Our First Road Trip 2024 in our 2020 Freedom Elite 28FE RV – Part 2

Part 2: July 22 – July 27

Click here to read part 1

Our First Road Trip 2024 in our 2020 Freedom Elite 28FE RV – Our journey began in Sonoma County California heading up the coast on Highway 101 through to the beautiful town of Seaside Washington. Now, in part two of our travels, we continue our journey in Leavenworth Washington.

July 22: Leavenworth Washington

9:25 am – If you have been following our road trip from the beginning, you know it has been a trip filled with… How do I say this and not sound completely negative? Umm.. Well today’s broken item is the shower… again. Hubby took a shower this morning and I have never seen so much water flood the floor of the bathroom into the bedroom before. There is an access door to look under the shower pan and it seems the shower drain pipe is busted now. Hubby just left for the local hardware store. I needed some good thoughts to cheer me up so I Googled the info for the mountain slide we were planning on riding today. Cash’s only request for this trip was going on a mountain slide. The website says it is closed for maintenance until 7/21/2024. That was yesterday…(heavy sigh) Let’s see what happens.

Later that day – GOOD NEWS! We were able to book a time on the slide at 4pm. This was perfect. The late reservation allowed us plenty of time to wake up slowly and make our way to the cute Bavarian town unrushed. We nabbed a parking spot just one street from where we wanted to start our day. The town is so delightful with it’s Bavarian styled building and easy pedestrian only streets. It made the crowds of people so much easier to get around. the shops were mostly touristy souvenir shops, wine tasting rooms, local artist shops, and restaurants. Perfect for just strolling around enjoying the scenery.

We stopped at a patio only seating restaurant and sipped lemonade and cola, and people watched to escape the heat. The water misters kept us there long after our drinks were finished. When we finally decided to continue our shopping we discovered a Christmas shop! YES PLEASE!!!

After we were done exploring the town we made our way to Leavenworth Adventure Park for the Alpine coaster. Sadly I did not get any pictures of that. The family was pretty tired of my picture taking and I decided to give them a break. The coaster was fun, but very short. It was only five minutes long, and the first 2 or 3 minutes was it taking you to the top of the ride. Was it $20 a person worth it? I guess so, but I wouldn’t pay for it twice.

After the ride we enjoyed a really nice dinner downtown and then made our way back to the campsite. Time to rest up for the drive to Spokane.

July 23: Leavenworth to Spokane

I am happy to say that yesterday, nothing happened. Nothing new broke in the RV. No new sicknesses with any of us. Ahhh… boring is so nice. Dare I even hope that it might be smooth sailing from here on out?  We left Leavenworth around 8am. Nice and early thanks to hubby. He wanted to stop at a few of the local hardware stores to return shower parts he didn’t need and pick up the ones he knew would work. I was still in my PJ’s working at the table, my oldest was asleep on the couch, and my youngest was in the bed over the driver’s cab. We needed better internet and were only going 5 minutes down the road. After those few quick pit stops we were back on the road and headed east on the 90 towards Spokane. The funny thing is my neighbor who has a cabin in Wisconsin, texted me to tell me they were on the 90 going west towards Spokane. They are less of the site seeing type and more of the lets drive 17 hours straight and get home kinda people. I get grumpy if we drive for more than 4 hours. We are staying here in Spokane for two nights so we can rest a bit. I’m hoping we will have the energy to explore the city. It looks beautiful. We had booked two nights here with the intention of white water rafting, but an old high school friend of hubby said he just bought a rafting company and he would take us out when we get to Boise. NICE!

I have been wanting to go to Leavenworth for a few years now to see it decorated for Christmas in the winter. Had you asked me the day we were there if I still wanted to, I would have said NO WAY!! The drive up there from Seattle through the mountains was an absolute terror ride for me. It would be even worse in the snow. But when we left Leavenworth heading for Spokane the trip was much easier. I wouldn’t drive though. I would fly in as close as possible and drive to Leavenworth and stay in a hotel. There is no way I am staying in an RV in the snow. My pups agree with me.

July 24 & 25: Spokane Washington

This morning I woke up and it seems very quiet and easy. Nothing is broken right now in the RV. No one is sick. We have a 3.5 hour drive today from Spokane to Missoula. Which isn’t too bad. It’s all on highway 90. No hills or cliffs for me to be afraid of. Have I gotten into the groove of the RV life? Dunno… Maybe? Yesterday was fun in Spokane. We spent the day exploring Riverfront Park. We walked across all three bridges, taking way too many pictures of the waterfalls.

I really enjoyed finding all the sculptures around the park. Some were hidden around corners and down into lower areas you could only see from the bridges. My favorite by far was the Trash Goat. It’s fun feeding a trash goat. I wish I had more to feed him.

It was very hot yesterday, but grabbing a few drinks and sitting in the air conditioned Looff Carrousel building gave us the recharge we needed to explore more of the park.

