“USA 🇺🇸 Road Trip’n ~Oregon to Washington State, to Idaho, and to Montana!”
It was a long time coming, but we finally made it to Montana, with our “Toad,” happily trailing behind us.
We went from Camping to Glamping again, after 17 days without hookups! Boondocking is not my favorite thing, but it is part of this lifestyle, at times.
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Polson, Montana USA 🇺🇸
Words can not explain how happy we are to have arrived in Polson!
This will be our leaping-off-point to head for Alaska 🇺🇸, via Canada 🇨🇦 in 13 days!
We are at Flathead Lake KOA Holiday, and it is quite lovely. The staff are all so friendly and helpful.….Yes, that is Flathead Lake in the pictures!
As you can see for yourself, the Lake is absolutely beautiful! There are many things we want to see, while stationary here, starting Monday and Tuesday; adventuring to Glacier National Park. We’ve never been to this NP, and I’ve wanted to go for a very long time!
We lost about four days of being in this location, due to car trouble, so we will be very busy!
Flathead Lake is 28 miles long and 15 miles wide, making it the largest freshwater lake in the western United States. There is 128 miles of shoreline, and the maximum depth is 386 feet. The lake offers some of the finest year-round fishing available. Major species south over the years include large sized lake trout, lake whitefish, yellow perch, bull trout and west slope cutthroat.
⬇️ Our Views from inside
We are super happy, getting to become more interesting people these days, instead of the boring folks who were, while waiting around an extra six months, in a very tight radius for any distance, whilst the ongoing and seemingly endless restoration project on our VW “Jonah” commenced!
After over a year with our Motorhome, and six months with our “Tiny” the trailer, before that, we now feel very complete with our RVing outfit of “Jonah and The Whale.
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Oregon ⬇️
We just left our friends home in (Central) Prineville, Oregon; destination; Montana. It took a few days and many gallons of Diesel.
Technically, we left from Arizona, drove all through California, and into Oregon.
When traveling full-time in an RV, there is no real starting or ending points…it all blends together after awhile, for one gigantic road trip over many, many years; by the time one is done living this lifestyle.
As it would turn out, we would not have an easy time of finding overnight parking on this trip, so we drove more miles per day than we usually do; calling ahead to our reservation location in Montana, to ask if we could arrive early. Thankfully, no problem.
We headed out of Prineville on Hwy 97, which was such a pretty drive. It would lead us to Biggs Junction on I-84, which I have driven by countless times, on trips from Newberg to Baker City, to visit my dad and his wife, when he was alive, and I still lived in Oregon. My daughter and I always had fun road trips in those days.
The Columbia River Gorge is such a pretty place to be, every time!
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Washington State ⬇️
We continued to have sunny weather with comfortable temperatures.
Other than a few big cities, it was mostly farm land all the way. We had hoped to park at a Walmart in Kennewick overnight, but posted signs all over, for no such thing, detoured our plans. We searched for an RV place, but no vacancy and the one looked a little dicey, anyway….so we continued on, till we found a rest stop that was open and had space, so we could rest.
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Idaho ⬇️
Moving along, after an excellent nights rest, we entered Idaho. I have never stopped in Idaho to explore, but have driven through many times. We def want to stop one a day in the future and check this beautiful state out, more thoroughly.
We drove through the
Couer D’ Alene area on I-90. WOW!
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⬇️ Montana ⬇️
We finally arrived in Montana, and it was the first time we saw snow, since visiting Crater Lake in Oregon, a few weeks ago. Again, such great weather and we were so grateful to have an easy time in the higher elevations of passes.
It’s officially spring!
- It was the 41st state
- Montana is the “Treasure State”
- It has the only grizzly bear population in the lower 48 United States
- Montana’s has had the greatest temperature change
- The Continental Divide splits the country
By the time we drove in to St Regis, we stopped, for a celebration, with Huckleberry Milkshakes!
…..Only an hour and a half and we will be at the campground, at this point.
The final leg of this road trip was the most beautiful! I also happen to love Montana. (I’ve been a couple of times).
The first visit was also traveled from Oregon with a (then) family member. I was taking my four-month-old daughter to meet relatives. (My daughter is almost 40 years old, now). She has family history in Montana on her fathers side. Her great grandparents homesteaded back in the day. The cabin had an outhouse and the quintessential hand pump at the kitchen sink. It was awesome! Fortunately, we stayed in a beautiful, new log cabin with other family members down the road.
The elders did get electricity and plumbing about five years before their passing, but Chelsies great grandma never really liked the new-fangled washing machine, over her hands and her wringer….
Moving along, on our current road trip, I was keeping my eyes peeled for Big Horn Sheep. No such luck, but did see a deer.
⬆️ Coming in to Charlo, to fuel up, this was our scene. This would be the Mission Mountains
⬆️ Arriving in Polson
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***In total, we drove for about twelve hours, as we stay at 55 mph or less.
***Also, a note about my iPhone photos, while driving on the road. The quality isn’t that great as I can’t roll down a window like when driving in a car. “The Whale” has no such windows. It’s an adjustment, but I will always get great photos with my pro cameras when doing side trips in “Jonah.”
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Archive Blog Posts of Our Country Visits
About Us

About Us
Hello and Welcome to our Travel Blog Website, We enjoy writing about our experiences and taking photos of our adventuring along the way. Our names are: Daryl and Pen, but Daryl calls me “Bunny.” We met, quite randomly, whilst both… Read More