Nevada

Dayton RV Park Dayton, Nevada

October 19-25

The workamper couple that manage Dayton RV Park were very nice and got us assigned to sites 30 and 31 which are long pull throughs. We were all interested in exploring the area so, we each paid $184 for a week.. We were initially shocked at how small this park is. Sure looks different on their web page. 

What looks like grass is actually a type of astro-turf and I was surprised at how well it worked. Much better than trying to keep grass growing in the desert! The sites have full hook-ups to include very good WiFi and cable. Although the sites are narrow, the park was very clean and the residents were very cordial.

The day after arriving we drove into the Capital of Nevada, Carson City about 6 miles down the road and just explored and had lunch. Carson City has just about every major box store you can imagine.

Whiskey Flats RV Park Hawthorne, Nevada

October 26, 2011

Whiskey Flats RV Park is on the north side of Hawthorne, Nevada off Hwy 95. As we neared Hawthorne we passed a huge Army Munitions Depot that was really impressive after miles and miles of virtually nothing but a flat or rolling desert with mountains in the back ground. The weather had been mild with starting drive temps in the 40's and only reaching the 50's due to a cold front that had pushed through ahead of us.

Whiskey Flats was much larger than we expected but we got assigned sites 5 and 6 without reservations. Surprisingly the park was busy and seemed to fill quickly with travelers. 

We paid about $25 with tax for our full hook-up site with WiFi next to Paul and Paula's. Both sites and I believe all if not most of the sites in Whiskey Flats are pull-throughs. The sites have a concrete pad for the Rv and gravel grounds. It was perfect for a stop-over with lots of room to walk our dogs. We both kept our trucks hitched to the fifth wheel and used our Bigfoot Levelers manually to level the rigs for the night.

Beatty RV Park Beatty, Nevada

October 26, 2011

Beatty RV Park Is off Hwy 95 in Beatty Nevada. Fortunately, I had called ahead as I discovered that an annual celebration "Beatty Days" was beginning that weekend. Beatty RV Park was able to get us in for just one night, (Thursday night) as they were filling up with vendors for the downtown event.

Again we paid about $25 for the overnight site and didn't unhitch. The site included full hook-ups with Wifi on gravel. However, the sites are a bit odd. Although our sites were pull throughs they were right behind each other. In other words, Paul and Paula were parked behind us facing the same direction in the picture above. Thankfully, they didn't need to unhitch and we were traveling together or they would have to back out of their site or wait for us to leave ahead of them! Also about 30 yards from the front of my truck was highway 95 making it a bit noisy but not bad. Beyond the highway was just open desert as we were a few miles north of Beatty. I saw wild donkeys on a bluff across the highway. Again it was good for an overnight stay.

Lake Mead RV Village Lake Mead N.R.A. (Boulder City)

October 28- November 6, 2011

Lake Mead RV Village is closest to the Boulder City park gate. We got registered without reservations. Joyce and I were assigned site 1204 and Paul and Paula took site 1103. The sites are full hookup pull-throughs with long sites and with outside views of the lake about a quarter mile away.There's a concrete patio pad and gravel everywhere else with the exception of the paved roads. Our site is in the same pull through row as Paul and Paula and we are parked ahead or behind each other in opposing positions. My truck in the picture below is actually parked in their space behind their rig. There's plenty of room in each space for our vehicles but parking my truck next to our pad provides us with some much needed extra shade as temps are in the low 80's but warmer in the sun.

The WiFi via coupon for TengoNet is virtually useless but our Verizon MiFi works well. There is also cable TV hook-up provided. The park is actually very nice but surrounded by older well kept mobile homes that I assume were here before Lake Mead National Recreation Area became a park in 1964. We paid close to $240 for 10 days at which time we expect to be moved to the Volunteer campground. Paul and Paula paid for a month.
Coyotes roam through the park at night and we can often hear them yipping and howling at each other. The park is dated in some respects and the sites aren't very level, at least ours wasn't but all in all not bad.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Volunteer Campground

November 7, 2011 - March 3-2012

The Volunteer Park is about a mile north of the public park, Lake Mead RV Village. It's a nice secluded park and there were only 8 RV volunteers scattered through 24 sites. 

Our site 22 

Our views were of a large butte out our door side and the rugged terrain out our back window. 

View out the back window

We had a concrete door side slab and the rest of the site was crushed granite lined with poplar trees on a drip system. We had 50 amp service water and sewer. Our Verizon MiFi signal and phone reception was weak probably due to the large bluff on our west side 

Obviously this park is reserved only for volunteers and contract employees for the National Park Service. 

