Sometimes when you are looking forward to something time seems to crawl. And sometimes when you are waiting for something time does not allow you to enjoy the moments in between. This past summer was the latter…
When we arrived back at our home base on May 31st we found it pretty much as we had left it. Our son takes great care of our home while we are away and we appreciate his willingness to live there while he works.
We knew we had a few things to accomplish while we were home for a few months, the priority being the purchase of a newer camper. We started our search in earnest on our way back from our southern adventures.
While we searched for our next home on wheels we filled our days with summer camps and medical appointments. Our oldest daughter excitedly waits for summer camp to begin each July and our youngest daughter experienced the joy of day camp for the first time this year. All four of us had medical appointments to fit in during the three short months we were home, including routine dental and vision exams.
We also had the excitement of a flat tire on the truck (the same day I picked it up from the shop after getting new shocks), finally getting the spare tire out from under the truck (it had to be cut down), and experiencing the joy of discovering baby skunks in our back yard (the girls were happy they got to save three of them before our dog took care of them).
In early July we finally found a newer camper from a private seller that met most of our requirements. Those requirements included a private bunkhouse with at least three bunks, a separate bathroom that didn’t require us to pass through or be in the front bedroom, an electric awning, power landing gear, an electric fireplace, an outdoor kitchen, and plenty of storage. We ended up purchasing a 2019 Jayco Eagle HT 29.5 BHOK, a 35.5 foot fifth wheel with four bunks in the rear bunkhouse. The very first thing we did was replace all four tires, since the previous owner had never replaced the original ones.
We also purchased a new fifth wheel hitch for our truck, which involved completely removing the very, very stuck-in-place turnover ball with a skid steer and chains.
By the time we picked up our new-to-us fifth wheel we had only one week to get moved in before we had to make a trip to MN. We packed the minimum that we would need, moved the kids’ mattresses from the old camper to the new one, added a new queen mattress to the master bedroom, and made our way to my parents’ house without incident. After a week there we made our way back to our home base and spent the next four weeks finishing our move in.
One week before we left on the first leg of our 2026/2027 travel season we sold our first camper to a family of 6 and delivered it to their campsite in the western part of the state. We helped them set it up, said good-bye to our first home on wheels, and headed home to make the final preparations for our departure.
We left our home base for Oregon to visit family on August 31st. The trailer needed an alignment so we stopped in Billings to have that done since none of the places near our home had time to fit us in. We stopped at some of our usual places along the route to Oregon, including Twelve Mile Dam and Itch-Kep-Pe Park in Montana, and Chickahominy Recreation Site in eastern Oregon. A few new stops included Jefferson County Lake Campground near Rigby, ID and Jacks Creek Dispersed Campground near Bruneau, ID, and Sisters Creekside Campground in Sisters, OR.
Jefferson County Lake Campground is a well maintained park with water/electric sites, a playground, beaches, flush and pit toilets, picnic shelters, and a designated area for pets. There is no dump station at this campground and the stay limit is 5 consecutive days.
Jacks Creek Campground is part of the C.J. Strike Wildlife Management Area that includes the C.J. Strike Reservoir. There are several developed sites in the area, some paid and others free. Jacks Creek is free to camp overnight in designated spots. We were able to find a large enough site overlooking the reservoir and had plenty of room to turn around at the end of the road by the public pit toilets.
The campground we chose to stay in close to visiting family was Sisters Creekside Campground. This campground has full hookups sites along the Whychus Creek with room for RVs and tents. We were able to get our 35.5′ RV through the campground but trees and other vehicles made a couple turns pretty tight. I would not recommend bringing in any rig larger than 36 feet.
After a weeks’ stay we were ready to make our way back home. We had originally planned to make the trip back over two long weekends (Saturday – Monday and Friday – Sunday) but ended up taking four days instead. We took a more northern route through Washington and Montana, stopping overnight at Big B Truck Stop near Sprague, WA, Holter Dam Campground near Wolf Creek, MT, and Downstream Campground in Fort Peck, MT.
Big B Truck Stop was surprisingly quiet. We managed to find a level spot after verifying we could park overnight in the lot (even though there is a campground attached to the truck stop), got set up, had dinner, and turned in for good night of sleep.
Holter Dam Campground was a lovely spot on Holter Lake. There were plenty of other campers when we arrived but they were all quiet and respectful. No hookups but we didn’t need any, since we had plans to stop through a dump station and have water/electric hookups the next night.
Downstream Campground was another great stop, and if we hadn’t been in a hurry to get home we would have loved to have stayed longer than one night.
We arrived back at our home base in mid-September, staying for two weeks to make some plumbing and other small repairs, attend final appointments for the year, and prepare to leave for the winter.
Want to know where we’re headed next? Stay tuned!
If you haven’t heard, I created a Google map of all the places we’ve stayed in our four years of travels and will continue adding to it as we enjoy our fifth year on the road, exploring the southern and eastern United States. Please check it out here! If you have any questions or comments about where we’ve been I’d love to hear from you! You can drop a comment below, find us on Instagram and Facebook @simplejoyfuljourney, or email me at alicia@simplejoyfuljourney.com. And don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of the page before you go. Have a great week!