A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 215 miles from Concrete, Washington to Kelso, Washington.
Travel from Concrete to Kelso, Washington
We drove our coach 215 miles, about 4 hours of driving, from Concrete, Washington to Kelso, Washington.
The map route, heading south:
Paladin looking a little concerned in the steps:
Rail bridge:
Do you think they’d wash a 40-foot motorhome?
Historic train:
Entering I-5:
Bridge:
Paladin:
Rest area exit:
A nice rest area dump station:
Pink car:
Bridges:
Trains:
Seattle Space Needle:
Seattle:
Seattle Convention Center:
Seaplane:
Paladin on the back of my chair:
Seattle traffic:
Green car:
Tacoma Dome:
Paladin:
Another rest area:
Lunch:
Paladin:
Gee Cee’s Truck Stop, a nice fuel option on I-5:
Kelso exit:
Arriving at the RV park:
Map and sticker art
To personalize our coach a bit more, we decided to replace a generic artwork in the kitchen with something a bit more meaningful to us.
Here’s the old artwork, after removing it from the wall:
The empty wall:
We got a wooden US map to feature in its place:
The map comes in several pieces:
We also got a 24×36” wooden frame, an opaque white plexiglass sheet of the same size, and some foam boards to fill out the space behind it:
I used Command-brand double-sided strips to help adhere it to the wall:
I also used screws through the plexiglass to secure it to the wall; the screws were later hidden behind stickers (the PostIt notes mark the map placement):
The wooden map is attached with double-sided adhesive strips:
And mounted to the plexiglass:
It has a nice 3D relief:
Hawaii:
Alaska:
Some hummingbird decorations:
We added pins (that came with the map) on states we’ve visited:
Plus stickers around the map for some places we’ve been:
The current state:
Over time, we will add more pins and stickers, to help commemorate our travels.
Mount Baker day-trip
We took a six-hour day-trip around and up Mount Baker in northern Washington.
Here’s an interactive map of our route:
Our first stop was at the Acme Diner for brunch:
Acme art:
Continuing on:
Our second stop was at the Glacier Public Service Center, where Jenn collected a cancellation stamp, and we got a paper map with local info:
A one lane road:
Next was Nooksack Falls:
Then up Mount Baker to the Heather Meadows Visitor Center, a very picturesque area:
And to the end of the road, Artist Point:
International Overlander:
An enjoyable day-trip.
Hammock
Jenn won a prize to choose an item from Amazon, and opted for another useful addition for our travels, a foldable hammock.
It folds up fairly compactly in a carry bag:
The hammock frame easily unfolds:
The fabric is attached:
Pillow:
Extendable poles:
Support an optional shade:
The assembled hammock:
We probably won’t use it often, but it’ll be nice to have when wanted.
Anniversary of buying our motorhome
Today marks the one year anniversary of us purchasing our 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP motorhome!
(The Allegro Bus brochure, if you’re interested in the stats and options.)
One year ago today, we drove four hours to Kennewick, Washington and met the private seller at a KOA campground, where we handed over the cashier check payment, signed the title transfer, and got the keys. We then stayed in the coach that night, marking the first night of our full-time RVing adventure.
To celebrate the occasion, I thought I’d re-publish the first pictures of the coach from a year ago. Many aspects have changed over the past 12 months, so it’s good to look back on where things started.
A couple of pictures of the coach exterior at the Kennewick KOA (the slide-out looks so naked without our stickers!):
My tour of the interior of the coach:
Here’s a floor plan (note that the living room layout is a bit different):
The entry door and steps (the exterior steps automatically slide out when the door is opened); welcome aboard:
In front of the passenger chair is a pull-out workstation surface:
Thusly:
The driver cockpit:
The living area:
The L-shaped couch and ottoman that came with the couch; we removed and stored it, and recently sold it:
Dining table (it can be pulled out to extend it a bit):
On the right of the dining sideboard was a keyboard tray drawer, for a computer workstation; I thought I might work there, though I didn’t; I use a lap tray instead, and we actually removed this, to make room for bottles in the cupboard below:
Residential refrigerator and freezer:
Pull-out pantry shelves:
The kitchen:
Pull-out counter:
Drawer dishwasher (made by NZ company Fisher & Paykel):
Dual sinks, with covers when more counter space is desired; we typically only use the left sink, with a draining rack over the right side:
Induction cooktop:
Convection microwave, that can be used as a normal microwave or as a convection oven:
Half bath; yes, this coach has two porcelain toilets:
Bedroom:
Tiltable king bed (with way too many cushions; we’ve stored all of these):
Bedroom TV and cabinets:
Moving into the bathroom, the sink:
Washer and dryer:
Shower:
The above pictures were with the four slides out; when traveling down the road, the slides are retracted, which makes things much more cramped.
Here’s the living room with slides in; it was difficult to get past the couches, another reason why we removed them:
Dining and kitchen with slides in; not so bad. We were able to get to the fridge and half-bath pretty easily, once past the couches — great for rest stops:
Bedroom with slides in; not very easy to get past the bed without climbing over it, but that’s fine:
I hope you enjoyed this flashback! Sometime I plan to do a similar tour with the current state. Stay tuned for that.
On to the next year of our full-time RVing adventure!
North Cascades National Park
We went up to Concrete, Washington — almost to Canada — just to check off another national park, North Cascades.
