The Western US trip, Just the Facts Maam!

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Thanks Steve, that is more good info that I need to include if possible. 

Ardra, that is absolutely true about the length issues, no fudging room possible.  And the park models as well. and they put them in the front row premium sites, so it reduced the number of sites that were available to RV's in the front.  But they are getting $215+ in the winter, and $325+ a day for summer rates.  The + sign means that if it is a holiday weekend, the rates double, with a 3 day minimum rental.  Yep, they are in it for the money!
 
We arrived in Morro Bay with no problems, which was great since we drove out of Orange County, through Los Angeles county, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties and into San Luis Obispo county.  That is a lot of counties with lots of possibilities of crazy traffic.  Other than a few slow downs at major interstate interchanges, we breezed through. 

One important note here is that we knew that there would be few places (if any) to get fuel when we left Orange County until we got into Ventura county. There is a fuel station in Ventura off of Highway 101 named ?Silvas Oil Company?.  It is a fuel station that has about 6 large pull through lanes that will fit large RV's and trucks, and two smaller fuel islands for cars.  It is on a frontage road on the east side of the 101, and can be accessed from either direction via an off ramp within a half mile.  The address is 6417 Ventura Blvd, Ventura.  The rig was thirsty, as we hadn't fueled since leaving Las Vegas.  We took about 70 gallons of fuel. 

After fueling we rolled into Morro Bay without issue. We arrived at the Morro Strand RV Park, off highway 101 at Highway 41.  It's not a big park, or has a lot of amenities, but none of the parks in this area do.  It's more about seeing the coast, and visiting the quaint little beach towns along the highway. The park itself is about 150 yards from the ocean and the waves. 

Morro Strand is a horseshoe shaped park and all the sites are gravel.  They are plenty deep, and a few of the premium sites are 42' wide.  We took one of these as we love our outdoor space, spreading out and not being right on top of our neighbor.  The sites are heavily graveled and level so getting in and out is easy, and the staff was always around maintaining the sites and sweeping up. The park is two separate sections, one across the street from the other. One side is for larger rigs, the other for smaller ones.  We paid $59 a night (included was the $10 per night bump for the larger site.)  We were also charged $2 a day for our pet.  That kinda bugged me as there were no facilities for the pets, like walking areas or pick up bags for waste. A negative about this park is that there is a Waste Treatment Facility across the street.  If the wind blows the right way you will get a ?chemical? smell from the plant.  There is also a level of truck noise from the many industrial businesses in the area, plus some road construction not too far away. 

The office, rest rooms, and laundry are in two rows of modular buildings. They are raised about 3' off of the ground, but there is a handicap accessible ramp to get up into the buildings and rest rooms.  The restroom had 2 toilet facilities and a large shower, also handicap accessible.  Our Verizon air card worked satisfactory here. Not great, but not bad.  This may be an AT&T home area.

One day we drove N/B on CA 1 towards Monterey.  It is a stunningly beautiful drive, with the aqua blue Pacific waves crashing on the rocky beaches and out cropping.  We drove it in the Jeep, and I am glad we did.  As you drive north from Morro Bay, once you get past San Simeon and Hearst Castle, the 1 gets really twisty.  A road sign warns that vehicles over 30' from pin to rear axle are not advised for the next 88 miles, and with good reason. 

A few years back we had made a reservation at Kirk Creek County campground about 30 miles north of  Hearst Castle on the 1.  We never made it though as a land slide on the 1 about a mile north of the Castle had closed the road for about 2 months.  As we drove the Jeep north this day, we really got into some sharp switch back turns with elevation changes.  Driving north the road hugs some sheer vertical rock faces that make getting too close impossible.  Crossing over the double yellow line, even a little bit may be disastrous.  I would not want to try it with our 37' MH pulling the Jeep.  Together we are about 51' long.  Surprisingly on the way back south we did pass a few large MH's pulling toads.  Looking at the drivers as they passed, they were white knuckled and not having too much fun. 

On the way back south we hit one of the many turn outs and took a few pics.  One look around and you know why this part of California draws so many tourists, both National and International. 

Tomorrow we leave here and head N/E to Pinnacles National Park.  In 2013 it was elevated to the level of a National Park from a National Monument.  It will be our first visit, and we are looking forward to it. 

