Travel

Day 32 – August 14: Pendleton, OR to Seattle, WA

Mileage: 293.2 miles / 13.3 mpg / $136.30 diesel

Campground: Ha ha – we’re home!!

Not our exact route (due to Apple Maps limitations on number of stops allowed), but close enough to show the overall route we traveled.

Six hours of driving today and we’re home!! Here are a few stats from the trip:

  • 6,360.2 miles (about the same straight-line distance from Seattle to Nepal)
  • 13.4 mpg
  • 8 states (10 if you count our Four Corners photo!)
  • 8 National Parks / Monuments
  • A couple of National Forests / BLM lands
  • A handful of state parks
  • Majority of our time was spent above 1 mile elevation, with peaks over 9,000 feet!
  • Most days were in the low 90-degrees. Some were as high has 105-106. One was blissfully in the 60s!
  • Many, many gallons of water consumed and converted to sweat! (Liquid IV for the win!)
What a goofball!
Not red!

Day 31 – August 13: Kuna, ID to Pendleton, OR

Mileage: 242.2 miles / 12.9 mpg / $112.88 diesel / 6,964.1 total miles

Campground: Pendleton KOA Journey (Pendleton, OR)

Well, today was our third drive day of four – and we could probably have pushed for home without too much strain. We arrived around 1:30 with the time zone change, and had originally stopped here for exploring Pendleton and hanging by the pool. Unfortunately, most of Pendleton is closed on Sundays and this KOA had no pool!

So we ended up driving around downtown Pendleton for a few minutes, then checked out the Pendleton Mills Store (no tours on the weekends, folks), then ended up at the casino / resort up the road for a couple of games of bowling. (None of us thought to pack bowling shoes for a National Parks tour – go figure!). Dinner was at what was positioned as a rebellious little gastropub, but turned out to be “just fine” food. Back to the trailer at 6:30 in 95-degree weather – we’re ready to go home tomorrow!

Day 30 – August 12: Huntsville, UT to Kuna, ID

Mileage: 325.4 miles / 12.1 mpg / $111.48 diesel / 5,821.9 total miles

Campground: All In Boarding (Hipcamp)

Today was another 8 hour snooze-cruise along I-15 (where are our country highway twisties & climbs?). The only exciting that happened was… um… we…

…crossed the border into Idaho? (Sorry – it was a really unexciting day!)

Anyway – tonight we’re boondocking outside of Boise at a horse boarding ranch. It’s hot, a mite dusty, and not lacking on the flies – not nearly as fancy as last night’s location! But we’re just here for dinner, a sleep, and then we’re on the road again in the morning!

PS – After dinner, we were invited for a tour of the operation here! Horses, mini rodeo cattle, goats, chickens, ducks and dogs.

Day 29 – August 11: Virgin, UT to Huntsville, UT

Mileage: 348.9 miles / 14.6 mpg / $103.48 diesel / 5.495.6 total miles

Campground: Infinity Farm (via Harvest Hosts)

Today was a 7.5 hour drive, the start of our Utahn exodus. It was a straight shot from La Verkin via I-15 (LV is 10 minutes from the campground outside Virgin), so it was largely interstate cruising until we reached the denser traffic of Salt Lake County.

Huntsville is high in ski country, up around 5,200’ (which is fairly low for us this trip!). Our site tonight was the amazing Infinity Farm, a retirement project for a successful SoCal couple. 19 acres, amazing house, unbelievable garden, swimming pond, huge pavilion with pickle ball, etc.

Our host, Tami, is a professional chef and whipped up a lovely charcuterie plate to round out simple travel dinner of chicken salad on croissants. Very friendly people – Tim took the kids to feed the cows, Tami took them to raid her surplus of wild mint. (Andrew is a fresh mint fiend!)

We played pickleball and went for a nice stroll around the property after dinner. Quiet and peaceful – Andrew doesn’t wait to leave tomorrow! Seriously – if you are looking for a campsite near SLC and can boondock it for a night – you need to check Infinity Farm out!

That was a BIG caterpillar at our site this AM!
Arches everywhere here!
Delicious!

Day 28 – August 10: Zion NP & Snow Valley SP

Mileage: 100.3 miles / 18.0 mpg / $93.97 diesel / 5,146.7 total miles

Campground: (same)

Today was a disappointing day. We didn’t rally the troops in enough time to do an early morning hike before our scheduled “ride with a ranger” outing. Then, when we reached the gates, the crowds were a lot heavier than yesterday. We couldn’t find a parking spot near the Visitor Center in time to make the tour.

Frustrated, we bailed on Zion in hopes of the recommended Snow Valley saving the day. 25 minutes into the drive, a thunderstorm rolled in and our plan went sideways with the lightning and rain! Since slot canyons don’t play well with rain here, that ended before it began.

So – back to the trailer for a late lunch while we waited for the thunderstorm to pass. On the positive side, the temperature dropped to a Washington-friendly 66 degrees! We haven’t been weathered-out this trip yet – we’ve been fortunate! The rain lingered here until mid-afternoon, covering Zion. We watched a movie in the trailer, did a bit of laundry and wrote some postcards.

Showers for kids, dinner, and some hang out time before bed. We’re done with Utah, and ready to start the trek home tomorrow!

P.S. – We’ve now gone as fas as Seattle to Portugal!