This years Team Camaro vacation has begun, and this year we're CAMPING!!!

Of course, we're camping in my special way. Motorvating crosscountry in a luxery motorhome. This bad boy has all the toys, too.

Regardless, we're having a great time. Even Dan the disgruntled 17 year old is smiling, not to mention waiting for me to type this so we can get a family game of yahtzee going.

So, 'm gonna cut this short, and no answers to pm's untill tomorrow ish.

Read the blog and track our progress here http://carolandcompany.typepad.com/bloggingmywayacrosstheusa/

Hey Jim,
I did check your PM real late one night and forgot to write you back. I would love to meet up with the crew at some point, but I'll have to play it by ear. I know I'm working the 4th and I'm on nights right now. Is that as far south as you guys plan to go? I have no problem driving up to Shasta, but it's going to depend on my work schedule.

Jim - When do you guys hit Seattle, and where are you headed in California?

Jim, looks like a very nice trip planned. enjoy! :)

G'mornin Guys!!! What a great night. This "camping thing" is not bad at all.
So it's 7:00 AM, I woke up at 6:30. The campground is quiet, the sun is just rising. I made my cooffee, and made use of the RV's indoor plumbing. Carol and I are sitting in our colapsable chairs under our awning. I can't recall when I've been so relaxed.

I've got my new phone tethered to the laptop, and she gets online very nicely. We're just making a list of this we need at the store. A small colapsable table for under the awning would be nice.

So, our schedule.... We're near Suois falls sd now, the morning of the 22nd. we'll make it across SD and up into wyoming today. I have no idea where we will stop, probably around Billings, but who knows.

We're scheduled to be in Seatle on the 25th, dinner with some photog friends of Carols then will hookup with Mark and Sandra.
We'll be in astoria on the 26th, cannon beach on the 27, florence on the 28th and 29th.
Gold beach for 2 days, grants pass for one, then on to shasta.

Lake shasta is our longest stop. We'll arrive the afternoon of July 3, and leave the morning of the 7th.

Anyone who wants to hookup, pm me your phone #, or just call, the "a list" has my number all ready...lol.

Royce, I really hope you and yours can make it, even for a day. So does Mark.

If you make it to Billings and want to get together, PM me your cell phone number. KOA has a nice camping spot, or you could always go to the WalMart. It seems to be a popular spot for camping!!

Nice blog, Jim. Yes, camping has a way of removing ALL the stress and yes, the toliet paper does unroll.
I like Brian's T-shirt.

Be safe.

Jim, enjoy every second of it. Cool blog! Thanks for keeping us updated. Be safe, drive carefully and God Bless! Life is short! Have as much fun with family & friends as you can! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :beers: :beers:

Jim, have fun and be safe!! Enjoy your time together and have a blast!!

Very cool trip ! say hi to mark and sandra for us.
Brian

Damn you Yanks have got soft, "camping" is not "Motorvating" , air conditioning
Camping is a tent, cook over a fire...or at least portable LPG stove....no computers/internet but fighting off wild bears, wolves, mozzies and indians with your bear hands. And using the Camaro to tow the trailer with the tent and gear on.
lol
Have a safe trip m8.

Good Morning Team Camaro!
JimM and family checking in from the Holiday RV park on Route 16 south of Rapid City, South Dakota.

And it looks like it's gonna be another beautiful day.

South Dakota is BIG. As in just plain huge. 400 miles from end to end, and somehow it just didn't seem like the turd was eating them up at any kind of rate. Just "one of those travel days, they happen.

We didn't leave until 9.
Stopped at perkins for breakfast, yummt, but killed an hour.
stopped again to dump the RV, and fill the fresh water. Wanted fuel, but the pump was so painfully slow that all I got was 17 gallons! Another hours gone.
A hundred fifty miles down the road it was time to finish that fuel stop, and cook up some lunch in the microwave. This killed another hour.

So... I think out of 9 hours on the road, we drove for five and a half, and covered 350 miles. And we still have 50 miles of south dakota left to cover.

Today, we got 3 to get thru showers. Got full hookups so will complete a good flushing right where we sit. Gonna cook a good breakfast right here too.

When and if we get on the road, I am not stopping.

John, pm will be sent in a moment, would be great to hookup, tho we do need to be in and gone from billings today.

Don't forget to check that blog http://carolandcompany.typepad.com/bloggingmywayacrosstheusa/ and to comment.
Carol says we had 125 readers the first day, only 25 the second!