The first pic is just of our site at Morro Strand RV park. Pretty basic, but that electrical pedestal you see in the left corner of the site is the front edge of our site.

The next two are taken at a pull out on Highway 1 called Cottonwood Creek.  Pretty amazing vista.

And of course, no trip to Morro Bay is complete with a pic of Morro Rock, the towns namesake. 
 

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Sarge,

Just a quick note to the Las Vegas portion of your trip.

We spent last November at Las Vegas Motorcoach Resort and while it is not inexpensive, it was worth every penny, and two exits from the Strip convenient. Owners and renters were very social and the amenities were impressive.

I, too, however, have to comment on the air traffic which can be annoying, especially on and around the weekends, depending on whether the takeoff traffic is to the south. It was pretty loud and even having been a pilot for 40 years, even I got tired of it.

We had exactly the opposite experience at Gordon Ramsay's Pub, and we are big fans of Hell's Kitchen. The previous season winning chef was on duty and even came out to take pictures with us. And our food and service was top drawer. All of this said to point out that not every place on every night is going to be a winner, just like at the tables.

One of the things we were most impressed with, however, about Vegas, was that if you did your homework, good food, great venues, and lots of fun were not total budget killers. I think the competition for the dollar kept things somewhat reasonable, but not bare bones cheap.

We were so impressed we have four couples going back again this November to do it again!

We are watching with interest as you travel on. Thanks for providing the play by play!

Kim
 
Thanks for the input Kim. Part of the fun of doing this blog is having others that have had their experiences chime in and share as well.  It's good to hear that you had a positive experience at Ramsey's. I knew it had to be possible, but sometimes you just get the "B" team working that night. 

I too think Vegas can be a wonderful experience, as long as we don't over do it.  The key for us is a little bit at a time.

Thanks for coming along for the ride! 

Marty

PS, the DW just updated her blog last night for a really unique point of view!  Check my signature for the link.
 
Sarge,

My first trip to Vegas (not in an RV) left my senses stunned. We, too, have learned, that venues like Vegas, Yellowstone, etc. are best sampled not consumed.

I also agree that no RV park, eating establishment, vacation choice, etc. experience will be identical to the next consumer. It is important to get the reviews, and more than one, before you commit. Blogs like the ones you guys produce are a great source to get some balance. And that is hard work, which I for one, don't always have the patience to produce. So thanks for your efforts!

Continue leading the way! You look great in a coonskin cap!

Kim
 
We visited Pinnacles National park on this entry.  Pinnacles is the newest National Park in the National Park system, being upgraded from a National Monument in 2013.  We had never been here before so I was curious to check it out.  The park has a combination of sites, electric only, dry camping, and tent sites.  There is water available throughout the campground from faucets with auto off handles. There are no threads on those faucets so you need a ?water thief? to fill your tank.  One faucet in the park has a threaded spigot, by site #86.  There is also a dump station available.

The best way I can describe this park is ?rustic?.  Other than a fairly good size swimming pool, there is not a whole lot else for amenities.  The roads are paved, but the sites are dirt and gravel, and weeds grow freely in the sites.  The individual sites are chalked out, kind of like a little league baseball field, just not near as straight.  Some of the sites are big and roomy, and others are chalked on top of each other.  When I hooked up to the electrical box I noted that there were 50, 30, and 20 amp receptacles in the box.  I plugged into the 50 amp plug and closed the box door.  However on the outside of the door a  sticker read ?30 amp electrical only?.  I checked my surge guard and it was displaying power on both legs, but soon enough we found that 30 amp was all we were getting.  It was hot during our stay, in the upper 80's in the afternoon, but we made it by running one AC unit and keeping the blinds pulled down.

The major (and only) real draw to the park is hiking.  There are trails of various lengths and difficulty from easy to strenuous. We did one 5 mile hike that took us on an elevation change of 600'.  At the top you enter and navigate a ?fallen rock? cave.  A flashlight is needed as some parts are pitch black.  There are boulders to climb over, under, and squeeze by, but it was not too difficult.  The best part is that the cave was about 60 degrees and the outside was 85.  The other less popular activities are bird watching, and star gazing.  The sky here is total darkness at night.

