Trip Report: Lakeside RV, Everett, WA

Lakeside RV Park: 3 Nights
12321 Hwy 99, Everett, WA 98204

Talk about contrasts! From our very first camping trip into the lush forests around Cultus Lake, BC we went to our next destination of urban pavement: Lakeside RV Park off of Highway 99 in Everett, Washington. To be fair, after first impressions of the "neighborhood", the place was quite livable and suited our goal of being close to shopping. In fact, we got a water-view "lake" side spot right next to the fishing pond. We did lots of time at Camping World, Walmart, and Target as well as doing a little shopping at an outlet mall, and I was able to install and setup a few more things on our travel trailer.

Click the thumbnail below to see more photos.

2009 Everett

I got to climb up on top of the roof of the travel trailer for the first time to install the MaxxAir II vent cover. It allows us to keep the vent open without letting water come in through the opening. I'll need to get up there a few more times because I'd like to get another vent cover for our bathroom vent.

I'm glad to say that the Denali handled the extra load quite well on the I-5. It had no problem keeping to the speed limit of up to 70 mph and had passing power when needed. It drove like a big rig, but never felt unstable.

As for trailer life, there were several things I learned this trip. It was our first pull-through site and I learned that I could even mess that up! In my excitement I forgot to make a wide enough turn into our spot and I ended up brushing some trees on the left. Back when we were off-roading in the Sequoia, we would brush against trees and shrubs as we drove down narrow trails. We proudly called them "BC pinstripes." On the trailer they're just embarassing! Luckily, I was able to rub them out when I got home.

The other thing I learned was because of where the hookups were, we needed an extension to our 15' sewer line. It was nice that Walmart was so close and they had a good collection of RV accessories for us to use. It took me a while to get the hoses connected because our rigid Rhino hose didn't mate well to the flexible extension that I bought. Even though it worked fine, I went back to Camping World to buy a 10' Rhino extension for us to use the next time. I also bought some Lynx Levelers from Walmart that I needed for our Cultus Lake trip last week. For the most part I think we're setup for just about everything now.

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Trip Report: Sunnyside Campground Cultus Lake BC

Sunnyside Campground: 2 Nights

The maiden voyage in our Tango RV travel trailer was a great success. There were a lot of "firsts" for us and the kids, but we all had great fun--despite my returning home with a minor concussion and whiplash! More on that later.

We left home on July 1st, Canada Day holiday morning. It took me a while to get hitched up again after only doing for the first time over a week earlier. We finally got on the road around 10:30-ish and went over the Port Mann Bridge to the commercial truck scales to weigh ourselves. After a brief stop in the empty parking lot of an Abbotsford church for lunch, we arrived at Sunnyside Campground in Cultus Lake early in the afternoon.

Despite waiting an hour so that we could get "Twilight" admission to the Cultus Lake Water Slides (4 hours of playtime from 2:30 to closing) it still cost our whole family over $90 to get in. To me, it wasn't worth it because most of the time is spent waiting in lines, but the kids loved it. I went on the Valley of Fear with Kendra and when they told me to keep my chin down and butt off the bottom, I leaned backwards and hit my head going down. I had a headache for the rest of the night and the next day my neck muscles were so sore I could barely turn my head!

Camping at Sunnyside was much more fun. There were lots of trees and a fire pit for us to roast hotdogs and marshmallows over. The kids playground was modern and the local store had just about everything a camper would need. After the water slides, we walked down to the private beach and had a swim there. It was very enjoyable and I can see us going back some day.

It was very interesting walking through the camping area and seeing how different people set up their sites. It gave us ideas for what we wanted to get for our next trip out. Some of the things we want to get is a small axe (for making kindling), a sewer hose support system (to keep it off the ground and angled in the right direction), and some leveling boards because I could not level the trailer without lifting the wheels. I specifically did not buy them for this trip because I knew they were much cheaper in the USA, but I didn't realize the importance of them until we arrived at our camp.

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7th Annual Vancouver Firefighter's Bikers for Burns Ride

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Originally uploaded by istargazer.

My wife and I took part in the 7th Annual Vancouver Firefighter's Bikers for Burns ride today. It started in Vancouver at the Flying Swan Cafe and followed a route that included going over the new Golden Ears Bridge and continuing on to Harrison Hot Springs where there was a motorcycle stunt show to end the day. There were over 270 motorcycles and it was a great ride. What was really cool was that we got a police escort all the way to Maple Ridge. We got waved through intersections and the VPD even did rolling road blocks for us on Highway 1! On top of that I won a t-shirt and a hat registration prize!

The only damper to the day was the discovery that I had lost one of my SD cards. It had pictures from the first half of the day including pics of the Burgman and the Vancouver Police Motorcycles. I do have some video footage that I'll upload soon.

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Barker VIP 3000 Electric Tongue Jack Installed

An electric tongue jack seems to be a very popular modification especially with the larger trailers. The idea of cranking the jack up and down didn't appeal to me and after doing it the first day we towed the trailer I could say that I had "been there, done that." The Barker 3000 offers a 3000 lb lifting capacity as well as a built-in LED light (for hooking up at night) and a bubble level. I have to tell you, being able to lift and drop the trailer with the tip of my finger is a true pleasure.

A few additional pictures are available here.

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Digital Programmable Thermostat Installed in RV

When I found out that it was possible to install a regular household thermostat into the RV travel trailer, I knew it would be one of the first mods I would attempt. At first I didn't want to get a programmable model, but the selection available at RONA was very slim. The non-programmable ones were actually more expensive than the programmable ones. This particular one was one of the cheaper ones but it has a bonus of having a humidity display as well as separate temperature and programming displays. In fact, it's much fancier than the digital programmable one I installed in my home 9 years ago!

Full details of the install in our travel trailer is posted here: Tango Hotel Mod: Digital Programmable Thermostat

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