Day 12 - Sultan to Leavenworth Washington - 81 Miles

As you can see from the mileage, we didn't push it very hard today. We slept in until 7:30 since we read late into the night, then lazed our way through breakfast until mid morning. About 10:30 we started up the rig and headed for the camp exit. Sorry I didn't take any photos of the Thousand Trails facility were we stayed. I thought it was just okay, and nothing to write home about. PLUS, most of the spots were taken by permanent residents, which makes the stay a whole lot less enjoyable since you don't run into fellow travelers to BS with.

The Thousand Trails camp, called the Thunderbird Resort, was only about 3 miles off our intended route, so it was a quick jaunt back to Sultan, then onto Route 2 to continue our sojourn east toward Wenatchee, Washington. We don't have any particular reason to go to Wenatchee, just thought Route 2 would be pretty as it involved climbing a fairly low pass of 4,000 plus feet, and running beside the Skykomish river much of the way toward the pass.

We'd only traveled about an hour when I pulled of the highway and into a rustic camp in hopes of getting some photographs of the Skykomish rapids which were tantalizingly close as we wended our way along Route 2. Concetta told me it was too early for lunch and she wasn't hungry yet, so I grabbed the camera and headed toward the river to get some shots. The camp in which we had stopped was almost devoid of campers except for on one space. Even the camp host was absent. So I spent the next half hour photographing the river, the forest, and even the nearby Railroad. Just everything was so peaceful and beautiful that I was gone for a good forty-five minutes before Concetta called me and "suggested" that I get back to the rig for lunch.

As it turned out, While I was gone Concetta had a visitor who had been tasked with delivering a load of wood and wasn't sure he could navigate around our RV to make his delivery. Good thing he decided to move on and visit the camp after he'd made a few more deliveries.

Once back at the RV I found that Concetta had lunch ready so we spent another forty-five minutes doing lunch. By the time we left the camp and jumped back on Route 2 it was near 1:00 p.m. and we still had sixty some odd miles to go before we reached Wenatchee.

Of course I stopped one more time to shoot the rapids before we started up the final leg leading to the summit, and we HAD to stop on the summit and tour the ski resort there when we had attained that milestone. So by the time we rolled into Leavenworth at 3:00 p.m. and then shortly thereafter saw the sign for the nearby KOA, we decided that Wenatchee would have to wait until tomorrow and we just took the turnoff and pulled into the KOA for the night and called it good. Such is the life of retired folks who care little whether they make many miles or not.

The downside to this KOA, we found once we'd pulled into the checkin lot, is that they're are planning to blacktop a bunch of stuff tomorrow and so a myriad of tractors, rollers, and guys with tampers and rakes are busily -- and noisily -- going about their leveling business before the paving festivities tomorrow. Thankfully, about 5:30 p.m., the paving guys called it a day, and now the sound we hear is coming from the nearby Wenatchee River as it cascades its way through the narrow canyon below us.

The beauty of this KOA camp in Leavenworth is that it appears that someone has recently purchased it and fully intends to bring every single facet of the operation up to snuff. The sites have been leveled, a new pool has been added, all the buildings have received new siding, a new coffee bar has been constructed, and come tomorrow, the whole dang place will get blacktop on all the major roads. The place should certainly be a camper's dream-come-true by this time tomorrow.

The best part about the camp is that there is a wonderful trail down to the river with a great picnic lawn area halfway down if you want to bring a blanket and have a midday feast among the towering pines. If not, you can continue on down and soon find yourself right on the Wenatchee River with a terrific landscape of massive boulders, white water, and wildflowers to keep you company. The trail is not steep, and it's so wide and smooth that one has no problem with the short 200-yard hike.

And there you have it. We've had our cocktails (which is making it a bit hard to spell correctly right now), Concetta has popped a load of laundry in the washer in the main building, and soon we're going to be tucking into a plate of good ol' homemade stew that Concetta froze and brought from home. I'm not sure how life could get any better. Tomorrow we're headed....well, we don't yet know where exactly that is. We just hope we find something interesting to tell you about. And when YOU can hit the open road and fulfill your dreams, we wish you exciting destinations and memorable travels from the Davises, the Happy Wanderers.