Can't wait...two more days of work and we are gone.I sure wish my loader had a computer and a dish on the roof ,it would make the time go quicker.Well you guys take it easy and have some fun i'm off to work talk at you later .
Mark.

Wish we were tagging along in our RS. Take lots of pics in the mountains, remember Jim you lost a flash disk of pics from Billings. Let Carol do it :D

Carol's officially in charge of pics, as well as being our "blogmaster" (is that a word?
and a new blog entry is up.

I was a slacedriver today, and we covered over 500 miles, from rapid city to boseman.
We're settled in at 3 bear canyon campground and the world is getting quiet.

I think I'll go read the blog, and then call Mark.

Jim's put some highlights of the trip into a video...

YouTube - RV Trailer

Now thats a good one!!

Hmmm now Clark Griswald's cousin Eddie comes to mind.
Do we have our own Eddie 'M' here now emptying the RV toilet tank? :D

http://www.carsbyjim.com/storage/MiscStuff/JimMGriswald.jpg

Look familiar?

http://www.carsbyjim.com/storage/MiscStuff/JimMdump.jpg

Now click you put a image in my mind that i really don't need , camping with Jim and Dan might be very close to that. It should be a blast we can't wait. Fifth wheel is out and ready to hook up and go .
Mark.

Jim (Click)

Close but no cigar :)



Kev

Now that's funny, how'd my head get on there?
I really need to photoshop better.

We made it to Washington, almost halfway across at moses lake. Tired as hell too, been pushing hard, got over 500 miles for the second day in a row.

Somehow that's much harder than last year in the camaro, 800 miles days in my vert are a picnic compared to trying to get this Turd to climb a mountain, or stay in what's left of it's lane in the numerous construction zones.

But tomorrow we'll make it to tacoma and hook up with Mark and Dan and start the real vacation, which won't be timed like a mad cross country dash.

I'm tired, talk to ya'll tommorow. BTW, a new blogpost is up

http://carolandcompany.typepad.com/bloggingmywayacrosstheusa/

:thumbsup:

Get yor rest, lots to do in tacoma!!

We made it to Washington, almost halfway across at moses lake. Tired as hell too, been pushing hard, got over 500 miles for the second day in a row.


Jim,
I went to school and learned to fly in Moses Lake. You're going to have a beautiful view of the town as you leave. It's best seen in the rear view mirror. (no offense to any members that live there)

You are probably on a time crunch, but it is well worth it to take a route other than I-90 across the Cascades. The best is the North Cascades Highway, but that's quite a bit out of your way. Chinook Pass on 410 would be quite exciting in a motor home. White Pass or Stevens Pass would be other options.

Anyway have fun. It's 95F here in Missouri with 85% humidity. Days like this I miss the NW.

Mark and Sandra have mentioned stevens pass., what road is that?
I need to get my map out.

Mark and Sandra have mentioned stevens pass., what road is that?
I need to get my map out.

Stevens is highway 2. It goes through Wenatchee and then a German themed tourist town called Levenworth. The turn off for you would be about 20-30 miles west of Moses Lake near George, Washington. Chinook is on highway 410, more to the south. It is very steep and goes right next to Mt. Rainier.

Here are some of the roads:
10750

Jim & Carol,
Thanks for the pictures and comments on the trip across country. We traveled I-90 back and forth between Wyo. & Victoria for 4 yrs. while Amanda was going to school there. Your pics and descriptions of mt. passes, and the towns reminded me how much I miss traveling in that area of Mt, Id. and Wash. (we always would stop and eat at a restaurant that overlooked Moses Lake, i believe at the Best Western)

Like 68DaveV says the North Cascade Hwy. is gorgeous. Though I don't think it would be much fun in a big motorhome. Maybe another trip in the 'vert'??

Anyhow, keep the pics and commentary coming on the trip down the coast.

We were thinking about Rt2, looks like a very nice ride. Not today tho. We got a dinner date on the waterfront in Tacoma at 5 or so, so we're stuck doing rush hour there. Rt2 would dump us into The north end of the seatle area for what looks like a 3 hour rush hour gauntlet... not my idea of fun in that motorhome, damned thing is HUGE.

410 is on our route back, though after whats been said we may reroute. The people behind us would be ready to kill if I'm down in first screaming up that mountain at 20 mph!!!

This is kinda nice lazing around the campground this morning. We don't have to leave until 1. We gained 2 hours in the last 2 days, and that's hitting bottom this morning. Gonna get the bus all cleaned up, and get all the laundry done, and get ready to go.

