travel

Freeways, highways, and other roads as we move the coach from one site to another. Plus cat pics.

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:

Route

An interactive map, with potential stops; we only actually stopped at Flagg Ranch:

Leaving our site:

Leaving our site

Leaving the RV park:

Leaving the RV park

Alpine:

Alpine

Snake River:

Snake River

Snake River

Snake River

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Snowmobile:

Snowmobile

Jackson:

Jackson

HQ of the rafting company we patronized:

HQ of rafting company

Snake River

Entering Grand Teton National Park:

Entering Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park

Paladin in his safe space:

Paladin in his safe space

For some reason, the entrance station for Grand Teton National Park is nowhere near the entrance:

Grand Teton National Park entrance

The built-in GPS in our coach claimed that no RVs were allowed (and the wrong speed limit); bad data:

GPS claiming no RVs allowed

Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park

Grand Teton National Park

We stopped at Flagg Ranch for lunch, since it had a huge mostly empty parking lot:

Flagg Ranch

Paladin on upturned dining chairs:

Paladin on upturned dining chairs

Entering Yellowstone National Park (with people taking selfies in front of the sign, thanks for that):

Entering Yellowstone National Park

The Yellowstone south entrance station:

Yellowstone National Park

Lewis River:

Lewis River

Lewis River

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Continental Divide:

Continental Divide

West Thumb of Lake Yellowstone:

West Thumb of Lake Yellowstone

Fishing Bridge over Yellowstone River:

Fishing Bridge over Yellowstone River

Yellowstone General Store:

Yellowstone General Store

Checking in to Fishing Bridge RV Park:

Fishing Bridge RV Park

Fishing Bridge RV Park

Fishing Bridge RV Park

Fishing Bridge RV Park

Fishing Bridge RV Park

Fishing Bridge RV Park

Arriving at our site for the next two weeks:

Fishing Bridge RV Park

Such a scenic drive!

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:

Route

An interactive map, with potential stops marked:

Our actual stops:

Preparing to leave:

Preparing to leave

Mural:

Mural

Snake River:

Snake River

Love’s travel centers have been adding RV parks; this looks like a decent one, with pull-through sites:

Love's RV park

Wide load:

Wide load

Shoshone:

Shoshone

Zoomed perspective of the road (highway 26):

Zoomed perspective of road

Another wide load:

Another wide load

We chose this route so we could visit Craters of the Moon National Monument:

Craters of the Moon

It has some RV parking, which barely fits us, so we were able to visit on a travel day — a first for us:

Craters of the Moon RV parking

We unhooked our truck, and drove around the park (see a forthcoming post about that):

Craters of the Moon RV parking

When we got back, the RV parking was full:

Craters of the Moon RV parking

Onward on US-20:

US-20

Arco, Idaho, the first city in the world to be lit by atomic power:

Arco, Idaho

We made an unplanned stop at a rest area, to take a break from unnervingly high wind gusts:

Rest area

Peaks:

Peaks

Fuel stop:

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:

Inconsiderate truck

Potato fields:

Potato fields

Snake River:

Snake River

Palisades Dam:

Palisades Dam

Palisades Reservoir:

Palisades Reservoir

“Welcome to Wyoming”:

Welcome to Wyoming

Our destination:

Our destination

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:

Route

Interactive map, with potential stops marked:

Another interactive map, with the places we actually stopped:

I-84:

I-84

Cementworks:

Cementworks

Rest area stop:

Rest area

Snuggling with Paladin:

David and 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:

River

I-84:

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:

Oregon Thanks You

“Welcome to Idaho”:

Welcome to Idaho

Another rest area:

Rest area

A biplane crop duster:

Biplane crop duster

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Fuel stop

Paladin asleep:

Paladin asleep

River:

River

Murals:

Mural

Mural

Water tower:

Water tower

River:

River

Y Knot Winery:

Y Knot Winery

Our coach parked at the winery while we checked in:

Our coach parked at the winery

Y Knot Winery

Y Knot Winery

Their RV park, still under construction:

RV park

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:

Route

Interactive map:

Preparing to toad up in the maintenance area:

Preparing to toad up

Mount Hood:

Mount Hood

Mount Hood

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):

TPMS high temperature

Columbia River:

Columbia River

A stop at a rest area:

Rest area

Paladin was enjoying sitting on the stacked dining chairs:

Paladin on dining chairs

Interesting overpass:

Interesting overpass

Dam:

Dam

Sternwheeler river boat:

Sternwheeler river boat

Bridge:

Bridge

Wind turbines:

Wind turbines

Another dam:

Dam

Bridge:

Bridge

Another rest area; we were amused by the motorhome towing a jet-ski:

Rest area

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:

Wiring status error

Solar farm:

Solar farm

A viewpoint stop:

Viewpoint

A sharp corner onto a dirt road towards our destination:

Sharp corner

Our destination:

Our destination

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:

Route

Interactive map (no stops):

We drove our coach and truck separately to the welcome center, as a convenient place to toad up:

Connected truck to coach

Toaded up

Leaving the state park:

Leaving state park

Roadworks, replacing a bridge:

Roadworks

Heavy traffic near the Vista Ridge tunnel, as usual:

Heavy traffic

Traffic map

Freeway tunnel

Freeway tunnel

Freeway tunnel

A bike and pedestrian bridge over the Willamette River:

Bike and pedestrian bridge over Willamette River

Jenn driving, with a glimpse of downtown Portland beyond:

Jenn driving with Portland beyond

Portland downtown:

Portland downtown

Overpasses:

Overpasses

Freeway with the convention center towers in the background:

Freeway with convention center in the background

Bridge:

Bridge

MAX light rail station:

MAX light rail station

A water tower and a glimpse of Mt Hood:

Water tower and glimpse of Mt Hood

A plane coming in for a landing, and Mt Hood:

Plane and Mt Hood

We took NE 238th Drive, which used to be unsuitable for RVs and trucks, but was widened a few years ago:

NE 238th Drive

Some somewhat close trees:

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:

40 foot length limit message

Totally fine, though:

NE 238th Drive

Turning on to Burnside Road (with some roadworks; good thing we didn’t want to go straight):

Turning on to Burnside Road

US-26 highway:

US-26 highway

US-26 highway

Downtown Sandy:

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:

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:

Mt Hood Pet Resort and Mountain Moka Cafe

Interesting structure:

Interesting structure

A glimpse of Mt Hood:

Glimpse of Mt Hood

Glimpse of Mt Hood

Glimpse of Mt Hood

Motorcycles:

Motorcycles

Our destination, Mt Hood Village:

Mt Hood Village

Mt Hood Village

Driving to our site:

Driving to our site

Our site before parking:

Our site before parking

Our site before parking

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:

Fallen items in fridge