Little Creek 2011

We are in the RV parking area of Little Creek Casino in Washington. We had a comfortable night in Mt Vernon. Up early and the wind was howling and the rain was coming down. Taking it slow I made a pot of coffee and flipped on the TV. Procrastinating, waiting for the rain to stop or at least slow down. We only were driving about two and a half hours today so we didn’t need an early start. I decided to wait until ten and then bundle up and face the weather. About 9:45 the rain and wind had stopped and I went out and connected the Jeep to The Horizon. Checked the surge tank installation. They did a good job of mounting and it didn’t show any sign of leaking.

Traffic was heavy, off and on. Tthe rain and wet road didn’t help make driving any easier. I used my new version of CoPilot for the first time. It really has some great new features and let us right to the casino.

We’re stopped and Ty is ready to go for a walk. I don’t think he can tell it’s raining by looking out the windows.

He is getting comfortable and going to hold out next to the door and his leash.

Finally it lighten up to a drizzle and we went out. He held out in the weather a lot longer than I thought he would, but after about 15 minutes, he was happy to get back into Horizon.

Tomorrow we’ll be heading down to Cape Disappointment State Park. It’s right across the river from Astoria, OR. We really like this park and plan on staying a few days. Debbie talked to a friend today and found out Daryl and Falavia other friends who left Port Susan earlier, were now in Astoria. Debbie called and left a message, maybe we can hook up.

Friday Night in Mt Vernon, WA

It was a dark and stormy night…. We are parked in the parking lot of Valley Freightliner spending the night before we head south for the winter. We arrived here on Thursday for our yearly MH service. During the service they discovered the surge tank was cracked and leaking slightly. The serge tank is plastic and is like a radiator reservoir in a car. O f course they didn’t have one in stock so we had to have one overnighted from back east and necessitated another night in the parking lot. Of course the tank has been redesigned, so the service manager said, and it no longer fit the mounting brackets. So the bracket had to be modified. We had hoped to leave here this afternoon but the job wasn’t complete until late afternoon so we elected to stay another night rather than fight rush-hour, Friday night traffic through Seattle. It is raining tonight but the wind has died down. If you want to see the wet parking lot you’ll have to check last years post as d no photo this time, but it looks the same. Still wet.

Tomorrow we’ll head down to a small casino near Shelton, WA.

Prime Rib in Hopland

We are in Hopland off SR101 parked in the parking lot of the Sho-Ka-Wah Indian Casino.  A small casino with a great Prime Rib dinner and and even greater price for player club members. One pound prime rib with salad, potato, vegetable for only seven dollar and something cents.  The parking lot here is sloped but the very top is fairly level and marked for RV parking.

Last night we parked in the at the Cher-Ae Heights Indian Casino. One of the friendliest casinos we have been to. On the down side, the RV parking lot does NOT have a level spot anywhere.  Using all my blocks I was still afraid Debbie was going to have a hard time staying on her side of the bed.

Ocean Shores

Quinault Beach Resort and Casino - Ocean Shores, Washington

The Casino has a large, dedicated RV lot with about 100 marked spaces at the south end of the regular parking. We are in space 47 and there are only 2 other RV (might be the storm with 30mph wind and driven rain, although it’s hazy sun right now and no rain). One of the other RVs left so now, we are parked across spaces 96, 97 and 98, all by ourselves at the extreme south end of the lot and a million miles from anything. Haven’t seen any casino security in the RV lot but, although it’s desolate at this end, there doesn't appear to be a security concern. The lot is gravel and the spaces are designated with white spray paint and there is no utilities, but the price is right, There is parking along either side of the center access road. The spaces on the ocean side are sloped up so if you pull in facing the ocean it’s difficult to level the unit. This casino lot has a spectacular view of the ocean which is about 600 yards away.

The casino is way back there by the end of the Horizon

As mentioned before it been a windy, stormy day. We had heavy rain off and on as we headed south from Mount Vernon. And, our windshield wipers worked the whole way down. We’ve had a problem with them just suddenly stopping and ourselves and Freightliner have been unable to find the problem. Our workaround is pulling the wiper fuse and replacing but that’s hard to do on the side of I5 since the fuse in outside in one of the bins.

We had originally planned to go as far as the Little Creek Casino near
Shelton, WA but when we arrived around 1pm and there’s we decided to continue on to Ocean Shores, just another couple of hours.

The view from our door.

Getting Ready to Leave Port Susan

We’re in the parking lot of Valley Freightliner in Mount Vernon for the night where we had the Horizon serviced before heading for California. We dropped it off this morning and they had it finished late this afternoon. We’ll spend the night in their lot and leave tomorrow toward the Washington coast. We will be traveling along the coast all the way down.

We always look forward to heading up here and are always reluctant to leave. Especially leaving all our friends who live here through the winter.

Brad flew up for a week-end visit. While he was here we went over to Whidbey Island to see Deception Pass. A bridge spans the narrows where tidal currents rush through.

Kayakers flock to this area during tide changes due to the tidal rush.

Harrah's RV Plaza (Laughlin, NV)

After a week visiting with Deb’s folks we head out for Pahrump. We had a great time despite the fact the both Jim and Bobbie were suffering from hay fever. I never thought the desert would be a place to suffer from hay fever but I am informed there are many allergens in the air here especially this time of year. 

We changed our plans to stop for the night in Wikieup, AZ  on the way to Pahrump. Now we are going to make the longer drive to Laughlin, NV.  Now we will only have a short drive up to Pahrump.

We stopped for fuel at Love’s Travel Stop at 7001 W. Sundust Road, Chandler, AZ.  They have RV pumps which were open when we arrived and we were able to pull right up to the plumps. When we left there were several RV waiting.

Wednesday, March 31th, we arrived in Laughlin late afternoon. We came in from the north and had to the south end to Harrah's RV Plaza. Their lot is asphalt, striped and the parking spots are numbered. You have to register at the Shell station (has diesel) at the entrance to the lot. Five dollars a night. The lot is fenced and there didn’t appear to be any security concerns.  When we left Harrah’s I noticed a better looking RV lot on the opposite side of the street at the next casino to the north. We passed it coming in but I didn’t see it. It looked level and more attractive.

Anyway when I stepped out of the RV I was greeted by the lot’s apparent official greeter, a Road Runner. He came right up barking and clicking his beak which sounded like castanets. We gave him a piece of pork which he grabbed and went back to his office.

We had a great view to the east across the river over the town of Bullfrog, NV and the mountains beyond.  It could have been a peaceful night but we experienced gusts of wind all night and at times it threaten to blow over the motorhome. (It didn’t)

 

Next Pahrump                                                                               Our 2010 Spring Travel Route