Calialto is our teardrop trailer and this week we take her on a coastal adventure, destination Olympic National Park, a long-time in the planning, delayed this summer by fires in California and Oregon but finally happening. This will be the longest trip in the trailer since picking her up in 2019. We had her checked by a mechanic in Concord with wheel bearings repacked. We’ve packed and repacked bedding and clothes in preparation for colder fall temperatures up north, and have a huge stash of pre-cooked frozen dinners and fresh produce, with plans to be self-sustaining due to covid concerns.
Our route takes us through familiar and favorite territory, the Humboldt Redwoods with an overnight at the KOA in Benbo. Several slides along the Del Norte coast have resulted in ongoing road construction on 101, closing the road for many months. We were relieved to learn that this work has progressed well and we faced no delays on our drive to the KOA in Port Orford. The rv campground is heavily wooded and particularly beautiful.
Up the coast of Oregon, the weather brings blue skies and air quality of 0 as we drive past the huge Oregon dunes.
We spend the night south of Portland at Roamers Rest in Tualatin then cross waterway after waterway as the Williamette and Columbia rivers wind through Portland, and we enter Washington. The landscape is lush and green, dense with evergreens, rivers and lakes a feast for our eyes, so used to the parched lands of a drought ridden California. As we approach Port Angeles, we pass the bays, straits and islands of Washington’s northwest. We’ve reached the Elwa Dam Rv Park, home for the next 3 nights.