California

Susanville RV Park Susanville, California
October 16-17, 2011

We pulled into Susanville RV Park in town and met with the friendly workamper who got us registered for $34 a night with our GoodSam discount. We were directed to sites 25 and 26. There wasn't room at the site for our Jeep so we were allowed to park it outside the office. 

The sites were pull throughs in the middle of the park each providing full hook-ups including WiFi, Cable and 50 amp electric.

We were exhausted from a long day in the saddle and before long we all decided that we would spend two nights and just relax in the warm sun of the next two days. Something we had missed while in Oregon!

So the next day, the girls did laundry and some grocery shopping and Paul and I rode around Susanville on our bicycles enjoying lunch at a local Mexican restaurant. 

We enjoyed our relaxing two days and made plans for our next destination: Dayton, Nevada outside Reno and near Carson City, Nevada.

Oregon

Camp Rilea, Warrenton, Oregon

September 27- October 5, 2011
Camp Rilea is a beautifully maintained National Guard and Armed Forces Training Center on Route 101 just north of Seaside, Oregon. It's only available to active duty and retired military. However, we were allowed to use the facility as a guest of Paul who retired from the Coast Guard.

From atop the berm behind our rigs, we could see this small herd of elk. I couldn't get all of them into the frame of this picture. The elk wander around and have been seen in the fields in front of the rigs after dark.

The Camp Rilea RV facilities are basically a blacktop parking lot with full 50 amp hook-ups to include 50 plus channels of cable. There is no WiFi. A very nice bathroom and bath house facility is centered in the 10 site lot. We are schedule to stay till October 6th and paid $20 per night. The day after arriving we took it easy and washed the rig, truck and Jeep. Like I said, driving in the rain sure makes a mess of everything. We will use the location to explore portions of the coast and the surrounding areas.






McKinley's Marina and RV Park, Waldport Oregon

October 6-12, 2011

McKinley's Marina and RV Park is located on the water in Waldport, Oregon. We got checked in and had our choice of a few sites including a couple on the water's edge. However, it was breezier and cooler close to the water. Therefore, we chose a couple of sites near the center of the park. We each paid just under $200 for a week's stay with full hook-ups, strong WiFi and cable (even though we set up our satellites). 

Our site: 32

The sites are designed to be buddy sites meaning we could pull in at opposing directions and thus have our doors opening towards the center of both sites. We took site 32 and Paul and Paula took site 33. 

Paul and Paula's site to the left of ours.

Because of the nearly constant rain, we chose this park for the big concrete pads. Although it perhaps would have been nice to go to a scenic state park, we all thought the concrete pads would be much better for rainy conditions. We all got set up and enjoyed the rest of this rare sunny day. The RV Park is attached to a small marina and there are lots of recreational fisherman occupying the RV sites. Many are engaged in fishing for Salmon and setting crab traps for Dungeness Crabs.

Casey's Riverside RV Park Westfir, Oregon

October 13-14, 2011

We didn't have great expectations so we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at Casey's Riverside RV Park. It's a beautiful park on the Willamette River surrounded by the Willamette Forest. The sound from the rushing waters of the river was just beautiful. We were assigned pull through sites 48 and 49 facing the river.

We paid $74 dollars including tax for two nights with full hook-ups to include cable and WiFi. It was a bit more than we like to play at $37 a night with the GoodSam discount! However, the sites were beautiful as was the park.

Truly a beautiful park about 6 miles from the small town of Oakridge that has the necessary fuel and shopping amenities. After getting set up Paul and I drove into Oakridge to buy diesel fuel paying $4.05 a gallon. We also stopped at the Forest Ranger Office near the park to get information on hikes in the area.

Collier Memorial State Park in Chiloquin, Oregon

October 15-16, 2011

Collier Memorial State Park in Chiloquin, Oregon. This area of Oregon is relatively undeveloped and we later discovered groceries and fuel were hard to find. However, it would serve as a good base camp for a trip to Crater Lake N.P.
Upon arrival at the state park, we picked our own site and self-registered. The sites are first come first serve and in this off-season only $17 for full hook-ups including 50 amps. However, with our "extra vehicle" we had to pay an additional $5. Again, I don't think it's right to be charged more if it fits on our site. But, it is what it is. We took site B4 and Paul and Paula took B6.

We chose these two sites because we had a clear shot over the river in the back of us to the South sky for our satellite dish. There is no digital over the air television reception. All the sites are paved and back-ins with the exception of the curved pull-throughs like the one below.

We arrived on a Saturday so the park was busier than we expected for this late in the season. We were perhaps the longest rigs in the park and I had some difficulty maneuvering into my spot due to the proximity of the trees. The weather was fabulous and for a while I was tempted to put on shorts but, that quickly faded along with the sun. Paul and I explored on bikes the trail along the river behind our rigs and the logging camp museum on the park property.

