Repositioning to the PNW

Following our arrival back in the U.S., we spent our days preparing to reposition from the ranch in Texas to Skagit Valley RV Park in Mount Vernon, WA. That is no small trip, it is 2,000 miles across seven states in the American Southwest and into the Pacific Northwest. In Europe, that would be like driving from Moscow to Marseille or Istanbul to Madrid. We took the shortest route possible because we were on a bit of a time crunch. More on that later. 

To prepare Ruby Red for travel, the most important thing was to install an Excalli-bar III tow bar so that we could hook Toadie Hopper to Ruby Red and bring her along. Also, Toadie needed new tires and a good service. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, (I resisted as long as I could…) we had to unpack all the stuff we shipped from Europe and buy all the additional necessities we needed generally. Moving house in any iteration is not an inexpensive endeavor. Also, I believe it is now more expensive to live in the U.S. than it is in many parts of Europe. 

We drove about 100 miles round trip to purchase and have this tow bar installed. It is the same one we had on Scoopy, so Steven was very familiar with how it worked, but he was a little rusty. It took us a while to get it locked in, but once we did, we were ready to go! Toadie looks so little behind Ruby Red!

As I planned our trip north, a couple of things took me by surprise. First, the cost of campgrounds has soared and, second, the number of places to boondock for no or low cost has diminished. We had made a point of rejoining the Elks, which would give us access to all of the lodges along the way that offered camping. For our European friends who may not be familiar with the Elks, it is a fraternal organization dedicated to charity, community service, and fostering fellowship among members across the United States. (Thanks, ChatGTP!) Many lodges offer camping to traveling Elks members, with amenities ranging from golf courses and swimming pools to little more than a dusty driveway where we can park up for the night. We had been members since we became fulltimers in 2014, but let our membership lapse when we moved overseas. Since we just had a massive amount of solar installed on our rig, we figured now was as good a time as any to start using it and what better place than a big ol’ empty Elks Lodge parking lot? What I forgot to take into consideration was the heat. It is difficult to boondock in 90 degree temps with no electricity to run the air conditioners. So, we jumped to Plan B, which was to pay whatever we needed to pay in order to be comfortable. 

Our first travel day was very inefficient. What should have been a four-hour day turned into nearly 6.5 hours, primarily due to multiple fuel and food stops, plus we got lost going through Lubbock. Who gets lost in Lubbock? We had gotten the Open Roads fuel discount card so we wanted to use that as often as possible. Since we were new to using it, it took us a couple of tries to get it right, and it really eats up time to make a fuel stop where you have to wait in line only to find out your card doesn’t work. Grrrr. By the time we figured it out and got back on the road, it wasn’t long until it was time to eat. Stop and go. Stop and go. My least favorite way to travel. In any case we made it to Clovis, New Mexico where we had originally planned to boondock at the Elks Lodge. But it was hot, so we sprung for a full service campground and paid a bunch. Then, because we were starving and didn’t want to cook, we ordered burritos from a nearby restaurant, which doubled in price because we used a food delivery service (DoorDash). We didn’t do that again!

Our second fuel stop in Sweetwater, TX. We originally stopped at another local station in Merkel where we had seen a super good price on diesel, but when we rolled up to the pump on our departure day, it had gone up significantly. So off we went to fuel stop number two about 20 miles down the road. Such a time waster!
This is our stop in Lubbock after getting lost. We ate lunch, but also bought an ice cream. It was $10 for two ice creams. I mean, Drumsticks? And not even the good kind of Drumsticks!

The next day we made our way to Santa Fe. This time we actually did boondock at the Elks lodge for three days and it was fabulous! What’s not to love about being in the mountains of New Mexico? We have been there several times, but on this trip we had but one goal, and that was to visit with my high school roommate, Suzy. We hadn’t seen each other in decades and since she lives in Santa Fe, it was the perfect opportunity to reunite. 

