SFDavis50
Senior Member
Spent Sunday night July 9th at the Best Western and picked up my trailer on Monday July 10. Dennis attached the Anderson adaptor to the trailer (reversed) and it works very well. Dennis then exported the trailer to Sumas and very graciously hooked everything up for me in the Bob's Burger and Brew lot before leaving. I stayed there another hour or so loading the trailer with my stuff and unrolling the 3" Tempurpedic pad which I am using instead of the factory mattress.
I then wandered around the area trying to figure out where to go. I had planned to go back into BC and camp in provincial parks but there were over 220 fires and so many evacuations going on during the Saturday, Sunday and Monday time I didn't bother going back. Luckily I decided to try Birch Bay State Park. I got there in the late afternoon and there were many spots available for 3 and 4 days straight. I stayed in site 82 which was a very good campsite except for the fact that I wasn't very good at backing up the trailer and there was a large stump across the road which complicated the effort. I got help from a man who was a retired manager for a trucking company, I'm sure he left laughing, but I did explain it was my first time backing a 5th wheel trailer. I stayed there for three days without hookups. It was a good test of the battery system as the site only got a couple hours of direct sun in the afternoon. On Thursday I left and drove south toward Oregon and spent the night at a rest stop on I 5. Took a loooong time going thru the Seattle area. Friday I drove to Mt. St. Helens dragging the trailer. Several people asked about it at two different stops. Spent Friday night in a Walmart parking lot near Vancouver, WA and in the morning bought a GOOD Rhino Extreme15 ft. stinky slinky there. I had stopped at a dump area before but when I looked at the ETI supplied product I remembered the Robin Williams movie and decided I need a better product. That one didn't even have a 90 degree elbow or connection to insert in the receiving tank, just the loose slinky. On Saturday I drove to Salem, stopped at the Costco for gas and supplies and then drove to Detroit Lake area where I had reservations starting Sunday. All the sites were booked up so I stayed in a small RV park in Idanha on Saturday. It had full hookups so I dumped my tanks, refilled the fresh tank and checked out the electric system on 120v. Everything was working fine. Sunday July 16, I moved to a NF campsite on the Santiam River. My wife was flying to Portland for a week so on Wednesday July 19th I broke camp and drove up to Ainsworth State Park along the Columbia River and only a 35 minute drive to the Portland Airport. They had one pull thru site available for one night so I got it. Very lucky! My wife landed at 11:40 pm and we went back to the trailer pretty late for her first night in it. That morning we broke camp, drove back to the Costco in Salem for gas and goodies and went back to our campground near Detroit Lake. Did a lot of hiking in the mountains; we especially liked the McKenzie River area and Clear Lake and also hiked near and thru the Breitenbush Hot Springs area. The NF trails seemed to lead to the Hot Springs but then there were no trespassing signs on the trails as we got to the hot springs area. We had to go thru the resort area to get to our car so we just acted like we owned the place and walked thru there. Lots of free souls laying on the rocks:whistling: My wife flew back to Denver on the 25th so on the 27th I started a slow drive back to Colorado. Took Hwy 20 east thru Oregon and gassed up in Bend. Continued east and kept driving and later realized there aren't many gas stations on Hwy 20 in eastern Oregon. I made it to Vail with enough gas but in the future I will remember that stretch of highway. Stayed at a rest stop near Boise, ID. The next day took a detour to Twin Falls and saw the big gorge then continued on. Spent the next night at a rest stop near Limon, WY. I thought about taking a detour to Flaming Gorge but decided to just press on and get home. Drove across Wyoming and turned south on I 25 and got home at 9:30pm on Saturday night. Wyoming, Utah and Idaho have very good rest stops for overnight. Also Washington rest stops are good and there is a very big one between Portland and Salem which I stopped at and rested for a couple hours but didn't spend the night. Wyoming rest stops (along I 80) have free dump stations with potable water and there is a very nice and new rest stop on I 25 at Exit 4 just 4 miles north of the Colorado border which would be a good overnight spot but it is too close to where I live for me to use. Still it is good to know there are dump stations.
