We took one weekend trip in March, to Riverbend RV Resort in Mt Vernon, WA, but didn't take any pictures.
We took a weekend trip to Woodland, WA the first weekend in April. We again stayed at Columbia Riverfront and here is a picture of a ship on the river and our campsite:
Mara went with us on both trips, but she still huddled with the passenger and was scared while we traveled.
There were two trips to Great American RV in Fife, WA to get warranty work handled. The second trip was for items that needed to wait on parts, but we got everything handled including our leveling jacks.
We also took a vacation week off at the end of April and headed to northern California, Redding specifically. We drove down to Camping World in Tacoma, WA on Friday night so we would be away from the house. We found that if we left on Saturday we didn't get going very early, it was too easy to sleep in and go through the normal routine. By leaving after dinner on Friday we could drive the 50 miles to Camping World, stay the night, buy some supplies when they opened at 7:30AM and be on the road early. Plus there is a Flying J close by to fill up on fuel and propane in the morning if we need them.
That Saturday we got to Sutherlin, OR and it was in the 80s! Wow, that was warm for us. We stayed the night at Hi-way Haven, a nice place to stop. The next day we were about at Ashland, OR at lunch time so we drove through the entire town and couldn't see a place to park the motorhome where we could eat lunch. We ended up deciding to stop at a rest area and make lunch, which we were not prepared for. Another lesson for new RVers, have a quick and easy lunch ready instead of trying to find a restaurant with parking. Just about when we got to the top of Siskiyou Pass, Diane saw a sign for a restaurant with truck parking and we pulled off the exit. We had a wonderful Italian meal at Callahan's Siskiyou Lodge, Irish name and Italian food. They also had many hummingbird feeders hanging just outside and they had lots of hummingbird guests.
On the way to Redding we passed Mt Shasta and it was really looking nice:
We stayed at Bear Mountain RV Resort in Redding, CA for four nights, where Diane's parents stopped to be with us the first night and also to see the RV. They had gone south with their motorhome before the Dolphin arrived and were on the way north when we all determined we could meet on the way. Bear Mountain is actually a bit out of town, so it was quiet at night. It was fun to see Diane's parents and they had fun seeing us and our new motorhome. Since it was hot in Redding, something it is known for, we learned how to live using 30AMPs with our 50AMP coach. 50AMP is really 100AMPs of 120 volt service, so 30AMP is only 30% of the power available. We could only use one of our two air conditioners and we could only use one other appliance with the air conditioner running, so it was another lesson for the new RVers.
After Diane's parents left, our friend Brian arrived from his house in Martinez, CA. He was going to try out our guest bed, really a sofa bed. The bed was comfortable enough that Brian stayed three nights and two days with us. This first picture is Brian videoing the view and a couple other tourists enjoying the view also:
Brian saw Bill taking his picture, so he took Bill's picture with his combination still/video camera:
Then we explored Castle Crags State Park:
We drove up a road with a river and streams running full of snow melt:
In fact we were stopped from driving further because there was still snow on the road after a while, but we don't have pictures.
The next day we drove over the coast range to Eureka, here are some pictures on the way:
There wasn't much to see in Eureka so we decided to take the road between Fortuna and Red Bluff back. Bad move, that is a narrow and slow road with no place to stop for a rest room break so we didn't stop for pictures. The road got to 1-1/2 lane here and there, a good one to avoid. We did have a good meal at Italian Cottage in Red Bluff, which Bill knew from when it had a restaurant in Redding years before.
The next day Brian headed home and we headed north. For Friday night we called Diane's parents at Monaco's warranty service center in Harrisburg, OR to see if they knew a place close to them we could stop and we could visit some more. They checked with Monaco and they said even though we were not a Monaco, we could stay as long as we came in after 5PM and there was an open spot. We ended up camping with Monacos for free, they even gave us a window sticker. We regret not having a picture. Saturday night we stayed at Brookhollow RV park in Kelso, WA, which was a good place at a good location for us. Then we were home for a bit.
On the way north Diane called a campground in Leavenworth, WA to see if we could stay Memorial Day weekend and got on the waiting list. The next day they called back since there was a cancellation, so we knew we were going to camp in May.