06-16-2026 Columbia River Area, Gorge Base Camp, White Salmon, Washington

Darn wind. It’s an awful drive again. I wish Mother Nature would calm the wind down. 

We headed south on I-82, then west on I-84. We followed I-84 to the campground with a few detours.

More fields of mustard and wheat. As stated in another blog, the mustard fields are beautiful. Lots of cattle roam the hillsides. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before, but on this trip we have seen many trains hauling oil tankers in both Montana and Washington. 

As we followed the Umatilla Lake, we could see whitecaps. At times, the wind would hit us so hard that it would move us onto the shoulder. Not a fun drive at all. 

We passed the Umatilla Army Depot and could see the munitions storage bunkers from the interstate. The link I provided is to an article that provides lots of great information about the depot. 

There are huge windmills along this route, which makes sense, but if you're in an RV, it’s a nightmare.

At times, the road was right next to the river, and we could see the swells were about four to five feet high. I also observed wind and kitesurfers. They're nuts! 

At one point, we were directed by GPS to the other side of the river due to an accident. This required crossing a bridge. The road we were on is up on a hillside and still windy. Boy, what a challenging drive for Barry. Throughout this drive, we wove in and out of Washington and Oregon. Our campground was on this side of the river, but a tunnel was too low, so GPS had us cross back to the other side. So crazy! There was a bridge a few miles away that we would cross back over again to our campground. Before the bridge, there was a huge sign stating that vehicles could be no wider than 9 feet. We both looked at each other with an

“OH SHIT!” look on our faces. We made it across, but I had to keep an eye on my side and tell Barry if he was getting too close to the side of the bridge. 

We saw a semi coming from the opposite direction, and knew we were going to be close to each other, and we were. Our mirrors tapped, and our mirror ended up pivoting closed. Thank goodness our mirrors pivot because we would have lost it. Mind you, it was still windy, but everyone drove slowly. Luckily, we made it across, and our next campground was just on the other side. We were shaking when we got out. As a recommendation, if you are in a class A, DO NOT TAKE THIS BRIDGE! Nine feet is nine feet. 

The host who checked us in provided us with a lot of information about the area. We drove to our site, set up, and tried to relax for a few minutes.  Then off to White Salmon to find a place to eat. We decided on Everything Brewery. Barry loved the beer, and I had a root beer. He ordered a Tri-Tip sandwich and I a burrito. Both meals were very yummy. 

Once back at the RV, we decided what to do tomorrow, watched some TV, and then hit the bed. Mentally exhausting day. 

Oh yeah, our mirror only had a small scratch. 

The restaurant we ate at. Cool muriel. 

This was on a corner. The attached cans had chalk. Barry added the last comment, "Before I die, I want to live in Japan."

These panels were attached to a chain-link fence. There were about a dozen of them. 

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