Liberty Lake, Washington

We arrived at the caravan meeting point in Liberty Lake RV Park in eastern Washington on Friday. The caravan was to meet up on Saturday, but many came earlier. We had thought we'd wait until Saturday (the nightly rate at the campground is about double what we would normally pay!), but decided it would be good to get in early and start meeting folks with whom we will be traveling the next two months!

We got registered with a representative from Fantasy RV Tours, and she gave us materials for our trip. Lots to review and try to internalize!

We had some last things we wanted to get through Amazon, so had found a locker near Liberty Lake where we had a couple of things sent. Friday afternoon, we headed over to the Rite-Aid which was the location of the lockers...

When we got off I-90 on our way to the Rite-Aid, we were greeted with this sign -- it looked more confusing than it ended up being (we turned left on Pines Rd)! We made it to the Rite-Aid, picked up the first package, grabbed some lunch,

...and then headed back to the campground where there was a social planned for Friday evening. We got to meet a few of our fellow travelers.

 Saturday morning, our body clocks still on Central/Mountain time, we got up early...

... to finish a few tasks around the motorhome. We re-torqued the lug nuts one more time -- very little movement on the nuts, so we put the lug nut covers back on (Carl is using the rubber mallet to "encourage" the covers to go back on).

Carl filled the DEF tank. We are carrying 6 2.5 gallon containers of DEF with us as we found last year in eastern Canada that the prices were significantly higher in Canada for DEF, and we've heard it can be higher in Alaska too.

Carl also put a new latch and one of the new latch guides onto the water bay doors... you may remember that he started this project by cutting the guides out when we were in Mesa (https://journeyinamazinggrace.blogspot.com/2024/03/bay-door-project.html).

It is a little hard to see, but here is the finished product!

It was good that we started early, because the area of Washington where we are is experiencing a heat wave, so by about 10am, it was plumb uncomfortable to be anywhere in the sun as the temperatures were heading into the upper 90s!

One of the benefits of going on an organized caravan is that they have done all the planning (the jury is still out in Patti's mind on whether this is a good thing or not -- it means that I haven't had to spend time doing the planning, but it also means that I don't have all the knowledge that doing the planning would give me!). Another benefit is that they have a wagonmaster couple, and a tailgunner couple with the group. The tailgunners provide a level of safety and security -- if we have some difficulty and have to stop alongside the way, they will stop and ensure that we have things under control or, if not, try to help us find help or help us to resolve the issue.

So we will be recognizable to the tailgunners (and other members of the caravan), we have a label with our specific number on the front and back of our rig. Jeff and Julie (our tailgunners) came by on Saturday morning, went over some questions about our rig, and put our assigned labels on Gracie. We are number 24 -- there are 25 couples on the trip, and the numbers are assigned by last name. There are actually 3 couples after the Williams on the tour -- they skip #13, and one of the other couples who were signed up had to cancel -- so the last assigned number is 27. Most of the couples are married couples, but there is one brother/sister traveling with us!

Saturday afternoon, we had an Orientation meeting in the clubhouse at the campground. We learned that there are 14(!) first time travelers with Fantasy on this tour. Fantasy also recognizes those who have traveled at least 5 tours/events with Fantasy by making them "Lifetime" members (they get a financial benefit with this). We also learned about roll call where we count off by our assigned number -- so we have to listen for when #23 answers and then call out, "24!"

Kara, the representative from Fantasy RV Tours who was here getting us all checked in, gave us lots of helpful information. Here, she is showing the sign that we will put up once we reach Signpost Forest in Yukon Territory on our route. We will all sign it before we get there.

Saturday evening, Fantasy had arranged a buffet dinner for us at Seasons of Couer d'Alene --

... we are enjoying sitting with different folks and getting to know others who will be on the caravan with us!

Lots accomplished, just a few more to-do's to get moved to the "done" pile before we leave the lower 48 on Monday!