RVer's Advice, 50 days starting Phoenix for UK couple

[Lifemagician]

Lifey, on this forum, suggested I should write something about my travels. Of course having not written anything for two years it would start to look like “War and Peace”, longer running than “Ben Hur”, also boring.

So far I have enjoyed every word - not boring at all!

The American comedian George Burns said, “The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, and have the two as close together as possible!”.

For those wishing to go there, the detail in your relating the adventure could be of great interest. For those who have been there, it is reliving the experience with you.

Looking forward to the next chapter.

Lifey

[Tourist]

I left you, though you do not know it, in Merced in February 2018. It is June 28 and I am back. I had made a decision, Charley was to be sold. My lover and I are no longer a couple, I do not need the closet space, and the inconvenience of an A class in considerable. There was interest from the user group, and in the end Jay purchased from me. However he and his delightful partner said, hey go on, do Yosemite, see you on the other side.

Workhorse chassis from the period, in any duty, were installed with an auto park brake. One of the many problems with this is that it defaults to “on” if it fails, it fails on stop. Coach Net, God Bless Em, organised a tow. I asked for Monday and told the authorities it could not be done sooner, liar me!! I was unlikely to be there again in my life and had tours booked. (On the second night, parked on the edge of the road by Bridal Veil Falls, I was accosted by Rangers, ladies both, ladies in uniform, umm. Well anyway they accepted that I had called 911, (I had), and let me sleep on).

Should I tell you about Yosemite, well go, please go, it is magnificent, and if I manage to write something without the aid of Rum I will detail this for you. However back in the ordinary I was towed into Fresno where a wonderful man, Zarkis Martirosian, (budeberwein.com) repaired the brakes on the RV and sent me on my way. I invited him to visit in UK, I hope he comes.

Jay and Julie stuck by me and purchased the A class despite the adventure, they have the benefit of a 9 month Coach Net policy to repair any faults but still I expected some difficulty and got none. Lovely family. Americans are very friendly.

So my pal on Puget Sound said, “I’ve found this B class for you, come and look”. I asked for details and he told me 1988. “Whoa, hold the phone, 1988, no way!” He said, come and look, you MUST come and look. So now I am the owner of a Dodge Xplorer 228, 1988. It looks like it just rolled out of the showroom.

Deciding a small trip was needed before the flight home I headed south from Whidbey, paused at Potlatch State Park, and thence to Westport. Went up the lighthouse, met friends of friends, but a man I met on the road, said, “Lots of rich surfing widows in Westport”, how could I resist. Not obviously so folks, it seemed a dump to me! Onwards to Cape Disappointment, two nights hiking and a visit to Astoria for tuna and chips, bowpicker.com, don’t miss it.

Met with friends who had been coming north from Phoenix for months, and here I will pause. I have missed so much, a time for getting my ducks in a row.

[Tourist]

Well I wrote the last mail on August 3rd last year, I still get into trouble with US dates, (can't have written that on March 8th), and I was keen to finish up. I think the only serious bit I left out was Mount St Helens. Apart from being spectacular and really interesting the two most notable road trip elements were the drive in where low cloud had me thinking I'd see nothing and in the final climb to the view point I broke through the cloud, the sudden spectacle was amazing. The other notable moment was the talk given on the terrace by a ranger, these things can be tedious or special depending the presentation, his was terrific adding those interesting little nuggets that make facts and figures so much more acceptable.

So I am in the UK and the van is parked up on Whidbey Island, WA, (which by the way is a glorious place full of friendly people). The problem for me is that the weather there is just like the UK. In the last two years I've done 6 weeks winter and 6 weeks summer but the winter jaunt is really an escape from our weather so I'm not going out this time and the next visit will be June. So the advice requests for a summer trip start here...

Victoria - Vancouver - Trans Canada Highway to Calgary, south to Butte, Yellowstone maybe the Sawtooths and that's the plan, BUT then I'm head down to Las Vegas for a flight home and a storage location ready for next winter. After that I have some choices in that I should turn left and head east to "do" the USA, but I have a yearning to revisit places and tick the bits I missed so I may just stay West. One of the motivators here is that I missed a lot with the A class and would like to do it again in the van with a lot more back roads, hot springs, little towns and conversation rather than mega tourist centre to mega tourist centre. Also I do a broadcasting job each August and I'm committed again for 2019 but I'd love to do "Burning Man" but the dates collide. Still that's the future, any advice on the essentials for Canada, Yellowstone, Sawtooths and all in between welcome.