Sorry for delay in posting but cell service and campground Wi-Fi are lacking in the great north.
After leaving the Madera area I set my GPS to take me to Spokane, WA. I think this was about a 12-hour drive.
I ended up driving around 8 hours and ended up staying overnight at a KOA in Missoula, Montana. This left me with little over three-hour drive to Spokane. The Missoula KOA was nice. It had a variety of camping arrangement available from tents to cabins, and even a Tee-P that you could rent.
Driving through Montana the speed limit becomes 80 mph. On my travels I passed through National Grasslands. (I never knew we had National Grasslands), and again through all types of terrains from flat grasslands to small hills to big mountains dotted with pine trees. This drive was beautiful. It took me through little towns and past ranches and farms. I saw lots of livestock and farmers that were cutting and bailing their hay.
The terrain changed so many times and sometimes within a mile. It would go from flat grassy areas to mountains and from small hills to large mountains dotted with pine trees. In the distance I could see snow topped mountains.
All I can say is go out and see America! It is a beautiful country! I am truly blessed to be able to be on this amazing journey.
Gas mileage: When driving and I keep the RPMs less than 2000 I seem to get approximately 15 miles per gallon and even more. When I am above 2000 RPMs and on hilly roads, I can get as low as 13 miles per gallon. My van uses regular gasoline.
Bugs, Bugs and more Bugs! After driving through North Dakota and Montana I had thousands of dead bugs on my van and windshield. There must have been some big ones as some bug splats on my windshield were 3 inches wide. When I got to the Spokane area, I went into a truck wash stop and had the van cleaned and no more bugs! If you are ever driving through those states, make sure you have lots of windshield washer fluid!
Onward to Spokane
Left the Missoula area on my way to Spokane. I only had about a 3-hour drive and wanted to get into that area in order to get my oil changed and I also topped off the propane tank on the van which fuels my heat and hot water.
Coeur D’ Alene, Idaho, Lake Liberty (Meeting Point for the RV Tour), and Spokane are all within 15 min drive of each other. I tried a couple of Ford dealers to see if they could change the oil but ended up at a RV repair facility not far from the tour meetup campground.
I also used the early arrival day to do my laundry. This was a great spot, and the washers and driers completed the job quickly.
The first night in this area I stayed at Spokane KOA. Had a nice site and a quiet night of sleep. The next day I was moving to the Lake Liberty campground where the Tour group was meeting up. This was a whopping 10 minute drive. I arrived a day earlier than the official start date of the tour.
Lake Liberty Campground had large concrete pads with full hookups. Full hookups means that I had an electrical outlet, water hookup, and a place to drain my dirty water tanks.
I was able to meet the folks that were running the tour and picked up my trip packet. This included a visor, trip log, Alaska Milepost book, name badge, pen. They also put a sticker on the front and rear of my van showing that I was part of the tour group.
This was July 4th and that evening I saw some fireworks.
Fantasy RV Tours
I purchased my van in March of 2020. In researching Class B RV vans, I also read about RV tour groups. In September of 2021, I attended the Hershey RV show. While at the show I came across the Fantasy RV tour booth. They offer RV Caravans and Rallies all over the United States, Canada, even S. Africa and Australia. In a Caravan you travel from place to place in your RV and in a Rally, you park in one spot, and they bus you to various sites in the area.
After speaking to the representative, I was sold and booked this 61-day Alaska Trip and I was 6th on the waiting list for the tour date that I booked. I booked so far out, because it was the pandemic and Canada was closed to visitors.
My trip is called the 61-day Ultimate Alaska tour. It starts in Lake Liberty, Washington and ends in Prince George, British Columbia.
The tour group has what is called a Wagon Master and a Tail Gunner.
The wagon masters oversee making all the reservations for camping, some meals, some excursions and handling any problems that might arise. They are the first ones to leave a campground so they can get to the next campground before everyone else and secure the sites or anything else that needs to be done.
The tail gunners are the last one to leave a campground. This way if someone is broken down on the side of the road, they can identify the person in the tour group by the sticker on their RV and stop to help. The tail gunner is also the “Thumper”. Each morning of a travel day he goes around to all the RV’s and hits the tires with a bat like object. This is to identify if someone has an issue with a tire such as a flat or slow leak. He can tell by the sound it makes when he hits the tires.
Tail Gunner’s: Karl and Lichele (on the left) Wagon Master’s: Bill and Elaine (On the right1
Travel Log/Travel Day
Travel Log: We were each given a travel log which has our tour itinerary along with turn-by-turn directions to our next campsite. At the start of each day, I turn the trip meter on my vehicle to zero. The travel log lists mileage and at what mile we should be turning. It also identifies the mileage number of rest areas, fuel sites, landmarks, pull offs and road hazards or any sites where we have an excursion scheduled.
Prior to traveling to the next town/campsite we have a “Travel Briefing”. At this meeting the wagon masters and tail gunners review upcoming traveling plans and talk about the items on our trip log for that part of our journey.
They will tell us what time the wagon master and tail gunner will be leaving the campground. For example: the wagon master will leave the campground at 7am to head to the next camping site and the tail gunner will leave at 11am. We can leave anytime we want, and we don’t drive in a caravan where we are one behind another. If we break down the tail gunner will assist. We also don’t have to go by their turn-by-turn directions and can go to the next campsite by any roads we want. But if we don’t use their directions, the tail gunner won’t be able to help us out because they won’t see us.
At the travel briefing they also talk about any sites to see along the way or at our travel destination. If we have an excursion, dinner or other event planned they will also review that and give us instructions or tickets if required.
Here are photos of the Trip Log and a what the travel day information pages look like. We were also given the Milepost Book. I also created my own binder and created sections for each “town” we are going to be staying and visiting. In my research I then wrote down information or stops I would like to see in that particular place and put it into my binder.
Family band radio: We all had to bring a family band radio (think walkie talkie). We are all set to the same channel and when we leave a campsite, we radio to the tail gunner to tell them we are on our way and when we arrive to the next campground, we radio to the wagon master to tell them we have arrived. They will then give us our campsite number and any campground information that we might need.
Finally, I was given a pink ribbon. If I break down on the side of the road, I can tie that to my mirror. That will alert the Tail Gunner that I need some help.
Tour meetup day.
We had an orientation meeting in the campground conference room where we met each other, and they explained how the trip log and other parts of our tour will work. They provided a strawberry shortcake desert for everyone.
I learned that we have a total of 48 people in 26 RV’s are traveling in our group. There is one other solo traveling woman also traveling in a class B RV. Most of the RV’s are the big class A ones which are also pulling a vehicle, but there are travel trailers and 5th wheel RV’s being towed by trucks.
We had an included visit to a local winery for a wine tasting and tour. I walked from the campground to Liberty Lake Wine Cellars. The wines were on the dryer side and good.
Next Stop…… Fort Steele, Canada