August 25th, 2025
GAS: $3.27 a gallon in WA; $3.54; in OR $3.32 9 (cheapest); in NV $3.23 (cheapest)
After crossing the border where we only got asked ONE question, we drove on to Bellingham and filled up the gas tank at the Bellingham Costco before heading into Seattle on the I-5 shortly after 9AM. Luckily, there was a free HOV lane on this freeway (unlike the 405 we took going north) and the traffic was not bad at all; we used the Express lanes through downtown and after a small GPS directional error, we were through what we anticipated was the worst part of the drive, traffic-wise.
We hit some thicker traffic nearing Tacoma and again near Olympia but nothing major and the HOV lane helped us once again. We had a couple of snafu’s trying to find somewhere to eat and did so eventually, topped up the tank a bit and made our way to Salem to a Comfort Inn for the night by 3:30 PM.
We were up by 7am and go to Walmart before our 8am appointment to get the Tundra some new tires. For some strange reason what we felt shouldn’t have taken more than an hour max, took over 2 hours! We had a tiny bit of shopping to do and a lot of waiting around.
Once we got on the road, the weather seemed to be turning quite cloudy. Still warm but as we moved eastward, it began to cool somewhat as we were also climbing in elevation.
At one point we hit a spot where half of a large mobile home was being moved and had to make a 90º right turn – that took several attempts and we were held up about 15 minutes.
Scenes heading east from Salem:
We were headed to just north of the city of Bend to the Smith Rock State Park hoping to do a hike. Well, it rained on and off and was still raining when we got to the park. We parked at a lot in the middle of the Rim Ridge Trail and it seems that was the best part. We grabbed our umbrellas and strolled in the misty rain for not much more than 15 minutes and took in the best views.
We returned to the truck, Doug made us some lunch while we drove and we made it south to Klamath Falls by 4:30 or so. Here we had another hotel and settled down for the night. We had some yoghurt, hummus, veggies and crackers for dinner and topped it off with a couple of bags of microwave popcorn.
Wednesday, was another just driving day and we had decided at this point to just head all the way to Reno as the pickings for hotels were pretty slim in between. We contacted Serena and Kurt but they were busy tonight so we just stopped by to pick up most of our packages (these included Doug’s big 65th birthday present: a Garmin Forerunner 970!). Kurt has been working lots of overtime at the airport this week as it’s Burning Man week and there are lots of private planes coming and going.
Thursday, we were out of the hotel by 8 after exercising and got to Fallon to the storage lot with our trailer in it.
From the day we picked up the truck last June, until arriving in Fallon to pick up the trailer we’ve traveled 7,517 km 4,671 miles.
We had a few minor things to do to it before being able to move it (tire covers were toast so they had to be thrown out, one trailer tire had a slow leak in the valve which Doug was able to repair with parts from the nearby Walmart; a piece of moulding on the front was hanging down, the cover over the bathroom vent was quite dirty so Doug removed it so we could clean it inside and out and the actual lid could be cleaned as well; the inside needed lots of arranging in order to move.) Before we hitched up the truck, we took a drive into Fallon for lunch at Subway as well as pick up a few groceries and then got the trailer and took it to a self serve car wash to wash it and the truck. That took over an hour to do.
The “calderescapes” sticker we had on the front seemed to have been burnt by the sun:
Somehow the inside of the trailer door got cracks it in:
We were done finally by 3:45 and drove over to the Fallon RV Park where we’ll stay for 3 nights getting ourselves organized, fixing a few issues (trailer molding, reinstalling the roof vent, filling and sanitizing the tanks and making sure the pipes all work. We got the minimum done that day so we could sleep tonight and used our hot air popper for a quick dinner with cold beer. It was pretty warm today and by 5pm we had to turn on the AC which thankfully!
We had hoped to stay five nights in Reno but all the RV parks are busy with Burning Man day attenders so we’ve got a spot on Sunday in Sparks
Saturday we were busy ALL day organizing and fixing, fixing and organizing. It was much hotter today and the AC went on before lunch. Doug had to run out to a hardware store once, had to fill a propane bottle and a few other small errands and Fran went grocery shopping in the afternoon. It got quite hot today – up to 34C / 92F but it’s a dry heat and we can feel how dehydrated we are while working and our noses are quite dry too. We began experiencing a few leaks (the sink faucet, the grey tank) and then the water pump and hot water tank began acting up with unsolvable issues, so Fran quickly ordered parts on Amazon (we got a free Prime trial) and they will be at Serena’s by Saturday and Sunday.
