When you live full time in an RV, there comes a time that you need to grab a washboard and bucket or head to a full hook – up RV park to get the laundry done. That’s how we ended up at the River Edge Resort and Steakhouse just off of Interstate 90 near Alberton, Montana.
What does this park have to offer travelers?
This park is small but packs a lot of options for travelers. You can camp in the RV Park, which includes tent sites. There is a motel there, as well. Dirty clothes? Their laundry facilities worked great for us. Even though we have an on board washer and dryer, we opted use their facilities to get the job done quickly. If you like gambling, there is a casino there. Finally, you never have to leave the park because there is a full service restaurant on premises with yummy food and desserts. The restaurant even has a little gift shop area. They also will book customers for white water rafting trips. There really is a lot packed into this little park.
Local Area
We didn’t explore much in the area other than walking the pups down the quiet country road. There is a fishing area and lovely bridge about a mile from the park. We enjoyed poking around there and looking at the beautiful Clark Fork River.
Phone Service
Verizon worked great!
Dog Walking
You’ll have to utilize the nearby fishing trails and the frontage road, which is sparsely traveled to get a good walk in – for larger dogs that is. Smaller pups will probably be just fine walking around the RV park.
Short Stay, Worth It!
This stay was a short one but we enjoyed our time at River Edge Resort. The park is peaceful with most campers popping in for an overnight stay. You can’t beat the convenience to I90. There is a train track across the river from the park so expect to hear a train now and then.
If you are interested in learning more about River Edge Resort and Steakhouse, here’s their website: http://www.riveredgemt.com
What was our last stop in our trek from Oregon to Florida? We had an awesome boondocking experience at Cabela’s in Post Falls, Idaho!
This stay was another first for us! We enjoyed two days of boondocking at Cabela’s in Post Falls, Idaho! I had scheduled us to stop in Post Falls, Idaho for two days so we could buy groceries before moving on to our next scheduled campground, River Edge Resort and Steakhouse, in Montana. Since this was just an overnight stop, I decided on one night at Cabela’s and one night at the nearby Walmart. We pulled into the Cabela’s parking lot in Post Falls, Idaho and found plenty of room for us and the other few RVs there. When we went in to check on staying there for the night, we found the most genuine and welcoming people. Wow! We signed in and by this time had decided to stay both nights there.
Boondocking at Post Falls – Friendly Folks!
Now, it was amazing enough to be warmly greeted but this stop held some other fabulous surprises. Of course, the budget worthy food prices, friendly staff and tasty food in the cafe brought us back more than once. We don’t eat out often but every now and then we enjoy a meal out for something different. While I’m on food, Cabela’s has fudge! I’m not much for sweets, but I do love some fudge every now and then. Of course, no visit to a fudge shop is complete unless a fudge purchase is made and it’s wrapped up, tucked into a pretty box, along with a miniature knife that I will typically open as soon as I’m out of the store!
But wait, there’s more!
The best part of our stop here at Cabela’s is the location. We headed out for a dog walk, walking behind the store and down the dirt road. There, not far from the store, we found ourselves on the rocky shores of the crystal clear Spokane River. What a treat! This place was peaceful and a little surreal in the mornings especially. We hopped from rock to rock and the pups enjoyed frolicking in and around the water.
Area Parks
Since we had a little time, we drove around the area and checked out some nearby parks. Apparently tubing is a popular summer past time here because a couple of these parks were slammed with people and tubes. We did find a scenic park, small but scenic. Falls Park has a playground, picnic areas, pond, dam, gorge, and trails. We enjoyed this little slice of Idaho.
Walmart Nearby
Now a word about the Walmart, less than one mile from the Cabela’s. We scheduled our grocery pick-up there and found the same welcoming, “we’re glad you’re here” attitude as we’d encountered at Cabela’s! The staff who brought out our groceries answered questions about the area and made suggestions on places we might want to visit. They welcome RVers there and we saw a few RVs overnighting in the parking lot.
By the way, if you have not considered Walmart Grocery Pick-Up, I encourage you to check it out. That is unless you like going in various, different stores and trying to find your grocery items among throngs of people. A trip to Walmart is nice sometimes, but for grocery shopping, we like pulling up, paying, and heading out without the hassle. After many pick-ups across many states, we’ve not had one bad experience.
Final Thoughts
So, is it a Post Falls thing? Is everyone this welcoming and friendly? We had a great experience hanging out and boondocking at Cabela’s in Post Falls for a couple of days.
