We did our first real road test of Westy in mid-September. This was the first real road test for Westy – about 1500 miles, and she performed flawlessly. This was a 6-day 5-night trip. We camped two out of the 5 nights. Here’s a recap:
Day 1 – Portland to Chiloquin, OR via Crater Lake National Park (281 mi)
For our first leg we drove down I-5 from Portland to the Springfield area and then took off on Oregon Highway 58 across the Cascade mountains. I’ve always wanted to drive this route but never had driven it before. It links the Willamette Valley and Central Oregon, crossing the Cascade Range at Willamette Pass. What I didn’t know was that this is a popular alternate route for trucks on the I-5 corridor, avoiding the steep grades and winter closures of I-5 over Siskiyou Summit. Fortunately we didn’t encounter any problems from the truck traffic. Oregon 58 ends at U.S. Highway 97, where we headed south. We could have driven straight down Highway 97 to Chiloquin, but decided to detour through Crater Lake instead. This only added 40 miles and we were treated to a beautiful view when we got there.
As we saw frequently this summer, there was road construction going on in the park, so we had several one-lane delays. After a brief stop at the visitor center, we continued south and rejoined Highway 97 near our destination for the night: Collier Memorial State Park. This is a beautiful setting and has abundant campsites and RV parking spots. We chose an RV spot for the night because it offered an electrical outlet, so we could plug in our portable cooler. You can see the cooler in the bottom right of the photo above.
Day 2: Chiloquin, OR to Tahoe City CA – (384 mi)
It was cooler than we expected at this spot. In fact, it got down to freezing the next morning, and we didn’t have any hot breakfast food to look forward to. So, we decided to just pack up, break camp and head down to Klamath Falls for gas and a hot breakfast. We ended up at Casey’s restaurant based on a local recommendation. Casey’s is an old-fashioned cafe with breakfast cooked to order. Great food and fast service at reasonable prices.
After breakfast we continued on our way to Tahoe City. The route took us through Alturas, CA and then down Highway 395 to Reno. From Reno we hopped onto I-80 West to CA-89 and Tahoe City. We stayed at America’s Best Value Inn right downtown. Tahoe City is a nice quiet town right on Lake Tahoe with lots of local shops. Westy cruised right along and made the leg on one tank. of gas.
Day 3: Lake Tahoe Area
We spent all day exploring around Lake Tahoe today. It’s truly a beautiful place, and the views of the lake are stunning no matter where you are. The only downside we experiences was road construction. The main road around the lake was closed just south of Inspiration Point, so we couldn’t make the full loop.
Day 4: Tahoe City to Belden, CA (231 mi)
The next day we were back on the road and drove from Tahoe to Belden, CA via Folsom to see friends. Our stop that night was a small RV park on the Feather River called Caribou Crossroads. It sits in the canyon by the river and is a very nice spot.
We ran into a bit of a problem because some of the power pedestals did not have a 20 amp receptacle, but we managed to get things to work with an extension cord. Add to to-do list: purchase a 30 amp to 20 amp pigtail adapter to avoid this problem in the future.
Day 5: Belden, CA to Yreka, CA via Lassen Volcanic National Park (236 mi)
The next day we continued driving up the North Fork of the Feather River past a number of PG&E hydro projects. Then we headed Highway 89 through Indian Valley and past Lake Almanor up to the south entrance to Lassen Volcanic National Park. We spent a couple of hours exploring the park and had lunch. Then we continued on to Yreka, CA for the night where we stayed in a motel.
Day 6: Yreka, CA to West Linn, OR (320 mi)
Day 6 was our last leg of the road trip. It was all Interstate driving. Nothing exciting to report about that!
Summary
This road trip was a big success for us. We got to refine our planning and camping skills on a multi-day trip and see how Westy performed. Westy proved to be up to the challenge and gave us a trouble-free, comfortable ride. Our overall fuel economy for the trip was 20.25 MPG. Time to plan our next trip!
OK – enough time spent prepping Westy. It’s time to try Westy out on an overnight camp out. We decided to go mid-week to one of our favorite spots – the campgrounds on the Metolius river in Camp Sherman, Oregon. We booked a spot at the Pioneer Ford campground, packed up food and camping equipment, and took off.
Here’s how the campsite looked all set up. The cooler on the right side of the picnic table is our Coleman electric cooler. We like it because it goes where we go – campsite, motel, wherever.