Mark and Dan, if you are watching this, I called a couple walmarts, and The City of Tacoma does NOT allow RV's to park overnight anywhere.

I got permission from another, off I5 in Lacey, I'll PM you guys the specifics and see you tonight.

We were thinking about Rt2, looks like a very nice ride. Not today tho. We got a dinner date on the waterfront in Tacoma at 5 or so, so we're stuck doing rush hour there. Rt2 would dump us into The north end of the seatle area for what looks like a 3 hour rush hour gauntlet... not my idea of fun in that motorhome, damned thing is HUGE.

Hwy 2 is OK for scenery (there are much better though), but it will suck to travel with a big RV since it's 75% a single lane per direction. The North Cascades Hwy is beautiful but it takes you to nowhere from nowhere, basically.
The commute from Hwy 2 into Seattle wouldn't be bad, it's reverse of the traffic, but once you hit Seattle heading south will suck. I live real close to where Hwy 2 and I5 meet, a little south of there.
I 90 is your best bet for sure, nice to travel and pretty scenic to boot, give yourself plenty of time to get to Tacoma, traffic is not going to be pretty after about 2:30. Keep your windows rolled up and the air on recirc when you hit Tacoma, you'll see why when you get there....;) (the Tacoma aroma..)
Hey if you take I 90 west, as you aproach Seattle you cross I 405 at Bellevue, at that intersection of the highways is my current project, you can't miss the 200' tower crane in the south east corner of I 90/ I 405, honk as you go by....:D

We're on our way - see you tonight Jim and Dano. Call us on our cell phones.

Another blog post is done. Thank Carol for that, we're all having SO MUCH FUN that it's very hard to find the time.

We did hook up with mark et al and dan and val at camping world in tacoma.
We spent 2 days at a beautiful state park at nehalen bay.
We're now in florence at a paradise on a lake somewhere.
in the meantime, I sliced my hands to ribbons after a bicycling incident. They are healing nicely and not slowing me down.
I had a flat tire in the turd after hitting a curb, we got it changed ok, and I'm working hard at staying further toward the right.

I'm on my second marguarita and the steaks are done so I'm gonna go eat, see ya!
Jim

Sorry to hear you had a spill..that"ll take the wind out of ya!!

Just checking in, we're in Gold Beach now.
Romorrow we take a "mail boat" run up the rogue river, an 80 miles round trip in 6 hours including a lunch stop. That boat can really "haul the mail!"
Blog post is up here http://carolandcompany.typepad.com/bloggingmywayacrosstheusa/

Just checking in, we're in Gold Beach now.
Romorrow we take a "mail boat" run up the rogue river, an 80 miles round trip in 6 hours including a lunch stop. That boat can really "haul the mail!"
Blog post is up here http://carolandcompany.typepad.com/bloggingmywayacrosstheusa/


How could you not see a curb big enough to do that much damage to a wheel? Age? :D

Nice views - Thanks! Don't see that in the Midwest.

OUCH! 'Curb rash?'

Ouch, thats a pricey wheel and tire to buy. You can buy 4 new tires for the Camaro for what that's gonna cost you.
*note to JimM, have vision checked upon return home*
Great pics Carol... I want your camera.
Did any of you see a " Tolvana Park" Oregon? I had a great aunt that lived there.
:)

Jim...you need to change your location to where you are at...Yorkville doesn't count right now!!:D

I think you should change it every day...since you are on vacation and all...:yes:

Just kidding...have a great time!

G'morning guys!!!
We are settled in now, at the Lakeshore RV resort on Lake Shasta. Come on down and visit if you can. We'll be here 3 more nights.
This is one happening place, got to tell ya, live band in the bar, great pool, but LOTS of people, packed in like sardines. We lucked out, got a tree between us, so that gives us extra room. Parked awning to awning on our own piece of lakeshore.


The Great rolling Turd has settled down after another tire issue day before yesterday. This one Mark was driving, it just let go, a real cool catastrophic blowout of the pass side inner rear. Made some cool noises, Mark tells me she scattered schrapnel all over the highway.

So we're back to normal, 2 new tires, a new rim, a functional spare.
I even had a new tailpipe made to replace the one that got ate by a construction cone somewhere in Montana. Seems like it was worth a hundred HP getting that bent and mangled tailpipe off!