Everything works on the trailer, I towed with just a full fresh tank, almost full black and grey tanks and empty fresh tank and went over mountain passes almost full and empty. I can't seem to tell a difference between then when towing. Also the clearance between my short bed F 150 truck and the corners is not a problem, I got into some very tight turns and didn't have a problem. I do have the high lift option though. Two nights with full hookups and the rest was dry camping. Very happy with the 5.0TA and looking forward to many Colorado trips in the near future.
I then wandered around the area trying to figure out where to go. I had planned to go back into BC and camp in provincial parks but there were over 220 fires and so many evacuations going on during the Saturday, Sunday and Monday time I didn't bother going back. Luckily I decided to try Birch Bay State Park. I got there in the late afternoon and there were many spots available for 3 and 4 days straight. I stayed in site 82 which was a very good campsite except for the fact that I wasn't very good at backing up the trailer and there was a large stump across the road which complicated the effort. I got help from a man who was a retired manager for a trucking company, I'm sure he left laughing, but I did explain it was my first time backing a 5th wheel trailer. I stayed there for three days without hookups. It was a good test of the battery system as the site only got a couple hours of direct sun in the afternoon. On Thursday I left and drove south toward Oregon and spent the night at a rest stop on I 5. Took a loooong time going thru the Seattle area. Friday I drove to Mt. St. Helens dragging the trailer. Several people asked about it at two different stops. Spent Friday night in a Walmart parking lot near Vancouver, WA and in the morning bought a GOOD Rhino Extreme15 ft. stinky slinky there. I had stopped at a dump area before but when I looked at the ETI supplied product I remembered the Robin Williams movie and decided I need a better product. That one didn't even have a 90 degree elbow or connection to insert in the receiving tank, just the loose slinky. On Saturday I drove to Salem, stopped at the Costco for gas and supplies and then drove to Detroit Lake area where I had reservations starting Sunday. All the sites were booked up so I stayed in a small RV park in Idanha on Saturday. It had full hookups so I dumped my tanks, refilled the fresh tank and checked out the electric system on 120v. Everything was working fine. Sunday July 16, I moved to a NF campsite on the Santiam River. My wife was flying to Portland for a week so on Wednesday July 19th I broke camp and drove up to Ainsworth State Park along the Columbia River and only a 35 minute drive to the Portland Airport. They had one pull thru site available for one night so I got it. Very lucky! My wife landed at 11:40 pm and we went back to the trailer pretty late for her first night in it. That morning we broke camp, drove back to the Costco in Salem for gas and goodies and went back to our campground near Detroit Lake. Did a lot of hiking in the mountains; we especially liked the McKenzie River area and Clear Lake and also hiked near and thru the Breitenbush Hot Springs area. The NF trails seemed to lead to the Hot Springs but then there were no trespassing signs on the trails as we got to the hot springs area. We had to go thru the resort area to get to our car so we just acted like we owned the place and walked thru there. Lots of free souls laying on the rocks:whistling: My wife flew back to Denver on the 25th so on the 27th I started a slow drive back to Colorado. Took Hwy 20 east thru Oregon and gassed up in Bend. Continued east and kept driving and later realized there aren't many gas stations on Hwy 20 in eastern Oregon. I made it to Vail with enough gas but in the future I will remember that stretch of highway. Stayed at a rest stop near Boise, ID. The next day took a detour to Twin Falls and saw the big gorge then continued on. Spent the next night at a rest stop near Limon, WY. I thought about taking a detour to Flaming Gorge but decided to just press on and get home. Drove across Wyoming and turned south on I 25 and got home at 9:30pm on Saturday night. Wyoming, Utah and Idaho have very good rest stops for overnight. Also Washington rest stops are good and there is a very big one between Portland and Salem which I stopped at and rested for a couple hours but didn't spend the night. Wyoming rest stops (along I 80) have free dump stations with potable water and there is a very nice and new rest stop on I 25 at Exit 4 just 4 miles north of the Colorado border which would be a good overnight spot but it is too close to where I live for me to use. Still it is good to know there are dump stations.
Everything works on the trailer, I towed with just a full fresh tank, almost full black and grey tanks and empty fresh tank and went over mountain passes almost full and empty. I can't seem to tell a difference between then when towing. Also the clearance between my short bed F 150 truck and the corners is not a problem, I got into some very tight turns and didn't have a problem. I do have the high lift option though. Two nights with full hookups and the rest was dry camping. Very happy with the 5.0TA and looking forward to many Colorado trips in the near future.
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