Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Buffalo Campground, ID --NOT for the Faint of Heart

Remember when I said we would see you at the Buffalo, Idaho campground in the Targhee National Forest? Well, you would have, except we couldn't make ourselves fit in there, no matter how we tried! After a really long drive yesterday to get there, we arrived at the campground and pulled in. The car battery was DOA after five hours of driving, no surprise there. Get out the battery charger, give it a boost and on to the campsite only to find that a supposedly 60 foot pull through site was a CURVED one, with lots of close pine trees and branches overhanging both sides. Eldy didn't think we could fit in there, BUT--Sparky insisted we could. (Maybe SOME day, she'll learn Eldo Knows Best)

So he pulls the MH around to come into the site and we start the signals---Sparky is out in back behind the coach, Eldo is doing everything he can to do what Sparky tells him to do.."Turn this way, no not THAT much, now the other way"...I'm gesturing like crazy, trying to demonstrate with pinching my fingers just a little bit that I mean TURN JUST A LITTLE THIS WAY, and TURN JUST A LITTLE TO THE RIGHT and pretty soon Sparky looks like a deaf  person doing all kinds of conversation with her hands and fingers and Eldy is about to throw in the towel because he has no idea what Sparky wants him to do!

He starts to realize that if Sparky gets him situated on one side of the curve, the slides are going to go smack dab into the pine tree branches on the other side. Sparky is trying to watch both sides of the coach at the same time by holding up the "WAIT" finger (you DO know which one that is, right?) while she dashes to the other side to look to see if the branches are scraping the sides....uh-oh! Gotta move forward a little bit, now move the coach back a bit. We went back and forth and side to side, and the neighbors were starting to pay attention as our voices were getting a little louder...Finally, Eldy gets out of the coach, and says, "THAT'S IT!--We're moving on to the next park!" And he said it very nicely to his credit....No swearing, no bad words, no dirty looks, but he almost cried when he saw the tree branches multiple scrapes on the side of the motorhome. Luckily, the coach was so dirty and dusty, that the branches scraped the inch of dust off and not the paint....Sparky had to keep reassuring him that it was just dust marks and not scratches....She'd be a FOOL to try and take photos of the efforts it took to try and get in this site, so she didn't! (E. says, wise woman!)

On we go to Valley View Campground, which was ten miles further up the road, and YAY! They had plenty of room, AND it was a Passport America Park. We're staying for four days at this park, and although it's not as pretty as the forest campground was, THERE ARE NO BRANCHES TO THREATEN THE MOTORHOME! Easy in, easy out, full hookups, 17.00 a night for the first two nights, then 27.00 a night for the next two days. Big laundry facilities and VERY nice people running the office. WE WILL TAKE IT! say both Sparky and Eldo at the same time, heaving a huge sigh of relief........AND we are closer to the West Yellowstone entrance with this park than with the Buffalo Campground.....
Eldy's on his hands and knees praying and giving thanks that we arrived at a campground where we didn't scratch up the motorhome.  (Sparky is just kidding! I'm trying to figure out a different hookup for the water so I can finally wash the coach! explains E.)  Here is a view to the rear of the park...We've seen LOTS of nice log cabin homes in this area... All along the rivers and hillsides....Now THAT is the location for a log home! In Montana!  We LOVE Montana...it's very beautiful in this part of the state.....
Well, tomorrow we are heading to Yellowstone for our first day. Valley View Park is just about ten miles from the west entrance to Yellowstone, and we're going to see what we can see.....See you at the park!

6 comments:

  1. Knowing when you don't fit is a skill we don't have yet. Don't you have to pay before you pull in?

    ReplyDelete
  2. It really irritates me when a campground tries to stick us in a spot they should know we cannot use.

    Glad you found a good second choice.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wouldn't walkie talkies or something like that help you communicate better in this type situation?

    Note that I carefully backed into a site a few weeks ago near Lake Superior impn Grand Marais, MI. I was so pleased with myself that I stayed safely away from electrical on one side and water on the other! But I'll be darn if a tree didn't just jump out and bite my rear bumper! Now where did that tree come from, and how did it get right behind me?! Guess it's a good thing you left campground.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sometimes a long site that would work just fine for a 40 foot rig made up of two parts doesn't work for a 40 foot MH that doesn't bend in the middle.

    By the way, howdy to our twin :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's the campground where I did my laundry last summer while I stayed a few miles down the road at the beautiful Red Rock RV Park. :)

    Enjoy Yellowstone!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sounds like a valient effort in an impossible situation. Glad to see you in a nice wide comfortable site.

    ReplyDelete