We added a couple of bumper sticks to the back bumper of the trailer:
The second is from our friends Pat & John in Emu Park, Australia.
We sorted out all our clothes and put some stuff in bags to take and leave in the storage unit for the next two months as well as a number of things Fran found as she went through the cupboards.
This RV park is not fancy and needs some TLC but the power and water work, there’s free StarLink Wi-Fi and the bathrooms/showers look clean. We are paying $48 a night here. By 5 we finally sat down and then had dinner about an hour later. The Wi-Fi crapped out mid afternoon and never came back on despite Fran going to the office to advise them – the girl at the counter said it’s been happening lately; the manager has had someone out about three times but it never lasts. Service these days!
Sunday after exercising we had a few more things still to do in the morning; the grey tank is still leaking a bit and Doug had to sort out the generators to be sure they are working.
new water pump:
We took a trip over to the storage unit to drop off ten bags of things (including two suitcases in bags) before returning for lunch and then tried to do nothing all afternoon. We’ve made arrangements to meet up with Serena tomorrow and Kurt will join us after his extra shift tomorrow.
We left Fallon around 8:30, stopped for the cheap gas at the I-80 at Fernley ($3.25) and headed into Reno. We found a long parking spot on the sidewalk a block from Serena’s and parked the trailer and walked over. She and the dogs were both happy to see us. After a hug, a chat and scratch for the dogs, we went out in Serena’s car to check out the local flea market. It was quite warm and sunny and not too exciting.
We went for a late breakfast near her place before picking up our wheels and heading to the campground we booked. The Sparks Marina RV Park is very nice and we had booked two nights here but added a third because a package we had expected will not arrive until the 2nd and had no trouble adding a third night. It’s much more expensive and much nicer than the park in Fallon and reminded us of the parks of Australia: well maintained, clean, decent sites with concrete pads (turf instead of grass for outside patios), big ablution blocks, a pool, hot tub, clubhouse with a gym and full services for $68 (plus tax) a night.
The park’s pool:
We got settled in, Doug got the hot water tank working again and invited Serena to come over for a swim around and then Kurt joined us around 5. We didn’t end up actually swimming as the pool had a lot of kids in it so we just sat in the shade until Kurt arrived.
We then went out to celebrate Serena’s upcoming 35th birthday at a vegan Mexican place she’d been wanting to try. Food was good and not too expensive. They even had cheesecake which she and Kurt ordered for dessert (made from soy were were told).
We dropped them off at home after dinner and returned to our trailer for the evening. Monday, Kurt had to work again (due to Burning Man they were super busy) but was off at 3. So today we helped them by bringing our truck over, emptying the bed and helped Serena fill it with trash that had to be taken to the transfer station. We were glad we did it in the morning as it got quite hot today: 34C / 92F with little breeze.
It didn’t occur to any of us that the place would be busy today, a statutory holiday (Labour Day) but it turns out a lot of people returning from Burning Man stop here to drop off their trash. It probably took us 15 minutes to fill the bed at Serena’s house and it took 90 minutes to get lined up to dump the stuff. Actually removing it from the truck took just a few minutes throwing it all into the pit after which we returned to her place where she swept out and hosed out the bed for us.
our “granddogs” Titan and Heidi:
We returned to the trailer to have our brunch and she had lunch. Around two she joined us at the pool again – no kids this time! It was a pleasant cool way to spend the afternoon relaxing.
Around 5 we headed back to her place where Kurt was just finishing up showering and we brought over a cake to give her with her presents.
All four of us headed out and we went to a bar called Press Start which is full of arcade games and spent an hour having a beer and playing before heading to the movies to watch the new Naked Gun – we didn’t think it deserved the 88% rating it got on Rotten Tomatoes though. We dropped them off at their house around 9 and went to ours.
Tuesday, we hung out around the campground much of the day except Fran did go grocery shopping. Around 5 we headed out to Serena and Kurt’s stopping to pick up from items to BBQ that night with them. Our missing package had arrived that day. We were back at our trailer around 8 and had a quiet night once again.
