Washington-Othello-17 of 49 on our RV Adventure

If you are a first-time reader, welcome to Lora and Erics RV Adventure Blog. You can read about us at http://www.LoraandEricsRVAdventure.com. We started in December 2017 with a goal to complete 49 states before heading home to North Carolina.

Today we are entering Washington State. This is our 17th state on our RV Adventure. We were last in Washington in July 2017 for a wedding. The whole family came out for the wedding. We fell in love with Seattle and the Olympia Peninsula. I think that may have been the moment we can make our dream of an RV Adventure come true. During the trip Lora experienced an incident at work that would change her path in life to retirement and our RV adventure.

The travel time from Portland Woodburn RV Park in Woodburn, OR to O’Sullivan Sportsman RV Resort in Othello, WA is 5 h 5 min (292 miles) via I-84 and WA-97.

Our route takes us through Portland, then east along the Columbia River. Portland looks modern.

Crossing over I-5 in Portland is a gondola from one building on the hill to another building in center city.

I am disappointed in seeing we cannot see Mt Hood from the city like all the Portland photos suggest.

The cliffs on either side of the Columbia River are layers of rocky columns. We pass a waterfall on the right.

The scenery along I-84 and the Columbia River is wonderful.

We eventually turn left, cross the Columbia River and get onto WA-97. The route become very desolate. We begin driving though the Yakama Indian Reservation. There are no trees on the hills and the terrain looks much like a desert. We go on for miles, cross an occasional community, grape field, or farm. We fill the tank up in Toppenish, WA.

We finally reach Othello. The down is very rural. O’Sullivan Sportsman RV Resort is another 15 miles past town. There are graph, hops, hay, and fruit fields. Anything not with irrigation is barren and desert-like.

We climb up a hill and bam we have a giant lake. The campground is across the road from Potholes Reservoir and Potshole State Park. The resort is a Coast to Coast member. I provide my Coast to Coast card and the host tells me I can choose my site. We make the reservation for 6/16 through 6/20. We drive up the left side and find site K-9. The sites are separated by grass. There is 20ft at least between each site, which is nice. The parking is wide to allow for people’s boats and trucks. There are seasonal and full-time campers in the park. The clubhouse is in the back of the park, along with pool. There is a golf club nearby so there are many golf carts with clubs. Dogs seem to run free which we do not like.

A light rain begins after we start a campfire to cook our dinner. It gets steady for a short bid, but not enough to put out the fire. The rain stops, and we cook our dinner.

Sunday is Father’s Day. We get the password for the internet connection. The connection is fantastic I complete our more recent blog posts and upload over 200 photos to AdobeStock, and ShutterStock.

Late in the morning we decide to go out to lunch. We drive to Othello and stop in the Walmart parking lot as I search for restaurants. I choose Checos Mexican Restaurant in Othello. The restaurant is nice for the town and has a good size parking lot. The reviews were mixed, mostly negative regarding the owner. The owner did seem to run everything. He asks us to have a seat on the bench as he gets a table ready, even though the place is virtually empty. He seats us and gives us chips with salsa and refried bean dip. The food is plentiful and good. I order extra wraps to finish my fajita plate. By the time we left the restaurant had a steady group of people coming in.

I google attraction nearby and find a waterfall 1 hour and 5 minutes away. The reviews for Palouse Falls State Park in Washtucna. The drive takes through rolling hills of plowed wheat or hay fields. There are several dust twisters forming in the fields. The rolling hills turn in layered columns of stone.

What seems like for ever we eventually get to the entrance. The entrance is 2 miles down a gravel road. Not knowing what to expect except for great reviews, we get to the parking lot. We park the $10.00 parking fee. We walk just past the parking area and there it is. The waterfall is raging through a then cut out cavity between steep rocky columns of various layers. The signs driving up cautioned visitors to be cautious of the cliff edges. 4 people have died here so far this year. We get various view of the falls and watch the crazy people walking on the edges. We eventually stop and ask the park ranger if people like we are watching are the ones getting killed. He said they have not had fatalities there, by from one of high cliffs and 3 from drowning swimming at the base of the waterfall.

We stay for a short presentation from the Ranger on the formation and history of the falls. The area was layered by multiple volcanoes over thousands of years. The layer stone is Basalt Rock formed in columns from the cooling of magma. The layer effect is the change in time between lava flows.

When flooding occurred from the glaciers the raging water flowed carved large valleys and corridors though the stone. The Palouse Falls drains from the snake river.

The Ranger’s presentation was very informative. We walked back up to the truck and head back to Othello via an alternate route.

When sunset occurred Lora and I walked to the entrance to Potholes State Park to a better vantage point. I walk though a field which Lora refuses. She heads back to the camper as I get more shots.

The next day we remain at the camper nearly all day. We drive into Moses Lake to shop at Safeway and top off the tank. We purchase dinner to cook on the campfire.

99999 I go to bed before sunset and Lora follows some time later.

Our last full day we are doing nothing. I update our expenses and start the Othello WA blog. Our Campground Average per day is $17.64; Attractions $8.05; Restaurant $16.66; Fuel $19.57; and food/other $90.58. The food and other consists of groceries from place like Walmart or Safeway, cigarettes, beer, wine, DEF and general purchases. I separate memberships, medical, home bills, one-time camper (generator, lifts), and UNC Charlotte expenses. We hope traveling to Alaska will reduce many of the daily expenses as we try to boondock more often.

I take down the lounge chair and decide to get some sun.

Tomorrow we head to Bothell, WA. We plan to visit family over the weekend before heading into Canada on Sunday.

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