If you decide to come here, be advised that the last 6 miles or so of Highway 25 before you turn on 146 into the park is a two lane road with no shoulder and it's twisty.  The speed limit on Highway 25 is 55 MPH, which is near impossible on this stretch. With the tight turns and blind corners, the last thing you want to do is cross over double yellow line. 

The cell service here in near zero, and I only say near because we managed to get brief weak signal either late at night or very early in the morning.  And that was with our Verizon air card in the router, with a power booster and an exterior antenna.  The cell phones themselves had zero signal. 

The on site restrooms and showers are old, and not handicapped accessible. A sign on the door warned of little or no hot water in the shower.  Two portable toilets were nearby that had handicapped access, but still no handicapped shower facility.  There is a store on site, but it was closed up while we were here, so I am not sure if it was operating or not. 

We did  take a 30 mile drive into Hollister one afternoon to look around and have some lunch. There was a wine tasting event going on with 20+ shops and stores participating. We decided not to partake, as the thought of the drive back on the twisty roads mixed with wine was not a good idea. The town itself was interesting and had character, so I would go back there and visit again.

The camping fees at the park were $37 a night for an electrical hook up site, and that doesn't include a $10 National Park entry fee, if you don't have a National Parks Pass. 

It was an interesting park to visit once, but there is not much here that would inspire me to return. Visit Diane's Trip Journal at the link in my signature for more details and pics of the area and cave.
 

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Nice write up, it looks like Pinnacles National Park will remain on the bottom of my visit list. Keep em coming, your travels have become fodder for our supper table conversations...  :D

I am really looking forward to the day when we can take a months long journey.
 
After leaving Pinnacles we needed to get back to civilization for some restocking, clean up, and various small projects.  We selected a park in San Juan Bautista that is right next to Gilroy, the garlic capitol of the state (country?).  The park we stayed in is named ?Betabel RV park?.  It is right off of Highway 101 at Betabel Road.  The park was surprisingly full when we arrived for our week stay.  Staying for a week often gets you a reduction from the daily rate.  We paid $290 for 7 days and that included tax. I believe it was a 15% reduction over the daily rate. The park has concrete sites and paved roads.  There are mature trees and landscaping between the sites.  While there is not a huge amount of room between the sites, the landscaping makes it feel a little more spacious.  There was plenty of room to sit outside in chairs, watch the outside TV, and even do our morning workouts. 

The park has free WiFi that worked pretty well, but you are limited to emails and basic web searches. Our Verizon air card worked pretty well, but we did have periods of slow downs. The bathrooms are in good condition and had handicapped showers and toilet stalls.  There were 8 washing machines and 10 dryers in the laundry room. Washes cost $1.50 and dryers were $1.00.  Extra capacity dryers were $1.50. 

A few of the surprising perks in this park were a huge lush grass area across from the office that well mannered pets are allowed to run on while off leash.  There is also a more rustic area in the back of the park that has a path around it where pets can also be off leash. Plenty of doggie waste bags and containers are around the park.  There is a heated pool, rec room and showers.  You are also allowed to wash your own rig at your site if you desire, or have a service do it for you.  A car wash area is provided by a separate dump station for free use as well.  Although close to the highway, road noise was never a problem. We were towards the back of the park though in site #99.  An access road runs in front of the park with light traffic, so walking a pet or exercising on it is not a problem.

I caved in and hired a RV wash service to wash and wax the rig one day. I was impressed with them, I think it was the best wash and wax I have ever had. 3 guys showed up at 0830, power washed the roof, then hand washed and hand waxed the rig.  Deionized water was used to final rinse the rig after the wash to minimize water spots.  They finally left at nearly 2:30 in the afternoon.  I really got my money's worth on that one.  If you are in the area, I highly recommend Abel's Mobile RV Wash & Auto Detail service.  I paid $270, and I tipped them as well.

We hit a couple winery's for wine tasting one day. We were looking primarily for reds on this trip, and were not disappointed.  We wound up purchasing 2 bottles, but one didn't survive the night!