Carol has another blog post up, so give a read and look at the pictures.
http://carolandcompany.typepad.com/bloggingmywayacrosstheusa/

Have you guys been getting bored with Carol's blog?

Maybe I need to put up a few of my own photo's here?

No more comments here? Hmmm.....

Just jealous I bet.

Anyway, we haven'y had good internet connections or a lot of time. We spent the 4 days at Lake Shasta, it was HOT. I mean serious hot, mid to upper 90's.

Mark had naps. It was too hot for him.
We spent a lot of time in the pool, or down the road in a lil swimming hole in the lake.
Our niece Denise came up for a day from chico.
We ate at In & Out Burger.

Sunday was Karaoke night. I had too many maragitas and "sang" live for the first time in my life. I did Tim McGraw's Seventeen, and sang backup to Danielle on Queen's We Are The Champions. Mark and Sandra's other duaghter, Shelby, joined Danielle and I at the mic's.
Unfortunately (sic) there is no video, audio, or photographic record that this happened.
I prefer it that way.

We'll have a new blog post up shortly.

Very cool Jim...even if you are far from roughing it in that thing ;)

There is some unbelievable scenery out that way. Some of my favorite scenic places in this country are in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. I could tell you some places to check out but absolutely no way in a motorhome :noway:

Some of the greatest memories I had growing up was going on family vacations in the motorhome to Colorado, Yellowstone, etc. I'm sure it will be the same with your kids. Now I can't wait until the twins are old enough to start really enjoying things like that.

Remember in Oregon you can't pump your own gas. So stupid. With that beast, the poor guy has to stand there for an hour filling it :D
Great pics Carol, we are living our vacation thru you guys this year. :thumbsup:

Great pics Carol, we are living our vacation thru you guys this year. :thumbsup:

Same here. I feel like I'm also on vacation. Hmmm, that reminds me, I need to plan something. :thumbsup:

Well we went our separate ways this morning. Mark and his girls should be home or close, we made it as far as Couer d'Alaine Idaho, where we just finished an excellent dinner at "The Cedars" resturant. Highly recommended, but bring a big credit card.

No blog or anything tonight, it's late and we're tired. Next couple days will be... well I don't know what they will be. The kids are in a big hurry to get home, but Carol and I could happily meander about the country until the money runs out.

To the Winter Family, thanks for sharing 2 great weeks with us, we're taking some real fine memories back home to the flatlands...

Another long day but we made it home a little before 10 pm. Had a great buffet dinner on the ferrry - salmon, prawns, chicken, roast beef and more. We absolutely stuffed ourselves.

The girls were happy to get home and Shelby is sleeping at Grandma's tonight.

We had a great time and are feeling bad that it is going to take Jim, Carol and the boys another few days to get home. We could have spent a lot more time wandering the back roads looking at waterfalls, rivers, lakes and lazing around the campfire but reality calls on Monday.

The mound of laundry in the utility room is huge - something to do tomorrow along with cleaning out the trailer...

Safe travels, talk to you soon.

We stopped early today, in Dear Lodge Montana. Got all the laundry done and made steak fajitas.

We've found the misquitos, they are all here.

in keeping with my long tradition of wearing my mistakes on my sleeve so others can learn....

My "stinky slinky" is attached to an angle fitting with a hoseclamp. worth noting I did not personally make this attachment. Also worth noting that it "let go" the second I pulled the valve, I did instantly push the valve handle back in. Only about a gallon of the contents of the "black tank" spilled, and I didn't get any on me.

The smell was beyond nasty.

A new blog post is in progress, catching up with the days we skipped.

Time for a repost of this...

http://www.carsbyjim.com/storage/MiscStuff/JimMGriswald.jpg

The blog has been great Jim, thank Carol for keeping it up...

hmm lots of chili beans there :D ewwwwww

"$hitters Full"

"That there Clarck is an RRRR VVVV"

Made 420 miles today, including most of the day in or near thunderstorms, many miles of very high winds, and a 30 mile stretch of hail.

Bedded down in a very nice campground in Bufalo, Wyoming. Trip home is taking a long long time.

Jim I have a little room to spare at the farm for the Turd, even a plug in and water hose as well. 'Free' if you want to spin this direction on the way home. :) let me know.

http://www.carsbyjim.com/storage/Farm/Nov2nd%20003.jpg

Jim, that's the best offer I've had in a while, and if it was just Carol and I we'd be off to take you up on it in a heartbeat!
A day or 2 with you and Sue, then may be a stop at "The Mall" sounds like a fine idea.

