Days end and serendipity

2:30pm - Friday: One of our sources for places to overnight is called "The Days End Directory", which is compiled by a member of Escapees, and regularly updated, and sold to Escapee members.  It contains information on thousands of places to overnight for free all across the US, and Canada, or very little money.  In this case the directory indicated that the Port of Arlington has a small RV park (and marina) with full hookups, as well as a dry camping area near the boat ramp.  The dry camping area is $9/night, and the full hookups section is $21.  We have used this source on countless occasions over the past almost 7 months and have never been disappointed.  We decided to take the last pull through spot, which fits our 62' rig perfectly with a couple of feet to spare.  The information is very accurate....thankfully the part about the strong winds did not materialize today.  There are no reservations....it is all first come, first served, and that brings me back to why we left Vancouver by 9:15am.

The marina

Our "made in jello plan" called for us to leave around 9am to miss the morning traffic,  not wake our hosts up too early, and to get us as far as Arlington so we might snag a spot for the weekend.  The plan worked with close to perfection timing.....we left Lee's home around 9:15am....not bad, and just before we left I discovered our day's drive to Arlington was only 141 miles, not 169, like I had thought.....so the 15 minutes late still got us to Arlington around 12:30pm.....in time to beat the end of the day crowd on a Friday, and get our first come, first served spot right on the Columbia River.  Frankly, site #5 is the only pull through that would have taken our length.....that's what I mean about serendipity.

The drive south and east along the I-84 corridor was 95% flat with great views of the river most of the time.  We even stopped for 20 minutes at a rest stop and still got here by 12:30pm.  We passed several dams, including the gigantic Bonneville Dam.  We will definitely stop there on another day for the tour.

In just 141 miles we have left the heavily forested mountain slopes and find ourselves in high desert with very dry air, and yet, relatively cool temperatures....right now it is around 75 degrees, and we just have the windows open....no A/C necessary.  I use the term "high desert" liberally here, because we are only around 500' elevation right now.

Today we have no obstructions of the southern sky, so we have DirecTV again.  Our hosts, Lee and Patty, were kind enough to allow us to watch the one program we don't want to miss....."So You Think You Can Dance!", so we haven't really missed TV that much.....TLE is smiling, because she knows I did miss it the first couple of nights....OK, maybe the first 4 nights......lol!

We're not sure if we will stay here one night, or two nights......tonight will tell the tale.....if the trains bother us we may not stay a second night.....if they are like the ones that passed by several times a night in Ventura, CA when we dry camped along Rincon Parkway in the past, then it won't be a problem.

Thanks for stopping by!!