We departed AR on 17 Aug and returned 13 Sep. The trip was 5,039 miles with no problems with the bus except the left rear leveling valve link fell out, the rubber grommet failed near Livingston, MT. This resulted in a very pronounced list to port which caused quite a sensation in a truck stop parking lot! Even though it was Sunday I was able to get Ken's Equipment Repair Service to come take a look and he found the problem right away. It is a father/son business and they are really nice folks. I was sure it was an air bag because I haven't yet replaced the rears. It was a quick and relatively painless $$ repair and we were on our way with a new spare leveling valve just in case.
We traveled through AR, MO, IA, SD, WY, MT, ID and WA going and came the same way back except we left MT and went through ND, MN, WI, IL, and MO to AR. Diesel fuel was most expensive in WA (By far) where it was almost $3/gal. As we came east it got steadily cheaper and in Northern Missouri around St. Louis it was around $2.35. The most we paid was $2.74 and the lowest was $2.49.
Good Parking WalMart Locations
Lamar, MO (We visited Harry Truman's birthplace the next morning.) Council Bluffs, IA, Gillette, WY, Missoula, MT (We stayed here going both directions. It is easiest to enter and depart from the south end by driving south past the west entrance and going around to the rear of the store. The east and west entrances are tight and the east exit is one way in the wrong direction.)
Wenatchee, WA (Very nice parking lot with a great view. It is best to enter and depart from the north entrance. The uphill front east entrance is curved and tight even for a 35' bus.) Bismark, ND, Alexandria, MN and Litchfield, IL (We've stayed here numerous times. There is a good Chinese restaurant only a few feet from where we parked.)
We called ahead to check on any parking restrictions for the ones we've never used before, none said, no. Most asked that we park well away from the store entrance and that we not set up a camp. At one store two guys had their chairs and awnings out and one had his grill going right next to a restaurant, but most came and went quietly and with minimum activity.
On the return trip we spent one night at a Casino and one night at a truck stop waiting to get the brakes adjusted the next morning. (Same place I had the link repaired.)
Since this is a bit long I'll post the rest tomorrow;
Here's the rest;
Good RV Parks
We stayed at three RV parks. One was really nice in Big Timber, MT but was a bit expensive. One was fair in SD and the other one was a KOA in Miles City, MT which was pretty nice, lots of shade trees, but no dump at our spot. This is the first time we ever stayed at a KOA but the other choice was pretty sad looking. We stayed in RV parks only when it was so hot we needed to run the AC all night and didn't want to run the gen.
Miscellaneous Stuff
The best state for rest area dump stations is WA and there is a big one just south of Seattle on I5 which I think had four or five dump positions. MO is also pretty good, they have impressive rest areas. The other states seem to be hit or miss, mostly miss. MS is also very good, although we didn't go that route this trip, we often travel that way. If no rest area dumps are available we use Flying J even though I try to avoid them because they are usually jammed with traffic. My favorite fuel stop is Pilot for ease of use and price.
There was really a lot of highway construction, some sections of one lane Interstate traffic were 10 - 20 miles but there were no real problems, just a nuisance. It also seems to me that the Interstates are getting better except for some concrete ones close to cities, some of those are a disaster.
This is our third trip to Seattle but the first one on the northern route via I90 all the way from eastern SD. We used this route to try to escape the heat and were partly successful. It was still pretty hot in MO and MT, the other states were not too bad.
The End
Thanks for sharing with us! I like to hear the road reports, I hope I can make more than a weekend trip someday.
Sounds like you had a great time Gus, thanks for sharing. I am glad fuel wasn't too bad for you. If you get into northern Virginia expect to pay at least $2.79 and up to $2.99 a gallon. Of course only one thing is missing from your trip.......pics! Do you have any you might share?
Frank
None of my photos are all that great, just a few taken in parking lots along the way.
They are also too large to post to this board by only a few KB. (Mine are all in the 140-160KB size but the board limits them to 128??)