Gilroy just 3 miles up the highway had anything we needed, including several restaurants, stores, and my favorite, Home Depot.  Diane looked at Trip Advisor to find a local recommended place for lunch one day. We settled on a place named ?Garlic City Cafe?.  It was highly rated, so we gave it a shot. I wanted to have something kinda healthy, so I ordered a ?Turkey, Lettuce and Tomato Wrap?.  I asked our ESL waitress if I could get garlic added to the wrap.  Confused, she walked away and sent over presumably a head person, also ESL.  I repeated my request, which I thought should be pretty simple, being we were in Gilroy at the Garlic City Cafe.  She too was baffled at my request, and finally said that if I wanted garlic, I could order some garlic french fries.  I had the wrap just the way the kitchen made it, which was fair.  Goes to show you that you can't always depend on Trip Advisor and past reviews.  Maybe the place changed hands recently....

I even started another project here.  I am making a wood dash panel to replace my existing panel. This one will reposition my Freightliner LBCU electronic readout higher on the dash to make it easier to see while driving.  More details about this later.

Diane researched fuel stations in the area as there are few options for a big rig to get fuel off of the 101.  We found that there is a Shell gas station about 5 miles north on the 101 at Monterey road.  It has a truck gas island, as well as a RV fuel island.  As you approach the gas station you will see the auto gas pumps.  Then there is a building that resembles a motel, which is actually part of the gas station. The first driveway past the building on the right is the entrance to the RV pumps.  We scouted this out prior to our planned filling date so we would get easy in and out fuel.  The only thing we didn't account for was  other RV's. When we pulled up Sunday morning expecting to fuel up, there was already a travel trailer in the pump area dumping his tanks.  Another RV was in line in front of the travel trailer waiting his turn. We opted to drive past and use the mostly empty truck lanes.  The RV waiting in line was in line for propane.  So there are other facilities available at the station.  We got fueled and pulled out. We paid $3.25 a gallon for diesel.

Next stop is ?Half Moon Bay? on the coast. It's going to be a bit chilly I think. 
 

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We moved back to the coast for this part of the trip. We stayed at the Half Moon Bay state park. We have stayed here before, but it has been 6 years.  This state park is right on the ocean and has recently added 50 amp electric at most sites. The sites and roads are paved, but the rest of the site was weedy grass. It was in need of cutting during our visit. There was a picnic table and a fire ring at each site, but there is ample room between the sites. There is water available at the dump station and at various places throughout the campground. However, you will need a ?water thief? as the campground faucets are not threaded.  We paid about $50 a night for an electric hook up site.  There are still some non electric sites on the back row,  but I am not sure what he cost is. If I were to ding this park, it would be for the lack of maintenance cutting the grass.  The spaces between the sites have grassy weeds, and the fox tails are in full bloom.  Heidi picked up many in her fur whenever she ventured off of the carpet.

The bathrooms are handicapped accessible as well as the shower stalls.  The showers are coin operated and cost 25 cents for the first 3 minutes.  Our Verizon cell card worked well here with no drop outs or slow downs. 

The positive attributes here are you can hear the waves from your RV, and there are walking paths all along the water front.  The town of Half Moon Bay is nearby, has all of the usual conveniences.  Out of curiosity we checked 4 other RV parks in the area.  All were considerably more expensive, $60-$80 a night, and had nowhere near the space that the State park has.  A few had spaces so close that if two rigs both had slide outs, there was no walking space between them.

We ate at a restaurant in town, again relying on Trip Advisor. It was Sam's Chowder House, and had a great ocean view. However, the food was just average. In fact after about 10 minutes at our table with no one acknowledging our presence, I was ready to walk out. Diane grabbed a nearby server and we finally got our waitress to come over.  It got better after that though. But we still paid $56 for two soup and salad lunches. We gave another restaurant in town a chance to redeem our opinion of the eating establishments.  This time we went to ?The Moss Beach Distillery?. We went with a couple we met in the campground that were from Chicago. This time the food was great, as was the views. We ate on an outside patio that looked out on the ocean.  Several gas fire pits kept us toasty, and from our perch we had cocktails and watch whales glide by about a 100 yards off.

There are several little charming towns in Highway 1, and the scenery is stunning.  However to keep going north from here would take us into San Francisco. Nope, that isn't going to happen!  I have been to San Francisco several times, but it's not the place to take an RV of any size.  The last time we were there with  an RV we stayed north of the city and drove in on day trips.  San Francisco is not on the schedule this trip.

From here we head back in land to the town of Folsom to warm up and dry out for a bit. Diane has also updated our travel blog as well.
 

