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Turn Your Car into a Motorhome –

A cool idea, a motorhome in several boxes that fit in your car. A bit expensive though. If my understanding is correct, it looks to cost around $8,000 plus shipping. Swiss Room Box

Homemade Fifth Wheel

This guy built this Fifth Wheel trailer by himself at a cost of $9,300. It looks like he did a great job!

A Skateboarding Dog

This dog skateboards better than most people!

Downsizing – Living Small vs Living Large

Microsized RV

Check out the REI Alcove Shelter

The REI Alcove is a freestanding rain and sun shelter.

We love our REI Alcove for shade when camping or at the beach. It is so easy and quick to set up (Watch the video first). We keep it in our vehicle to set up for shade whenever we stop for a quick picnic. We also use it for camping.

We have two of the shade walls (each one covers two walls) and have used them frequently. In the photo, we were at Lee’s Ferry Campground near Page, AZ. Our tent was so hot that we used the Alcove for a shelter from the sun when we were outside. We didn’t need the shade walls on the Alcove this time out, so we used them as tarps to try to shade our sleeping tent. Not perfect, but we were glad we had them. They also work well on the Alcove to provide shade when the sun changes or to block an annoying wind. Since this trip, we have purchased more suitable tarps to shade our sleeping tent and protect it from the rain.

REI Alcove (right) and its Shade Walls used as tarps over our sleeping tent (not their intended use)

View from the back of the tent

Out of the Rain

The last two weeks we have been camped out inside a gorgeous, 5,000 square foot house.  Sounds crazy, but we are sleeping on our air mattresses on the floor and heating water on the stove for showers.  It also has a wireless high-speed internet connection that allows us to keep on “working.” Two weeks ago we were camped out at in the Vasa Park Resort on the shore of Lake Sammamish.  It was raining to beat the band.  Our tent started leaking.  We had to obtain and put up a tarp over the tent.  We also ordered a tent heater, but it did not arrive before we wimped out, just as our daughter’s new house was closed escrow.

It is a fine house, but needing some cleanup and repairs before they can move in.  So we volunteered to camp out there and do some of the work.  Our being there has helped them out, as they are not having to be there to accomodate workers or people coming by to give them quotes on their services.  It has also helped them out because we are helping with cleaning, painting, yardwork and a little demolition work on the side.  And it has helped us out by getting us out of the cold and the rain.  Our hope is that, by the time the house is ready to move into, the rain will have stopped and a great camping season will be upon us.  But we will be taking extra tarps and our new heater with us . . . just in case.

Everybody Loves Raymond

Today we are on the last stretch of our trip back home.  We should make it back to the Seattle area tonight and see those beautiful grandbabies that we have been missing so much.  We spent last night at Cape Disappointment State Park, near Long Beach, Washington.  We didn’t get on the road until about 10:30 AM, but it is not Pam’s fault.  Mike had to repack the wheel bearings on the trailer at our campsite this morning.  As I write, we are sitting in front of a Napa Auto Parts store in Raymond, Washington, purchasing a new wheel bearing dust cover for the trailer.  We purchased one yesterday when we noticed it was missing.

Raymond, Washington, is a nice little town that is located on Hwy 101.  Metal sculptures line many of the town’s streets.  I have seen the sculptures on previous trips through Raymond, but never noticed the detail of some of these amazing sculptures.  Some of them are really amazing (See more pics of Raymond’s metal sculptures).

Our stay last night at Cape Disappointment, was anything but disappointing.  Our campsite was very close to the beach.  We were able to hear the roar of the ocean waves all night long, making for a very restful sleep.  A hot, three-minute shower in the morning was just a short walk from our campsite for a mere 50 cents.   Well that and $24 for the campsite.  It was a wonderful park, and we gave it a two on our mosquito rating scale for this time of year.  They didn’t seem to bother us at night, but in the morning there were a few pesky mosquitos.