But those boys... they are ready to be "HOME" to the point that they spend every minute making eachother and us miserable. I'm about ready to put Dann on a plane... So, we soldier on, destination Chicago suburbs, by the straightest possible route.

I am gonna do the badlands scenis drive today, but I'm not gonna tell them.
It's only a lil loop, maybe an extra hour, hopefully they won't even notice.

Almost forgot.... we had a "windstorm" last night. I thought it was pouring down rain, laying in bed wondering if it was gonna rip my new awning right off the side of the bus. So finally I get up and go out, and there is not a cloud in the sky! I can see the big dipper right over the campground. But the wind was unreal. Never seen a wind like that and not so much as a cloud. I got the awning stowed and went back to bed. This morning, everthing is dry, it didn't rain a drop.

Jim you cant fit the turd through needles eye! Dont take that road.

Good Morning Team Camaro!!!

I don't even know what day it is anymore. Come to think of it, that's been hard to keep track of for nearly the past month. To anyone who can manage it, I highly recommend extended vacations!

So we did run route 240 west to east through badland national park, from the Wall exit, I think Carol blogged that. It was a lil tight in spots, but no big deal. We didn't do the west end where the road is not paved. I "think" the was 2 days ago? That night we stayed in a KOA in Kennebec, SD.

Last night we stayed at "sherwood forest" in Wisconsin Dells. This place is GREAT. We'll be coming back here. Quiet and secluded, but very near downtown, a short 3 block walk to the corner of 12 and 13, with all of "tackyTown" at your fingertips. We had a great dinner at Mexicali Rose, The walked aross the bridge and roamed the strip. I even found that new pair of mocosins I been looking for!
After that we played some mini golf, then burned some of Mark's wood in the fire ring.

We're only 3 hours from home, we'll get there today for sure.

I talked to Sandra and Danielle last night. It's been decided not to mutilate the new Doberman puppies ears! Yahoo!!!
I never could figure out why people do that?

We're Home!!!

And we been here long enough to empty out the fridge in The Turd, drink 2 corona's and start a third, and drive the Camaro to pick up pizza in the rain with the top down.

Carol is working on a last blog post now.

In the meantime, we covered 6051 miles in around 25 days. We did this in a 10 year old 36 foot motorhome which we'd owned for a month prior to leaving on this trip.

I'll give the Great Rolling Turd a straight A.
She performed flawlessly. She used 1 quart of motor oil. She took us up and down mountains, twisted along mountain streams, ran beside the redwoods, and generally just worked.

For the most part, failures were "jim induced". The learning curve on dealing with something this big was long, and my mistakes were pretty costly. By the halfway point, I was handling the rig pretty well, and the unexpected expenditures fell to a "trickle."

When we got out in our driveway, I did notice the front A/C cover was completely gone. No one knows where it went, it was there when we stopped at Camping World in Madison, gone when we got home. I did hear 1 unaccounted for noise somewhere in between.

Cool trip Jim.....I'm Pictureing you boys in my head..LOL. Have you ever been to Hershey Park? I'm renting a 2008 31ft RV with a double slide out and going for 5 days. This would be the first time driving a RV. It a class B so it shouldn't be too bad. Sound like alot of fun. I'm trying to convince the wife to get one already. I guess i'll have to wait until after the trip to see how she likes it. There soooo cheap right now...

Marc

Welcome home! I've enjoyed the vicarious vacation through Carol's blogs. Thank her for us. :thumbsup:

Mr DanB and Val still need more time to relax after following Jim for a few days . Now that jim is home the Oregon Bridge crews can start working on there new Rubber bridge!!!! we also need to chip in for a remote control motorhome for Jim so he can practice on the off season .

Jim: If you went through Greybull Wy, you went right past our house. Too bad i didn't know you were coming this way.

Jay, we took the interstate, so did not pass thru Graybull. It would have been nice to see ya tho, and a lot of other tc'ers.

Mark, plug in your magic jack, I'm trying to call.
Also, Dan called, he and Val have fully recovered.

I'm thankful for Jim and Carol on the vacation! They livened everything up and their boys are typical teens alright! Had a hoot going down the coast and would do it again in a heartbeat. Shasta looked like alot of fun, but I had a major car show to put on here...
Glad you made it home safe and sound Jim. I still have the wheel cover to the turd somewhere in the garage ;) See ya next trip!
Dan n Valerie:beers::hurray::thumbsup: