Camp, feel better at Soap Lake, Washington

Soap Lake is in eastern Washington roughly midway between Seattle and Spokane. It's just a short drive off I-90. A city owned RV park is right along the lake, with its waters regionally famous for their healing properties -- take a swim and get better from a variety of ailments, or so the promise goes.

The town of Soap Lake isn't much, a short main street with a few shops that somehow manage to survive. But there are a few restaurants, a bar or two, and everything is a short walk from the RV park. Another couple blocks beyond Main Street is the nine-hole Lava Links golf course, where you can play for free. But if you have good clubs, then it may not be an idea: there is no grass, just hard-packed dirt, sagebrush and volcanic lava outcroppings. Ask for some loaner clubs at City Hall, which is across the street.

The RV park has hookups, and a campsite is inexpensive, less than $20 a night in prime time. It's a good place to spend a day or a week, and maybe take a dip in the lake to improve your arthritis.

Lighthouse chasers enjoy new mystery

Lots of RVers have "must visit" lists. All the national parks. Historic battle fields. Lighthouses.

If you're a lighthouse fan, here's a site you shouldn't miss, and now it comes with a mystery. First, the lighthouse: Just a half hour south of San Francisco is the little coastal burg of Montara, home of around 3,000 souls. Sitting on scenic Highway 1, Montara also claims fame from the Point Montara lighthouse. Still an operating light, its lightkeeping staff quarters now serve as a hostel where guests can stay on and absorb the aura of the sea.

What's the mystery? Recently historians say they've found proof that the lighthouse at Montara isn't a native. Huh? According to a story in "Lighthouse Digest," the light was originally installed a bit aways: Actually built to shed light at Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Sometime later, locals on the east coast thought the light had simply been taken down or destroyed. But according to the historians, apparently the original Wellfleet light was somehow transported from the east coast to the west coast, and eventually settled in at Point Montara.

To visit the light, travel California Highway 1 to Montara. A half-mile south of town a sign indicates the way up a dirt road to the light. The grounds are open daily for visitors to explore. And to figure out just how they got this lighthouse across the country.

pre-tweaked photo: Darin Barry on flickr.com

Cruise the Bayous of South Louisiana

Ranger-guided boat trips will cruise the bayous of south Louisiana again this spring from the Acadian Cultural Center in Lafayette and the Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center in Thibodaux. Both centers are part of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. The boat tours are made in traditional Louisiana wooden boats (one modeled on the “schoolboat” the builder’s father used to take). Trips and costs vary and may include stops at the home of a former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice or a restored plantation or just a leisurely cruise to watch the alligators sunning themselves on the bayou banks. For information, call the Acadian Cultural Center in Lafayette at 337/232-0789 or the Wetlands Acadian Cultural Center in Thibodaux at 985/448-1375.

Visit to Atomic Testing Museum is a real blast

One of Las Vegas' newest attractions, The Atomic Testing Museum, portrays world history through varied representations of the story of the Nevada Test Site and its programs. The museum features many not seen before, first-person narratives, large iconic artifacts, environmental re-creations, theatrical devices, and interactive elements for personal exploration. It also presents multiple viewpoints expressed in multi-media presentations and stunning graphics.

Founded in 1998 to preserve the legacy of the Nevada Test Site, the museum's parent organization, Nevada Test Site Historical Foundation was founded with a mission to document and interpret the unique history associated with more than 50 years of nuclear weapons research and testing conducted at the Test Site.

The Atomic Testing Museum is located at 755 East Flamingo Rd. in Las Vegas, Nevada. The museum is only minutes from the Las Vegas strip, located just East of Paradise Road. Hours are Monday-Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. Admission is $12 for adults, and less for seniors, military and children. For more information call (702) 794-5161.

How towns say hello

Anyone who has spent much time on the back roads or minor highways of America has most likely enjoyed the "welcome to town" messages on billboards at the city limits of small communities. In the 1990s, I spent several months each year traveling the back roads of the American West in a motorhome, writing and publishing my quarterly newspaper Out West as I went. Over that decade I snapped photos of many such signs. Here is a short video essay I put together back then. The quality is not too great as I had to transfer the essay from VHS to a digital format before posting it online.

Deschutes River State Recreation Area, North Central Oregon

Across the country, state parks offer some of the nicest and most affordable RV camping available – especially in the off-season. Crowds have thinned out, and campers have a little more elbow room after Labor Day.

One such well-maintained State Recreation Area is located in north central Oregon about 11 miles East of The Dalles at the confluence of the Columbia and Deschutes Rivers. It’s a fisherman’s paradise with the Deschutes being known as a blue-ribbon fly fishing destination. And the Columbia is home to salmon, steelhead, and the pre-historic sturgeon, among other species of fish.

Casting for trout, you can stand on the bank, wade in, or float down the Deschutes. The mighty Columbia is better suited to motor boat fishing, including jetboats.

Surrounded by high bluffs, the Deschutes River State Recreation Area campground features 59 level, grassy sites with room for rigs up to 50 feet. Electric and water hookups are available in 34 of those sites, but there are no sewer hookups. (And water is shut off in winter.) There is a group tent camping area, and restrooms are available, but there are no showers in the campground.

The climate borders on the dry side, but temperatures can run cool between October and March. There’s a 17-mile-long mountain bike trail with 11 miles open to horseback riders. Horses are allowed in the park from March through June. Another hiking trail skirts the riverbank for a couple of miles upstream.

The Deschutes River is a state and national scenic waterway. Couple that with the moderate climate, and this campground is an attractive destination any time of the year.

Salvation (Mountain) in Slab City

In 1984 Leonard Knight arrived at Slab City - just outside of Niland, CA, a deserted military base where snowbirding RVers come to winter, with a heap of fabric that was intended as a hot air balloon with letters big as day proclaiming God is Love. No matter how he tried, the balloon wouldn’t fly. With plans to leave in one week Leonard still wanted to make some type of small statement. He found half a bag of cement and created a monument – coloring it with paint which he was fortunate enough to come across. One week turned into four years and the monument grew with the help of junk picked up at the local dump. Then disaster struck – the monument crumbled under the weight, heavy on unstable sand. Perhaps you or I would pack our belongings and call it a wonderful experiment but not Leonard. Instead, he saw it as a message from God, was thankful no one was hurt and proceeded to fashion what is known today as Salvation Mountain.



This truly inventive and amazing site, at one time thought to be an environmental hazard, is now famous the world over as a spectacular work of Folk Art. Salvation Mountain and its creator have been featured in Preservation (magazine of the National Trust for Historic Preservation), National Geographic, several newspapers and books, a sit-down on World News Tonight with Peter Jennings back in 2002, a Discovery Channel special and photos of the mountain reportedly hang in a military mess hall in Baghdad. Senator Barbara Boxer of California even entered Salvation Mountain into the Congressional Record as a National Treasure – something Leonard is very proud of. And if you imagined Leonard out of touch with technology you’d be wrong. Not too long ago Leonard and a local friend created a DVD of the tour he gives visitors and offers a free download on his personal Salvation Mountain website. He also hands out the DVD at the end of the tour. He told me, “The young kids are incredible in helping me get my message out - they burn the DVD and pass it out to their friends. The big churches, well, they’ve written me off. I just want to spread the word around the world - God is Love.”

Whether you subscribe to his message or not, Leonard and his mountain inspire passion and a renewed belief in “anything is possible” and that in itself is a blessing.

If boondocking at Slab City isn't your bag there's a fabulous park just down the road called Fountain of Youth. Call for reservations if you're visiting in the winter (and prepare to be thrilled). I think this park is a 10!!

Happy travels,

Evanne