One thing I love about our route is being off the Interstates in the empty, wide open American Southwest. It is one of our favorite areas, but we’d rather be driving it in the winter months!
We literally rocked up to the Santa Fe Elks lodge and parked up for three days. This is the dusty driveway I spoke of earlier. We loved it! The lodge didn’t even open until our last day there, so we were finally able to go in and pay our $10 per night donation. We also got a lodge pin! We have a ton of those, we estimate we have stayed in 35 or 40 lodges over the years. Every night we had a glorious sunset right out our window!
Our first night in Santa Fe we made our way over to the gorgeous hillside home Suzy shares with her husband, Jim, and son, Noah. It is a beautiful property made for roaming, with gardens and tall trees and fountains, stairways and hidden paths. I think it would take me a while to learn my way around with all the ins and outs and ups and downs. It was just lovely. Suzy and I spent an afternoon just the two of us curled up on the sofas yakking away, bringing each other up to date on our lives. I so enjoy her company. Back in high school, we were pretty much inseparable, and we hadn’t seen each other much since then, so we had a lot of catching up to do!
Suzy hard at work on our delicious dinner.
The next day we went into Santa Fe for breakfast and a mosey around town.
Suzy and me. We became friends in our junior year at TASIS, the American School in Switzerland in Lugano, Switzerland. By our senior year, we were roommates. Our room had a balcony that overlooked the gorgeous Lake Lugano and surrounding mountains. I never got tired of that view!
We decided to recreate one of the photos from our senior year in high school. There are 49 years separating these shots!

After Santa Fe we were on a mission to make good time heading northwest. We hadn’t anticipated being on a deadline as we repositioned, but plans had changed. Last Christmas when we were at the ranch, our son Zac, who was graduating from Western Washington University in Bellingham in June told us that he had no desire to attend and walk in his graduation ceremony. So we said we would just celebrate once we arrived in Mount Vernon, and that was that. Until it wasn’t. A few days before we left the ranch, Zac began to have second thoughts about skipping the ceremony. He reached out and wanted to make sure that he wasn’t just automatically nixing something that might have been important to us and he wanted our input. We talked it through and indicated our support in whatever he decided, and he decided to participate. Now we had a deadline. 

We still had plenty of time, but we’d be loafing around less. We made our way through New Mexico, dipped into Colorado to have breakfast with friends Mike and Wendy Lawerence (no photo!!!), and then headed into Utah. We stayed again at the lovely Provo Elks Lodge for two nights so that I could drive to Salt Lake City for a big shop at Crate & Barrel, a store that has been on my No-Fly list for years. I decided to take it off the list just this once, and I actually managed to keep my spending to under $100. That is very hard to do in C&B. I love that store with all my heart.

Parked up at the Elks Lodge in Farmington, NM.
American Southwest. Familiar to anyone who has ever seen a Roadrunner cartoon.
This is Ken’s Lake campground outside of Moab, UT. It is a super popular place and is usually booked solid. We went online just to see, and somehow, we found a spot for one night and we snatched it right up.
While we were there, we drove into Moab to the Bureau of Land Management office and purchased my Senior Pass. WUHOO! I have became eligible for this right as we moved to Europe, so this is the first opportunity I’ve had to get it. For a one-time fee of $80, this pass gives me free entrance to sites and parks overseen by the Forest Service, the National Park Service(!!), Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, US Army Corps of Engineers (some of our favorite camping places!!) and Bureau of Reclamation. The real benefit, though, is that I am eligible for 50% off camping fees. Given the cost of campgrounds and the reduced number of boondocking locations, this card is like GOLD!
Parked up at the Elks Lodge in Provo, UT, with a view of the Wasatch mountains out the front window.
This is the first IKEA we have come across in the States, so we got a few things.
What a joy to roam around Crate & Barrel. I didn’t get much, only kitchen stuff, but it made me happy to be there. 🙂
This is my most favorite treat on planet earth! A frozen custard with caramel, hot fudge and pecans. I am so glad there are no frozen custard places in Mount Vernon!
We made a stop at the Love’s on our way out of Utah to fill with propane. It was kind of weird having to wait around for someone to come out and do it for us. In Europe, everyone pumps their own.

Leaving Utah we crossed Idaho, staying at the Elks Lodges in Rupert and Mountain Home. We stayed three days in Rupert because it was lovely and relaxing. Plus, one of Toadie’s dash lights came on so we had to visit the Chevy dealer for a fix. We could have probably done it ourselves if we had lifted the hood and looked around, but we didn’t think of that. Anyway, it was minor (a hose reattachment). Before we left the Mountain Home lodge we took Toadie over to Les Schwab so they could give her wheels a once over. We were hearing a clunking noise that we could not identify. They drove her around, spent a good half hour looking her over and said everything looked fine, so we headed out and all was well. We talked about how much we love Les Schwab, because all of that attention they gave Toadie was at no charge. We have been customers for many years and it was good to be back in Les Schwab country!

