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Oregon KOA RV park rails in caboose cafe

RV Staff
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Oregon KOA RV park rails in caboose cafe


A condemned, gutted, 1929 Sante Fe railroad caboose will soon find a new life at the Oregon Dunes KOA Kampground in the Pacific Coast community of North Bend, Oregon. After refurbishing, it will become a cafe, complete with interior kitchen and outdoor deck. The caboose was used on freight trains that traveled between Chicago and California. Crews and conductors would live in it while they were traveling. Now campers can enjoy a meal or a snack while visiting the RV park.

Visit Stonehenge with your RV without leaving the USA

RV Staff
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Visit Stonehenge with your RV without leaving the USA

In Washington state, on a barren bluff overlooking the Columbia River and Oregon is a full-size Stonehenge, a near carbon copy of the more famous Stonehenge in England. It was built by a man named Sam Hill as a memorial to soldiers who died in World War I. Hill passed away soon after his masterpiece was completed in 1930 and is buried nearby.

Unlike the English Stonehenge which is mobbed daily with buses and wide eyed tourists, the Sam Hill replica is a lonely, quiet place. A short paved road off state route 14 leads to the monument and its huge parking lot, easily accessible by any length RV.

Sam Hill’s Mansion, part of the Maryhill Museum of Art, is just up the highway. The museum includes a collection of royal memorabilia from Queen Marie of Romania (1875-1938), a friend of Sam Hill’s who presided at the museum’s dedication ceremony in 1926. Included are the queen’s coronation gown, crown, silverware, gilt furniture, jewelry and other memorabilia. The museum is only from March 15 to November 15 with a $9 adult admission. Stonehenge is always open and admission is free.

This article updated Nov. 29, 2012

Soak up at Wyoming’s Hot Springs State Park

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Soak up at Wyoming’s Hot Springs State Park


Located at the edge of Thermopolis, Wyo., Hot Springs State Park was built around the world’s largest single mineral hot spring. Big Spring pours forth millions of gallons of mineral water every 24 hours at a constant temperature of 135 degrees Fahrenheit. The perpetual fountain forms a seething caldron from which some of the water is channeled into pools to be cooled and then piped into bathhouses for public use.

From another stream, the water flows over enchanting Rainbow Terrace and then spills down into the Big Horn River. Two swimming plunges and the State Bath House provide indoor and outdoor pools. Open year ‘round, the plunges offer mineral water swimming and all types of recreation equipment. A herd of buffalo roams the red hills behind the main portion of Hot Springs State Park. There are plenty of camping opportunities in the area, including right in town.

Be sure to take the short drive through the park to see the buffalo herd. But keep your distance: these fellows are not friendly.

Take the River Train near Sacramento, California

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Take the River Train near Sacramento, California

Enjoy dinner, brunch or lunch aboard the Sacramento RiverTrain. This new train features a sparkling gold exterior reflecting the area’s Gold Rush heritage and 1,000-feet of blue waves that are a tribute to the Sacramento River along the train’s route. The train passes over the 8,000-foot-long Fremont Trestle, one of the largest trestles in the Western United States. While you roll along, enjoy a great combination of scenery, food and entertainment. The dining cars have a relaxed “tommy bahama” style and the club car features live music on weekend RiverTrain dinner parties. The open-air cars are popular during Saturday train robberies and Sunday champagne brunches.

Beer and wine are available in the club car or at the open-air patio bar. Seasonal and special event trips are offered throughout the year. Located 15 minutes from Sacramento, the train boards in Woodland, California. The 32-mile trip lasts about three hours. They are offered every week of the year.

The reservation office is open until 8pm every day. Call (800) 866-1690 for reservations: Monday—Saturday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday, 8 a.m.-12 p.m.

The KOA in West Sacramento is about a half-hour away.

Camp, feel better at Soap Lake, Washington

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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

Russ and Tiña De Maris
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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

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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

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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

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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.

Win $200 in Indiana Photo Contest

Russ and Tiña De Maris
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Win $200 in Indiana Photo Contest

RVers who’re trekking the Hoosier State, it’s time to put up your best efforts: The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is looking for photos taken this month or next that epitomize the state park’s recreational resources.

It doesn’t matter if the activity is hiking, fishing, biking, hunting, enjoying the inns, attending a program or special event, or just relaxing by the campfire, as long as it’s happening this month or next. The DNR is looking for photos that show that Indiana ’s properties are great for renewing your spirits.

Photos can be entered in one of two categories: age 12 and younger or 13 and older and subjects can include one or more people enjoying the outdoors at an Indiana state park or reservoir during October or November, 2007.

The winner in each of the two age categories will receive a $100 gift certificate from Indiana State Park inns that can be used for lodging, restaurant meals or gift shop purchases at any of the seven Indiana State Park inns. The winner also receives a $50 gift certificate from Dick’s Sporting Goods and a 2008 annual entrance pass for state properties.

For more information and rules, visit the state’s website.

Photo courtesy Indiana DNR

Connecticut Leaf Peepers Can Win Prizes

Russ and Tiña De Maris
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Connecticut Leaf Peepers Can Win Prizes

RVers who love traveling “The Constitution State” of Connecticut, limber up your maps and binoculars: The official Connecticut Fall Foliage Giveaway is underway.

Connecticut tourism officials want you to come and visit the state this fall; those who do and who submit reports (via the internet) of their fall leaf peeping experiences are entered in a drawing. The prizes? Four Canon Power Shot digital cameras.

So if you’re over in that ‘neck of the woods,’ it might be worth taking a short tour through the territory to check out the purported work of Jack Frost. Meantime, click this link to learn more about the contest. And be sure to check out the rules before you make a special trip–Floridians are banned from the contest. Go figure–maybe Connecticans are jealous of your orange juice.

Photo courtesy mdpNY on Flickr

Valley of the Rogue State Park and Exit 45B

Adrienne Kristine
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Valley of the Rogue State Park and Exit 45B

When you’re traveling north or south on I-5 near Rogue River, Oregon, you might want to take exit 45B. When you turn to the right at the stop sign, you enter Valley of the Rogue State Park. Turn left and you enter a rest area. The sound of the Rogue River accompanies the beautiful treed surroundings. There are clean restrooms, a place to walk your pet, a soda machine, a candy machine and wi-fi for a fee. No overnight camping is permitted but it’s worth a spending a few hours enjoying nature just off the freeway.

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