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Welcome to The Thompson's Blog: "Thompson's Treks"

This blog is about our travels around the U.S. in our motorhome. We hope to see you on the road, soon!
Paul & Pam Thompson

About Us

August 7-22, 2021 trip to Washington and back

8/28/2021

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Click above to play video/slide show.
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Wonderful two-week trip from Arizona to Washington via Utah, Idaho and Oregon and back via Oregon and California.
Places we stayed:
  • Kaibab Camper Village, Kaibab Camper Villagem Fredonia, AZ (just north of the Grand Canyon North Rim): https://www.kaibabcampervillage.com
  • Pony Express RV Resort, Salt Lake City, UT: https://www.sunrvresorts.com/resorts/west/utah/pony-express-rv-resort/
  • Ambassador RV Resort, Caldwell, ID: https://www.g7rvresorts.com/rv-park/ambassador/
  • Icicle Creek RV Resort, Leavenworth, WA: https://icicleriverrv.com/
  • Friends home near Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, WA: http://www.fridayharbor.org
  • Lake Pleasant RV Park, Bothell, WA: http://www.lakepleasantrv.com/index.html
  • Sea and Sand RV Park, Dopoe Bay, OR: https://seaandsandrvpark.com
  • Seven Feathers RV Resort, Canyonville, OR: http://www.sevenfeathersrvresort.com
  • Flag City RV Resort, Lodi, CA: https://www.flagcityrvresort.com
  • Bakersfield RV Resort, Bakersfield, CA: https://www.bakrv.com
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2019 Summer RV Trip to Seattle

9/1/2019

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Click the Play button to watch a 7 minute video comprised of mostly dash cam footage (depending on your internet speed, it might take a few seconds to load).
RV in Stanley, IDOur 2019 Winnebago Navion 24D in Stanley, Idaho

We made our annual RV trip to Seattle, leaving Phoenix on August 10th and returning on August 25th, 2019. This time, it was in our new 2019 Winnebago 24D motorhome.
  • Day 1: Drove the 275 miles to the Lake Powell Wahweap RV Park from our home near Phoenix. We had a beautiful space overlooking the lake.
  • Day 2: Drove 350 miles to a nice little RV park next to Utah Lake in Provo, Utah: Lakeside RV Campground. On the way, we took a beautiful side-trip through Bryce Canyon National Park.
  • Day 3: It was a 330 mile drive through Utah and Idaho to the Ketchum, Idaho, where we spent the night at the Meadows RV Park, which was a small RV park just south of Sun Valley, Idaho.
  • Day 4: Drove about 200 miles from Sun Valley, Idaho up through the mountainous Sawtooth Wilderness. We thoroughly enjoyed brunch at the quaint Redfish Lodge on Redfish Lake (Paul had a wonderful combination of fresh trout, eggs, potatoes and homemade sausage). Redfish Lake Lodge sits at an elevation of 6,550 feet above sea level. The water is crystal clear with a beautiful sandy beach. We continued on the Sawtooth Scenic Byway which hugged the Salmon and Payette Rivers for about 100 miles, ending up in Caldwell, Idaho, staying at one of our favorite overnight stops, The Ambassador RV Park.
  • Day 5: We had planned on driving the 350 miles to the Trailer Inns RV Park in Yakima, Washington, but, after driving past the park, we decided that the numerous homeless people and warehouse district setting wasn't for us, so we drove the entire 500 miles toward Seattle, where my brother let us park the RV in his driveway in Issaquah until we could check into one of our favorite RV parks, The Lake Pleasant RV Park, in Bothell, WA.
  • Days 6-10: Using The Lake Pleasant RV Park as our home-base, we rented a car to drive around Seattle in and spent most of our time visiting with relatives and friends.
  • Day 11: We had nice weather for the 310 mile drive from Bothell, WA to Newport, OR, where we had reserved two nights at our absolute favorite RV park, the Pacific Shores Motorcoach RV Park. We love this park because it sits high above the Pacific Ocean and it's very well kept with beautiful manicured spaces and grounds. We had a premium space #189, which was one row back from the bluff, allowing us to see the ocean and the beautiful sunsets each night. Unfortunately, a Pacific storm blew through and it rained all day long on our one day we had planned on doing nothing but enjoying the view.
  • Day 12: The weather cleared up for our leisurely 300 mile drive down Highway 101 through southern Oregon and northern California to the conveniently located Mad River Rapids RV Park. The best thing about going south on Highway 101 vs going north is that you're on the ocean-side of the highway, making it easier to pull into the many viewpoints. Of course, we had to stop and get some homemade fudge at the Fudge Factory in Banning, Oregon!
  • Day 13: After almost two weeks on the road, we were itching to get back home, so we took a short side-trip through the scenic Redwoods Avenue of the Giants, then hightailed it over to I-5's Flag City RV Resort in Lodi, California. Traffic was absolutely terrible around the Bay Area on a Friday afternoon. I swear I will never drive around there again!
  • Day 14: Drove one of my least-favorite drives; 375 miles down I-5 from Lodi to Los Angeles, then east on I-210 to one of our favorite RV parks; the Bonelli Bluffs RV Resort (formerly East Shore RV Park). This park sits high above the Puddingstone Reservoir with nice, wide campsites and beautiful views over the lake.
  • Day 15: The final 350 miles were from the Bonelli Bluffs RV Resort to our home near Phoenix, Arizona. This is a drive we've done dozens of times over our 30+ years of living in Arizona, so we know it very well. Yes, it's a boring drive through the desert, but it's an easy drive of mostly 70 mph with the cruise control on for most of the 5-1/2 hour drive.

