The Motorhomesteaders

We are the Motorhomesteaders. We are Nate, Lindsey, and Elya Henson, along with our two dogs, Angus a small wire-hair terrier mix and Gertie, a boxer mix. Our family decided to rent out our house and travel the United States for a year or so. The goal: to see as many cool places and meet as many cool people as possible.

We officially started the first part of our stay in the motorhome on October 15, 2023, at approximately 2:15 in the afternoon. From our home in Sunriver, Oregon we drove the whole eleven miles to the American Legion Post 45 in La Pine, OR to stay in their spacious RV parking area behind the building. Post 45’s building is a beautiful log cabin built in the early 1980’s. We stayed in their RV parking area for a week and said our goodbyes to Lindsey’s parents, friends, and our Legion family.

We made the “maiden voyage” of our 2000 Winnebago Adventurer flat towing our 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee to Nate’s parents house in Castle Rock, Washington on October 22, 2023. It was slow going but the Ford Workhorse put in the effort and got us all there safely. We stayed at Nate’s folks house for little over a month, staying through his grandfather’s 99th birthday, his father’s 71st birthday and our daughter’s 15th birthday. We stayed through Thanksgiving visiting with family from out of state, as well as friends in the area.

The time spent in Castle Rock proved to be challenging with the adjustment of RV living, but beneficial also. Having bought the motorhome in central Oregon, where it seldom rains, there were a few repairs to make that would have otherwise presented at a wildly inopportune moment, being at Nate’s parents having access to his dad’s tools and expertise these were mitigated promptly. Mainly there was quite the leak in the driver’s side windshield that without rain would not have been noticed. With the help of Nate’s dad, the two of them were able to fix the leak with the blessing of a couple sunny days in a row. The other major repair comes from the sewer drainage, which will not be discussed further, just know that the problem is solved sufficiently with some sage advice on fixing and parts from a good friend and experienced RV’er.

November 29th, marks the official beginning of the trip! With all our gear and people and animals loaded up we hooked the Jeep to the motorhome and made our way down Interstate 5 to Eugene and crossed over to Florence, Oregon for the first two nights on our own. We stayed at the Thousand Trails South Jetty which was a nice quiet campground. Our only suggestion for this location would be to arrive during daylight hours unless you are familiar with the layout of the sites. We were not and driving through the full hookup loop was tricky in the dark. That night we were able to have an amazing dinner on a recommendation at The Waterfront Depot.   While we were in the area we drove up to Newport, Oregon and got to see the sea lions on what seemed to be their own private dock, laying about and barking occasionally.

From Florence, we made it down to Harris Beach State Park in Brookings, Oregon. The plan was to stay there for two nights and get some amazing pictures of the southern Oregon coast. This was altered because of the “Banana Express” that came through, and with it an inundation of rain. The prediction was two to three inches in less that 24hrs. We chose to bypass the rain and head south a day early.

We made it into California and continued traveling down Highway 101 and subsequently found the two to three inches of rain and all the wind that came with it. This made traveling around the windy road down the coast especially entertaining for Nate and Elya as Lindsey was not a fan of the steep drops off the side of the road, even while parked. Up and down the hills locally known as “The Humbolt Curtain” we finally rolled into Eureka and stayed at Shoreline RV Park. Entry into the park was protected by potholes and a large moat created by all the rain. We set up camp and shortly found out that the heavy rain and wind would blow water under the awning, and we developed a leak. Nate climbed up on the motorhome to see what was happening in the pouring rain and 40mph wind gusts. Using a couple towels to soak up the majority of the water, he found the spot and decided the quick fix was to pull the slide in and wait out the storm. The next day the weather cleared up and he was able to make it a more permanent fix. We also got to spend the day with one of Nate’s army buddies that grew up in the Humboldt area and he showed us around. We got to see some of the historic buildings in Arcata and Eureka and had a small lunch and a few drinks at Lost Coast Brewery.

After we buttoned up in Eureka, we headed over the coastal mt range toward Redding, CA and stayed the night in Corning at Woodson Bridge RV Park where it was dry for the first time in days. We had a spot on the Sacramento River next to a large Western Sycamore tree and some ducks with a decent sunset to boot.

