Alexa woke me up this morning promptly at 5 a.m. – just as I asked her to do.
Two years ago with snow on the ground over Christmas break at our house in Spokane – I started planning our longest RV trip yet – a three week round trip from Washington to Michigan and back home again.
During Disney trips with Tim and Tricia – they had mentioned several times that they would like to camp together with us – but it needed to be somewhere with temperate weather in the summer.
That meant Tennessee in July was out.
So – after lots of YouTube videos – we settled on a final destination of Traverse City, Michigan for our summer 2025 July camping rendezvous.
Camping together is not new to the Schulz family – I remember camping together with my grandparents on my dad’s side – sleeping in a canvas tent that had to weigh at least 35 or 40 pounds. My grandparents had an early version of a Volkswagen Camper Van. One of the cool things about this camper van is that they had silverware that was about 2/3 the size of normal silverware. This was from one of my great aunts who worked for an airline at the time as a stewardess.
I never asked how my grandparents just happened to have a set of first class silverware from an airline – one of those questions that is probably best unanswered to this day. Nonetheless – it is a lasting memory!
Noel and I have discussed on many occasions our desire to spend 3 to 4 months a year on the road in an RV when we both fully retire. We have done several two week trips – and we decided to add on another week to see how it goes.
The only fly in the ointment was that Noel had an IEEE Board meeting during several days of the trip – so that means that Aurora and myself are going solo for the first 4 days as I drive from Richland, WA to Duluth, MN – where I will pick up Noel.
471 miles. One day. Richland, Washington to Butte, Montana.
It was a good first day. We stopped at several rest areas so that Aurora could get out for a walk, get some treats, and do her business.
The bonus for today was stopping at Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historical Site – located about 30 miles west of Butte.
Importantly – they also had a stamp for our National Parks Passport Book.
As I walked up to the Visitors Center I was wearing a Virginia Tech shirt. The volunteer ranger said “Virginia Tech – I grew up in Roanoke!” Alas – she was not a Hokie – she went to JMU instead – but it was fun to run into another native Virginian in the middle of Montana.
She and her partner volunteer with the National Park Service each summer and spend several months at different parks doing volunteer work. She mentioned that they really liked the “smaller” parks as it was more relaxed and less stressful. Her “pay” is a free full hook-up RV site – and they work 4 days per week greeting visitors and have the remainder of the time to explore the area.
We pulled into the Butte KOA around 5 p.m. MT.
After doing a short walk with Aurora and getting the camper hooked up – I was pretty parched. So – I dove into my personal wine cellar for the trip (consisting of 5 bottles from our collection) and enjoyed a glass (or two) of this excellent 2020 Tignanello by Antinori in Italy.
This RV travel is tough ….
Kirk’s Travelogue 