Insider tips for RVing the Pacific Northwest
RVing the Pacific Northwest with Brooks Smothers
This week on the StressLess Camping RV Podcast, we welcome Brooks Smothers from RV Out West to share some of his favorite places in the Pacific Northwest. Brooks has some great hidden gems that made us want to visit the Pacific Northwest even more than before.
We’re also taking you on a date, of sorts, and it’s a sweet situation!
Lastly, our own trailer is getting some maintenance which reminds us to share this important tip.
Other places to hear the podcast
Mentioned on this episode
Our friends at ABC Upfitters with custom solar and lithium RV upgrades
Our podcast guest is Brooks Smothers from the podcast RV Out West
If you’re confused about solar, battery power or just want to upgrade your RV we have found the solutions from ABC Upfitters are both reliable and exceptional.
We have a podcast episode and video where you can learn more here.
Automated transcript of StressLess Camping RV podcast episode 316
Peggy
This week on the Stressless Camping RV podcast.
Tony
We welcome Brooke Smothers from RV Out West.
Peggy
He shares some favorite places in the Pacific Northwest.
Tony
He has got some great hidden gems that make us wanna visit the Pacific Northwest even more than we did before.
Peggy
We're also gonna take you on a date of sorts. It's a pretty sweet situation.
Tony
And our own trailer is getting some maintenance, which reminds us to share this important tip with you.
Peggy
We have this week's podcast along with the notes and stories to go with this episode, as well as discounts, deals, and helpful tips, and more on our home on the web at stresslesscamping.com.
Tony
Hey. Don't forget to like and share, and thank you for joining us for Stressless Camping podcast number three one six. I'm Toni.
Peggy
I'm Peggy.
Tony
And we're two RV industry veterans who travel part time
Peggy
In a Rockwood Mini Light.
Tony
Looking to share big adventures and help you with great tips
Peggy
Tricks.
Tony
And discount.
Peggy
We remembered last week, and I remembered again this week, that we have some history stories to tell you.
Tony
Yeah. We had kind of found some great information about the history of camping. So this week, we're gonna brighten your day
Peggy
Oh.
Tony
With the history of the camp lantern.
Peggy
So it's pretty short, really. Apparently, there hasn't been a lot of,
Tony
uh, There's not a lot of illuminating information.
Peggy
Since since nineteen o five Woah. When WC Coleman developed the liquid fuel lantern with a small base tank that's pressurized with a hand pump.
Tony
It offered campers a safer, more enjoyable experience with brighter illumination and no city smoke.
Peggy
And, well, that's it. The same principle is still in use today, but with factory pressurized fuel bottles replacing the pump. Over the years, though, battery powered lanterns have joined the mix and utilize brilliant LEDs for exceptional energy efficiency.
Tony
Did you have one of those Coleman lanterns growing up?
Peggy
I did. You had to
Tony
pump it all the way. Pump it and then those mantles is like, don't touch them. Yeah. And all oh my gosh. They honestly, they were fiddly.
Tony
Uh, I I appreciate the nostalgia.
Peggy
I have tied a lot of mantles
Tony
in the kitchen. Right? Yeah. And then that sound, like, you couldn't you know, you're in the tent and you hear this
Peggy
Yep. Yeah. Totally. But it was also a source of warmth, really.
Tony
Yeah. Since the camp lantern was so short, let's keep using that white gas
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
And go and look at the camps.
Peggy
Let's figure out what else WC Coleman invented. Yeah. You know, uh, before this, a crackling campfire was what was associated with camping and the only kind of smoky, sooty, ash laden way to cook meals and boil water.
Tony
Yeah. Until 1942 at the midpoint of World War two. The Coleman company responded to the army's urgent request to develop a compact stove for battlefield use.
Peggy
The resulting single burner stove can burn any kind of fuel, function at minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit up to a 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Who wants to even function in those two pictures anyway? It weighs 300 300 no. 3.5 pounds, and it's smaller than a one quart milk bottle.
Tony
Yep. And along with the Jeep, it's considered one of the two most important pieces of non combat equipment from World War two.
Peggy
Wow. After the nineteen fifties, the Coleman army stove evolved into the familiar one that we have today, fold up two or three burner stoves. You know, you see around all the campsites. Other manufacturers have, of course, adopted the pressurized fuel concept, and there are several variations on the basic design. But again, nothing's really changed significantly since it was invented.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
Well, I mean, if it works, don't fix it.
Brooks Smothers
Right? Or if
Tony
it ain't broke, don't fix it. But, you know, it's funny when we went tent camping, we don't even have one of those stoves anymore. I think you gave it to Michael. Right?
Peggy
Uh, I know I gave it away because we have our electric Yeah.
Tony
We have our induction cooktops and portable power stations.
Peggy
So So we don't need to worry about carrying fuel.
Tony
Or open flame or pressurizing fuel or Yeah. But if the battery ain't charged, you ain't getting all hot.
Peggy
Oh, speaking of batteries.
Tony
Yeah. Uh, well, as you all know, if you're a regular listener, we are big fans of our Master Bolt power system from ABC Upfitters. And since the last time when we came home and parked, uh, we just leave the refrigerator running Mhmm. As long as it doesn't run out into the street and get hit by a car.
Peggy
That's right.
Tony
But the refrigerator's running. We have food in it, and the trailer's basically in fact, we took it to have some work done on it today. Maintenance. Just maintenance. And there's food in the fridge.
Peggy
Yeah. Maybe they'll if they get hungry, they'll eat a snack. We do. We keep kind of some things that we don't you know, maybe we're gonna have to run out from the house and pick them up. But mostly, it's stuff that we know we're gonna need next time, some frozen vegetables and stuff like that.