After we were done in the park we headed back to the RV for dinner. Going out to eat is just too expensive these days. At home a meal for four in a restaurant is well over $100. CRAZY! And that’s just the food, not with drinks like soda or beer. On this trip we have eaten out only two times. We have grabbed a few snacks here and there, and of course treated ourselves to ice cream. But for the most part we prepare our own meals in the RV. It has saved us a bundle, but going over the expenses so far on this trip with hubby the other day… WHOA!

July 25 & 26 : Missoula, Montana

I have unlocked a new fear on this road trip. I hate vastness. Right now we are driving through Montana on highway 90. This state is absolutely amazing. I love seeing the mountains in the distance with even bigger mountains behind them and even bigger beyond that.  I believe it was the St Regis river that we crossed multiple times. Not entirely sure. The beauty of the drive actually made me forget my fear of riding in a car for a brief moment.

For this leg of the trip my oldest was in the front seat. It was really nice to see hubby and him talking and listening to music. It’s not that often that they sit and talk for hours about just stuff. My oldest was also enjoying the scenery instead of having his face in his phone or on his computer doing his summer class work. I didn’t have to tell him to look outside at the beautiful scenery at all. I did for my youngest. They did however need to tell me to look outside. I had to retreat to my phone to take my mind off the vastness. What was it about seeing all that wide open space that freaks me out so much? It was so VAST! It looked like you could see a thousand miles of mountains and rivers and it was overwhelming. Beautiful, but scary. Yes, that is Junebug co-piloting on Hubby’s lap. Don’t worry, we were in traffic going only 5 miles an hour.

After our drive down highway 90 from Spokane we landed in Missoula Montana. I absolutely love the RV park we spent the night in. Jim and Mary’s RV Park. I miss my garden and all of my plants, and this place is filled with beautiful themed flowerbeds. The website said it prided itself in is lovely gardens and it did not disappoint. The night before we arrived they had a windstorm of up to 80 miles an hour. By the time we arrived around 2 or so, they had already cleaned up most of the damage and the gardens we back in tip top shape. IMPRESSIVE! We took a nice walk around the RV Park admiring the flowers, and letting the pups stretch their legs. Of course I took a lot of pictures. A little inspiration for my garden at home. 

For a bit of a change we actually went out to dinner last night. I really wanted to see what downtown Missoula looked like. What little I saw, I really liked. I wish we had more time and energy to look around. The wind storm knocked out power to a lot of the area, including the burger joint, Wally and Buck we originally were planning to eat at. There was a delightful pizza place next door so we grabbed a bite there and then made our way back home. We spent the night watching a movie and then it was lights out. Today we are off to Cameron Montana getting us closer to Yellowstone.

July 26 – Missoula to Cameron Montana

Yesterday we drove from Missoula to Cameron Montana and we stayed the night at the Blue Moon Saloon and RV Park. Hubby didn’t sleep well the night before so he was pretty tired after 45 minutes or so of driving. I took over and drove the remaining 2.5 hours. Although it didn’t really seems that long. It went by quick and took forever at the same time. The drive was actually pretty easy with long flat stretches that only curved slightly. Except when it didn’t. The mountain part made me nervous with it’s steep inclines, declines, and cliffs. YUCK. Thankfully the RV has a tow haul button on it, so I don’t have to ride the brakes the whole time. I just let the transmission do all the work. I’m pretty sure that is how hubby explained it. We arrived at the RV park around 2 or so and got set up for the night. After clenching on that tightly to the steering wheel, a nap was in order.

I am so glad we stopped when we did. The last 45 minutes or so of driving yesterday was a bit windy, but tolerable. It was right after we parked and finished setting up that a huge wind storm hit. It was crazy! I have never experienced such strong winds. Then came the rain and thunder. The pups certainly did not appreciate all the ruckus outside and burrowed deep in to the blankets. At around 5pm we decided to brave the storm and walk the 50 feet to the restaurant for dinner. When we stepped outside the sun was out and the storm was gone. Like it never even happened. Maybe you guys from Montana can explain this. Everything was dry. The dirt road, the cars, everything. We just had a huge storm with rain! How is it possible that everything is dry already? I am just going to call it science and move on. We had a wonderful dinner at the Blue Moon Saloon. It was the owner’s birthday, so they had a live band and the place was filled with friends and a lot of the regulars. It was nice to spend the evening around so many festive people. I love our RV, but it was great to get out of it for a while, but still not really be doing anything. Just sitting there enjoying the company of my family.

July 27 – Cameron to Grant Village Campground in Yellowstone National Park

Today is a short 2 hour drive into Yellowstone National Park. We are staying at the Grant Village Campground. I am really excited about this part of the trip. I never thought I would actually get to see Yellowstone since it was so faraway. As I am typing this it is only 6am. After yesterday’s wind and thunderstorm I really want to get on the road early. For some reason I have it stuck in my head that wind is on a schedule. It only happens in the afternoon. I could never have driven through such strong wind, so the sooner I get on the road the better. I will show a little patience though because the family needs to sleep as much as possible since this is a pretty intense trip.

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Click here for part 3