We're already planning our next outing. Possibly New Mexico to see the fall leaves turn.

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Another epic road trip! Phoenix to Yellowstone to Seattle & back.

8/20/2015

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Picture
Way Out West Road Trip!

33 days on the road.
49 hours of driving.
3,430 total miles.

Our biggest trip yet started out great but ended up with a couple of major problems with the motorhome. The last 1,000 miles we had to drive without the engine air conditioning and a leaking heater core causing us to stop every 100 miles to add a gallon of antifreeze to the cooling system. Other than that, everything went well!

Assorted photos from the trip:

Grand Tetons and Yellowstone photos:

Itinerary:

  • Night 1: Nice spot at the Wahweap Lodge & Marina/RV Park overlooking Lake Powell.
  • Night 2: We were supposed to stay at an RV park near Provo, UT, but they claim they never got our reservation and were full-up so we drove another 75 miles and stayed at the Cherry Hill Camping Resort in Kaysville, UT. Very nice park with pools, slides, a lazy river and lots of things to do for kids to do. I would stay here again if in the area.
  • Night 3: Stopped off at the Snake River RV Park in Idaho Falls on our way to Jackson Hole.
  • Nights 4 & 5: It was a beautiful drive from Idaho Falls to Jackson, WY along the Snake River on our way to two nights at the Virginian RV Resort in the middle of Jackson. We really enjoyed the scenery while driving the Jeep around Jackson Hole and The Grand Tetons. If you ever go here, be sure to have dinner at the famous Million Dollar Cowboy Bar (I had a Rib Eye steak that was cooked to perfection!).
  • Night 6: There was only one night available at the Colter Bay RV Park. when I made our reservations 4 months ago, so we took it! It's a really nice Park Service campground right next to beautiful Jackson Lake in the Grand Tetons National Park.
  • Night 7, 8 & 9: We used Fishing Bridge RV Park as our home base in Yellowstone National Park for 3 nights. On the advice from another camper we ran into earlier, we took the south Grand Loop Road around Yellowstone one day, which included Yellowstone Lake, Old Faithful, the brilliant-blue Grand Prismatic Spring and the lookout points overlooking the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River, also known as the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The next day we took the upper loop from Highway 89 to Mammoth Hot Springs and many grand vistas of northern Yellowstone National Park. Both days we had to deal with the traffic jams of people watching the Bison cross the Grand Loop Road along the Yellowstone River. It was like driving through a zoo! 
  • Night 10: Drove out of Yellowstone via the West Entrance, which was a parking lot full of cars waiting to get into the park. I'm so glad we stayed IN Yellowstone, not in West Yellowstone, so we didn't have to deal with the traffic. After leaving the park, we slowly made our way through Montana driving along the Madison River in the pouring down rain and a thunder and lighting storm that lasted for about one hundred miles. We found a nice little RV park for the night named "Jellystone RV Park", which our grandaughters would have loved if they were with us.
  • Night 11: Stayed overnight at Sunrise Resort on Moses Lake.
  • Nights 12-23: Used the Lake Pleasant RV Park in Bothell, WA as our home base for 11 nights in Seattle. It's a great RV park except their wi-fi is absolutely worthless. Jason and I worked at a Starbucks because we couldn't get a signal at the park. Had a fun family picnic day at my brother's property near Gig Harbor. It's always great to see all the relatives and catch up.