For future reference, I now know that Coeur d’Alene is less than ten miles east of Post Falls. That is a place you may have heard of and definitely a place worth checking out. It is breathtakingly beautiful! Next time…
For now, we are on our way to Alberton, Montana, ever so gradually making our way back to Florida.
Check out our previous stay in Washington at Hood Park, Army Corps of Engineers campground.
Coon Creek Campground, Oklahoma was our home for a week this spring. Read on for our Ruff Road Review of Coon Creek Campground! If you want a visual, check out our You Tube Coon Creek Campground, Oklahoma Ruff Road Review: https://youtu.be/qBpNpvbutBk
Our site was a WINDY site, but oh so pretty! We had sunrises AND sunsets! Coon Creek Campground is a US Army Corps of Engineers campground is located on Kaw Lake in north central Oklahoma. Kaw Lake, completed in 1976 by damming the Arkansas River and flooding the original Kaw City, required the town of Kaw City to be relocated. This campground is on a peninsula providing beautiful waterviews from every campsite. Coon Creek Campground is one of several US Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds around the lake. Due to the size of this 17,000 acre lake, you’ll find there are miles between this campground and other the other campgrounds and recreational areas around the lake.
Things to do
What is there to do? Well, first of all, anything that involves water: fishing, boating, kayaking, swimming. You’ll find a boat ramp here and you can hand launch your kayak on the Coon Creek cove area, which is just down the hill from our campsite. Kayaking Coon Creek, will reward you with a clear, rock bottomed, flowing stream with high banks. You will have to get out and pull your kayak over the shallow areas but this little trip is peaceful, scenic, and full of birds. It’s refreshing to wade in the cool, clear, rushing water.
There’s a playground for the kiddos near the boat ramp camping area. If you have dogs to walk or just like to walk, this campground offers a few miles of campground roads and open fields to check out. Watch your pups though, there are catfish heads and bones just left laying around in the grass. You can bike these roads and even head out on the quiet roads leading to the campground. There are hiking and equestrian trails on the other side of the lake, but since that was miles away, we skipped it.
Nearby, you can visit Kaw Dam and fish in the Arkansas River as it flows away from the dam. Finally, sightseeing and birdwatching are rewarding at this park and in the area. Of course, hanging out at camp made the list of things to do with beautiful sunset views. Ahhhh!
Phone Service
We can only speak for Verizon phone service here. We had service, no problems.
Noise Level
Overall, this was a quiet campground especially on the peninsula end where we were. The windiest area of the campground is the peninsula point area. You can expect wind noise there. There was less wind in the boat ramp area and more campers clustered there. It may have been more noisy in that area due to the higher number of campers, however that was only on the weekend. Still, we found it quiet and peaceful as we walked through those areas during the week.
Campground Views
Water, water everywhere! Across the water you see bluffs and far off sandy shores. We loved the grassy open spaces with blooming trees. In addition, there were shady areas below spring green leaves dancing in the wind. Most campsites provided views of sunrises and sunsets.
Cleanliness
Ok, we’ll have to be honest with this one. We wish that the bathrooms were cleaned regularly, they were not. Also, we wished that fishermen would not throw their dead fish on the ground and just leave it there. Did you know that dogs are in danger of getting hooked if a hook is still in a dead fish? Fortunately, our dogs did not get hooked but we had to watch closely to make sure they didn’t get stabbed by fish bones and catfish spines. Any other incidental plastic bags or trash we think could be attributed to the gusting winds that prevail in that area. Generally speaking, the campsites were clean and well maintained though That’s a plus!
Campsites
The campsites are large providing space between you and your neighbors. You won’t find any brush buffers here, but the campsites are quite spread out giving you the feeling of your own space. The campsites are large but spaced closer together in the boat ramp area. Still, the sites have more room than your typical private campground. Several sites had covered picnic tables, nice! Our site did not. Heads up, if you want to enjoy camping on the point of the peninsula, expect the wind to be much stronger there. The views are worth it though.
Conclusion
Coon Creek Campground on Kaw Lake, a US Army Corps of Engineers campground, is easy to drive to, easy to park your rig due to the openess of the sites, and scenic. We loved this openess and the views. However, we didn’t love the wind but we had some really good days during our stay there. Perhaps it was just the time of year. We didn’t love the messy bathrooms and fish heads strewn about. Also, just as a heads up to those who love full pressure hot showers, the shower water in our bathhouse was not adjustable and would be considered barely lukewarm. Still, the good outweighed the bad and we really enjoyed this campground. The campsites were reasonably priced and bonus, if you have the America the Beautiful or Access Pass, the rates are 50% off. Worth it! We give Coon Creek a Ruff Road Review thumbs up!
Check out more of our campground reviews right here or on our You Tube Channel, Ruff Road RV Life. See you on the road!
Ruff Road is heading west, steadily and slowly from Florida. One stop along our journey was Lake Ouachita State Park located on Arkansas’ largest lake. This park is surrounded by the Ouachita National Forest and close to Hot Springs, Arkansas. Our stay was one week at the end of March. We found this park scenic and just what I needed for a mountain fix and Gary needed for a water fix! You can check out Lake Ouachita State Park, Arkansas Ruff Road Review on our You tube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c7nqegyVC8. You will be able to see the campground and park areas to get a clearer idea of what this beautiful park looks like.
Things to Do
What is there to do at Lake Ouachita State Park in Arkansas? You can hike, bike, fish, sightsee, kayak, and boat. Additionally, swimming, skiing, and scuba diving are three more activities listed on the park’s website, but we were there off season and it was still a little chilly. Also, there are boat launches and a full service marina with boat and kayak rentals. Of course, the kids can enjoy the playground near the marina. Important to us, this park is pet-friendly with dog pots and bags located around the area and plenty of room to walk your fur babies. There are day use areas, camping, cabins and on site is the historic Three Sisters Springs. The ranger station has a gift shop and they do have ranger led activities.
What did we do while here? Of course, we went on lots of dog walks, kayaked,and hung out at camp.
Hiking: There are two hiking trails here and miles of camp roads for walking. The Caddo Bend trail is four miles long and provides nice views of the lake as you follow the trail. However, it can be a little challenging due to ups, downs, and rocks. It is designated as “strenuous” according to the brochure. If you want an easier walk to the point or back, there is a service road that the trail crosses several times. There are deer here so if you are hiking with a dog who gets excited around wildlife, be aware. Additionally, there is a shorter half mile long trail called the Dogwood Trail. This one meanders along in a loop through the wooded hillside. The difficulty rating for this trail is “easy”.
Kayak: I kayaked around the peninsula here and in the little coves along the way. There are rocky cliffs and boulders in some areas and colorful rocks along some shores. The clear water and the mountains surrounding the lake made a peaceful paddle. Unfortunately, it was too windy to kayak on some days, but when it wasn’t it was amazing.
Hanging out at Camp: Finally, we enjoyed just hanging out with the ruffs at our waterfront campsite. It was simply peaceful to just be in this space surrounded by water, mountains, and trees. We watched and listened to the many birds here. My favorite times are when we have our propane firepit brightly burning, Gary playing the guitar, and ruffs curled up at our feet. Ahhh. Good times.
Phone Service
How was the phone service at Lake Ouachita State Park? Well, I drove ahead and tried to call Gary to warn him about a steep hill entering into the camping area and he wouldn’t answer. That’s when we learned that we had no service in that specific area. We had limited service at our campsite. The ranger station had wifi that we could use anytime if needed. In case you are wondering about the hill, it was fine and looked worse than it was.
Noise Level
Lake Ouachita State Park was quiet during our stay. It wasn’t full but there were quite a few campers. Overall, peaceful and quiet.
Park Views
One feature we love about Lake Ouachita State Park is the views. Almost every site has waterviews and mountain views. As a bonus, many sites are waterfront. The sites are large, with trees and grass. Each site in our area had a gravel tent pad and a concrete pad for rvs. There is plenty of space between each site. Our site was waterfront although we did have a steep little walk to get to the water. Still, we were able to launch the kayak from our backyard and retrieve it up the hill.
Cleanliness
Lake Ouachita State Park is clean. We have stayed at a few parks with a little litter here and there, including many dead fish or fish bones. That was not the case at this park. We found it very clean, including the bath house. Nice job, Lake Ouachita State Park!
Campsites
Lake Ouachita State Park really spoiled us with 50 amp service, sewer and water hook ups! We stayed at site #25. There are 93 campsites with 58 being full service and the rest being walk-in sites or no hook up sites. Also, they have full service cabins with all the comforts of home. You can reserve a site or cabin on Reserve America. https://www.reserveamerica.com/
Would we stay here again? Yes, indeed. We enjoyed our stay at Lake Ouachita State Park. As a bonus, this park is close to Hot Springs and Hot Springs National Park where you can visit historic bath houses and dip your hands into the warm water flowing from the earth there. Look for our Ruff Road Review of Hot Springs in pictures coming soon.
If you would like to see a video of Lake Ouachita State Park, check out the link in the first paragraph. We want to share pictures and videos of the places that we stay because that information isn’t always available for every campground. We wish that it was available as explained in our last post, Campground Reviews: Ruff Road Reviews. https://ruffroadrvlife.com/blog/
Stay tuned for more Ruff Road Reviews as we continue our trek west!
Recent Ruff Road RV Life You Tube videos provide a glimpse of the campgrounds that we have visited. We consider them our campground reviews. They are more of a multi-view of the actual campground and campground areas. Often, we couldn’t find actual pictures of specific campsites or campgrounds easily when researching places to stay. This was frustrating as you can imagine. We could find some written campground reviews which were helpful. Still, since we are both visual people, this provided only a piece of the puzzle. This is how our Ruff Road Reviews developed. We wanted to show what campgrounds look like and give a little insight into what each campground has to offer. As a bonus, our campground reviews provide a look back at the beautiful places we get to visit.
Here is our latest Ruff Road Review from our travels. If you want to see more, subscribe. If you have suggestions, questions or comments, let us know. https://ruffroadrvlife.com/contact-us/
I am a list person but this one was overwhelming! Our TO DO list for full-time RV Life really began when we made the decision to travel and live in an RV full- time. That was about two years ago! We have been living in our RV, Ruff Road, for over a year at this time. Our plans were to be in travel mode before now, but circumstances and my Appalachian Trail hike delayed our launch. We did go on a few camping trips to get our travel feet wet and of course, living in Ruff Road everyday allowed us to get to know the ins and outs of RV living.
So my one piece of advice if you decide to become a full-time RV dweller and before you make your own TO DO list for full-time RV life is to be flexible. There were circumstances beyond our control that required us to delay our plans. That’s ok. We have lived happily as stationary full-time RVers. We are looking forward to finally “hitting the road.”
Final load plan- what goes in the car, what goes in the RV, what stays behind (trash/ donate)
Make sure bank cards don’t expire. Replace if needed.
Do taxes!
Scan pictures and copy videos- as many as I can get done, organize remaining picture/ video totes in my daughter’s shed.
How are we doing on our final TO DO list for full-time RV living?
Well, I’m happy to say that most items have been checked completed. We still had a few weeks to go at this point. This list is not a comprehensive list of all we’ve done. However, it includes the things that we needed to purchase and/or to do before we begin our full-time RV travel life. In addition, it includes items that we didn’t even think about initially such as check bank cards.
We have enjoyed our life in Ruff Road for six months now! Incredible. This month is special because it was one year ago that we took possession of Ruff Road. In that time, we’ve enjoyed several trips and finally moved in full time in July 2017.
So how has it been after six months of living in an RV and not in our sticks and bricks home?
In one word- GREAT! We don’t mind the space at all. Even though we haven’t officially hit the road yet, we enjoy short trips and even our weekly dump run. There is plenty to do in our county. Gary continues to be involved in our church music ministry and has been writing some great music. I have reunited with the Florida Trail Association in our area to hike and volunteer. Of course, having family close by is a bonus right now.
Do we miss our sticks and bricks home?
No, we do not miss our sticks and bricks home. My daughter and her family have done a beautiful job of decorating it and making it their own. We don’t even think of it as ours anymore, it’s theirs. We don’t miss the upkeep and the constant cleaning that went with a larger home or all the stuff that went with it. Truthfully, we only lived in our bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom anyway. As the children left home, the rest of the rooms were just there and prone to collect clutter.
How are RVs and stick/brick homes similar? Different?
I thought about what it was like before living in Ruff Road. Much of what we do in Ruff Road is similar to what we did in our house. Rearranging, decorating, purging, cleaning, and organizing took place in both homes, however in Ruff Road it is on a much smaller level which is nice! Rearranging and organizing seems to be the two that we have worked on the most as we continue to “squeeze” into our new space. Most recently, we removed the pedestal table from in front of the couch. We had contemplated this for some time but where would we eat or work? We finally had enough and bravely unbolted it from the floor. We put our long rug over the area in front of the couch and now use the top of one of the dog crates for our table. No problems! We talked about adding a hinged wooden table top for more flexibility but for now, this works!