Cape Disappointment

The day before we made our way up 101 from Sunset Beach near Coos Bay.  It was a wonderful day.  We thoroughly enjoyed the ride up the Oregon Coast, which has a nice blend of private homes and public parks.  Oregon is to be commended for the balance they have achieved in creating this balance.  The Oregon coast seems so so much more dramatic than the Washington Coast.  Oregon has so many cliffs and waves crashing against the rocks.  Oregon also seems so much more camper friendly than the State of Washington.  Oregon appears to be a camper’s paradise, as campgrounds were everywhere, both public and private.

Sunset Beach near Coos Bay

Glamping Our Way Back to Seattle

We spent about two weeks in Phoenix, Arizona, camping out at a sister’s house.  Then we headed north and spent two nights glamping out at Lee’s Ferry Campground, which is near Page, Arizona.  A nice campground that is very near the Colorado River.  It was very windy there, but very comfortable at night and warm in the day.  We tried to rig some shade with tarps over our tent to stay a little cooler.  Water was available at the restroom areas within the campground or down at the RV dump area.  We made our way down to a beach at the river and took a very quick dip, as the water was still pretty cold.  We gave this campground a mosquito rating of 1 at this time of year.

We spent the next night camped out at Utah Lake Campground, a state park in Provo, Utah.  The lake is Utah’s largest freshwater lake.  The park is very convenient if your are just traveling through and need a place to stay. The address for the park is 4400 W Center St, Provo, UT 84601.  It is just minutes off of I-15.  Take exit 265-B and go west about 3 miles.  There is water and electric at each site and restrooms in each of the two camping loops.  The restroom as your first enter the campground also has free hot showers.  The fee for our site was $20. As we were there just to stop in and see relatives for a few hours, we didn’t take advantage of all the amenities.  We didn’t even set up all our gear.  However, the facilities were all nice and clean and it looked like it would be a nice place to stay for pleasure as well, with playgrounds, boat ramp and the lake.  We give it a mosquito rating of  2.5 at this time of the year.  But to be fair, you must note that we were camping in a tent on the grass and probably stirred the mosquitos up by setting  up camp.

We continued our journey on to Elko, Nevada, where we spent the night with friends.  The next morning we headed out for Reno, Nevada, where we spent two days with family.  On May 21, 2010, we started our journey back towards Washington .  We spent our first night at Whiskeytown Lake in the Oak Bottom Campground.  The fee for a tent site was $16, plus a $5 entrance fee / day pass.  It seems expensive, but it was still cheaper than a motel room, even if it was a lot more work.  It is a beautiful place to camp, but the tent sites are rather close to one another.  Fortunuately, the weather was a little cool and apparently the camping season is not full bore yet, which left us with vacant sites on either side of us.  If you were camping with friends, this would be a plus.  But if you are just a single camper or a couple, taking up just the one site, it seems like you would have to offer to share your meals with your neighbors or you would feel like you were being rude by eating in front of them.

It was so windy that our criteria for choosing a site was to find one with wind protection.  Other sites that were lakeside were too windy and the price for these prime sites was $2 more.  All the sites are walk-in sites, and the distance you have walk varies from about 10 feet to 100 yards or more.  There is a store, a boat ramp and a marina, boat rentals and a swimming beach.  The lake is beautiful. We gave this campground a 0 for a mosquito rating.  We didn’t see a single mosquito.

All and all it was a very pleasant stay, but it was quite cool that night.  Again, as we were only staying the one night, we didn’t drag out all of our gear, but enough that it still takes us a long time to pack it all back up, but we were still out of there before 10 AM.  Mike tells everyone that we can’t ever get up and gone before 10 AM.  Other campers were up and gone before us, but of course they are true “glampers” like we are.  We have to have our hot showers in the morning.  And I (Pam) have to be able to wash and curl my hair or I am extremely unpleasant to be around.  Mike can attest to what a monster I can become if I am deprived of my morning grooming ritual.  It may not improve my appearance much, but it does wonders for my attitude.