Second trip of the season

[F and E Damp]

We took a 6-day trip last week, the first one since we lost our 14 year-old Labrador.

We left home (Anacortes, WA) Sunday morning. We got to Leavenworth late afternoon. Based on very strong recommendations from two different RVer friends, we went to Icicle River RV Resort for two nights. Big disappointment. The CG is very crowded together. When we deployed our living room slide it ended up only about 4 feet from the neighbor's awning.

It turns out neither friend has slides! The CG was also very busy, with a large group of Pleasureway owners on a tour, so we ended up in an all-gravel cliff-top lot which was too far away from the wifi antenna to get a signal. That CG is on our "do not call" list now. It didn't help when we saw 116F as the daytime high on our outside thermometer, either.

Days 3 and 4, at Beebe Bridge County Park, near Lake Chelan, were much better. This is one of our favorites in Eastern Washington. It's a beautifully maintained facility on the east bank of the Columbia River. There's at least 25 feet between sites, many are pull-thrus, and they all have a nice view of the river. The park is very well eauipped, with much use by locals. there's full-size grass soccer field, beach volleyball, a baseball diamond with full chainlink home-plate cage. There are two boat-launch ramps and three fishing piers. The sites are all paved, as are the interior roads and walking paths. It doesn't have stores or concessions of any kind.

Our final night was at Silverline Resort on Lake Pearrygin, near Winthrop. The weather changed from hot to pleasantly warm with gentle breezes. Tha CG was quite nice, althuogh busy for this late in the year. The only negative is that all the interior roads are gravel and it was very dusty.

Unfortunately, there are no CGs between Winthrop and Newhalem, so you have to tackle that stretch of the North Cascades Highway in one go. It's a lot of work when driving a 32' gasser. The V-10 ran faultlessly, water temperature never got above mid range, even after a long grind at 3400 rpm and 35 mph for several miles up the eastern slopes of Washington Pass.

By the time we hit Newhalem, we're in well-known territory and want to head home, rather than stopping off anywhere else.

It was a significantly different experience without Cocoa along, something to get used to from now on. It was only the second time Bailey had been on a trip. He seemed to get into the swing of things pretty well, though the heat was an issue for him in Leavenworth.

I'll post pictures in a day or two.


Frank

[grhodes50]

Glad your trip went well overall. I hope the next one is even better.
I look forward to seeing your pics.

Good luck and happy camping.