Over all a very nice visit to Ely. But after a month it was time to move on. Not sure I mentioned it but the little RV park I stayed at had very fast Wifi. I was able to stream whenever I wanted to. And most of the people there didn’t use Wifi at all so I had it pretty much to myself over that month.
I’d tried to get a reservation at the Hagerman RV park where I stayed last year in the area but they kind of put me off. But whatever, I decided just to head that direction and see if they had an open spot when I got there.
And here I go traveling on a lonely road out in the middle of nowhere again. I really enjoy the wide open spaces.
Occasionally there is a small town to gawk at… 
And after a days drive I’m at 1,000 springs on the Snake River. Hagerman is about 8 miles from here. 
Got about the only space they had left…and they could only let me stay for 3 nights. 
So after 3 nights there a space hadn’t opened up for me so I pushed on to Wendell, which is just 8 miles away, north, alongside I-84. Stayed at the Intermountain RV Park for 3 nights. It was still July so these places are all crowded. They tend to be packed during summer weekends and on holidays.
After Wendell, pushed on to Milton-Freewater (M-F) Oregon which is just a few miles from Walla Walla and my family. My sister, BIL, son, nephew, and daughter plus her SO all live there now. And my ex and her family often visits their mom who happens to live where my son stays…in an attached apartment next to her home.
Anyway, on the road to M-F, this is that valley you see from I-84 as you drop off the mountains into the Pendleton Valley. M-F is way off in the distance.
And here the road just outside M-F drops down into the famous Walla Walla Valley.
It was nearing the end of July when I arrived and my son showed up as soon as I let him know I was in town.
The RV park was a bit strange, I’d called their number and got the grounds keeper before I’d arrived. He told me there were two spots available for me, one with 30 amp the other with 50 amp but only the 30 amp spot had any chance of getting Wifi. The office was only open at the first of the month so the owner could collect rent checks.
So when I get there and set up, turned out the office was closed as expected and find the grounds keeper is out mowing the lawn near the office the next day and we talk. I’d not been able to get online at all. He opens the office and shows me SSIDs and the password for the several APs the park had that other people in the park haven’t asked for. And weren’t widely used because of that. I’m good at gab and he wasn’t happy with the owner so I got all the info I needed to get my Wifi set up with a strong signal at 15 Mbps (more then fast enough for 30 computers to do email and some Facebook). But it appeared that I was the only user as those APs seemed to be for the office, though the owner had at one time tried to get Wifi out to the RV section of the park.
I actually parked in the space backwards hoping for better temperature regulation, better wifi too.
And a few nights later, son and I head over to the Walla Walla’s Borleske stadium to watch the town’s AAA team, the Sweets play. 
The mascot…a Walla Walla Sweet Onion. One of the best onions on the planet. Other onions call themselves sweet, but the Walla Walla Sweets are far and away the best onion.
Turned into a long game and the Sweets were down by 8 runs at one point, but came back and won by 4 I think. Lots of fun. Son and I had the nice big hot dogs for dinner. Oh, and beer to wash them down. Nice time.
So that’s where I ended up after Ely, staying in Milton Freewater (M-F) and visiting Walla Walla. See you next time and thanks for reading!
I spent my college years in Ellensburg and fishing the lakes of eastern WA, but never went to Walla Walla. I’d stop for wine tasting, not fishing, looking forward to your explorations in the area.
Ahh, Ellensburg. Spent many an hour there. Also fished many of the lakes in Washington. Walla Walla is where I graduated HS, met my wife, had my 2nd child. Mom & Dad lived there for decades. Have a lot of history there.
There were 13 wineries when I was there growing up within 50 mile radius of Walla Walla. Now there’s something like 250 or so.
Forgive me if I’ve input this before. Next time through enjoy Three Island Crossing State Park at Glenns Ferry, ID. The RV part is large, nice, and includes a great museum and a once a year Pioneer river crossing re-enactment, but has limited resources as I recall (WiFi?) and is commonly reserved full in summer.
We didn’t stay at the other private parks nearby. The one across from and run by the $$$$ Californian-owned winery looked old and crowded with tightly-spaced sites. The one in town I checked out had a different name 5 years ago, I think, but was shady and well-and-friendly managed with less expensive sites. It’s now called Trail Break. It’s close to all amenities, including the great little family cafe you’ll not want to miss next time, Fudge Factory Grill (see my review at TripAdvisor).
Also tour the country around Bruneau. Go south of town on Hot Springs Road to the Bruneau Canyon Overlook for a grand picture opportunity. The Century Trail passes through here too, with still visible and followable tracks, though due to prairie grass and catalytic converters not necessarily mixing well I’d not advise it, plus it goes on for hours across no mans country.
My wife has fond memories of her family’s annual 1940’s cross-country trip across desert backroads between their Hagerman farm (on Bell and Buckeye canals 1/4 mile west of the RV Park) to Winter Camp (near the overlook and Mtn. Home air base land). Her sister and brother-in-law ran Winter Camp as part of a small cattle operation, and my wife’s family went yearly to help gather the herd.
Though we haven’t seen them for decades, a good friend of my wife’s and her husband live in Milton-Freewater, in an older house just at the bottom of the northbound drive into town. He’s a surveyor. He once treated us to a meal of cauliflower mushroom he gathered in the nearby hills, and it was delicious fried. In return I showed him how to fly fish when he took me up the nearby Walla Walla River. Then they took us to the 4th of July Fireworks in Walla Walla.
Wow. Thanks for all that info. And I’ve been planning on stopping in Glenn’s Ferry now for a couple years but so far haven’t made it. I’ll make an effort next year as I’m already set in my plans. I’d really like to explore that area.
At Three Island Crossing State Park, both upper and lower level have hookups, and some pull throughs. If you make it out to Bruneau, you may want to stay at Bruneau Dunes State Park. They talked about having wifi at the state parks, but not sure if that ever happened.
HI RENEE! Nice to hear from you. Yes, that is a good looking park. Every time I pass it I’m like, “I gotta stop there one of these days”. But so far, every time I’ve passed it I’m already booked up for something somewhere else.
I just checked the web site for the 3 Island park and they don’t have Wifi. I like to stay a week or more in an area so that wouldn’t work for me. I still would consider that park if I could only stay 3 days or so. I can live without Wifi for that long.
I haven’t checked the other parks there yet, I’ll do that next spring on my way back north.
Hookups at Three Island are water and electricity. Can’t remember at Bruneau Dunes.
https://trailbreakrvpark.com/rates/
$30/$175 week/$350 month.
The state park was great with wide open spaces between sites and large old trees, some sites overlook river but no doubt hard to reserve, and enough open central land for a disk golf set up. I believe overflow parking on the lower level event-staging area across from the (great) museum. Oregon Trail loop walking trail(s) behind the museum. But no WiFi listed in its amenities, pricing $22-$45, and reserve early. During the river-crossing re-enactment good luck; but ditto for any other park at that time.
https://parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/activities/camping
Forgot the Trail Break deal, 3 for the price of 2, gets you $20/night if you don’t want an extended stay.
Hey, thanks for the the info…