A rather nice entrance sign:
A map of the Newhalem area:
Visitor center:
Jenn enjoys getting the passport cancellation stamps:
A helpful sign:
Do not touch the bear:
Relief map:
Displays:
Boardwalk to a viewpoint:
We had a picnic lunch there:
A tunnel:
Another tunnel:
A bridge:
Mountains:
Viewpoint at Diablo Lake:
The lake is a fascinating color:
A very dusty road, due to roadworks:
Lake:
Outside the park, a Wilderness Information Center:
Relief map:
The reason for visiting it, another passport cancellation station:
Concrete / Grandy Creek KOA Holiday Thousand Trails
We stayed at Concrete / Grandy Creek KOA Holiday in Concrete, Washington. (Campground Reviews listing.)
An interesting hybrid park; about half of it has Thousand Trails sites, about half KOA sites. We stayed in a Thousand Trails site, so free for us. No sewer, and only 30 amp, but that’s fine for less than a week.
Dates:
- Check in: 2022-08-16
- Check out: 2022-08-21
- 5 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny
- High temps ranging between 77-91°F, lows around 59-63°F
- No significant wind
Noise:
- No road noise or train noise
- A little neighbor noise (kids and dogs), especially at the weekend
Site:
- #23, back in, gravel
- Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach (on gravel)
- Not very level, sloped up at the back
- Smallish site: about 55 feet long by about 30 feet wide
- Partial hookups:
- Only 30 amp power; conveniently located
- 45 PSI water pressure (we boosted from our tank); fairly conveniently located
- No sewer connection
- Picnic table, fire pit on gravel
- Several trees for privacy
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 40-65 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
- Verizon: 13-28 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
- AT&T: offline (we need a new SIM card)
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Pool; hot tub unavailable
Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:
Close to North Cascades National Park
We stayed at this park with our Thousand Trails membership. It’s also a KOA, and each site is marked with a green or yellow utility box depending on which “side” you’re on. There are very few 50A full hookup sites allocated for Thousand Trails, and most of them seem to be taken by seasonals, so we were stuck with a 30A site that didn’t have a sewer connection. Most of the sites seem to be electric/water-only. It was in the 90s while we were there, but luckily, we’d recently had SoftStartRV units installed on two of our ACs, so we were able to have them running even with the 30A connection. Between the narrow roads and the large trees jutting out into the roads, it was a little difficult driving and parking our 40′ motorhome. Once we got settled, the trees were nice cover from the heat of the day. They seem to be having severe staffing issues as the camp store was closed the whole time we were there.
On top of not having a sewer connection, the one and only dump station was out of commission for our entire stay. They finally opened up a sewer site (back in) for folks to dump, but what a hassle that would be. We waited until we left and made use of the excellent facilities provided at the next rest area on I-5. We camped at Concrete / Grandy Creek KOA Holiday in a Motorhome.
The RV park map:
Our site:
The site was sloped up at the back, so the front was fairly high with the coach leveled. So I used the accessory step:
An interesting tree on our site:
The utilities — 30 amp power, 45 PSI water, and no sewer (at Thousand Trails campgrounds it’s fairly common to clip the check-out date to the power pedestal):
To help the jacks get level, I added some plastic leveling blocks. The first time I’ve tried them with our coach. They are supposed to be rated to 40,000 pounds, but I’m not convinced:
Somewhat crushed:
The jack pads as we prepared to leave; sometime I’ll try again with a flat topper, to see if that helps:
After visiting North Cascades National Park (see a future post), I added the sticker for it to our slide:
Our National Park stickers for the parks we’ve visited so far:
The entrance:
Entrance ranger station:
Welcome:
Cabins:
Dog park:
Laundry:
Big jump pad for kiddies:
Playground:
Hot tub closed:
Swimming pool:
Mini golf:
Grandy Creek:
Group campsite:
Maintenance barn:
The dump station was closed due to a pipe leak:
Other RV sites:
Video: Shelton, Washington to Concrete, Washington motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 187 miles from Shelton, Washington to Concrete, Washington. (Departure omitted for privacy.)
Travel from Shelton to Concrete, Washington
We drove our coach 187 miles, about 5 hours of driving, from Shelton, Washington to Concrete, Washington.
The map route, heading north (exact start omitted for privacy):
A narrow road:
Paladin on the dash, unusual for him when driving:
On the dash in front of Jenn isn’t acceptable, though:
Freeway:
Joining I-5:
A bridge over I-5 in Olympia, the state capitol:
Paladin on the back of my chair:
On the dash again; he seems to be getting more comfortable with seeing the traffic outside:
While driving through Tacoma, a semi truck got too close to us and clipped our mirror with theirs, shattering the upper mirror glass:
Tacoma Dome:
We stopped at a rest area for lunch:
The SeaTac northbound rest area is rather nice, with a dump station and separate RV parking:
I got out to inspect the shattered mirror; more on this in a future post (I should be able to replace just the glass):
Lunch for us and my Pokémon buddy:
(My trainer code is 5198 7224 2799 if you play; my referral code is BT9H6KRBC, if you don’t but want to start.)
Paladin on my lap:
Boeing Field:
Seattle:
The freeway goes under downtown buildings:
Paladin on my lap:
And sleeping on the back of my chair:
We stopped at another rest area, and used their dump station:
There was a handy map of rest areas and dump stations:
Our exit:
Paladin on the floor between us:
Highway:
Our destination: