Taking a Break: Relaxing at Toutle River RV Resort

Leaving Lewis and Clark State Park, Ethan’s knee was still bothering him, so we decided to take it easy the next day. It also rained that night so we were pretty slow packing up camp in the morning because we were trying to try out the tent. We checked the weather forecast and it was supposed to rain again that night so we didn’t want to be on the road for very long so that we could have the tent and everything set up before it started raining again. It all added up to us deciding to do a short mileage day which is how we ended up checking out Toutle River RV Resort.

Our route from Lewis and Clark State Park to Toutle River RV Resort, 19 miles of pedaling for a total of 271 miles pedaled.

On the way there, we passed by the Oregon Trail Post, which was interesting because we hadn’t even made it to Oregon yet.

The Oregon Trail Post, surprisingly in Washington. 

Even though it was a short ride, we still stopped for a snack break and enjoying the scenery.

Taking a snack break and enjoying the scenery.

Ethan appreciating my sandwich making skills.

When we first arrived, the lady at the entrance said that it was $46 per site, so we hesitated and thought about going across the street to the trailer park which allowed tent camping for $13. In the end we decided it was worth the splurge and went to the main office at Toutle River. Once inside, the lady informed us that they have a special price for bicyclists! It was only $25 for us to stay at this awesome RV resort complete with hot tub and sauna.

Arriving at the RV Resort.

We got an entire RV site to ourselves complete with water spigot and electrical outlets!

The only downside to the RV park was that it was somewhat noisy. It was directly between the I-5 and a railroad so there was always noise from the interstate or the railroad. Personally the noise didn't bother me. After setting up our camp, we enjoyed the last bits of dry weather by relaxing in the hot tub.

Enjoying the RV resort’s hot tub!

Ethan relaxing in the hot tub.

Not long after we pedaled into our spot, two more bicycle tourists showed up in the spot next to us. It was fun getting to meet two more people and sharing a campfire with them. One guy was British so we got to introduce yet another foreigner to s’mores. Ethan and I were wondering what kind of job lets you pack up and leave for three weeks but apparently everyone in Britain gets 5 weeks vacation standard because of government regulations! We were so jealous and seriously considering moving back to London. The other lady had just retired and was inspired to go on this trip after one of her friends did a bicycle trip along the continental divide.

Of course, the weather channel predictions were accurate and it did end up raining, ending our campfire. We jumped inside the tent and went to sleep. The next morning it continued to rain while the other bicyclists packed up their camp. After watching the other two cyclists pedal away in the rain while we huddled in the tent, we decided that we would wait out the rain and stay at the RV resort for a second night. Later when the rain slacked off for a bit, we left the tent to cook some beef hash and scrambled eggs for breakfast.

Delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs and beef hash.

After breakfast, we of course spent more time at the hot tub and hanging out by the side of the pool. The RV office also had various items available for loan and one of them was an ice cream maker. Ethan and I had talked about making our own ice cream in zip lock bags, so we were excited when we saw they had an actual ice cream maker. We got all the ingredients and got to work.

Mixing together all the ingredients for ice cream.

While I was making ice cream, Ethan grilled hot dogs for dinner.

Grilling some hot dogs.

Ethan relaxing with a beer and a hot dog.

We let the ice cream continue to freeze while Ethan and I went and checked out the saunas.

Ethan entering the sauna.

Personally, I love saunas. I find the heat to be really relaxing but Ethan seemed to think that it was too hot, especially after we added humidity.

The inside of the sauna.

The ice cream turned out good but it was much too sugary. We messed up the recipe a bit since we used condensed milk instead of half and half.

That night, since we had wifi at our campsite, we decided to hook up the tablet so that we could watch Netflix. Using some string and a little ingenuity, we rigged up our own “home theater system.”

Stringing up the tablet to watch a movie.

Unfortunately, that night was our last at the RV resort. After the day of rest, Ethan’s knee was feeling better and the rain had subsided substantially, so back on the road for us! Anyway, more to come as we finally crossed into Oregon the next day!