Tony
But that battery and lithium system is just so reliable. We just know the fridge is out there humming away and and doing fine. And you can get ABC Upfitters to build you a system that'll do anything from run the fridge for a few days to run the air conditioner for overnight.
Peggy
Right.
Tony
One of the nice things about them, as we've said before, is they tailor the system to what you think you need. But as we've seen a few times, some of our friends have gotten a system and they're like, you know what? This is so good. I wanna go beyond. Mhmm.
Tony
And they upgrade. Yeah. So the systems are flexible. They're reliable. They work with you to develop a system that will work for your camping style.
Tony
And if that happens to change, like friends of ours who are now full timers as of last week Yeah. Um, no worries. They can get you all fixed up. So if that's the kind of reliable, dependable, flexible system that will suit your camping style, you could give our friends at ABC Upfitters a call at (574) 333-3225.
Peggy
That's (574) 333-3225 or use the link in the show notes or this QR code Yeah. Wherever it happens to be for, um, some more information on our website about ABC Upfitters.
Tony
Yeah. We have all kinds of interviews and information there and, of course, you can always give them a call. It's always the same people. It has been for years. They're reliable, and they answer the phone, and they can answer your questions.
Tony
So good people, good product, and a great situation.
Peggy
Well, today, we are going to introduce to you our friend from the Pacific Northwest, Brooks Smothers. Brooks has a podcast called RV Out West, and he we asked him to kind of give us some highlights. Uh, as we said during the interview, if he told us everything, then he wouldn't have to have a podcast. But he gave us some of the big highlights, and we actually enjoyed talking to Brooke so long that I think that probably you'll only hear half of the interview today and you'll hear the other half next week. When I get into the editing part, we'll figure it out.
Peggy
Yeah. But very potentially, it'll just end. And if it just ends and it doesn't seem like it actually ended, then it's because he's gonna we're gonna pick it right back up next week where I leave off.
Tony
That's the fact, Jack. If you don't know, we really enjoy listening to podcasts as we motor about this fine land here. And one of the podcasts that we enjoy is RV Out West. And we have the good fortune of having the host of that podcast, Brooke Smothers, with us here to share some tips and tricks for RV ing out west. Brooks, welcome.
Brooks Smothers
Well, thank you guys so much for having me on the show. I am really looking forward to talking to you, Tony and Peggy, as I also listen to Stressless Camping as well.
Tony
Oh, well, that's that's fantastic, I think. That's good. That's a good thing.
Brooks Smothers
That's a good thing, I promise.
Peggy
For us. Whether it's good for you or not Yeah.
Tony
Yeah. Yeah. That's true. First of all, let's talk about RV Out West. Tell us for the people who don't listen yet Mhmm.
Tony
Tell us a little bit about it.
Brooks Smothers
Sure. So RV Out West is a podcast that is all about really RVing around the Pacific Northwest. So and in that, I kinda Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia. So I kinda talk a bit about destinations, places to go, things you might wanna check out in adventure that maybe isn't RV related. Um, but to give you some fun background on a particular region of the area that might be of interest.
Brooks Smothers
So when you're there, I was like, oh, I remember this. Um, so we just kinda talk about the Pacific Northwest and it being a really wonderful RV destination. And I know it's on a lot of people's bucket lists, and for good reason, But there's also a lot of other really cool things to see in the area even if we take out of the equation what I call kind of the big four. Right? The Crater Lake, Mount Rainier, Olympic National Park, and the North Cascades National Park.
Brooks Smothers
Even if you remove those four from your to do lists when you're here, there's still so much other cool stuff to see.
Peggy
Right. Because that would only make four episodes of RV ing out west, and then you wouldn't have anything else to tell.
Brooks Smothers
Right. I'd I'd be done. It was a great
Peggy
story. Podcast.
Tony
Yeah. So let's define the Pacific Northwest for anybody who just landed on the planet, and they're like, okay. What tell tell me where is your area of of focus, I guess.
Brooks Smothers
Sure. So I am, uh, a Washingtonian born and raised in Washington state. In my late twenties and early thirties, I spent a decade away traveling and exploring and doing things. Ended up getting married in that ten years away. And then the wife and I were kind of figuring out as she was finishing up grad school what were some next steps and places we wanted to end up at to kinda do the sticks and bricks and get a mortgage and start a family, and we agreed to settle on Washington state.
Brooks Smothers
So we've now been here since '2 that I've been home now since 2010 is when we moved here. The Pacific Northwest, if you look at a map, I would call it the upper left corner of The United States Of America. It's kind of, like I said, it's Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. I also personally add British Columbia into that because the geography and the geology of British Columbia is very similar to Washington state.
Tony
So you don't include Northern California? No. Which I guess is not really the Pacific. That we are very familiar with Northern California.
Peggy
That's California.
Brooks Smothers
And Northern California is beautiful and a great place to RV, but I I don't very few people I know would consider that part of the Pacific Northwest.
Tony
That's okay. I just you know, there's the official definition and then how we look at this, I guess. Mhmm. So I've been listening intently to RV Out West just so we could so I could be more informed. And one of the things you talked about recently are three must see wonders in each state.
Tony
Yes. Now you can go back. You y'all audience people can go and find that specifically, but maybe we could start there.
Brooks Smothers
Sure. We can tease that. Before we kinda dig into that, I'm gonna quickly give a different sort of geographic lesson. And then if I trail off, my Adderall has worn off at this point, so you might need to bring me back. But if you were to make for the sake of this conversation, let's make Seattle the epicenter of kind of the Pacific Northwest.
