RV ALASKA - Life on the Road Ain't Always Glamorous

Traveling by RV is often romanticized in movies, books and, of course, on social media.  Every new day is full of adventure and perfection.  Well, in real life, that’s not always true.  As Alan likes to say, “No bad days,” but that’s more about our attitude toward the day and less about what the day, itself, contains.

After leaving the KOA in western Wyoming, we spent one night at the Riverside RV Park in Heyburn, Idaho.  Another city park, another river – this one, the Snake.  The next night we landed in La Grande, Oregon, for scheduled maintenance on the trailer.  With more than 40,000 miles on it, we figured our poor trailer was due for a new set of brakes.  While the RV repair shop was dealing with the trailer brakes, we were dealing with the messages we were receiving on the new truck’s dashboard.  Frightening alerts like, “check trailer wiring” and “service trailer brake system.”  (Anyone traveling through eastern Oregon who is familiar with “the Pendleton Hill” will understand why those alerts were particularly disconcerting.)  Rather than bore you with the gory details of this issue, suffice it to say that, as I type, Alan and I are sitting in the waiting area of the second GM dealer we’ve visited this week.  Never mind starting a new Ice Cream map of the United States, I’m thinking we should start coloring in every state in which we have visited a GM dealer throughout the years.  (So far, we have California, Oregon, Washington and Pennsylvania.)  Just as disconcerting as the possibility of losing our brakes on the Pendelton Hill is the fact that we’re tossing around error codes and service bulletin numbers in conversation as easily as the service techs.  Not good, people, not good at all.

While we were in La Grande, we took advantage of the pause in our travels to run down our list of Things That Had to Be Done.  We spent some quality time at the local laundromat, made a run to Walmart for groceries, refilled our propane tank, corresponded with our insurance agent and reviewed our upcoming stops to work out a fresh water fill/black tank dump schedule.  (While that last chore sounds like no fun at all, when you’re not regularly staying at places that have potable water and a dump station available, planning these kinds of stops is a necessity.)  So, while I do love life on the road, I have to admit that it’s not always as glamorous as it sounds.  The good news is that we, inevitably, do find diamonds among the stones. 

Date(s) – June 3^rd – June 7^th

Total Miles Traveled to Date – 4,157

Wildlife to Date – Several small herds of antelope, 5 bald eagles (including 2 fledglings), 2 great blue herons, dozens of American white pelicans, at least a half dozen families of adult geese with goslings, a number of ducks and 5 adorable ducklings.

Highlight(s) – Despite the long list of mundane chores and the aggravation of a potential mechanical problem on a new vehicle, there were plenty of bright spots throughout the few days we spent in La Grande.  First of all, we really did make lemons out of lemonade in Pendleton.  Shari’s Café & Pies has long been a favorite of ours.  On one of the days we were in La Grande, we drove over to Pendleton for an early supper at Shari’s to be followed by a slice of pie for dessert.  The Shari’s location in Pendleton is definitely not a shining star in this regional chain’s sky.  After waiting ten minutes to be seated, and then learning from our server (the only one on duty) that the restaurant was out of several items including chicken (who runs out of chicken?!), we decided that dining at Shari’s was not in our best interests.  We picked a restaurant off the “best restaurants in Pendleton” list, and found an open parking spot across the street from it.  As I was getting out of the truck, I spotted a steakhouse in an old, beautiful building from the late 1800’s or early 1900’s.  After checking the reviews online, we quickly swapped plans, and had a couple of excellent burgers with sweet potato fries in the Hamley Steakhouse and Saloon.  If this impressive old building wasn’t a grand old hotel at the turn of the century, I’d be surprised.  Just. So. Magnificent!

Another highlight was the opportunity to meet Shannon Roberts, who handles factory tours and social media for Outdoors RV Manufacturing, the company that made our travel trailer.  (The Outdoors RV factory and offices are on the outskirts of La Grande, actually not far from the shop that replaced our trailer brakes.)  Shannon and I had corresponded previously via email in reference to the Outdoors RV East Coast Owners Rally when Alan and I hosted the event several years ago.  While we were in town, we stopped in at the ORV offices, and it was quite the treat to finally meet Shannon in person.  It’s always nice to put a face to a name, and Alan and I truly enjoyed our visit with her.  We have a tremendous amount of respect this company and for the staff members we've met - all excellent ambassadors for Outdoors RV, one and all!

We finally made it to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, Oregon.  I don’t know how many times we’ve driven through Baker City, always meaning to stop at the Interpretive Center and never quite managing to set aside the time.  Since one of the two GMC dealers we visited this past week was located in Baker City, we finally had our opportunity and took full advantage.  The Interpretive Center’s exhibits were exceptional!  The hour-long movie playing in the theater was informative, but dry and technologically outdated.  The friendly host at the information desk was quick to assure us that a long overdue replacement for the movie was in the works.  For anyone interested in the history of the Oregon Trail, the Interpretive Center would be a worthwhile stop.

We closed out our stay in La Grande with an evening at the Eastern Oregon Livestock Show.  The inaugural event was held in 1908, making this livestock show the oldest in the Northwest.   The well-attended event is comprised of rodeo events and quarter horse and thoroughbred racing.  It was heartwarming to see ages young and old turn out for this small-town tradition that’s supported by many communities in eastern Oregon and beyond.  I have a feeling that the Rodeo Queen and her Court would agree.

Lowlight(s) – Still sitting in the waiting room of the GM dealer’s service department.  Sigh.

Campground(s) – We LOVE the Riverside RV Park in Heyburn, Idaho!  On the banks of the Snake River, this city-run park is in a great location for us when we’re traveling to or from Oregon.  The sites are really nice, and the park is immaculately maintained.  We paid $40.00 for a site with full hookups, and we didn’t even have to detach the trailer for this quick overnight stop.  We’ll be overnighting at Riverside again on our way back east.  If Alan and I were Siskel and Ebert, we’d give Heyburn's Riverside RV Park two thumbs up!

Laugh(s) of the Day – Upon our arrival at Riverside RV Park in Heyburn, the (very congenial) campground host took one look at our state of origin and figured that there was no way Alan could put a 32’ trailer in between two trees, one on either side of our site.  What he said was that he’d come down to be sure we managed okay.  What he meant was that he didn’t want to miss the entertainment.  What he didn’t know is that Alan has been trailering all kinds of equipment for decades, and he and I have logged over 80,000 miles with our two travel trailers.  We have a system, and it works well.  In fact, we politely refuse help from anyone and everyone (especially overly exuberant fellow campers carrying beer cans or wine glasses) and keep our eyes and ears on each other, only.  Much to our campground host’s disappointment, Alan put the trailer right between the two trees based on just my hand signals and a suggestion that he move close to one curb to allow more room for the slide.  To his credit, the campground host admitted (cheerfully, but somewhat grudgingly, I might add) that we had done an excellent job.  So HA!

Pic(s) of the Day

One of my favorite shirts (and Alan's favorite sayings) from Kitchen Little in Mystic, Connecticut

Alan put us just inches from the curb at Riverside, and those trees weren't even close!

The recently renovated Interpretive Center in Baker City, Oregon

Eastern Oregon Livestock Show - established in 1908

Special Message(s) – No marionberry pie for us, Cliff!

Comment(s) – I was taking advantage of our downtime this week in La Grande, both at the laundromat and at the GMC dealer.  Please don’t expect posts as lengthy as this one as we move along into Canada and then on to Alaska.  I'll be lucky if I have the time to brush my teeth. 

Up Next – From La Grande, Oregon, it's back to Idaho where we'll be camping at Garfield Bay for a few days.  Then, on to Canada!