Before
After
The biggest difference between life in a house and life in an RV, is that everything in the RV is magnified due to the smaller space. For example, dirt gathers more easily in the small space of an RV vs the larger space a house offers. Things can accumulate more in a house but in an RV, the clutter becomes screamingly evident and you have to deal with it. In the house, if I wasn’t sure about tossing or donating something, I’d put it away in a closet to decide later. In the RV, space is limited so this is not an option. Even as I write this and everything is put away, we are aware that we have too much on board with us and we have a little RV purging to do. We have too many clothes. The dogs have too many toys. We have too many linens. So we’ll whittle these things down. Finally, we don’t have the anchor of a large yard to maintain. Anywhere is our yard. This was more freeing for me than I realized and there are no arguments from Gary about this. Here’s another bonus: We interact more in an RV. We like that. If we need our space, we have outside, one can go to the bedroom or to the coach area.
What has happened this month?
If you read our previous post, we sadly said good-bye to one of our ruffs, our 15 year old mini poodle Phoebe. We miss her and she will always be in our hearts.
We attended the Florida RV Super Show in Tampa, Florida. This event is huge featuring many vendors, seminars, RV types, models and manufacturers. You can view the bare chassis frames that are on display and learn how to maintain your generator. If you are exploring the RV lifestyle, attending an large RV show like this one provides the opportunity to see everything from pop-ups to large class A coaches and everything in between. Of course, if you are already RVing, you can see what’s new and how space is used in the different units. Also, I’m sure the dealers were looking to make a deal with new owners and with those willing to trade in their current RV. We spent most of our time looking at the vendor stations and attending seminars. We especially appreciated the seminar about maintaining your generator and diesel engine. We also attended a couple of seminars for RV newbies and full-timers which was helpful. If we were going to look at RVs as well, we would have needed a second day which was included in our ticket. Visitors with RVs could stay on the site with no hook-ups for a fee. Learn more about RVing in Florida by the group that sponsored this event, the Florida RV Trade Association at http://www.frvta.org.
What RV supplies did we purchase this month?
As trivial as it might sound, we were in the market for new pillows so we picked up two bamboo pillows at the Florida RV Supershow. They are super soft but can be used to prop up so you can read or work. Also, we found some stick on lights for a few of our dimly lit cabinets and bins. These were our two Florida RV Supershow purchases.
Other purchases were:
DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid): This is required for all diesel coaches to ensure that the exhaust from the engine is environmentally friendly.
Leveling Blocks: These are long overdue but we’ve only had one major problem not having them. Wood planks from a nearby dumpster provided the solution. In all other cases, we were able to maneuver the coach so all four tires were firmly on the ground.
Tank Tech Microbials: Gary says this is like RidX on steroids. This is the second month we have used this to minimize tank odor and ensure the right bugs are living in our tank to work on decomposition. All it takes is two ounces per dump. After using this product, we don’t have the pungent odor when our black tank is almost full and improves our tank’s health.
What’s next?
Watch for a link to be posted soon for our newly launched Ruff Road RV Life You Tube Channel.
Also, coming soon-
What are our plans for 2018?
Torreya State Park Review
Share to help grow our community and subscribe to be notified of new content. Comment to share your knowledge, ask questions, or recommend topics.
You will find a list of items that we purchased or brought from our house to outfit Ruff Road. Remember, I am an overthinker so all of these items have been researched and pondered before hitting BUY. We have reflected honestly about them and will update as we add new purchases. Of course, this list doesn’t reflect all of the items from our hobbies that we had on hand such as guitars, speakers, mini sewing machine, art supplies, backpacking gear, bicycling gear, kayaking gear…but we’ve made room for these and did not include them on our list.
Your list will look different based on your RV, your preferences and needs. Use this, or any list, as a guide. It might jog your memory regarding something you may have forgotten about or that you were not aware that you needed. We looked at multiple lists found on the internet and listened to countless vlogs to help us with our plan to set up Ruff Road. We then made our own list prioritizing items we would need to purchase first. We took it step by step, one bite at a time. Little by little, our RV turned into a home.
We hope you find these resources helpful. Share some of your helpful resources. Was there anything that you discovered you needed but didn’t have? Was there anything you purchased thinking that you needed it only to find out you didn’t afterall? Comment, subscribe and share. We are looking forward to building this community. Thank you to our subscribers.
