

Paladin

Shelton exit:

Shelton exit

Shelton sign:

Shelton sign

Not a huge fan of this narrow bridge in Shelton, either:

Shelton bridge

Paladin on my lap:

Paladin

Not a huge fan of the narrow roads near the destination, too:

Narrow road

But happy to arrive at Mom’s place. Here’s our coach and truck in their driveway:

Coach and truck at Mom's place

Coach and truck at Mom's place

Slides in:

Coach and truck at Mom's place

Slides out:

Coach and truck at Mom's place

While “moochdocking” at Mom’s place, we hooked up the coach to an electrical outlet in the house. Our coach has a 50 amp cord, so we used an adapter to convert the 15 amp house plug to a 30 amp connector, and another to our 50 amp cord:

15 amp to 50 amp connectors

15 amp to 50 amp connectors

Not enough power to run ACs, but it keeps the fridge going, plus lights and such.

Me in the backyard:

David in backyard

We spent a week at Mom’s place, sleeping in our coach to keep Paladin company, showering and hanging out in the house during the day. It was great to spend time with Mom and Mike. Thanks for putting up with us!

Alder Lake Park Rocky Point Campground

We stayed at Alder Lake Park Rocky Point Campground in Eatonville, Washington. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A delightful lakeside view.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-08-07
  • Check out: 2022-08-09
  • 2 nights

Weather:

  • Sunny
  • High temps 90°F, lows at 58°F
  • No significant wind

Noise:

  • Next to a highway, so a bunch of road noise; no train noise
  • No significant neighbor noise

Site:

  • #423, pull through, asphalt
  • Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
  • Not very level, sloped down from the driver side
  • Smallish site: about 60 feet long by about 25 feet wide
  • Partial hookups:
    • 50 amp power conveniently located
    • 55 PSI water pressure; conveniently located
    • No sewer
  • Picnic table, fire pit on gravel
  • Several trees on the driver side for privacy

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 55 Mbps down, 22 Mbps up, 55 ms ping
  • AT&T: 1 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 682 ms ping
  • Verizon: 8 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

  • Garbage bin

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Lovely view of the lake and close to Mt Rainier

We stayed at the Rocky Point campground in site 423 and had the best view of the lake from our site. However, getting to the site was a little gnarly with our 40′ motorhome, as the road inside the park is very winding and narrow with many overhanging trees. The site was one of the few pull-throughs in the campground and just long enough for our motorhome and tow vehicle. There wasn’t a camp host on duty, but it was pretty easy to just go to our site and get settled. A ranger came by while we were at Mt. Rainier the next day and left our check-in paperwork under our wiper. There’s easy access to the day use area next door, so it was nice to cool off on a warm afternoon. The only limiting factor to this campground is the lack of a sewer connection at each site; otherwise, we would have happily stayed for much longer than two nights. We camped at Alder Lake Park in a Motorhome.

The RV park map:

Map sign

A delightful lake view from our site:

Lake view

Lake view

Our site

Our site

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Only electric and water hookups:

Utilities

Not a sewer dump:

Not a sewer dump

Lake view:

Lake view

Dinner with a view:

Dinner with a view

View from our site:

View from our site

Moon:

Moon

Moon and lake

Moon and lake

Another night:

Moon and lake

Moon and lake

Aerial views:

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Day use area:

Aerial view

Aerial view

Aerial view

Entrance:

Entrance

Campground full:

Campground full

The road in the campground was a bit tight for our coach:

Narrow road

Tiny trailer and tent:

Tiny trailer and tent

Gate to the day use area:

Gate to day use area

Day use area:

Day use area

Day use area

Day use area

Cooling feet

Lake

Travel from Buxton, Oregon to Eatonville, Washington

We drove our coach 163 miles, about 4 hours of driving, from Buxton, Oregon to Eatonville, Washington.

The map route, heading north:

Map route

We pulled into a maintenance area to hook up our tow bar:

Tow bar

Our new Sinclair Trails logo sticker is visible inside with the slide-out in:

Sinclair Trails logo and David

Jenn driving; yes, she drives our coach:

Jenn driving

Enjoying some coffee at a traffic light stop:

Jenn drinking coffee

Sandy:

Sandy

Interesting MAX light rail station:

Interesting MAX light rail station

MAX light rail:

MAX light rail

Heading towards Seattle:

Heading towards Seattle

Paladin on the back of my chair:

Paladin and David

Leaving Portland:

Leaving Portland

Leaving Oregon:

Leaving Oregon

Stopping at a rest area:

Rest area

Rest area

Lunch:

Lunch

The rest area had an RV dump station; nice:

