We stayed about 35 miles from Mt St Helens in a KOA at Castle Rock Washington.?? A very nice town and extra nice host family at the KOA.?? I give them a 11+ for making us feel welcome like old friends.?? They provided donuts and coffee free each morning, then they prepared a meal for all the guests to celebrate fathers day.? Bar-B-Q, hot dogs, chips, beans, slaw, and fixings.

The only improvement they could make would be to add 50 amp service to their sites for large RVs and a little more room between sites.?? I had to wiggle between my neighbor’s lawn chairs to disconnect my sewer, water, cable, and electric. I was afraid my tail swing was going to take out their awning.

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With all that said, we would definitely recommend this KOA.

Leaving here early due to our long 2 day trip down to Yosemite we are planning to spend the night at a Loves, or TA truck stop.? When we got to the T/A at Anderson CA which was about a 10 hour drive, Norma would not sleep there because we didn’t make reservations and ask permission.? She called, and they ask that we setup in front of the store leaving the larger spaces for the commercial trucks.? There were some beggers and dope heads in front singing and dancing and she was not having any part of sleeping there so – back to the interstate we went.

Just for anyone planning to dry dock in California, this is the only state we have been turned down to stay at the two Walmarts we tried.?? Other states we found to be very friendly and tolerant of RV over night-ers.?? California is also the only state that makes every vehicle stop to ask them if they are bringing in any plants, animals, or fresh fruits or vegetables.? If you say no, they let you right in.? 🙂

We did overheat coming over the mountains out of Oregon into California, and again climbing the long winding hills into Merced California to get to our West Mariposa KOA.? Both times we had to pull off and let the RV cool down.? We idled the engine up a bit, and turned on the dash heater to draw heat out of the engine coolant. ? A neighboring camper said they had the same problem getting to this KOA.

Here are some photos of our long drive from Mt St Helens, through Oregon, into California, and down to Yosemite.?? The mountain scene you will see is Mount Shasta just as you enter the state of California on I-5 from Oregon.

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