Wayne and Margy's Rental RV Trip Log 1

Our destination, ASU for a women's softball tournament.

The idea to take an RV trip was part of an annual winter vacation we take to Arizona to watch a women's softball tournament at Arizona State University. Typically we travel by airliner and stay in a hotel.

Wayne thought this way would be more of an adventure for us, and he's right. Instead of our one week stay, this time we will be on the road for 25 days.

Trip Log Part 1

Friday, January 25 -- We picked up our 22-foot Coachman Leprechaun at El Monte RV in Ferndale, Washington. We drove it to our Bellingham condo for easy loading of our supplies and food. We then took the RV to Bellingham RV Park for a two night stay. The first night was to give us time to "move in" and get our things organized.

Saturday, January 26 -- The second night was for a Western Washington University women's basketball game and to get an early start on Sunday morning and miss weekday traffic in Seattle and Portland. Today we still had our SUV, which was a good thing. We went shopping to get a replacement water hose (the RV one was leaking) and a few other items. We disconnected our services and emptied our black and gray water tanks before leaving for the basketball game and our last night in the condo.

Staying in a local park the first nights worked well for us.

Sunday, January 27 -- Our good friend Jeanne drove us to the RV park to leave on our adventure. We got an early start so we could get as far south on I-5 as daylight would allow. Our goal is to get to northern California by Tuesday before rain is forecast to arrive in the Pacific Northwest.

Ready to hit the road.

Today was foggy, but with good driving visibility. The RV handled well with Wayne as the driver. I'll take turns as we go along. We stopped for gas in Chehalis, Washington after 180 miles of travel. We turned off the propane before filling at the gas pumps, and back on again after leaving the pumps so our propane refrigerator would keep running. Regarding fuel, we burned 8.18 miles per gallon so we now know how to gauge our future gas stops. What a gas guzzler.

We stopped for the day in Coburg, Oregon, just north of Eugene. There are three RV parks listed on the Good Sam Club app (we joined before leaving to get discounts) and the Allstays app (great for camping, RV parks, and travel services across the United States and Canada).

Our campsite at Armitage County Park.

First we visited the Premier RV Resort. It was large with lots of amenities next to I-5. We then went to check out the Eugene Kamping World park (not the store). It was a little smaller and older, but still a good choice. We did this for future reference.

The McKenzie River on a foggy afternoon.

The place we chose to stay was Armitage County Park just outside of Coburn. The sites are among the trees with lots of grass and space. It has full hookups and takes reservations, but this time of year none were needed. We drove around and picked our site then paid the $30 nightly fee. On the way back from the registration office we walked down to the McKenzie River that runs next to the park. Now we are ready for a well deserved dinner in our cozy abode and a good night's sleep. Tomorrow is another big travel day. -- Margy