Dump station

Paladin:

Paladin

Bridge:

Bridge

A small plane taking off:

Small plane taking off

Small plane taking off

Driving:

Driving

Another Tiffin joining the freeway:

Tiffin

Paladin passing over my lap:

Paladin

Gee Cee’s Truck Stop; quite nice and not busy:

Gee Cee's Truck Stop

Gee Cee's Truck Stop

Another bridge:

Bridge

We have Sinclair Trails logo Yeti coffee mugs:

Sinclair Trails coffee mug

Sinclair Trails coffee mug

Sleeping Paladin:

Sleeping Paladin

Mayfield Lake:

Mayfield Lake

Mayfield Lake

Jenn driving:

Jenn driving

Paladin asleep:

Paladin asleep

Highway 12:

Highway 12

Hey look, another bridge:

Bridge

Hobo Inn, staying in train cars:

Hobo Inn in train cars

Day use area at Alder Lake:

Day use area

Our destination, Rocky Point campground:

Rocky Point campground

A rather narrow road within the campground:

Narrow road

Mt Hood Village RV & Camping Resort

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

A nice Thousand Trails Encore park.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2022-07-25
  • Check out: 2022-08-07
  • 13 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny
  • High temps ranging between 77-98°F, lows around 54-67°F
  • No significant wind

Noise:

  • No road noise or train noise
  • Not much neighbor noise (kids and dogs)

Site:

  • Vine Maple Hollow #78, back in, gravel
  • Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach (on gravel)
  • Fairly level, sloped up a little at the back
  • Medium site: about 60 feet long by about 30 feet wide
  • Full hookups:
    • 50 amp power conveniently located
    • 50 PSI water pressure (we boosted from our tank); fairly conveniently located
    • Reasonable sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10 foot hoses used)
  • Picnic table, fire pit on gravel
  • Several trees for privacy

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • Starlink: 53 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 72 ms ping
  • AT&T: 6 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 27 ms ping
  • Verizon: 8 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
  • T-Mobile: no service
  • Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters
  • Indoor pool
  • Onsite restaurant

Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:

Nice campground close to Mt Hood

This park has a nice mix of sites close to all sorts of outdoor activities in the area. We were grateful to be under the tall trees during the worst of the heat even if it meant the Starlink was pretty useless. There are newer sites that have no trees, but they were baking in the sun. You really need to weigh your priorities when making your site reservation. The roads are a bit narrow in spots, and they have a few trees that need to be trimmed, but overall we had no trouble getting our 40′ motorhome around to our site. We really enjoyed the on-site restaurant. Their breakfasts are awesome. We camped at Mt Hood Village RV Resort in a Motorhome.

The RV park map; it a large park, with multiple campgrounds within it, separated into short-term and long-term RVs, plus cabins:

Map

An embedded map (that you can zoom and pan around):

Weather:

Weather

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our bikes:

Bikes

The screen tent:

Screen tent

We moved the picnic table out of the way, since we have our own in the tent:

Screen tent

A big rock on the neighboring site:

Big rock

Utilities:

Utilities

I got out my ladder to access the roof; I attached knee pads to it to protect the edge of the roof:

Ladder

Ladder

The main reason for the ladder was to remove a branch that I’d noticed was wedged up there:

Branch

I also took some pics of the roof, since this was the first time I’ve used the ladder to access it (and I’ve still never been on the roof):

Roof

Roof

Roof

Roof

Roof

We took Paladin out into the screen tent:

Paladin

David and Paladin

Paladin

Some aerial photos from my drone:

Aerial

Aerial

Campground

Campground

Campground

Campground

Campground

Campground

Campground

Roof

Roof

Roof

The village has a restaurant and store:

Restaurant and store

Village store:

Village store

Dragonfly Cafe and Bakery:

Dragonfly Cafe and Bakery

Dragonfly Cafe and Bakery

Dragonfly Cafe and Bakery

Breakfast:

Breakfast

Dinner:

Dinner

Plus a game room:

Game room

And indoor pool:

Indoor pool

We were in the Vine Maple Hollow campground (a bit harsh to call the children slow):

Vine Maple Hollow

Campsites

Our neighbor had a catio:

Campsites

Another catio:

Catio

Some campgrounds were a bit more exposed:

Campsites

Monthly sites available:

Monthly sites

Campsites

Campsites

More campsites:

Campsites

Campsites

Tiny homes and cabins:

Tiny homes

Tiny homes

Tiny homes

Tiny homes

Tiny homes

Tiny homes

Tiny homes

A nice park. We’ll likely be back here again in the future.