8-12-2022 Paradise Creek Campground
Lorena has been planning a lot of trips that involve extended family. Mark and Shawnda are here with us for the weekend.
We weren’t able to leave early so the drive down I5 would have taken almost 6 hours. We came over Cayuse and NFD25 south from Randle. That was just over 4 hours. The last 40 miles on the forest service road was slow, rough and lots of turns. A fun drive but everything in the camper ended up on the floor. What a mess. That old Ford would have found the road to be the most punishing it has ever been on. The Ram handled the road with ease and a commanding presence.
Nice campground. Lots of giant fir and cedar. The creek is low, but should give Teagan an opportunity to splash around. It looks like even the camp host doesn’t have power. There is one camp site where the guy just threw a cot out and didn’t bother to set up a tent or anything. Proper camping.
8-14-2022
We drove North then West to 503 by the Swift reservoir, then out to I5. There was exactly one spectacular view of Mt. St. Hellens. The truck says we are averaging 11MPG. Not great, but better than the Ford. There was quite a bit of stop and go from Olympia to Ft. Lewis. It was a relief to not worry about the truck running hot.
This is our 8th trip this year and we have 3 more planned. I am very happy we have been able to get out so much and have a truck that can just go wherever and whenever we want.