IDAHO: Our 1st Rally in Cascade and some final thoughts on Idaho

Arrowhead RV Park, Cascade Idaho

July 28-31, 2016

We decided it would be a great opportunity to take a small tour of some sites in Idaho on our way to the Newmar Kountry Klub Region 2 Idaho State Rally in Cascade in July. Our plan was to work our way towards Cascade and stretch the trip over 10 days with 2-3 night stays along the way.

At this point, you probably want to ask: "What is this club?"

Our motorhome is made by a large RV manufacturer Newmar http://www.newmarcorp.com/ The "Newmar Kountry Klub" is a RV social club exclusive to owners of a Newmar coach. Their members are from the United States and Canada and travel all over North America to meet up in different
areas for rallies, special events and caravans. Through the Kountry Klub there is an open line of communication between Newmar and owners of Newmar RV's. We are now in Utah which is in Region 1 but as a club member you can go to any of the Region Rallies. The big rally called the International Rally is held once a year and this year it's in Colorado the last week in September. We will be going to the big event in September and thought this rally would give us a chance to meet other members ahead of the September Rally.

There were 14 coaches and 28 attendees at the rally. Many have been to multiple rallies, 4 of us were 1st time rally attendees. We had a great time, everyone seemed to know each other but everyone was friendly and made us feel part of their family. A lot of them we will see again at the International Rally in September.

The Rally was held at Arrowhead RV Park over 4 days. http://www.arrowheadpark.com/
Overall a very nice park but it's an older park used to having smaller sized RV's. We had difficulties getting all 50 amps, mostly in the later part of the day when temperatures would be in the 90's. Our group of 14 rigs were all big rigs 36-40 ft. plus and all using 50 amps at the same time. We had to monitor and adjust how many amps we used during those peak hours later in the day. Seems to be a common theme when traveling this time of year and staying in older parks.

Our site #120

RV park is right on the Payette River

They had an itinerary of activities and included breakfast and dinner each day. Friday after breakfast there was a wood carving informational clinic at the RV park.

Some examples of wood carvings

More wood carvings

totem poles

The RV park is known as a Woodcarving/craft retreat in the summer and they have people that come from all parts of the country that stay the entire summer carving totem poles. It's quite impressive to walk around the RV park and see as many as 30 plus totem poles with some that are dated back to 1994.

Friday evening after dinner we had musical entertainment from Ross Thomas. He has performed throughout the U.S. http://rossthomasmusic.com/bio/  and has toured, along with his brother, with Collin Raye and The Osmond Brothers.

Casual concert-Ross Thomas and family

One of our daily social gatherings before dinner

Saturday we took a group trip for lunch up to the FAA Radar Station on the top of Snowbank Mountain. It was a beautiful drive on a narrow, steep dirt road to the station at 8,200 feet. A great
way to take in the view and enjoy the cooler weather.



FAA Radar station Snowbank Mountain, ID

I hiked to these towers to get better photos. A nice little workout after lunch.

A remaining little patch of snow

View of Cascade Lake from the towers

Sunday morning, we said our goodbyes and hoped to see everyone at the Rally in September. We had a great time exchanging information on trips, RV maintenance and just about anything.

We drove the short distance to Boise for our final quick stop so that Mike could visit with a high school friend who lives in Eagle, ID which is just north of the Boise area. It was a stressful drive south on Highway 55, a scenic by-way that is challenging in a large motorhome because of
a lot of narrow sections and turns. Mike said it was the hardest driving he has done so far. It was a late decision to spend 1 night in Boise but I was lucky to grab a spot close by at the very popular Hi Valley RV Park. http://www.g7rvresorts.com/idaho/hi-valley/ Nice and clean park, but we didn't spend any time there or check out any of the facilities. A few things to note: Wi-Fi was slow and we again had power issues in the hot afternoon.

My final thoughts on our trip to Idaho and our 1st rally experience: we need to come back and spend more time in Idaho and we should include more rallies in our RV travels. However, I would choose a different time of year especially in the central part of Idaho. July was hot, especially in the later afternoon; I expect the more northern parts of Idaho are cooler.  We also didn't do any rafting or fishing on this trip and that is worth a return visit. This was a faster paced trip then we would normally plan and we could have easily spent a week in Sun Valley; so I expect we will make another trip through Idaho.

   What's Next: Our big trip to Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona
                         International Rally in Pueblo, CO, Albuquerque Balloon Festival......and more