Brooks Smothers
And if you were to spiral out from the Pacific Northwest in any one kind of given direction, all within a four hour distance drive time. You have the rugged wild violent coast of the Pacific Northwest, which is stunning and beautiful. You have an amazing temporal rain forest. There is only five temperate rain forests on the planet, and one is in Washington state, which is where home of Olympic National Park is. If you, um, look to start to go to the East, you have the high alpine lakes and meadows of the Cascade Mountain Range.
Brooks Smothers
Once you get over the mountains, you have desert, arid, and then rolling wheat fields, wine country out kinda out by Spokane and rolling out east in that area. So you have rainforests and deserts and rivers and mountains and all of these very different kind of cool ecosystems to explore that are really all within about a four hour drive of Seattle. Pick a direction and go. I just kinda wanted to say that because I think it's really important for kind it's you know, I've been to all 50 states, and each state is stunning and beautiful in their own right and have all of these wonderful and magnificent things that everybody should see. But that I find that that part of the geography of the Northwest is pretty unique to the Northwest.
Peggy
The desert part really surprised us. We have just kind of driven through that area one time between Southern Idaho and then to Northern California, ultimately. But the amount of desert that we drove through really surprised me. I didn't think of Oregon and Washington as having desert at all.
Brooks Smothers
Right. You get into Eastern Oregon out by Bend, and you're in this, like, it's high alpine. So I can't remember what the elevation of Bend is, but it's high. It's like, I wanna say I don't know. Google it.
Brooks Smothers
But I I wanna say it's, like, 3,000 feet or something. Like, it is not sea level. And so you've got these really cool alpine trees that are not the evergreen trees that you think about when you think about the Pacific Northwest. So it's just very different, and your drive can be a change as you're as you're driving from one destination to another. You're gonna see all sorts of very cool differences along the way.
Tony
Another area that surprised me years ago, I used to fancy myself a web designer, and I built a website for a b and b in Willamette. And they have a huge wine growing region up there.
Brooks Smothers
They do. Um, it's actually well, yeah. So that area, it's down in McMinnville, which is kind of Southeast of Portland, Oregon in the Willamette Valley. And that area grows incredible grapes for, like, pinot noirs and all of these other wonderful wines. So if anybody's listening, they're a cork dork.
Brooks Smothers
The Pacific Northwest has a lot to offer in your in your wine tasting. So I would even recommend you go to Woodinville, Washington because that's where there is a bunch of, uh, tasting rooms because all of the wineries are east of the mountains. And so Woodinville has all of the tasting rooms, so you can go. And if you're not careful, and there's nothing worse than being drunk on red wine. It really is rough.
Brooks Smothers
And so if you're not careful, and you're like, oh, let's go to four wineries, because there's one here, one here, one here, and you can just walk and hit four, and you've done tastings. You're potentially, you know, eight glasses of wine in, in, you know, an hour. And you're like, woah.
Tony
So, yeah. And the worst thing to me is the headache of red wine.
Brooks Smothers
Yeah. The next thing call
Tony
for you. You're like, oh, man. Why didn't I just drink beer?
Brooks Smothers
Yep. Yep. But to your original question about three kinda unique geological formations, in that episode, I talk about the Palouse Falls, which are down in kind of South Eastern Washington, and it's a magnificent, beautiful waterfall. And in fact, I just was reading, sometime in the last four months, a new record had been set and a kayaker shot the waterfall.
Peggy
Oh my.
Tony
I heard you say that.
Brooks Smothers
Yeah. One of the tallest waterfalls in the Lower 48, and somebody did it in a kayak. Crazy.
Peggy
You know? I assume intentionally.
Brooks Smothers
Yeah. We have. Full intent. Working to set a record and, you know, big, I would say.
Tony
That had to have happened after he's like, hey, you guys.
Brooks Smothers
Watch this. Yeah. Hold my beer.
Tony
Yeah. Hold my beer.
Peggy
I'm done wine tasting. Let's get it.
Brooks Smothers
Yeah. Let's go. I got this.
Tony
Four four wineries in here. Four wineries. I got this kayak.
Brooks Smothers
Yep. Um, but the Palouse Falls is beautiful. In in Oregon, there's a spot I've always wanted to go. Uh, I do a lot of photography, and there is a place called Painted Hills in the John Day National Forest in kinda Eastern Oregon. That is, from the pictures I've seen.
Brooks Smothers
It is just beautiful. And if you go a couple days after a storm, and it's like layered limestone and kinda, you know, so you kinda get that. Anyway, it looks beautiful. Um, so there's just kind of a lot of those different things to to see around the area.
Tony
And, obviously, you guys have big cities, but your, I guess, less populated areas are fairly rural, I'm gonna say, from my memory of going up there, but that was years ago.
Brooks Smothers
Mhmm.
Tony
You're correct. And so you get the whole, like, natural forest, not overcrowded vibe from what I remember.
Brooks Smothers
Correct. If you go over the mountains to Eastern Washington or Eastern Oregon, you're gonna get where it's going to be more quiet, you know, less people. The population density is really centered, at least in Washington state, around the Seattle Tacoma greater kind of market area there that is where the population, for the most part, is in the state.
Tony
RVing, I assume, is I mean, we wouldn't you wouldn't be doing a podcast about it if it were not so great. So do you have any places that you might recommend for people, like, you know, sort of hub that they could go and see some cool stuff?
Brooks Smothers
Absolutely. Absolutely. If you're a water person and you wanna see kind of, you know, um, the ocean and those areas. You know, a lot of people, right, want to go and see the Oregon Coast, and that's on a lot of people's lists. But at the kind of, I would say, say, depending on if you're traveling north or south, at the start or at the terminus of that trip, depending on which direction you're going, is this really cool town called Astoria, Oregon.