We were backed up to the golf course, always an iffy proposition. In Wales, Bijou got pelted by a rugby ball a couple of times when we stayed at a local Rugby Club, but she was fine. I think a golf ball would do a whole lot of damage if it came flying at us! Luckily, things were slow on the course and we departed unscathed.
Beep! Beep! Anyone home? haha, this one makes me laugh, because I doubt they would appreciate giant motorhome driving through their port-cochere, but I wanted to get from one big parking lot to another on the other side of the building and this was the shortest way. No one was in the building or I would have gone the long way. This is the Elks Lodge in Mountain Home, ID. BPOE stands for Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, or as Elk members are fond of saying, “Best People On Earth.”

We have driven this repositioning route before and been in these areas multiple times, so we had plenty of experience overnighting at Walmarts along the way. Unfortunately, most of the ones we are familiar with no longer allow overnights. We only found one that would and that was in Oregon. It was a tight squeeze but we managed. I know not everyone enjoys staying at Walmart, but we have stayed at many across the country and never had a bad experience.

Wallydocking!! Our one and only opportunity.

Two weeks after leaving the ranch we entered Washington state where the mountain was out, snow-covered and beautiful. Well, it is always snow-covered, those are glaciers up there. It is amazing to me how visible Mt. Rainier can be on a sunny day. We were over 100 miles away and it was just stunning. We both were so happy to be back in the state we call home. We moved to the Seattle area in 2000 with three little kids and never left until we sold our lake home and became full time nomads in 2014. Two of our three adult kids are still here, while Tara is in San Diego. 

Not a great photo, but still stunning.

We arrived at the Elks lodge in Yakima and spent one night. We were actually ahead of schedule with regard to Zac’s graduation, so we had made reservations at Wenatchee River County Park, one of our longtime favorite campgrounds. We had five days there and we were going to kick back and decompress. The best laid plans and all that . . . 

Yakima Elks Lodge, complete with golf course, pool and all the amenities. TBH, we kind of prefer the dusty driveways, they are way cheaper.

The morning of departure from the lodge, we fired up Ruby Red and positioned her so Steven could hook up Toadie. Once that was done I started her up and noticed two yellow lights on her dashboard indicating there was an issue with her engine and DEF. Engine lights we are familiar with, but DEF, diesel exhaust fluid, is completely new to us since it was introduced in 2010. Scoopy, our first motorhome, was a 2002. So we sat there staring at those lights as it slowly dawned on us that we shouldn’t go on to our next destination which we were really looking forward to. Instead, we should take the rig to Freightliner, the maker of our chassis, and get the issue diagnosed and repaired. Not wanting to stay another night at the expensive Elks, we drove about six miles to Cabela’s which was the closest place to Freightliner that we could find to overnight, because naturally, it was a Sunday and Freightliner was closed. A motorhome is just like a cat. It gets sick on the weekend and needs lots of expensive diagnostics to find out what’s wrong. We spent the rest of the day feeling depressed and eating a bunch of junk food (the only upside to waiting for repairs.) 

I soon came to understand that this dreaded combo was a common issue in certain motorhomes, including ours.
Cabela’s is another place we like to boondock, but we find it hard to shop in there. Some of these stores are massive, this one was not, but they didn’t mind having us overnight in their parking lot.

We called Freightliner early Monday morning and they said they don’t handle these kinds of issues. (??!!) So the recommended calling the nearby Cummins, maker of our engine, and they said come right over. Long story short, after a day of diagnostics, they wanted $2,400 to replace the DEF header, which is a known issue in Freightliner chassis with certain Cummins engines. The issue is so widespread that Daimler Trucks, owner of Freightliner, has extended their warranty to cover this replacement. The thing is, the extension was so new that no one knew about the extended warranty. No one at Cummins. No one at Freightliner. The folks that did know about it were a few motorhome owners who had recently received a letter outlining the new warranty, and who had posted said letters on a few online motorhome forums. In the midst of my depressive sugar high (day two), I scoured the Internet for information on this DEF issue and I soon learned about it, too. It was kind of like winning the lottery. I had a list of part numbers that were covered, and I asked Steven to read the number off our Cummins estimate, and as he called off each number I got more and more excited until, BINGO! The next morning we kindly informed Cummins and Freightliner about the warranty. Freightliner was cool about it, Cummins was really pissy about the whole thing, but in the end, they made the repair and we didn’t pay a dime. Yay! I don’t know why the folks at Cummins were so annoyed with us, they got paid by Freightliner.

