Day 1: Rolling Again!

Yippee! School’s out, and we’re heading out on another RV adventure. This one will take us just over 4,000 miles down to Utah and back up through Jackson Hole and Yellowstone.

Last night we were all a little excited and nervous to hit the road again, so sleep was limited. Cooper ended the night telling me that staying the first couple nights of a trip in a parking lot are best. He likes Cabela’s and Walmart. I promised we could make parking lot sleeping happen.

We have the best neighbors! All will be keeping an eye out on our house, one brought us cookies for the trip, another the soap I couldn’t find, and another leant us a long scrubbing brush to give Winnie a bath before this big trip.

Our morning task list was long, including the last day of school pictures. Pretty mind-blowing to look back and remember they spent the first 3 months of school seeing the country on our first RV trip, then a few months of remote school, then some hybrid time, and finally the last couple of months nearly full-time in person. What a crazy year!

We ended up leaving at 10:45, which was perfect timing with lunch falling during our first gas stop in Cle Elum (63 gallons, one of our biggest fills yet).

Today was a big drive day and likely our longest one of the entire trip. We pulled into the final rest stop of the night at 9pm (Mountain Time). We drove through 3 states: Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Highlights of the drive were following a windmill blade through a mountain pass, passing an onion truck multiple times, and seeing many triple truck trains once we crossed into Oregon.

Oregon had a weigh station where you can just pull through and read your weight even when it is closed. We are right at maximum gross weight: 18,000 pounds. The tow car and bikes were 3,050. We are carrying more water than usual given these first two nights will be in parking lots without hookups.

The windmill blade was so cool to watch. The load itself isn’t wide, but on any curve, they have to take up both lanes because it’s so long. We were surprised to learn there wasn’t someone steering the rear trailer wheels (like the Boeing trucks we see at home). The boys were eager to overtake the truck before the mountain pass, but we ended up being just one car back, so it was cool to have an up-close view of them negotiating the bends and construction zones.

The onion truck was a hoot. Whenever it was in front of us, we saw onion skins flying through the air or on the road. We were surprised the load was uncovered.

Rob was a rockstar, like always, planning our stops, taking over for driving when my eyes needed a break, and somehow working and taking a conference call all throughout the day. To end the day in true Rob fashion, I wondered out loud what a big white, no window single story building was that we passed. He quickly researched it and found out it was a processing plant for “onion rings, mozarella sticks, and other appetizers”. We also passed an Ore-Ida plant close to the border; Rob informed me Ore-Ida is short for Oregon-Idaho. I had never thought about the meaning, but learned something new today, and now maybe you have too.