Being our first longer distance trip, I took a slower, more manageable route that added 50 minutes to the trip but left out big climbs and steep drops as well as narrow, curvy roads. See the pictures of the maps. I plugged in my Foxwell AutoMaster Pro NT604 Elite OBD2 Scanner which I can run live data streams through while I am driving. I was able to watch how the climbs affected my transmission cooling. The Subaru Ascent handled the 4% climb without even warming up. I took a different way home with about a 7% gradual climb and assent but again, did not heat up at all.
Bear Lake is a beautiful, deep blue lake that sits partly in Idaho and partly in Utah. We stayed at the Marina side KOA Holiday campground and we were impressed! This place has upgraded, or is in the process of upgrading everything. New cement patios, great fire pits, fast WiFi, beautiful sites for RV's, tents, and amazing selection of cabins to sleep from 4 to 9 people. Some even have private hot tubs. The season ends next weekend and reopens the first of May 2027. July through August is there busiest time so book early. Also, the Raspberry Days Rodeo and Parade are the biggest events of the year. For the kids, there is cornhole toss, a major large trampoline type bubble in the ground, mini golf, playground, and the pool area is being redone for next year. They also have rental bikes and pedal cars that can ride to downtown on the bike path. Not far off, we went for a off-road ride up the mountain and saw some wild turkeys and deer along our way.
Nothing like making perfect marshmallows by the fire pit. Since we can't have In N Out by us everywhere we camp, we bring along our lights instead.
Our R-pod 153 got a test being that the nights got down to 31 degrees. We flipped on the auto heat pads for the tanks so that we didn't get any frozen liquid. The heater worked great but I wanted to try out our ceramic heater since we were hooked up to electricity. I bought one that is a 750W/1500W heater with a thermostat. (GiveBest https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XRQ7GHJ)In your trailer, you don't want to push above 750W or you can blow your system so we kept it on the low setting. Once the heat gets where you want it, you turn the dial for the thermostat and it turns off. It ran all night and get us just right. I left the propane heater set to four degrees lower just in case it couldn't handle the cold but the propane heater didn't have to come on. Even so, our toilet seat was cold as could be. I wish I had a heated seat like at home.
We went to Coopers at the West Lake Golf Course for our dinner since we had heard the view was awesome. We went early to get a seat with the view and overlooked the lake during dinner. Our choices for the dinner were Bison short ribs, and New York Steak. We also enjoyed a local theater where comical plays are performed. It was an entertaining evening.