Saturday, July 11, 2009

Windust Campground, 30 miles northeast of Pasco, Washington

P7090003 Left Glacier on Wednesday and drove 200 miles to Kellogg, Idaho. Spent the night at  a Passport America park , Big Creek, just off the interstate. For $13 it was fine. Had power and water but no sewer,. which we didn’t need anyway. Also had WiFi, which actually worked. The nice thing was there is a 72 mile paved bike trail adjacent to the campground. The bad thing was, I had ridden the bike around the campground the day before and it started raining. In my haste to get back and get inside, I failed to take the foam seat cushion off the bike when I put it back on the rack. It is probably laying by the road somewhere near West Glacier. So I used an old lower back cushion we had in the car, and still managed to go for a ride. It was not very comfortable, since my butt was sitting on the hard seat, but at least I could lean back and have some padding. That was $40 out the window, only one day after Jim ran over his $50 altimeter/thermometer watch with the car. Can’t wait to see what we do next!

Drove 180 miles yesterday, working our way towards Crater Lake, Oregon. Not much around these parts of Washington, but found a Corps of Engineers campground, Windust, on Lake Sacajawea, which is actually the Snake River, mile 39. There are 3 other COE  campgrounds on the other side of the lake,with hookups, but this is just  a big grassy park where you can camp for free.

P7090001   They have a nice dump station with potable water and a bathroom with flush toilets but no showers. We couldn’t believe there is no charge to stay here, and it is so pretty on the water. There are picnic tables and numbered sites but you can just camp anywhere on the grass. We have absolutely no cell signal here, though, so I will publish this later.

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We were the only ones on this side when we got here and enjoyed a quiet afternoon sitting outside reading. 2 other couples in RVs came in last  night. The downside is there is a railroad track right across the water, and it is quite an active one. Didn’t bother us sleeping last night, though.P7090006 P7090007  Now we’re trying to decide if we should stay the weekend or take our chances at finding a spot on Friday.  Oh, the pressures of  being retired!

I’m finishing this on Saturday. Had to post an “after” picture of our private little campground. We decided to hang out here another day since it is such a nice place for the price. Of course, the weekenders started pouring in yesterday afternoon, and this is what it looks like now.

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We really can’t complain, though. Our closest neighbors are a nice couple with 4 young girls and a puppy. You can imagine our horror when they set their tent up next to us!  They have been an extremely well behaved, quiet family, much to our pleasant surprise, as have all the other people here for the weekend.  Oreo has been enjoying it here, too. This is his favorite pose.

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2 comments:

  1. Wow, you guys are seeing some beautiful things! I can't wait until we're out in that part of the country. Maybe next year.

    Hope to catch up with you this winter if you're in the Southwest.

    Joe (GoJoe)

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  2. That Columbia River is something else, isn't it? We really enjoy going anywhere near it.

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