On the road for 5 weeks!

TimJuhl

Member
My wife Joan and our three dogs set out from Michigan on the day after Labor Day for a 5 week circle the west trip. If you see a white 2006 3500 with a black hood and Snoopy the "Ace" decals where the middle windows should be, that's us. As I write this I am in St. Regis, MT, and plan to arrive at Whidbey Island, WA tomorrow. We'll stay there a few days before heading to the Oregon / N. Cal coast and then across to my brother's in Nevada City. From there it is Salt Lake (niece) Colorado Springs (youngest daughter), Durant, Oklahoma (oldest daughter) and back home to Michigan.

So far we've camped on the shore of Lake Michigan, on the banks of the Missouri River and some other nice places. We prefer the state parks but found them hard to find in WY and MT. We like to have electricity available to run our little heater without having to drag the generator out. Last nite in Buffalo, WY the temp got down to the upper 30's.

So far the van has performed wonderfully although 75 mph freeway speeds and strong headwinds have cause our fuel mileage to suffer. In addition, I took a stone in the windshield today and have a foot-long crack extending from the lower right corner. We drove 590 miles today on I-90 and I'm beat. Time to hit the sack so I can get up tomorrow and do it again.

Tim
 

Graphite Dave

Dave Orton
If you need a place to park for a night near Snoopy's home (Santa Rosa Ca.) you are welcome. Have power and 5 acres for dogs to run. Let me know.
 

TimJuhl

Member
Richard,

As you requested, here is the Snoopy logo we came up with. My kid took my description of what I wanted and did a very credible job of producing the artwork. Snoopy is supposed to be waving as he zooms by you. We thought it was a good compromise inasmuch as we are traveling with three dogs and I am a 35+ year pilot and flight instructor.

I've also attached a picture of my wife Joan walking the smallest dog in our party in the Badlands of S. Dakota. We also stopped at a local attraction called Wall Drug where she bought me an original Australian "Outback Trading Company" bush hat to keep the sun off. We're trying to help your balance of trade I guess :)


Thanks, Dave for the invite - sorry but I won't be getting that far south.

Tim
 

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nebep

Member
LOL @ "local attraction" Wall Drug!!! yeh, you know about it ONLY about 400 miles before you get to it!!!

We stopped there on our "jaunt" too!! That's a pretty neat place...The food was good too...

Don't forget Custer State Park if you've allotted the time - the wilderness loop is where you're bound to get into a Bison Jam!!

Don't know if you're headin' in this direction or not, but, in central Wyoming, there's a place called "Thermopolis" - There's a campground there on the east side of town where they have a hot spring pool. Fountain of Youth RV park. When we were there the owner played his guitar at the pool nightly - singin' the good 'ol stuff....This is right on US20.

After that, the wind river canyon - I think there are a couple of USFS/Rec. area campgrounds there - this was something to see and drive though.

(Just a couple of ideas if you've never been through WY and have a little bit of time to spare...)
 

TimJuhl

Member
Wall Drug, yeah-we had to stop and see what the fuss was all about. It was interesting-once :lol:

I'm afraid we're already on the left coast - staying with my wife's aunt on Whidbey Island north of Seattle. We'll be here for a few days and then head for the Oregon coast. I'll note your recommendations for the next trip (if we survive this one.)

Tim
 

nebep

Member
If you're already out there, don't forget the Columbia River Gorge - particularly Multnomah Falls. There are other falls, the drive on US30 is a NICE drive! It will take you a bit off course if your intent is to continue down the coast.

We wanted to get to Astoria, but, we were already "adapting plans on the fly" - we ended up at the Oregon Coast because from Reno, it would be 550 miles of "backtracking" to get where we wanted to ultimately find ourselves in Northern Idaho. So, we "went for broke" and headed for Oregon!!!

Crater Lake is SPECTACULAR if you've never been. Diamond Lake near there looked like a swell place too.

We stayed at Beverly Beach state park along the Oregon Coast - it was quite nice! It seemed to us this was positioned rather well for a "base" for the oregon coast.

Depending on how far south you stay with the coast in Oregon, near Reedsport, and along the way back to I-5, there's the Dean Creek Elk viewing area. Makes a good spot for stopping and stretching the legs if needed.

