Wallowa-Whitman National Forest seemed like the perfect place for Sash and I to set up camp for a couple of weeks, just to get away from the Summer’s heat in Tri-Cities, WA. We found an area called “Spring Creek”, located along, of course, Spring Creek Rd, a dirt path that takes further deep into the forest. There’s actually a developed campground down there called “Spring Creek”, but we didn’t go there. We instead looked for some dispersed areas located along other forest roads. We finally found a cool little spot. At about 3,500 feet elevation, we managed to cool down by about 20 degrees fr ..read more

Horn Rapids County Park is the only campground run by Benton County, WA, and is perhaps the closest public campground to the Tri-Cities area. Horn Rapids is located right along the Yakima River, and right along Highway 225, right where it intersects with Highway 240. (Read our reviews of other Washington State campgrounds and destinations) It’s not free to camp here. It’ll run you $25.00 a night. However, it does offer 50 AMP electrical and water hookups. There are no sewer hookups, however, but it does have an RV dump station up front, with potable water. You cannot reserve sites in advance ..read more

Free camping in or around the Tri-Cities, Washington area is tough because there aren’t many free camping options that leaves you close to Richland, Pasco, or Kennewick. But, if you willing to camp about 40 miles away, there is a place… Read our reviews of other Washington State campgrounds and destinations) Vernita Bridge is the name of a campground and boat launch run by the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife. It lies right at the base of Vernita Bridge, a metal bridge carrying State Highway 24 over the Columbia River. The campground and boat launch is on the north side of the riv ..read more

Sash and I reunited after 6 weeks of being apart. It was the longest period of time we had ever been apart, even going back to when we were just dating. There we were, under 103 degree F sunshine, along the banks of the Columbia River, at a remote campground and boat launch called, “Vernita Bridge” about 40 miles northwest of Tri-Cities, Washington, we stepped out of our respective vehicles and embraced. “I’m sorry I did this!” she said. “I won’t ever do this again, I promise!” The muscle memory all came back as my arms and hands found the familiar places on her back and shoulders. After so ma ..read more

Rest areas are not known as a destination, but this one is. Located on I-90, at Chamberlain, SD (serving both directions), is a rest area featuring a museum about the Lewis and Clark Expedition and a giant statue of an Indian woman. The statue, dubbed, “Dignity Statue” pays homage to the Native American culture that South Dakota is so well known for. This is not a statue of Sacajawea. Rather, a statue meant to reflect the many Native American cultures of the Northern Plains. The museum has many artifacts on display from the Lewis and Clark Expedition along with Native American pieces of art a ..read more

Folks traveling along I-35 through Iowa will find lots of overnight parking at the rest area in Dows. The Dows I-35 Rest Area has 48 parking spaces for trucks and RVs. But making things better, this rest area is not busy at all. You’ll find plenty of available parking all through the night. The rest area itself has lot of amenties too. There’s an RV dump station, though no potable water. Next to the dump station are trash dumpsters. The area has picnic facilities, BBQ grills, and inside the visitor building are vending machines, maps, and very clean facilities. Across the street from the rest ..read more

Along Interstate 65, right where it intersects with State Highway 2, there is a place where you can camp for free. It rests along a dead end road named, “Nebraska St.” right next to a Flying J Travel Center. (Read our reviews of other Indiana campgrounds and destinations) Nebraska St. is surrounded by trees and shrubs, giving you plenty of privacy even though it’s situated next to a gas station and fast food restaurants. And while there is some freeway noise from I-65, it’s really not that loud. Moreover, you can easily walk to the McDonald’s for free Wi-Fi, and get online. If you wanted to ..read more

Probably your best choice for free camping near Salida, CO is at Shavano Wildlife Management Area (WMA), in the hills just west of Poncha Springs. Shavano WMA is named after Mt. Shavano, one of the “fourteeners” that make up the greater Rocky Mountain range in Colorado. The area is owned by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and is camping is permitted. I camped here for 10 days in July 2019. It’s a pretty large area too. Plenty of room for the largest RVs. Beautiful views of snow-capped peaks and lots of pinyon pine to help create that “foresty” scent. Some sites have lots of shade, but exp ..read more

This past week, our ATC Toy Hauler reached its 25,000th mile of towing. It took 2 years and 3 months to get there. Most trailers don’t come with an odometer for tracking miles towed, but I started keeping track of miles on a little note-keeping app on my cellphone. I did because I wanted to know for my own knowledge, just because we live full time in our toy hauler. But I also wanted to keep track of how many miles our trailer tires are putting on too. If someday, you plan to sell your trailer, someone may also want to know how many miles are on it. I don’t know if 25,000 miles in 27 months is ..read more

Silos Campground is a paid-campground along the western shore of Canyon Ferry Lake, Montana. It’s the only paid-campground owned by the Bureau of Reclamation, but managed by the County of Broadwater. Sites cannot be reserved online. It’s strictly walk-in only, first-come-first-serve. I came here for one night on Sunday, July 14, 2019, because I needed to be close to the town of Townsend, MT, for a tooth extraction the next day. There are actually campgrounds closer to Townsend, but I had visited them to check them out, and just didn’t like them. Silos Campground seemed to be a good balance of ..read more