Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Retired RVers having the time of their lives


Diana and Jim Garot of Palmdale, Calif., with their Shih-tzu, China, stopped off in Coeur d'Alene on their three-month RV trip around the United States.
 (Photos by Julianne Crane / The Spokesman-Review)
Julianne Crane The Spokesman-Review

Retired for several years now, RVers Jim and Diana Garot might occasionally lose track of what city they are in, or not remember the day of the week.

But they always know exactly what time it is in North Dakota and Ohio.

Hanging on the wall of their Holiday Rambler motor home is a multi-time zone clock.

“We really don’t care what time it is where we are,” says Jim Garot, “but before we call our grandchildren, it’s important to know what time it is where they are.”

The Garots’ four grandchildren are at the top of their priority list.

“They are why we bought our first RV six years ago,” says Diana. “We wanted to visit family and friends spread out across the country.”

The Garots were in the Inland Northwest recently visiting one old friend – me. Diana and I go way, way back to junior high school in San Bernardino, Calif.

She and Jim were a little more than two weeks into their annual three-month circle trip of the United States.

They were stopping for a couple of days at the Blackwell Island RV Park on the Spokane River in Coeur d’Alene.

When they are not on the road in their 38-foot motor home, the Garots live in Palmdale, Calif., on the edge of the Mojave Desert.

For years Jim worked as a counselor for the county and Diana taught school. They both took retirement “as soon as they could” and started making extended road trips.

“RVing is easier on us,” says Diana. “We got tired of flying and renting a car when we got where we were going.”

“And, it’s a lot more fun staying in an RV park than in a hotel,” adds Jim. “You can talk to people. It’s easy to start conversations. RVers are really friendly people.”

Stops along the way

When they started this summer’s trip in mid-July, the Garots meandered up the Pacific Coast to Crescent City in Northern California, where they rendezvoused with several RVing friends.

“One day a few of us went out on a charter fishing trip,” says Jim, “and came back with several nice-sized lingcod.”

After about a week they headed north along U.S. Highway 101 to Gold Beach in Southern Oregon. They stayed three days at the Turtle Rock RV Resort, within easy walking distance of the beach.

On one side trip, the Garots and two other RV couples jumped aboard a Mail Boat Hydro-Jet and traveled 40 miles into the backcountry on the “wild and scenic” Rogue River.

“They actually deliver the mail,” says Diana. “Along the way the pilot does a couple of donuts in the middle of the river and the water splashes over everyone. Of course we were all wearing life vests. It was a lot of fun.”

“The ride was as smooth as glass,” adds Jim. “We saw a lot of wildlife along the river’s edge.”

From Gold Beach they traveled up to Florence and cut over to Eugene before turning north to Portland and the drive east along the Columbia River.

“Wow, what a massive river,” says Diana. “That is one huge body of water.”

By mid-afternoon they were looking for a place to stop for lunch and sighted the Bonneville Dam.

“It was a nice resting spot,” says Jim. “The parking lot has dedicated RV spaces marked off.”

Coeur d’Alene

By the next afternoon, they were in Coeur d’Alene walking along the floating boardwalk and visiting art galleries.

One evening they took a dinner cruise on the lake.

“We saw the sunset in the west and then the moonrise in the east,” says Jim. “It was very nice.”

“And the food was good,” reports Diana. “They didn’t just throw it at you.”

From the Inland Northwest, the Garots planned to head east along Interstate 90 to Missoula, then north to Kalispell before connecting with U.S. Highway 2 for the scenic route to North Dakota.

“It’s about 1,000 miles to where our grandchildren live and we have the time to take the slow route,” says Jim. “If it takes us three or four days to get there, that’s OK.”

After they arrive in Havana, N.D., they hope to take Jim, 15, and Claire, 11, on at least one RV trip.

One favorite campground the Garots enjoy visiting with their grandchildren is Wylie Park in South Dakota.

“It’s only about 90 minutes away from where the kids live,” says Diana, “and it is a beautiful public park with a lake where kids can fish without a license.”

They plan to spend a couple weeks catching up with family in North Dakota and then “head east.”

They will ramble on to Colburn, Ohio, to see their other grandchildren, Alana, 4, and Tristin, 21 months.

Sometime in September they will visit Jim’s brother in the Washington, D.C., area, and then “who knows” where they will go.

Cutting back trips

Up until 2004, when fuel prices started taking giant leaps, the Garots spent more time on the road.

“We had been doing a four- to six-week trip in both the spring and fall,” says Jim. “But, for the last three years, we’ve cut back to one trip and we are staying longer in places when we feel like it.”

They have no clear return route in mind. They will “probably” make their way through the mid-South before stopping in Colorado Springs to visit a niece.

Their only plan is to turn in to their own driveway “sometime in late September or early October.”

Soon after they clean out their motor home, they will pack a couple of suitcases for a November cruise to the Panama Canal out of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

“Being on a cruise is like being in a motor home at sea,” says Jim. “On a cruise we can eat eight or nine times a day, just like in our motor home.”

“Except,” interrupts Diana, “in the motor home you don’t get your bed pulled down at night and a chocolate placed on your pillow.”