Oh, you'll do fine!!!

We did five weeks this summer in our rig - We're itchin' to do it again next year!!!
 

cedarsanctum

re: Member
Down on the southern part of the coast, near Coos Bay-North Bend, is Sunset Bay State Park. It's a bit of a drive away from US101, but more than worth it. It's actually 3 parks in a row, with a nice, easy trail for a couple miles along the tops of the cliffs overlooking the ocean. The middle park is a formal garden established by one of Oregon's wealthy timber barons and then donated to the State.
I have lived in Oregon all my life, and only discovered this part of the coast 3 years ago, and it has to be one of Oregon's best kept secrets. Simply Amazing.
 

nebep

Member
Down on the southern part of the coast, near Coos Bay-North Bend, is Sunset Bay State Park. It's a bit of a drive away from US101, but more than worth it. It's actually 3 parks in a row, with a nice, easy trail for a couple miles along the tops of the cliffs overlooking the ocean. The middle park is a formal garden established by one of Oregon's wealthy timber barons and then donated to the State.
I have lived in Oregon all my life, and only discovered this part of the coast 3 years ago, and it has to be one of Oregon's best kept secrets. Simply Amazing.

...made it onto my list!!!

Thanks Cedar!
 

TimJuhl

Member
Update: After a nice drive down the Oregon coast we spent a great week with my brother in Nevada City, CA. Currently we are in Colorado Springs with our youngest daughter. Along the way we crossed the desert to Salt Lake City and took the scenic route through Colorado, topping out at 10,200 feet when we passed thru Leadville, CO. After 5200 miles of travel through all sorts of climates and altitudes the sprinter continues to run great and the turbo gives us plenty of power in the high country. As we move east the price of diesel is dropping. We saw it as high as $3.39 in the NW and here in Colorado I've seen it at $2.84. The sprinter handles the twisty roads pretty well and by judicious downshifting I've been able to save on brake pad wear.

Next week, on to Oklahoma.

Tim
 
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TimJuhl

Member
We're home after 38 days on the road - 7968 miles - 20 states. Elevations from sea level to 10,200 feet (Leadville, Colorado.) Lots of mountain driving and highway speeds +70 mph in most western states.

The Sprinter gave us no problems and was up to doing anything we asked of it. Our windshield was a casualty thanks to a stone thrown from a passing truck in Montana, and our front left mudflap split, partially due to our Labrador Retriever and a squirrel that both decided (unsuccessfully in the Lab's case) to run under the van.

Average mileage for the trip was 19 mpg - lower than what I get around Michigan. I suspect the higher average speeds and extensive mountain driving are mostly responsible for the poorer performance. Typically when I drive 55 / 60 mph I get between 22 and 24 mpg.

We were very comfortable camping in our homemade travel van and are already planning our next adventure.

Tim
 

nebep

Member
Update: After a nice drive down the Oregon coast we spent a great week with my brother in Nevada City, CA. Currently we are in Colorado Springs with our youngest daughter. Along the way we crossed the desert to Salt Lake City and took the scenic route through Colorado, topping out at 10,200 feet when we passed thru Leadville, CO. After 5200 miles of travel through all sorts of climates and altitudes the sprinter continues to run great and the turbo gives us plenty of power in the high country. As we move east the price of diesel is dropping. We saw it as high as $3.39 in the NW and here in Colorado I've seen it at $2.84. The sprinter handles the twisty roads pretty well and by judicious downshifting I've been able to save on brake pad wear.

Next week, on to Oklahoma.

Tim
You didn't forget to stop at the Bonneville Salt Flats did ya??!!
 

TimJuhl

Member
Bonneville? We drove by it. It was certainly flat out there. I fought back the temptation to put the pedal to the floor and see what the old bus could do :smilewink:

Tim
 

nebep

Member
We drove out onto the sand....we thought we'd see how far it really is to that mountain out there...About 3 miles in the sand softened a good bit and we turned around...

(This was not on the track - this was off to the side....)

It was pretty cool....We did do a thorough underbelly wash after this too..
 

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