From Corning we headed up Highway 20 to Interstate 80 over Donner Pass which was slow going up and the ruts on the downhill side definitely provided some extra adrenaline for Nate, but we made through unscathed. We got into Fernley just as the sun was setting and got to see the sunset over the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. The next day we drove up to Virginia City and walked around. We went into the Bucket of Blood Saloon where Nate promptly met a couple of veterans within minutes of entering and began swapping stories. We walked down the streets of the old town and stopped in the mercantile and a couple more of the old bars. We also visited The Way It Was Museum and learned about the history of the mining industry in Virginia City, as well as learning that Mark Twain got a start to his career as a writer at one of the local newspapers called Territorial Enterprise. We rounded out the trip to the old mining town with a stop at the Ponderosa Saloon & Mine. We ordered a drink and asked if the mine tours were still happening and were told they had stopped a little earlier, so we looked at all the historical memorabilia on the walls and got to go inside an old bank vault from 1864. We were about to finish up our drink when a guy came out of the mine entrance. Nate asked him if the tours were over and he said they were, but if we covered the tip, he would give us the condensed version. We walked through the wooden doors in the back of the saloon and directly into an old mineshaft. The shaft led about 200 yards into the mountain and at the end there were a series of timbers and ladders that went straight up to the surface about 5 stories above. Even though Lindsey doesn’t like confined spaces she managed to do alright by distracting herself by taking pictures of the adventure. At this point everything was going just fine, until the guide pointed at a small candle in a holder on the timber next to us, pulled out his lighter and lit the candle. The flame was quite small once it was lit, seemingly about to go out when he explained it was due to low oxygen this far into the hill and then proceeded to shut every light off in the mine shaft. The mere fact that the small flame didn’t go out when Elya and Lindsey inhaled the last remaining oxygen out of the area remains a mystery. While the lights were off however the guide also explained that was the amount of light the miners worked with a lot of the time, one man with a handheld chisel and one with a sledgehammer, they would take turns holding the chisel, and the signal to stop was to place your thumb over the end of the metal chisel.  After the excitement of the mine, it was time to head for the motorhomestead.

              Thursday December 7th, we began our southward leg of the trip. From Fernley we headed down Hwy 95 for a short drive to Tonopah, Nevada. The hill climb into Tonopah was deceptive and frustrating to the drivers behind us as we crested the hill at the RV park where we were staying at just 25mph. Nate said it felt like we were pulling up a hill but looking out the windows it looked just as flat as could be. We pulled in and set up camp for the night and went to see what Tonopah had to offer for dinner. We found the Sage Stop Café inside Tonopah Station Hotel, Casino and RV Park where breakfast is served all day. The staff was very friendly, and the food was good as well. The next morning was quite brisk at 30 degrees. We buttoned things up and headed on down the road to Beatty, Nevada, the Gateway to Death Valley.

Beatty is quite the small town at just 847 (2020 Census) but it came with an excellent recommendation from the park host in Fernley to have lunch at the BBQ joint in town. Smokin’ J’s Barbecue has some of the best food we’ve had on this trip. We all ate more than we wanted or needed but knowing that our next destination was a satellite trip into Death Valley National Park with the Jeep, we decided to go with full bellies just in case. With all the flash flooding in Death Valley there was not many roads that remained open, but Hwy 374 out of Beatty was still open. We drove the 34 miles into Death Valley that had elevation gain from Beatty of about 1000 feet to the top of Daylight Pass(4,318ft) and a loss of 4,313 feet to Stovepipe Wells(5ft)! At one point our phones said that we had dropped below sea level, but the places lower than sea level were closed off from the flooding.  We got a couple souvenirs then started our trip back out, stopping by the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes. It didn’t take Nate too long to decide he didn’t want to walk out on the dunes when he saw the large sign warning about Sidewinder rattle snakes. On the way back the Jeep’s steering wheel started shaking so Nate got out to check on it. He said the passenger wheel was quite hot to the touch and thought it could be a wheel bearing. With little reception to research things, we decided to continue back to Beatty, where we stopped by Revert’s 24HR Tire, the local mechanic and tire shop and asked him to take a look. He was quite gracious and said to bring it over to the bay and he would lift it up and see what he could, but he wouldn’t take anything apart that would need new parts as there is no parts house in town. As is often the case when bringing a vehicle to the mechanic, the wheel had cooled to the same temperature as the others and had no noise when it was on the jack and Nate and the mechanic shook it and spun the wheel. With a bit of confusion, we headed back to the RV park for the evening. Nate found a forum that talked about the track bar causing the symptoms we experienced, and it seems to be a simple and inexpensive fix. Lindsey has family in Queen Creek, Arizona and we are having the parts sent there where Nate will have a garage to work in, rather than on the ground in the gravel at the RV parks. After leaving Beatty we were southbound for Las Vegas.

The trip to Vegas was not a long one but felt longer with a strong wind blowing directly at the front of the motorhome almost the whole time. We stopped on the side of the road at a fuel station in what seems like the middle of nowhere. It was, in fact the middle of nowhere. Consisting of three major businesses, a shell station with a very informative cashier that was more than eager to tell us about Area 51 and her experiences with close encounters, a Fastrip fuel station across the highway, as we were leaving, we saw the signage on the Fastrip that said Area 51 Alien Center. This had been blocked by a resting trucker setting along side the highway. We obviously drove across the highway and parked to go see what the alien center was all about. That is when we saw the third business, Alien Cathouse Brothel which will be for you to research if you so desire. Inside the Fastrip/Alien Center/Diner/Giftshop we found what would only be described as the mother lode of alien paraphernalia and souvenirs. We spent some time looking at all the items and deciding which would be our memorabilia, then we were back on the road again. We pulled into the Thousand Trails Las Vegas RV Resort around noon on Saturday the 9th. We will be leaving Las Vegas on the 14th and stopping in Lake Havasu City for a few nights.

That catches us all up for now. More adventures to come. Yuma for Christmas and then Queen Creek for New Year’s, then we’ll see where the road takes us.

Thank you for reading and following along with us!