National Parks | Starlink | Windy Travel

RV Life June Wrap-up

This season weather has been a bit of a challenge. We’ve had to slow down, move faster and make a few changes to our journey. I know, I don’t plan when it comes to travel. This season I actually dived into the planning phase of RV life and decided to give it a try.

Last year, since it was our first season we traveled around with no real plan and explored along the way. We discovered a few hidden gems, visited friends, dealt with mechanical issues and mostly had great weather. We moved around pretty fast, so we missed a lot of places to visit. This travel season I decided to take the time and visit those places. So, I planned. Somewhat. Weather had dictated a lot and a few alterations have been made to the travel plan.

A few more National Parks have been checked off the list

Crater Lake. I lived in Oregon for three and a half years, only 120 miles away and never visited. Last year we spent over a month in Oregon and did not make the journey. It’s not really an “on the way” kind of place to visit. As most wonders in the National Parks, they are not in a convenient area. You make the trek and stay in the area for a day or two. For us, it was a road stop visit. All the campgrounds were booked or overpriced and the usual – we don’t meet their requirements with our three strikes, (age of rig, number of dogs, and breed restriction). The day of our visit the weather was cloudy and raining. But I was determined Crater Lake was getting checked off the list. It is beautiful and well worth a visit, even in the cold damp weather of June. Still quite a bit of snow, but the roads were clear.

Windy Weather

Windy weather and RV travel are not a good mix. We have moved a lot slower this travel season. Except when I see a wind advisory in the forecast on a travel day. High winds were expected in the Idaho area at around 11:00 AM one morning. This required us to get up and at ’em bright and early. We wanted to be out of the wind advisory area, so we bolted and headed south to Utah.

Roadside stops

In 2011 with a friend we drove to Mona, UT to visit Young Living Family Farm. They produce essential oils and have a huge Lavendar field that is stunning when in bloom. You could walk through a large garden area of flowers, and they provided plaques for the type of flower and its healing benefits. You can book a tour to learn how they make the oils. The grounds are gorgeous, and it was a great visit.

This year during our travel day I saw the sign and decided to stop for a visit. Wolf wants to see a bison up close. They have them on site and I thought this would be a good place.

Pictures from 2024

Well… the place has grown four times in size. They now have several arenas and a small old timey town; the bison has been moved to a larger field near the lake, (the one you see in the far distant background). Quite a distance and a very long walk away on the property. Unfortunately, no bison siting, too far for Wolf to walk. The store has tripled in size and the parking lot is no longer a gravel shaded area. The gardens I walked through are no longer, or they have been moved behind the large fenced off area. Just a small planter now in front of the stores entrance.

Even with the vast growth, it is still a great stop. If we were going to stay longer or had really planned for it, I would have done more research. Well worth the visit. Like I said, I saw the sign and thought let’s stop.

Snake River, Shoshone Falls, and farm animals

Snake River famous by Eval Knievel is a must stop if you are ever in Twin Falls, Idaho. The massive width of the valley is remarkable. It was hard to capture it with the camera on my phone. (New camera on the list to get.) But you can see the grassed area down there? That is a golf course. And there are homes down in the valley.

Shoshone Falls noted as the little Niagra Falls of the west. I’ve seen videos of it on full flow and it really is beautiful. On my visit day it was low flow so only one of the falls was flowing. The road down to the falls has several tight, blind turns. I would say not really big rig friendly. We went in the morning hours and driving the motorhome was a bit scary when coming to a corner. It’s a $5.00 entrance fee. I think seniors get a discount or free? He asked if we were seniors and we didn’t meet the requirement. Again, only about 5 or 6 spots for RV parking and they are at the top of the parking lot.

Campsite Visitors

Camping next to a farm is not uncommon. We’ve enjoyed horses, cows and sheep and a few donkeys. The llama that cruised by with the cattle in Provo UT and came up to the fence for a nibble of leaves was a new one. One morning while sitting at the dinette having my morning brew, I kept seeing a shadow grazing the screen on the window. I lifted the shade and this little yellow cutie landed on our tiny ledge. I guess he or she wanted to say hello too. He/she landed there several times. The little things in RV life that make me smile.

Starlink

In the RV world Starlink is a big deal. Having internet access when you travel is a little tricky, expensive and a lot of campgrounds have WI-FI, but you are sharing this with all of the other campers so it’s slow or doesn’t work at all. Which is why they often ask you not to stream anything because it causes buffering. That gets annoying real fast. We stream. We stream a lot.

Last season we used a mobile hotspot and it worked fantastic. Only once we were in an area, I couldn’t get coverage. However, hotspots normally come with limited data about 100 gigs and that can go fast. We watch TV, YouTube and movies. Of course, for the social media and uploading my blog. So having internet is a very big deal in our household. I went back and forth and finally said I’m getting Starlink. We use the regional mobile for RVs. The great thing about this Elon Musk solved the big problem many mobile nomads have. He plopped a satellite in space, so doesn’t matter where you are you can get a signal. The only caveat, you have to have wide open sky. Trees are your enemy with this product. So far, only one place we couldn’t get a connection. Our current campground has a back row that is solid trees. There were no good spots to set up and get a connection. I requested to move our spot and the campground said no problem. It is hot and the tree coverage would be perfect, but we do have A/C and internet is more important.

We have stayed in a lot of forestry areas, and we were able to connect. I’m perfectly happy paying the $150 a month for unlimited versus the $90 a month 100 gigs previously and running out halfway through. This is kind of one of the reasons we have slowed down and are staying longer. Gotta balance that budget out.

Have a great rest of your month. I am sorry for the delay this month. A few things going on. But next month’s post will be about slowing down – way down.