Brooks Smothers
And Astoria is on the map because everybody who's probably definitely driving age has seen the movie Goonies, and Goonies was filmed in Astoria, Oregon. Kindergarten Cop was filmed there, and so was the Free Willy series. But Astoria kinda gives me this, like, New England fishing boat port town kind of vibe, except it's not New England houses, but it's this it's a port town. And so it's got a lot of really cool breweries and fun restaurants and really great seafood because they're catching it right out front and bringing it to the table. So you can't get any fresher than that.
Brooks Smothers
It's kinda where the mouth of the Columbia River and the Columbia River is kinda the defining line between the state line between Oregon and Washington. Mhmm. And so a story is kinda right there at the mouth of the Columbia, and it's just a beautiful, beautiful, really cool area that you can spend a few days there, and there's hikes and go to the beach and go and there's a lot of places you can camp there. If you're a state park camper, there's Fort Stevens State Park. Just across the street from Fort Stevens State Park is, uh, uh, the KOA Astoria, which is, um, a resort designated KOA.
Brooks Smothers
So it's on that higher end of full so if you're a family wanting all of the amenities and the bouncing pillow and the, you know, all of that kind of stuff, then you got the k away across the street. So Astoria's got a lot of really, really cool stuff. If you head inland from Astoria, drive through Portland, Oregon, and start going out backtracking kind of the way Lewis and Clark came, you'll end up in Hood River. And Hood River is right on the Columbia River. Again, a great springboard for hiking, for paddling, for finding, you know, uh, lakes to go to.
Brooks Smothers
It's also a cool food town, so if you like to go out and eat and do all of that, Hood River is really, really cool. And then from Hood River, you can even go up and over the mountains and get into Bend. So you could kinda do, like, a backwards l and go Astoria, Hood River, and then the Bend, and then work your way south to go to Crater Lake and into California, if that's a direction you wanted to go. Uh, in Southern Oregon is a really cool town called Ashland. It's right as you cross in from the the state line from California.
Brooks Smothers
And Ashland's got some cool hot springs and some other things you can see and do. But, also, if you're a theater buff, Ashland has the famous Shakespeare Festival, which is actually really special and really something that even if you're not I'm not a huge fan of Shakespeare. I read him in school because I had to.
Tony
Mhmm.
Brooks Smothers
But going to the Shakespeare Festival is still something that I think people should do because it was it's pretty remarkable.
Tony
You would say that it's a tough decision to see or not to see.
Peggy
Oh, boy.
Tony
That is the question.
Brooks Smothers
You know what, Tony? I'm gonna go yes. I think you're right, and I'm gonna just leave it right there. Tony with the dad joke. I love it.
Tony
Oh, yeah.
Brooks Smothers
Yeah. That was a a solid one too, by the way.
Tony
Oh, thank you. Thank you.
Brooks Smothers
Yeah. And Bend is really cool also. I mean, for you have Mount Bachelor in Bend. So if you're a skier or a snowboarder or a mountain biker, you know, Bend has a lot of places. Bend is very outdoorsy for, again, paddling, hiking, floating down the Deschutes River in the summer, skiing in the winter.
Brooks Smothers
Like, it's got and it's a great beer town too. I can see a theme. Yeah.
Tony
Yeah. There there we go. Now we're now we're floating up my own river.
Peggy
Tony wants to talk beer. I just wanna ask real quickly. In, uh, in Oregon and in Washington, are state park campgrounds dry camping non hookup? No. That was our experience in California.
Peggy
And then as we started actually doing more traveling and getting out into different states and finding out that not all state parks are dry camping. So
Brooks Smothers
No. Both Oregon and Washington state parks are really, um, jewels of each state. They, um, I would say the most of them for RV spots, you'll definitely get water and electric. You might not get a dump in your site. There'll be a dump station within the campground, but there are state parks that do also have the full hookups with water, sewer, and, um, electric.
Peggy
Okay.
Brooks Smothers
But yeah. No. The state parks are great, and they're on a rolling nine month calendar. So when you need to book them, you really kinda depending on the popularity of the state park you're looking at, you will wanna be 07:00 in the morning with a cup of coffee ready to rock and book your dates nine months out.
Tony
Okay. That's good to know because some places I've found have kind of become more widely available, but not all. Mhmm. Right. Well, so since we since you forced me to talk about beer Yeah.
Tony
There are some great breweries up in the Pacific Northwest.
Brooks Smothers
Yes. There
Tony
are. Any favorite? Well, you know, there's always like, my favorite might not be someone else's favorite because we all have a in fact, we were just, uh, uh, spending time with the Roman with Rosie people, and she was asking me, you know, to help her pick beers. And the first question is, you know, what do you like? What style do you like?
Tony
Because there's no one answer.
Brooks Smothers
One of my favorite breweries actually is in Astoria, and it's called Fort George. And Fort George does some great beers, good and really good pub food. And years ago, I was there year years ago, decade ago. And Peggy, they made a wasabi ginger ale.
Tony
Oh. And
Brooks Smothers
it was unbelievable. It was nonalcoholic, and it was incredible. I even meant, uh, reached out to them one time and said, hey. I'm gonna be down in Astoria. One time I was there, you guys had this really amazing wasabi ginger ale.
Brooks Smothers
It was, like, spicy from the wasabi, but then you get kind of the sweet from the ginger ale, and it was delicious. And they're like, yeah. That was a one off. And I go. Oh.
Brooks Smothers
And it was so good.
Tony
So good. That's when they do that.
Peggy
Yeah. Those are the most memorable, isn't it? It's, like, so frustrating. Like, oh, this was the best thing I ever had in my whole life. Right.
