Dilworth Family RV Trip - Part 1: A Man. A Plan. A Jeep... wait...

Dear reader,

You may be asking yourself, why am I here? While such topics aren't off-limits to this medium, I would recommend reaching out to your pastor for a more thorough counsel on such existential questions. For those of you simply wondering why you're reading this blog, hopefully it's because you're a friend, family member or acquaintance of the Dilworth clan, and you are at least vaguely aware that we are somewhere on the West Coast in a 5th wheel. This blog will be documentation of our experiences and proof that we aren't merely hiding out at Angel of the Winds RV Resort, though that is a fine establishment. 

Where to start... well, perhaps it would be helpful to provide a few verbal snapshots of our journey so far as well as some actual snapshots. People like those, or at least that's what Instagram's popularity would seem to indicate. 

10/24/24 - Setting out

It was a sunny Thursday in Arlington, WA. We were, in fact, at the Angel of the Winds RV Resort and had been on and off since 10/2. Very fine establishment, and our 2nd back-in spot to-date (Third, if you count backing into our driveway in the Preserve at Lake Cassidy. The other back-in spot was at the alpaca farm which many of you have likely heard about. Dreadful place overall, but certainly boosted my confidence backing up the Reflection.). I was in the bathroom, as one is in the morning, and I get a call from Steve at Caliber Collision of Monroe. Shout out to Steve. Our Ford F 350 was ready for action, once again, after the fire department had accidentally used the jaws of life on our tailgate. Big Mistake! Anyway, Steve and team worked their tails off to get us on the road by 10/24. They set a goal and ACHIEVED it. Amazing.

Truck in hand and under posterior, we set out. Shortly after 1pm, we were on I-5 south. I said to myself, "Why, I better not take I-5 through Seattle. With this rig behind me? Fuhgeddaboudit." I try to use funny phrases like that in my internal monologue. So 405 it was. Big Mistake! We got to I-5 in Renton about 90 minutes later. Thankfully, that was the most stressful part of this leg. All told, the journey was a little over 4 hours to the Clark County Fairgrounds in Ridgefield.

Once in Ridgefield, we missed the turn for the RV park. Hoo boy... what does one do, one who is new to pulling a 14000 rig? You look for a spot to TURN AROUND! The next left turn was a business park, or possibly some government institution of some sort. Upon a brief inspection, I had calculated that if I turned in there, I would have the exact amount of room needed to turn the RV around, back onto the road, and get on course to our final destination for the weekend. I started the maneuver. It was going great. I was going to make it. But then... I didn't account for the Jeep parked along the eastern-most curb of this small-ish lot that was clearly designed for 5th wheel RVs to use as a turn-around. To quote Lee Iacoca, "It's got to be [a] Chrysler [product]." I thought we were doomed. Thankfully, the owner of said Chrysler product was walking up with her dogs and promptly drove away after I exchanged pleasantries (actual, not euphemistic) with her. You gotta stay cool in these situations, for the sake of the posterity and to keep from sinning. Have I always? LOL. ROFL, even, as the kids say. But we do our best and ask God for help with each test, big or small, and we know He has grace for when you do lose your temper at 6am in the rain and you're trying to back the RV up a block with oncoming cars, and the missus is on traffic detail, and you can't figure out why the upside down wheel hold trick doesn't seem to be working.

Anyhow, back to the evening of 10/24. My parents were gracious enough to bring us Chick Fil A. I got 2 grilled chicken patties with pepper jack. Strictly carnivore? Probably not, but a strong attempt. The kids enjoyed some strips, nugs and sauces and the other adults enjoyed their sandwiches. It was a relief to have made it to southwest Washington. It probably sounds dumb, but we were starting to feel like real RV-ers. We got the kids to bed and talked about how thankful we were that we had pulled the rig safely for a couple hundred miles, safely unhitched, established our hookups and everything was working like a dream. Thank you, Lord!

Thanks for indulging me in this vignette. I don't think I'll have one for every day of our journey, as many days are just work and school, same as when we were in a "sticks and bricks" as the full time road warriors call it. I'll try to post a few more times this week to get caught up to where we are now.

Note that I may be a somewhat unreliable narrator, but at least I'm honest about it "unlike journalist scum" (with a Russian/Eastern Europen accent). I've been intentionally dishonest at least once in the paragraphs above, but only to protect the identity of a loved one suspected of negligent property damage. I may not make it obvious in the future, so take this as your one caveat and roll with it.

Here are some pics of the early days of the journey:

Not sure how that last one got in there, but hopefully the few lefties who read this can take a joke! This post needed it after all that drama with the Jeep lady.

May the road rise to meet you,

Colin, on behalf of the Dilworth clan in the 5th wheel