  • Night 24: Stayed near Salem, OR at the Illahee RV Park on the way down to Medford to visit Kyle & Crystal in their new home city.
  • Nights 25-31: Used the Medford/Gold Hill KOA as our base to explore the Medford and Ashland. Because of all the forest fires around Washington, Oregon and California, you could only see about 5 miles most of the time. We can't wait to go back another time without all the smoke so we can see the countryside. It looks really beautiful.
  • Night 32: Stayed at what should have been a very nice RV park; Flag City RV Resort, but it wasn't because there's no water in California to water their plants and grass. It's so sad to see everything in California drying up. The drive from Medford to Lodi was smoke and haze the entire way, limiting the normally pretty scenery to less than a mile at times. I-5 goes right next to Mt. Shasta, but we couldn't see it at all because of the smoke. Lake Shasta is virtually dry. We all hope that California gets a couple years of normal rain.
  • Night 33: After the above-mentioned A/C and cooling system problems, we limped into Los Angeles and stayed at one of our favorite parks; the East Shore RV Park, which is part of the Bonelli Regional County Park. It sits high up on a hill overlooking Puddingstone Lake with beautiful views of the surrounding mountains and great sunsets. After a good night's sleep, we got up at 5am to drive to 107° Phoenix without our front air conditioning working, and a puddle of anti-freeze in the front passenger seat floor. La Mesa RV thinks it's a leak in the heater core, which was dripping anti-freeze at the rate of about a gallon every one hundred miles. I went through 8 gallons of antifreeze on the drive home. Try filling a poorly-placed overflow tank on a hot engine in 107° and see if you still like RV-life! (after a day to cool down, yes, I still do, although I was eyeing a new motorhome at La Mesa RV today as I was dropping our troubled motorhome off to be repaired). (10/21/15: traded in the gas coach for a new diesel pusher - read about it here).
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Seattle 2014 RV Trip

7/11/2014

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June 13-July 9, 2014

Took our first extended trip in our new Allegro RV from June 13th through July 9th, 2014. The trip was about 3,600 miles in total, going from our home near Phoenix, AZ to Los Angeles, up the coast to Seattle and back via Eastern Oregon, Idaho and Utah. Daughter Krista, her husband Dave and their daughters were with us most of the way (Dave flew back after a week to get back to work). Son Jason flew down to LA from Seattle to meet up with other son Kyle and his wife Crystal who drove up the coast in their car. Overall, it was a great trip. Didn't have any problems with the RV (unlike the other two trips we took in rented RVs). We LOVE our motorhome! Hope you enjoy the following posts with photos from along the way.
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Seattle, 2014 Trip: Seattle, WA to Glendale, UT

7/11/2014

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July 7-8, 2014:

Not a lot to talk about from Seattle to southern Utah. Weather was in the 90s most of the way except going over some pretty high mountain passes where it dropped to the 80s, which was nice!

Stayed at a little RV park in LaGrande, Oregon and one of our favorite middle-of-the-road RV parks (because it has nice shade trees and it's next to the Snake River): Village of Trees, in southern Idaho.
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