Peggy
Oh, yeah. We don't make that.
Tony
We'll we'll put all our effort into this, and it's gonna be great, but you can only have one glass. Like, how many times have we been to breweries and they're like, well, I'm sorry. You can only have one glass of that because it's limited. Yeah. But it's the best thing you have.
Brooks Smothers
Right.
Peggy
Actually, when we were in Utah in Colville a couple weeks ago, and our friends had told us to go to, um, a brewery and get their chocolate stout. And we went there and they would no longer have chocolate stout, but they had coconut stout and that was perfectly fine substitution. Oh, my god.
Tony
Yeah. But then they're like, no. You can't take this home in a crowler or a growler. I'm like, oh, man. I have a fridge.
Brooks Smothers
In Hood River, I love frame. Frame does a lot of wild p f r I e m frame. Okay. And they do really interesting beers. I had a sour IPA one time there that I again, it was delicious, and I can't find it anywhere else.
Brooks Smothers
And I don't know if there you know, might have been a one off, but they do a lot of really fun experimental just playing with styles and whatever. They make some really interesting beers.
Tony
Oh, man. That's fantastic.
Brooks Smothers
And Bend is a beer town. There's, like, a craft brewery on every corner, so, you know, you can't go wrong there in Bend.
Tony
Oh, you know another thing that is up there, kinda unrelated? Leavenworth.
Brooks Smothers
Uh, it's on my list.
Peggy
Oh, yeah. Oh.
Tony
Oh, yeah. I should probably let you go through your list. No.
Brooks Smothers
I don't have to go through my list. I love a natural flow of conversation. I just jot my list down to keep me focused.
Tony
That is a place that we so wanna go to.
Peggy
Yeah. For years and years and years, we've been talking about going there. We just have not made it to that corner of The US yet.
Brooks Smothers
Well, any way you go, you will more than likely come through Leavenworth because you really have Highway 2, which is what Leavenworth is on, or Interstate 90 if you're looking to, like, you know, jam and hammer down the miles. But Highway 2 is the prettier driving to bring you right through Leavenworth. Leavenworth, if nobody's ever been, is this wild, faux Bavarian town Mhmm. That, um, it was a railroad town. And then, you know, back in way back in the days, and tourism was going down because the railroad had already been built, and there was no tour they didn't have railroad workers coming to, you know, stay in the hotels and do whatever.
Brooks Smothers
So somebody was like, oh, the on the city council was like, we should do this, like, fake Bavarian thing. Yeah. And so they did it strictly as a tourist idea, and everything in town from the local Shell gas station to the Safeway to anything else has all these kind of gaudy, fun, fake Bavarian, you know, architecture, if
Peggy
you will. Had no idea it was fake.
Tony
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Peggy
I thought it was that a lot of German settlers happened
Brooks Smothers
to be there. No. No. No. It was altruism and, like, I wanna say in the nineteen fifties, they did this.
Brooks Smothers
Okay. It was somewhat recent in the course of overall history of the state that that Leavenworth kinda took on this Bavarian.
Peggy
How fun.
Brooks Smothers
There's some great hikes. Uh, the KOA there is an amazing KOA. It's also owned by the same people who own the Astoria one. Uh, so that KOA is really great, and it's right in town. And they have a free shuttle, and there's wine tasting and beers and pretzels in town.
Peggy
So just
Brooks Smothers
take the free shuttle, and you don't have to worry about getting back to camp.
Tony
Yeah. And they have an Oktoberfest that they do there.
Brooks Smothers
They do. I've not been because it sounds crazy.
Tony
That's my kinda thing. I I one someday, I will I'll I'll call you and go, hey, because we're gonna we'll go on Oktoberfest.
Brooks Smothers
Sounds great.
Tony
I'll bring my big beer stein in later, Hosen.
Brooks Smothers
Okay. There you go.
Tony
Do you
Brooks Smothers
want me to go in drag as, like, the Saint Pauli girl? I'm sure when
Peggy
Brooke suddenly says, oh, I think I'm busy that week.
Brooks Smothers
Yeah. Oh my god. And I know that's not gonna get cut now. So
Peggy
No. No.
Brooks Smothers
But Leavenworth is a really fun area. There's another interesting place in Eastern Washington, and it's in the Mattel Valley. And it's called Winthrop. And then right next to Winthrop is another little town called Twist. And Winthrop, their vibe is kind of, uh, nineteen hundreds horse wild wild west kind
Peggy
of theme.
Brooks Smothers
So the saloons with the double doors, you wanna walk in with your two six shooters on your hips and be like, you know, hey. Somebody's playing cards at the table.
Tony
The music stops.
Brooks Smothers
Yeah. So that's kinda their vibe. They have a fun, uh, blues festival. So if anybody likes blues music, they have a a summer blues week long blues festival. A great place to stay out there is Lake Perrigan State Park.
Brooks Smothers
It's a great, um, state park right on a lake, so you can go swimming from your campsite and do all of that. But what makes Twist really interesting is Twist is home of the smoke jumper school, and I believe they have tours. They did at least pre COVID where you could go and kinda learn more about what it means to be a smoke jumper. If you're not familiar, these are our first responders to a wildfire, and they parachute into a wildfire with a chainsaw and a shovel and an axe Oh. And get to work trying to cut lines
Peggy
The brakes.
Brooks Smothers
So and clear debris so the wildfire doesn't jump a line so they can work to try to contain it. So these people parachute into wildfires.
Peggy
Wow.
Tony
It it's having lived in fire country, the efforts of these firefighters is just unbelievable, including the smokejumpers.
