The Gumbos had intended on taking about five days to make the trip up I-5 from Sacramento to Poulsbo. They looked closely at the weather forecasts for Sacramento, the Siskiyous, Central Oregon and Poulsbo and tried to find a decent window to avoid “atmospheric rivers” and snowy conditions.
They left Sacramento with another atmospheric river predicted for that area the next day. No snow was predicted for the Siskiyous for the next couple days so they made a reservation at a Harvest Host in Weed, CA for the first night.
However, when they were passing by Mt. Shasta, they checked the weather for Weed and noticed that the nighttime temperature was predicted to be 27˚F. That was too cold for The Gumbos! So, they made a quick decision to cancel the Harvest Host reservation and drive for another 3 hours (!) to Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville, OR.
Duwayne and Darla Jean have stopped at Seven Feathers a number of times and planned on spending a couple days there.
But, after waking up the following morning and checking the weather, it looked like things were going to worsen in northern Oregon and Washington in the next couple days. So, it was decided to pack up and continue north further up I-5.
The Gumbos drove about 3 hours to the Polk County Fairgrounds, on old Highway 99 between Corvallis and Salem.
This campsite is basically just a huge parking lot but with power and water for just $25/night. The Gumbos were one of just two RV’s camping there although, apparently, the place is packed every weekend.
It was a nice quiet night with no rain and relatively warm temps. With dry conditions predicted for one more day in the Poulsbo area, The Gumbos decided to make the last 4-hour push for home. So, they got an early start and were hoping to get home by early afternoon. But, typical of this year’s luck, just 10 miles from home, they got stuck in an hour-long traffic jam caused by a head-on collision just a half mile ahead.
Finally, after the accident was cleared, The Gumbos arrived at home!
So, now it’s time to look back at this year’s trip and evaluate it compared to past trips.
Things that worked:
The Lithium Battery was awesome! It charged quickly and, even with a couple hours of TV watching and a whole night of CPAP use, with typical Arizona and Southern California sun, the solar panels had the battery up to 100% charge by 10:30am! And the iPhone app allowed easy monitoring of the battery’s state of charge.
The Lectric E-bike was a real game-changer. Duwayne enjoyed many bike rides and didn’t worry about trail conditions or hills. He was even able to ride 3 miles up Route 66 in 25mph winds to inquire about road conditions.
The Propane Firepit was enjoyed many times and made evening campfires possible when firewood was either not available or the wood was wet (which was most of the time).
A pleasant surprise this season was the almost constant cellular coverage. Unlike past years, The Gumbos rarely had no coverage and often had 2-3 bars of 5G!
Things that didn’t work:
The Gumbos use their satellite DishTV to access both cable TV sites and local channels. This was particularly important this year as they needed current weather forecasts for their locations. Unfortunately, in mid-February, the Dish network was hit by a ransomware attack and a lot of the service’s functionality was compromised. The Gumbos were not able to access local channels and were unable to contact Dish. Kind of a bummer!
Another problem was with Gumbo’s toilet. Early in the trip, it decided to not STOP flushing! That became an issue because the only way to stop the flushing was to turn of the water pump — which meant no water use for any other purpose (sinks, shower, etc.).
Duwayne managed to jury-rig a shut-off valve on the toilet water supply but a new toilet is in the works.
And then, during the last week of the trip, the oven would no longer stay lit. Apparently, there’s a part called a “thermocouple” that tells the oven burner that the pilot light is lit and its okay to keep heating. Gumbo’s thermocouple had died. The last week of travel featured no meals that required an oven.
Overall Trip Summary and Observations:
The Gumbos have traveled south four times and this is the first time they encountered such weird weather. While the trip to California was pleasant, Sacramento had just endured a number of heavy rain events and it was COLD! And, after leaving Sacramento, Duwayne and Darla Jean had to dodge multiple rain and heavy wind events. It was rarely warm enough for an afternoon outdoor reading session or evening happy hour. Even Arizona was cold and windy. And the trip from Arizona back to Central California featured lots of near-misses with rainstorms and flooding. The Gumbos hope that this is not the new normal.
An interesting observation The Gumbos made this year was the types of RV’s that were seen and the types of people using those RV’s. When camping in state parks and structured campsites, it seemed that there was a preponderance of small vans and car campers. And most of the people using these vehicles were single women! It wasn’t until The Gumbos got to the BLM land of Arizona that they started to see larger 5th wheels and Class A RV’s.
Lastly, a big positive was the lower fuel prices experienced this year. While not the low prices of a few years ago, they were still about a buck a gallon less than last year. Much appreciated!
So, now The Gumbos are planning their next season’s trip. They are pondering the possibility of heading MUCH further east (maybe as far as the East Coast!) but will definitely take changing climate conditions under consideration.
The Gumbos Go! 