Catfish Junction, Or to Coulee City Community RV Park, Wa

First off…. yesterday was a lousy day in Catfish Junction.  The wind was supposed to be high and it was….it “howled like a banshee” all day!   Eric managed to get his weights done while I sat over at the park laundromat and got us cleaned up.  Two washers and two dryers and although one of the dryers was slow at least they weren’t expensive.  Then….I spent the afternoon catching up the blog.  It took about 3 hours to get two blog posts done and it’s my own fault as I just take too many darn pictures!  By the time I edit and crop and insert and blab about them…there you have it…an afternoon gone.  Not that it mattered yesterday because it was too windy to go outside anyway.   Boy are we tired of wind!

Today we were up early at 6am as we have another 320 miles to go to Coulee City, Washington.  The wind was supposed to die down over night which it did for awhile but now it has piped back up.  It’s supposed to be light in Baker City, Pendleton etc. so I guess we’ll see. 

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Here’s todays’ route and it’s a long one for us.  The pile up 2,3,4,5 is where I force MapPoint to take us along the east side of the Columbia River and on a bypass route that we like better than going through Pasco/Kennewick. 

Here we are leaving the park and you can see the red Jeep with a Tag trailer attached.  There was one parked next to us that you can see in the distance and it was pulled by a Subaru.  Okay for a short stay I guess but hugely expensive. 

Heading north on I84 along the Snake River and it is really windy. 

Yes….those windmills are turning.   I know we seem obsessed with wind but a truck pulling a big heavy 5th wheel in the wind is really hard on the driver and not anything any RVer wishes for….exhausting and stressful.    We make it our prime objective to lay over when it’s too windy and today wasn’t supposed to be. 

Up and down as we head towards Baker City.  Don’t those hills just look like velvet.

The National Weather Service said there was no wind in Baker City and as we got closer they were right!

It is a beautiful sunny day and it’s not too hot and not too cold with no wind.  Perfect!

On to La Grande where we’ll get fuel before heading up, up, up and then down, down, down into Pendleton.

Pretty here and the grass is green with lots of cattle grazing here and there.  Very pastoral.

Not much traffic.

The journey up and down starts at La Grande as you head up over Deadman’s Pass/Emigrant Hill and Cabbage Hill and then down into Pendleton.   It is about 52 miles from La Grande to Pendleton.

This van was stopped in La Grande at the Flying J where we got fuel and it was full of Mexicans.  When it passed us it was weaving around and travelling down the center line.  It had a sticker on the back that said Zapata III.  Zapata was a leading figure in the Mexican revolution.  Reminds us of Mexico….especially the driving! 

Pretty here but the leaves aren’t out yet.

Still a long way up and down.

4193 ft here.   We laugh at 4193 ft. as we were up at over 6000 ft for most of Tuesday’s drive north from Alamo to Jackpot!

It’s nice to see all the coniferous trees.   Reminds us of home!

Traffic is light and the road conditions are perfect and there is still no….wind!

Up over the crest and in the distance you can see the wide open farmland that surrounds Pendleton.

Tilled land and bright green fields all in a checker board pattern. 

It is a long way down and Eric has the truck’s transmission holding us back.  I wonder how many people burn up their brakes travelling this route?

See way down there to the left….. that’s where we’re going.

Almost down….there’s no wind here either.  It’s about 20C and just a lovely day.

I think that might be the Pendleton woolen mill down there.   Lots of history here but we don’t have time to stop.

Wide open and flat as a pancake.

Grain storage?

We’ll exit at Stanfield and then take our country road bypass route. 

There sure are a lot of school Tiger’s teams!

We turn onto Edwards Road and head north. 

A pretty little country road with blooming trees and farms.  Much nicer than the interstate and shorter than going through Pasco/Kennewick.

I love the perspective of the poles with the green on one side and the dead grass on the other. 

Hmmm…..lots of lawn to mow here.

A quick picture out my side window of buffalo.  I used to see belted Galloway cattle here but I guess they’ve changed their speciality. 

Just plain pretty here.

Heading north along Hwy 730 or the Columbia River Hwy towards Pasco. 

We pulled off to have lunch and as usual we stopped too soon.  We do it every year and there are much better spots just a little bit north. 

Pretty narrow and the big trucks were really rocking us around!  Next year we’ll remember to go farther before we pull off….yeah right!

Lunch is done and we are on the road.

Lots of interesting rock cliffs.

I cleaned the windshield when we stopped for fuel in La Grande but the bugs are out and there are bug spots all over. 

23 miles to Pasco where we’ll head north on 395. 

Now those are some unusual rocks. 

Left for Pasco. 

This wildlife preserve on the east side of the highway is full of white geese of some sort. 

Here we are going over the Snake River which runs into the Columbia River.

Neat!

We take exit 14 to head north on 395.

21 miles later we exit to take 17 north. 

We’ve got about 70 miles left to go before we get to Coulee City and the day’s drive has been good. 

This is some sort of food company and it had the most beautiful row of pruned ornamental red trees.  They were in bloom so I would assume they were some sort of cherry.

We usually stop in Moses Lake for fuel but there is a new station called the Waterhole 17 truck stop close to Othello that was much easier to get into and it will now be our preferred stop.

Past Moses Lake and ready to head towards Soap Lake.  This little stretch of highway really needs repaving.  The cracks have been filled so many times that it’s more crack filler than pavement.

Part of the road into Soap Lake had been repaved but….only a stretch here and there. 

We used to stop at the Soap Lake Resort which you can see on the right hand side of the picture at the far end.  Then it became the Smokiam RV resort and the rates became ridiculous.   The park has been slightly upgraded but it is in no way a “Resort!”

So onward to the Coulee City RV park.

Lake Lenore to the left.

We have really been bugged now and there are spots all over the windshield.   Swell!

Right for Coulee City.

Here we are and although the grass is green there aren’t hardly any leaves on the trees.  $30 a night and we can live with that.  We’ll stay two nights because tomorrow it’s supposed be really…..windy! 

The sun is shining, it’s warm and all is well.  Another evening of beer, food, TV and bed.   A really good day!