Brooks Smothers
It's Oh, yeah. It's awesome.
Tony
I never realized that a bulldozer was such an important fire piece of firefighting equipment. Right. But it is.
Brooks Smothers
Especially in wildland firefighting. Absolutely, it is. But if you can't get in there because the wildfire is still, you know, 17 miles from a forest service road and you need to get in there to try to contain it, you're parachuting into a wildfire.
Tony
Yeah. Wow. It's crazy. Yeah. And as you said, a shovel and a chainsaw.
Tony
Yep. It's nuts. Yep. So they had tours or
Brooks Smothers
showed Yeah. So there's the school there where they do the training. And so I believe and if people are listening and are like, this sounds like something they wanna see, just Google it and do your own research on the smoke jumper school in Twisp, Washington. They did used to offer tours. I haven't checked kind of what their post COVID policies are now, if they're even brought that back post COVID.
Brooks Smothers
So I don't know. So just do your own research, but they did back in the day.
Tony
Alright. So that was so good. We are gonna end it here, and you can come back next week and rejoin us as Brooks tells us even more about the adventures in the Pacific Northwest.
Peggy
Yes.
Tony
Well, we always like to share some good things with you. And this week, we have been working like fools on our website. And you might look at it and go, well, it looks the same as it always did. And, yeah,
Peggy
kind of those part, it will look the same. It's not gonna be significantly be significantly different. But if you have had, as we have had, a certain detest of the pop up ads that sometimes show up, we want you to know, first of all, we do not authorize pop up ads. We set them up as inline sorts of ads, and then suddenly Google decides to start popping them up. And then we have Tony has to go in and, you know, re remind them that that's not what we're looking for.
Peggy
So we just got kinda tired of that.
Tony
Yeah. And and it's invasive, and they use tracking cookies and things like that. So we basically booted Google from our website. As somebody said, yeah. It's it's a big hit for us initially, but we are working to find people who will buy ads, and there will only be ads from companies that we support and like.
Tony
Yeah. Uh, you know, like ABC Outfitters, for example, or or whoever it happens to be. Right. The ads will be in the articles and places like that, but you will not see pop ups. You will not see things that it's like, woah, that's that's kinda weird.
Tony
I don't have to keep fighting them to turn off political nonsense or
Peggy
Or lingerie ads. Lingerie ads. Have nothing to do with anything to do with camping.
Tony
So we have elected to see how this works.
Peggy
Mhmm.
Tony
And I think it's more secure for you because there's no tracking cookies to worry about. And it's I think it'll be better overall. And so our website is our ad for this week. And hopefully, you'll continue to get value. Um, there are if you look at the website, you know, the first if you go on whatever smartphone or computer, uh, the first few tiles are the main headers.
Tony
But then there are collections of articles after that. And there's things like towing, buying a new RV, uh, Internet for RVers.
Peggy
Yeah. Boondocking tips, recipes.
Tony
Yeah. All of that.
Peggy
All those different kinds of collect you know, collections. Collections kind of column. Merged into into headers.
Tony
Yeah. With that, if you were on any social media channel and you see somebody ask of, oh, you know, I'm buying a new RV or I wanna tow an RV, We really, really appreciate if you go find one of those collections and just share it there because they're all vetted information. Uh, they are hopefully good information, and it'll make you look so smart and so beautiful and smell better, and your hair will
Peggy
grow back. Relax,
Tony
baby. Maybe maybe not. Uh, or in the end, maybe none of those things. But but anyway, it's there for you to share and hopefully is good value for you.
Peggy
But talk about maybe not smelling better, but looking good. Aren't we looking good in our new shirts today?
Tony
Oh, yeah. Forgot about that. New shirts, new hats.
Peggy
So we do work with the company called Printful. There's a link on our website called, you know, logo gear or something. Now, don't look too too too closely at this because we got rid
Tony
of the test samples and
Peggy
we realized we made a couple of errors. Um, we you may remember that a few months ago, Tony designed a new logo. So it's a little bit different than it used to be and then he went in through the Printful and changed the logo but, you know, we have, like, specific colors and and Printful says choose from these colors. So we had to kind of guess. And so there are a couple things that we're we've already changed.
Peggy
So if you go in now and look, you'll see the logos. It looks a little more like the logo on the website. And I get to say that I am quite impressed with these polo shirts.
Tony
Yeah. I like them.
Peggy
I'm really liking them. They're
Tony
they're sixty, forty, I think.
Peggy
Or 63, 65, 35.
Tony
Yeah. Kind of polyester. I like the material. I'm kinda picky about these even though I normally just wear a t shirt. I like the position of the low so I've been very pleased.
Tony
But there are hats like this. Mhmm. There are baseball caps.
Peggy
There are socks.
Tony
There are socks and and cups and
Peggy
And phone covers.
Tony
And tumblers. Yeah. All kinds of stuff.
Peggy
All kinds of stuff. So we appreciate if you want to, you know, wear our gear or show off our gear. I know that, like, Dan has had a phone cover since the very first time we've made phone covers. Now, of course, he needs a new one because it's got a new logo on it. Yep.
Peggy
Perhaps he has a new phone already. I don't know. But, uh, he was one of the first people to buy a phone cover. So, anyway, if you are interested in some logo gear, just know that it's been updated just as our website has, and you can go and do some shopping.
Tony
Yeah. Spend your money.
Peggy
If you listen all the time to the podcast and you wanna watch this video, it's on YouTube. What is it again? Oh, yeah. Goofy USA.
Tony
Hey. Are you looking for a blonde?
Peggy
Maybe a brunette?
Tony
How about a Majul? Wait. How would you like to see a movie titled The Romance and Sex Life of the Date?