I hope this isn’t an omen of things to come. 🙁
Carb-loading after the sugar high wore off. This is somehow allowed when we are stressed about our rig in the shop. There is nothing worse than being displaced from your home while you turn it over for repairs!
Friends Connie and Larry Farquhar just happened to be driving by Yakima while we were at Camp Cummins. We knew we would be close to each other on our travels, but we didn’t think our paths would cross. They were, ultimately, on their way to the Canadian Maritimes (on the other side of the country!) Connie messaged me that they would be passing by Cummins and would stop by! It was lovely to see them and meet their daughter, Cindy. And, see their new rig! It really took our minds off things to have company, and it was so good to see them.
Camp Cummins, Yakima, WA One of these days I am going to add up how many nights we have stayed at a cummins facility. More than I’d like, that’s for sure!

After a night at Cummins, the repair was made and we split as fast as possible to try and salvage what was left of our time at Wenatchee River CP. We got three glorious days there before heading on to Bellingham where we reunited with our kids and attended Zac’s college graduation. We are super proud of him and were incredibly happy that we could be there to celebrate. 

Wenatchee River County Park. They were so nice to hold our space for us while we sorted out our issues in Yakima. And they didn’t charge us for the two nights we had to cancel.
Finally! We arrived at Bellingham RV Park for Zac’s graduation.
I went right into Mom mode. We went shopping to get Zac a new shirt, tie and shoes. Of course I had to wash, dry and iron it so it would be just right!
Zac on his way to his graduation ceremony.
Zac earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Studies.
After the ceremony we returned to Ruby Red for champagne and desserts. Lots of desserts. Then later we came to a restaurant at the marina to have dinner. It was such a great day and I am so proud of my boy!

All-in-all, we had a really enjoyable repositioning trip. Including our down days (planned and unplanned) it took us 20 days to reposition. Our costs for fuel, repairs and camping totalled $2,075.55, or $103.78 per day. In the breakdown for these expenses you can clearly see how boondocking and being an Elks member greatly reduced our cost of camping. 

Ruby Red Fuel – $1069.14 

Propane – $75 (we are still running off that same fill)

Toadie Service – $170 

Toadie Fuel – $93.74 

Camping – $667.67 (average cost per night $33.38)

11 nights @ Elks Lodge, for $215 (average cost per night was $19.50)

3 nights free boondocking at Walmart, Camp Cummins and Cabela’s. (average cost per night was $0.00)

6 nights at commercial campgrounds for $256.26 (average cost per night was $42.71)

We plan to continue supporting the Elks and boondocking at Walmart (Cabela’s, etc.) on our travels. The one thing we can’t really control is the price of fuel. We can either buck up and spend the money to travel or stay put. While we plan to do the latter for a little while, we don’t plan on doing it forever. 


Next Up: Settling into our space in Mount Vernon.

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31 Comments

    1. 2chouters

      Thanks, Sue! I can’t believe how much the weather has changed up here since we first got here in 2000. It used to be so pleasant in the summer, chilly even at times. At least it cools off at night, which in Texas, it does not! 🙂 Hope you guys are doing well.

    1. 2chouters

      Thank you for your kind words, Betsy. We are looking forward to our upcoming adventures, too, it will be a big change for us to be on bikes in a country we’ve never been before! (Biking in South Korea!) Stay tuned!

  4. Ardith

    I so enjoyed following Bijou in Europe and I’m also enjoying your return. It must be quite a culture shock. You will be surprised at how difficult it has become to reserve state and federal campgrounds. The Elks lodges really help. (I love that Sante Fe Elks lodge too.)

    1. 2chouters

      You are spot on, Ardith, it has been a bit of a culture shock. The prices, especially, and how difficult it can be to actually get reservations! It really does limit our carefree spontaneity when we have to nail down stops so far in advance. Thank goodness for Elks and other options! Thank you for taking time to comment, we appreciate hearing from you.