Washington

Wenatchee River Co. Park (WRCP) in Monitor Washington


September 12-13, 2011
This was another stop on our way to the Washington coast with Paul and Paula. 

WRCP is a county owned and operated park. It's actually a beautiful park with well maintained grassy grounds and huge shade trees. We were assigned two sites that back up to the Wenatchee River. We quickly got set up in loop A sites 8-9. We paid $30 per night but could only stay for two nights as the park is booked after that for a rally.

The park has about 4 circular loops surrounded by sites that radiate from the circles. All the sites a very roomy and paved. However, we had to pay $5 extra for our Jeep and park it in overflow parking. 

The amenities include 50 amps with full hook-ups and very good Wi-Fi. Directly behind our rigs is the Wenatchee River with a small path leading to the water's edge. 

A beautiful park that may require a reservation due to its popularity.

American Heritage Campground, Olympia Washington


September 14-18, 2011

American Heritage Campground is located in Olympia just south of Seattle. The campground is set in a forest setting with paved roads but dirt sites.

Site 41

We arrived with Paul and Paula and each selected sites near each other but with plenty of foliage between the sites. The temps were in the low 60's as we set up. The owner of the campground said it had been in the low 90's just last week.

View down the road in front of our rig.

The sites have full hook-ups but only 30 amps and a weak 30 amps at that. There was no WiFi in the campground. Fortunately there was no need to run the air-conditioners as the temps were very moderate during our stay i.e. 60's for highs and 50's for lows. We paid for 5 days at about $34 a day with tax. The forest setting was absolutely beautiful with plenty of places to walk the dogs. However, the last 3 days we were there it misted and rained causing the falling pine needles to stick to everything they touched. The ground also became wet and muddy. It was a mess pulling out of there!





Salt Creek Recreation Area, Port Angeles



September 19-26, 2011

Located on highway 101, Salt Creek Recreation Area is just west of Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula. This county park is right on the coast offering 50 amp electric and water sites as well as primitive sites. There is a dump station. During the season, reservations are recommended. We were traveling with Paul and Paula and they took site 34 and we took site 36, both pull throughs. The sites were a bit close but we weren't expecting anyone in site 35 till Friday so we had some "extra room". We soon discovered after setting up that our phones were roaming and we were getting a message warning of international data rates. Apparently we were picking up the tower on the Canadian coast across the Strait of Juan De Fuca. 

Site 36

We ended up shutting off our phones and MIFI to avoid international data charges at $2 a minute! We discovered later that local phone service for our Verizon phones was available at other spots within the park.

Coast line 30 yds from the front of our rig.

We each paid $25 a night for a site, but we also paid an additional $5 a night for our "extra vehicle" that fit in our site. The set-up is designed for self-pay with a print-out that indicates which sites are reserved or available. We picked our own sites. We stayed for 8 nights after extending a day because of rainy weather.

Speaking of rain, as you could guess, its a pretty common occurrence in this part of the country! It rained off and on for most of our stay but the temps were moderate with lows in the 50's and highs in the 60-70's.

Montana

Jim and Mary's RV Park, Missoula Montana

August 26 thru September 1, 2011. Jim and Mary's RV Park, Missoula MT.

On our way to Glacier National Park from Yellowstone we stopped in the City of Missoula. They have just about every major retail outlet and box store as well as a nice historic area of the city down by the Clark Fork River.
We found a beautiful small RV park, Jim and Mary's RV Park.  We really like this park as it very well maintained and the flower gardens are just beautiful. We stayed for a week to unwind a bit from our traveling and sightseeing adventure.

Our site, A-1 across from the office.

The trees around our site were so thick that we weren't able to get a signal from both satellites (110 and 119) for our Dish. However, it wasn't a problem as the park provides cable T.V.

The owners live in the campground and it is very well maintained.

Owner's residence

A beautiful park and close to downtown. We would definitely stay here again if we are in the area.

North American RV Park, Coram Montana

September 2-8, 2011.

We were still traveling with Paul and Paula when we visited Glacier National Park and stayed at North American RV Park. We were assigned two sites H-18 and H-20 next to each other. We initially paid for four (4) days at $30 a day which is the discounted rate with the Good Sam's discount and the off-season rate which began on Sept. 1.  In-season the rate is $39.50 (we later extended our stay!)

Our sites H 18 and 20

The altitude there was just over 3K feet. It's a nice park with gravel roads and pads bordered with grass. Some sites have trees but not ours. Our sites had full hook-ups to include WiFi but not cable. 

Highway noise was noticeable but not bad. In addition, there were trains running through the area on a regular basis. It wasn't a problem for us. 

Obviously, we are here to check out Glacier National Park, so we planned to make the most of it over the next few days!