Peggy
Wait a minute.
Tony
Yeah. This is a This is some
Peggy
kind of a naughty place.
Tony
But it is a place where you can get a date. In fact, it's where most Americans get their dates.
Peggy
Oh, like a like a service.
Tony
Well, I guess we're talking about Shields Date Gardens in in Coachella Valley. Yeah. And it's the same place that's been there now for a century. Shields has been a pioneer in the area of growing this wonderful sweet treat, and you can even get date shakes and date crystals, both of which were invented here.
Peggy
Those are heavy. They really are. And yeah, there is a movie where you can learn about the sex life of a date. There are both female and males in the date world. Uh, workers actually have to propagate the plants.
Peggy
They don't naturally do it. So as Floyd Shields says, I don't think there are any natural date orchards anywhere in the world.
Tony
Ain't that odd?
Peggy
Isn't that strange?
Tony
Yeah. And once the dates mature, they have to manually propagate them, and then workers have to climb up these tall trees, which actually have ladders put right on them. Yeah. And they have to cut away some of the dates, so not all the dates are the dates you get. And then eventually, the sugary wonderful dates that you enjoy are ready for harvesting, and that's another manual process.
Peggy
So Shield State Garden in Coachella Valley started when the Shields family decided to try their hand at not just growing but propagating and, uh, sexing those dates.
Tony
Did you know that dates have been cultivated for over six thousand years in Northern Africa?
Peggy
Spanish conquistadors introduced the dates to North America, but it wasn't until the early twentieth century that things really took off.
Tony
Yeah. The early pioneers discovered artesian wells and the crops in the Coachella Valley just flourished in this ancient desert floor.
Peggy
In nineteen o four, the USDA established a test in the area to see how well dates would grow and boy did they grow. Yeah. Most commercial dates sold in The US today trace their lineage back to those early plants.
Tony
In 1924, Floyd and Bess Shields arrived in the area and things were hopping. Floyd offered lectures slideshow was pretty controversial in the fifties.
Peggy
Shields grew his own hybrids. Of the 119 kinds of dates grown here, only one variety came from the old world. The rest originated in the Shields' date garden.
Tony
Yep. And at Shields, there's a whole showroom of dates and tchotchkes. Mhmm. Uh, the dates come in all sorts of varieties and packages of all sizes and honestly, I know I have to get a package of dates every time I visit the area and I'm always sad when they're gone which happens in short order.
Peggy
Yeah. Yeah. And those crystals, boy. I can eat those by the spoonful.
Tony
Oh, yeah.
Peggy
Uh, and there's also a night outside that stands watch in front of the place and has done so since 1953.
Tony
Yep. So interestingly, commercial date palms take fifteen years to grow decently, but real production happens after about twenty years. And dates are also really thirsty plants and the places where they grow is flooded regularly. But oddly enough, rain is the enemy of dates. So they actually those bundles of dates, they cover them with like rainproof jackets for lack of a better description.
Peggy
So the trees actually want water in the roots, but they don't really want water on the fruit or in the leaves. Mhmm. The dates have to be picked by hand because they don't all ripen at the same time. And dates of variety of grades are often produced by the same date palm.
Tony
Yeah. It's interesting.
Peggy
It's very intensive.
Tony
So the Coachella Valley produces something like 30,000,000 pounds a year, which is about 90% of the dates enjoyed in The US.
Peggy
Wow. So dates will keep for about fifteen to twenty days if kept cool. But much like a growler of beer, we have never tested that theory.
Tony
Once that package is open, they hear, don't jack.
Peggy
And in an air in an airtight container, they could keep for a year in the refrigerator and many years if they kept frozen.
Tony
Yeah. Not in our house.
Peggy
Yeah. It doesn't happen.
Tony
So not only is Shields' Date Garden a great place to get dates, but also a place where you could take a date.
Peggy
Yeah.
Tony
They have a nice garden you can stroll around in and even a cafe and and we really enjoy the food there too.
Peggy
Yeah. It's a it's a definite date every time we're in the area.
Tony
You betcha.
Peggy
But learning the sex life of a date and knowing how much it takes to make something this delicious is more than just a tasty treat.
Tony
It's also goofy USA.
Peggy
Well, Tony had mentioned earlier that he took the travel trailer for some maintenance. Yep. And we thought, you know, since we're doing this maintenance, this is probably a good time to remind all of you to do the similar maintenance if it's time for you.
Tony
Yeah. Sometimes people use it at the beginning or end of the season. But what I'm talking about is having the wheel bearings maintained on a travel trailer or fifth wheel. Uh, unlike a car, they do require regular maintenance, but a lot of full size pickups will actually track the miles on your trailer. I know our truck does.
Peggy
Mhmm.
Tony
Believe it or not, you know, we picked this trailer up in November. It's already got over 12,000 miles just since then. Nice. And that's about the time that on ours, it's a Dexter axle. They say, well, you should really inspect it and regrease the bearings.
Tony
And a lot of trailers have a provision to like, a quick grease provision, or you can just add grease and it pushes out the old grease. But we choose, especially the first time, to have it actually serviced where they take the wheel off and they take the brake, uh, drum off, and they look at the whole system to make sure there's nothing troublesome happening in there and properly grease the bearings.
Peggy
Right. So that's one of the the concerns with the doing the quick grease thing is that you're not getting in there and looking at what's inside. You don't see the brake drums and stuff. And so, you know, even Dexter, I think, had recommended to us, check it the first year, maybe check it the second year. And then if you're not having a problem, then you might do a quick thing once in a while.
Peggy
But Yeah. You know, you you wanna keep an eye on what's going on inside too.
