The Caravan Converges

On Monday June 4, we made our way east along the Columbia Gorge then north into Washington. Our goal was Ephrata, Washington, the rendezvous point for our Alaska RV caravan. We crossed the Columbia River east of The Dalles and climbed (and climbed and climbed) from the arid north river bank through high desert terrain to prairie and irrigated farm fields near Goldendale (the site of a prominent public observatory) and finally into fir forest with slopes steep enough for winter “snow play” recreation. We spent Monday night at Brooks Memorial State Park north of Goldendale. Unfortunately, the sky was too overcast to return to the Observatory for the evening open telescope.

Tuesday, we traveled north through “Washington’s Palm Springs”, a region of high desert near Yakima, then into an area of orchards and alfalfa farms near Ephrata. Upon arriving at our rendezvous RV park, we met the wagon master and tail gunner staff of our caravan, as well as the other guests. The staff consists of two couples, the leaders, or wagon master, who handle the finances and logistics, and the tail gunners, who follow the guests, prepared to assist in case of breakdown or to rescue any one who gets lost.

The guests come from all over the US, from New Hampshire and Florida to Utah and California (us!). Our caravan has 14 guest couples and our two staff couples, 32 people total. We have a wide variety of RV’s. Several couples have 40-foot diesel buses; several have large fifth wheel trailers towed by full-size pickups. We are the smallest motor home, as we expected, but one couple is making the trip in a truck camper and another will spend 3 months in a 16-foot fiberglass trailer towed by an SUV.

Our first afternoon and evening was spent in an orientation and get-acquainted meeting. The tail gunner Larry checked all the vehicles for soundness and assisted with minor maintenance issues. We had mail forwarded to General Delivery at the Ephrata post office so went into town to claim it and to find the RV supply dealer to pick up some forgotten items. Then, we made what we thought would be one last stop at Walmart to get Steve some sweatpants, since he thought he’d forgotten his. Well, there were no sweatpants at this time of year. It took stops at 4 more Walmarts on our way north before we found some in stock. Of course, several days after buying two pair, Steve found that he had indeed packed sweatpants but not sweatshirts!

Wednesday night, we turned in late, both eager and a little apprehensive about the start of our Alaska adventure.