    1. 2chouters

      I don’t know how you live there, frankly. I remember running the AC 24/7 when I lived in Plano. I can’t imagine the electric bills today. I mean, never say never, but something would have to go terribly wrong in my life for me to ever live in Texas again. 🙂

    1. 2chouters

      Thanks, Mary, good to hear from you! I know you remember the days when Fred Wishnie use to give me such a hard time about going to Crate & Barrel and IKEA. He essentially started my No-Fly list! Hope you guys are doing well.

  7. Hank

    The love of Rving and family. So great! Hope to see you all again somewhere on the road. While you are up there if to like the coast, we loved the Oceanside, WA lodge. Road my bike to the beach and up and down the beach. Had a great time there. Would love to go back!

    1. 2chouters

      We have been to a lot of the Elks lodges in WA state but there are plenty more to visit! We have not been to Ocean Shores, so we’ll put that on our list! Hope you and Shirleen are doing well, we are thinking of you and hope you will be able to get back out on the road soon!

  9. Carol Stafford

    Always look forward to seeing you in my gmail, and reading about your adventures. I love all your pictures but the last picture of you returning for your Son’s graduation is the best… You both are greeted with a beautiful rainbow! Perfect.

    1. 2chouters

      Yes! How’s that for serendipity! Thanks for sticking with us, it has been a busy time and blogging has not been at the top of our list. We hope to move it up a bit in the coming months. Thanks for taking time to comment.

  10. Lesley Bradford

    It’s nice to see you back on the road again!
    We’ve been travelling in Canada and joined Harvest Hosts and Boondockers for the trip. We don’t have anything like it in the UK. It was really interesting staying on people’s property and learning a little about their lives.

    1. 2chouters

      So good to hear from you, I have wondered if you had given up on travel (or did you just give up on blogging?) Did you bring your rig with you to Canada? How exciting! We loved Harvest Hosts and stayed in a few really unique places when we traveled the states. We plan on joining again once we are actually moving about. And by the way, did you know that last year Harvest Host bought out Brit Stops? They are really expanding, also having just bought Escapees, the largest and oldest RVing organization in the U.S. Where in Canada are you and for how long? If on the far west side, we are not far from Vancouver! Love to meet up if path cross!

  11. Nickie

    We were fairly shocked at the rise in campground rates, especially here in the west where we live. What used to cost 35.00/night is now 55.00/night, and that really adds up. Like you guys, we are Elks and also HH members. Between those two (and occasionally BLM dispersed camping), we manage to keep costs down to a manageable amount. Gas is another story altogether. Welcome back to the USofA!

    1. 2chouters

      We haven’t rejoined HH yet, but we will once we start traveling. We have stayed in some interesting places when we were members. But even HH has gotten more expensive. What used to be free, or buy a glass or two of wine has turned into an expected $30 minimum. Still cheaper than the local campground, but in some cases more than I want to pay for what I’m getting. Anyway, we’ll get back into the swing of things once we get going again. Good to hear from you, Nicki!

  13. Jodee Gravel

    A familiar route, Jeff and I just did much of that in reverse last week. It sounds so funny when you refer to “not like in Europe” now :-))) I’m sure it will take some adjusting from costs to rig size to so many other things. Glad you’re able to take advantage of Elks, RV parks are stupid expensive now. Beautiful pics of your stops, except maybe the Cummins parking lot. I’m disappointed to hear that Cummins was pissy as we’ve had great experiences with them everywhere. At least you smarted your way out of the high price tag for the repair 🙂

    1. 2chouters

      Aww, thanks for checking in on us! We are doing great, just taking a short break from the blog. But, we are currently traveling in South Korea and Japan, so lots to fill you in on when we return home to Ruby Red!

      2. Christine V Plumley

        I was wondering the last few months why I had not seen a blog post from you guys. What a wonderful area of the world to be traveling! I am looking forward to your next post.
        Here in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley the temps are colder right now, even though we have celebrated some Thanksgivings in shorts and flip flops in previous years. We are in our studio and workshop getting ready to reopen our business now that hubby has retired from the outside working world. Planning a trip to Albuquerque in the new year for the Balloon Fest and staying in Hendersonville NV with family. Happy travels

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