Tony
Yeah. I mean, it's just good to know you don't want it's easier to eliminate troubles when you're not a thousand miles from home than it is. Anyway, that's our recommendation is
Peggy
to have a thousand miles away from home, and it's not the only place you have to live.
Tony
Yeah. That's for sure.
Peggy
Because, uh, the reason he took it today to the place where it's gonna do the work is it could be a couple weeks, which we don't really have until before we get it back. So people aren't just gonna drop everything and do this for you.
Tony
No. No. Because RV services, you know, uh, is backlogged. And I was very fortunate that they said, yeah. Because it's just wheel bearings, uh, we will fit you in.
Tony
But they're busy folks. So as I always say, if you know somebody who is looking for a job and might have some inclination of which end of the screwdriver to hold, uh, there are some great opportunities to become a certified RV tech.
Peggy
Well, last week, we didn't ask a question of the week because we ran out of time. But the week before that, we were talking about some of our favorite campgrounds and we asked you what makes a campground great to you.
Tony
Yeah. This was a really good, uh, interaction with a lot of you because, you know, we each have different priorities. And so, uh, as always, at our fun and friendly stressless campers Facebook group, people really weigh in on some neat topics. They ask some great questions. And, you know, it it's your chance to be surrounded by like minded campers.
Peggy
Right.
Tony
So go see what folks are are excited about.
Peggy
In a campground. Yeah. Yeah. And thanks to everyone else who's, um, really interacting with making your own posts like, uh, Linda and Brian. We see them post a lot in the Stressless Campers group, and that's what it's for.
Peggy
It's not just to answer these questions.
Tony
Oh, no. No. No. No. If you have an RV related question, please feel encouraged to go there.
Peggy
Or a fun thing to share.
Tony
Yeah. Fun thing to share. It's as long as you're, you know, fun and friendly and and all of that, that's what we're looking for. So anyway, thank you to those of you who are part of our little digital family.
Peggy
So this week, because we were talking to Brooks and we'll be talking to Brooks probably again next week, I wanted to ask you, do you have any great tips for visiting the Pacific Northwest? Now what I think will be interesting is if you say, oh Brooks hit the nail like that, he talked about my absolute favorite place. But even more fun might be if you answer with an answer that you haven't heard from Brooks yet and you're gonna hear it next week. Yeah. And I think that'll be fun to see if people say, oh, the blah blah blah and then next week Brooks says, yeah, the blah blah blah.
Tony
And, yeah, of course, if you've listened to Brooke's podcast
Peggy
Right. You might already have some idea.
Tony
Talked about it. I don't know. It will anyway, should be fun. And that is why we have our fun and friendly Stressless Campers Facebook group.
Peggy
That's right. And do you know that we also have a once a week newsletter?
Tony
Is it free?
Peggy
It's free. And you know what? It has stories and videos and podcasts and things that we think will help you get the most of your RV experience. Yeah.
Tony
And just about every page has a newsletter sign up form. Know that we would never share your information with anybody, and we only send one email a week, period, end of story because we're lazy.
Peggy
Yeah. We just don't have time for more than that.
Tony
We're buying our own shirts instead.
Peggy
That's right. So you will find the show notes for this episode three sixteen on the podcast page at stresslesscamping.com, which is also where you will find our favorite RVs, products, services, and logo gear
Tony
You didn't
Brooks Smothers
have to.
Peggy
For things that you need on your stressless camping adventure like a bucket hat to keep the sun off your head.
Tony
That's right. And of course, we are in all the social places, but you can start at stresslesscamping.com, and there's links to all the places that we're probably wasting time just like you are.
Peggy
Right. So for you audio listeners, if you don't wanna miss a future episode of the Stress Is Camping podcast That's fine. It's also free to subscribe on any pad pad cost catcher, podcast catcher. Uh-huh. And we are saving you a seat around our virtual campfire.
Tony
Yeah. And if you're watching on YouTube, don't forget to hit the thumbs up. And if you wanna be annoyed I mean, notified of our podcast and all of that when they get released, you can hit that bell notification.
Peggy
Do you need a second to find those?
Tony
Oh. Give
Peggy
them a second. Find them. They're right down here somewhere. Yeah. Alright.
Peggy
Thanks. Alright.
Tony
Not bad for us.
Peggy
Did you read something that you liked on our website maybe?
Tony
Yeah. Or maybe heard something here that you liked or agreed with or didn't think was terrible?
Peggy
It is free and easy to share what you find on our website or in our social posts or on our podcast. All you need to do is copy that link and paste it in your own social network or hand out business cards at the grocery store or hire a sky rider.
Tony
Oh, yeah. I haven't seen one of those in a long time.
Peggy
Yeah. Can you imagine stresslesscamping.com?
Tony
That's plain great.
Peggy
Yeah. If you need help to know, like, how to actually share and you're not gonna hire a sky rider, we do have tips on the website.
Tony
Yeah. Well, I wish I had a date that I could share with you No. But I don't because
Peggy
How about September? Do you remember? September. No. Okay.
Tony
Oh, gosh. We are not singers as you can probably tell. A few of you have probably like, wow. Why can't I be deaf? But anyway, we appreciate that you're here with us every week for over 300 episodes, over seven years, my word.
Tony
It it's quite the adventure. In fact, you know what it is?
Peggy
It's stressless
Tony
camping. Stressless camping.
Mark Ferrell
We hope you learned a lot and had some fun and got some tips for your next stressless camping adventure. We're honored by your reviews on Apple Podcasts, which helps others find us too. Don't forget to subscribe so you won't miss out on the adventure, and we look forward to your joining us next week. Until then, happy camping.
Tony
Alright. Let's go have a date shake.
