Plymouth Park Campground in Plymouth, Washington June 17 – July 1, 2024

Like the travelers on the Oregon Trail, we said “Farewell” to Farewell Bend State Park on Tuesday, June 17, 2024 and drove about 3 hours to Plymouth Park Campground in Plymouth, Washington for a two-week stay.

Plymouth Park Campground

Plymouth Park Campground is a quiet Corps Of Engineers campground on the shores of the Columbia River just across the Oregon State line in Plymouth, Washington. The pull through with full hook ups was a bit narrow. You can see in the photos that our larger slide-out was just brushing the tree branches. They were VERY strict there about your tires remaining on the asphalt and not touching the grass, so even though I was on the edge of the asphalt on the other side our slide-out still got very familiar with the tree. But we were at the end of the loop so we had a lot of area to one side of us with no other people…just the way we like it, lol.

And the campground was pretty much a Kingdom of the Spiders location. I don’t mind the arachnids (I’m a big fan of The Amazing Spider-Man, after all) but man, they kept trying to encase Nomad in their webs. They were EVERYWHERE outside and we were constantly running into their webs when we were outdoors around Nomad or even walking through the park in general.

Plus there were rattlesnakes, but thankfully we didn’t run into any of those.

Working On and Around Nomad

This stay was not a busy one and we enjoyed the time of relaxation.

But on Friday, June 21st, we spent the day working inside and outside on Nomad. We did a deep clean in the bedroom and bathroom, mostly to remove dust and dog hair. Going down the road with the travel trailer moving just seems to cause particles to shake loose. And Bella, well she loves to leave reminders of her presence behind. So we wiped down all the surfaces, moved the mattress to get to usually unreachable spots, and vacuumed all the window and skylight screens. Then vacuumed and mopped the floors.

Outside I applied rubber conditioner to all the slide-out seals, cargo door linings and window linings. Then it was time to crawl around under Nomad putting dry silicone lube on the slide-out racks, x-chocks and stabilizers. It was 97 degrees out (IN THE PNW!!) so you know that I was wishing for some cooler weather.

Umatilla Landing Days Parade

Saturday morning, June 22nd, we drove across the river to Umatilla, Oregon which is across from the campground on the opposite side of the Columbia River. First up was the Umatilla Landing Days Parade. Cindy and I arrived 30 minutes beforehand and still had trouble finding a parking spot. But it worked out well as we found one in the police station parking lot which was right on the street where the parade was beginning. We could see all the participants staging on the next street over. This meant we were able to stand on the Main Street where the parade was starting, which I liked. There were also fewer people at the beginning of the route. The middle and end were much more crowded.

In the 2010 census the population of Umatilla was 6,906. But the town’s population includes 2,000 inmates incarcerated at nearby Two Rivers Correctional Institution. And the incorporated part of Umatilla is 5.08 square miles. So, not a large town in size or population.

The organizers have figured out a sure way to get people to come out for the parade in this small town; they throw candy out to all the kids along the 8 block route. When I say small town I mean there were probably more people IN the parade than there were WATCHING the parade. Most parades I’ve seen usually consist of the town’s veterans, law enforcement, fire fighters, school and community group participants. Umatilla also included their taxi cabs (all three of them), the town’s dump truck, several businesses, and a float for the county Republican Party. There was no float (or even car or bike) for the Democratic Party, so maybe they don’t have one. Or maybe they don’t feel the need to participate.

Probably the highlight, though, was the dancing horses! Take a look at the video and you’ll see what I mean. Pretty incredible stuff to see as they performed. The funniest thing (without meaning to be, I’m sure) was the poor guy running behind them with a wheelbarrow and shovel cleaning the horse manure off the street.

What REALLY got Cindy and I was seeing Scooby Doo and The Mystery Machine van in the parade. I just started laughing and laughing because the night before we had watched an episode of the “Supernatural” TV show from the 13th season of the show where Sam and Dean get pulled into a cartoon with Scooby and The Gang. The timing was serendipitous.

Umatilla Landing Days Festival

After the parade was over we drove a mile or so to the marina park where the Umatilla Landing Days Festival was being held. Lots of booths and canopies with folks selling their wares, almost like a craft or food festival. Live music (a Green Day cover band was screaming their mic check while we were there) and food. All the things you would expect.

Oregon is considered a “Blue” state but most of the people we saw (at the parade and the festival) were definitely more of a “Red” dress, behavior and vibe. I couldn’t help but notice there was a booth set up encouraging people to vote. But the only placards, signs or banners in sight were all encouraging people to register as Republican. I can only assume this is a very “Red” community in an otherwise “Blue” state.

And a lot of people wearing shirts, hats, vests, etc. denigrating government and promoting separatists who want to leave the U.S. Not sure why they still live here if they really don’t want to. Just a very different crowd than what we normally observe in our travels.

Unexpected Expenses

Tuesday morning, June 25th, Cindy asked me to get something out of our outdoor refrigerator. This refrigerator is the size of a hotel room or college dorm refrigerator. Very small with a small freezer section. This one was original equipment that came with the travel trailer when we purchased it three years ago. We use it to store overflow items that won’t fit in the inside refrigerator, which is not as small as the outdoor one but is definitely smaller than your normal residential refrigerator.

As soon as I opened the door, I could feel the warmth rolling out in place of the usual cold air. It had died sometime during the previous two days. I checked the connection, the outlet and looked for a fuse on the fridge itself but it was a sealed unit. We lost about $40 worth of food that spoiled.

Luckily we found one at a store over in nearby Hermiston, Oregon. THAT in itself is another story for another time, but the bottom line is we got a new one and I got it put in and it was up, running and cold by the next day.

On Friday, June 28th I took Voyager into Hermiston for her regular semi-annual oil change. While they were changing the oil the battery died. They jumped it and told me, suggesting it might be the alternator but I knew it was the battery. I’d been expecting it for a few months because the battery was also original equipment in the truck which is a 2018 model, so the battery was coming up on being 6 years old.

Checked a couple of places in town and got a new one installed before I returned to the campsite. I sure hope that is the end of replacing things for a while.

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