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One of our favorite seafood places is just north of Half Moon Bay.  The Miramar Inn was a speakeasy years ago.  Today it's right on the water and "just" a restaurant and bar.  We haven't been there in a while but the thought of their scallops makes my mouth water.

ArdraF
 
This week we stayed in a state park in Folsom Ca.  We have been past here on the I-5 or 99 many times but have never stopped.  I admit to always having a preconceived notion of the Folsom area as being a little ink dot in the middle of nowhere, with just a prison in the city limits to sustain the town. 

Boy was I ever wrong! We stayed at Folsom Lake State Recreation Area, and it is a great state park. There are two loops, one full hook up and one dry camp for tents and small rigs. The roads and pads are asphalt, The sites are grassy dirt and gravel, but most are really good size.  There is good open space between rigs at most sites, and some have the parking pads for your rig, and a separate connected pad for your tow or toad.  The biggest negative to this park is road noise from a fairly busy 4 lane road that runs in front of the park.  Our site, #60 was probably the most exposed to the road as our curb side faced the road.  However, most of the traffic on the road is automobile, so you are not overwhelmed by big rig trucks going by.  And the road is lightly traveled at night, so there is no problem sleeping.  Our site was about 150 yards from the road with lots of grass and trees in between. 

Although Folsom lake and Dam are connected to the park, there are no lake view sites, except for a few peek a boo sites in the tent area, which is not the same loop as the FHU sites.  There are handicapped sites, and all restrooms are handicapped accessible as well. Showers are coin operated at 50 cents for 4 minutes.  The cell signal is off the charts strong, as there is a cell tower in the park on top of a electric line tower (the dam on the lake makes power).  My 3G air card was making 2.6 Mbps on Speedtest.net.  I have never had speeds like that with 3G! 

The town of Folsom and Granite Bay are amazingly upscale new.  Much of the shopping and restaurants are very nice and look brand new.  Many housing developments are in the area, but there is still an old town area with many original shops eateries.  The developers have left large green space areas with many mature trees to soften the residential and commercial areas.

One of the servers at a restaurant we tried, the Asian Palace, which was excellent by the way, explained how the community had grown. He said that the town had grown due to many of the employees of the major tech companies (and some of the businesses) in and around San Francisco started migrating east and built near Lake Folsom instead paying the mega prices in the Bay Area.  The result has been a very nice upscale community with all the amenities.  In fact, we drove past an ?Intel? plant not far from the state park. 

There has been some surprises here though.  Due to the lake and all the green space still around, there are lots of critters.  One morning we were awakened by a banging on the RV.  Not like a person, but something unexplainable.  So at 6 AM I threw on a robe and went out the door in time to see a 3' tall turkey beating feet away from the back of the rig.  It appears he saw his reflection in the shiny paint on the rig, and was attacking the other turkey!  Welcome to central California. We seen them a few more times during the week walking through the brush in front of our site.  There were 4 of them, 2 males and 2 females, and all pretty good size. 

The full hookup sites here are $57 per night, but not all spaces are the same size so do some research on  line when selecting a site. A few of the sites are heavily treed, so if you want to get satellite reception that may be a consideration too.  We checked out a few other RV parks in the area, but none had the space of the state park, and all were more expensive.

While we were here, no visit would be complete without a visit to the infamous Folsom State prison (not as a resident fortunately).  The prison while not prominently mentioned anywhere around town, is but a few miles from the downtown area.  A few miles down some tree lined country roads and the the prison fences appear.  We went to the prison to visit the small on site museum and gift shop, just outside the front gates.  There is a security building for visitors going into the prison to visit inmates, but the museum is across the street, and is easy open access to the public.  You are permitted to take pictures of anything you can see from the front, as long as prison staff are not in the picture.  The museum was small but interesting, and prominently featured was the 1968 concert that Johnny Cash held inside the prison for the inmates.  Along with a collection of prison curio's and even some artistic stuff that was created by inmates.  All in all it was worth the 45 minutes or so we spent there, and admission is $2, which goes to the all volunteer staff which man the shop.  Some are retired prison guards with stories to tell.

All in all we found the Folsom area comfortable and enjoyable.  We didn't even get into Sacramento on this trip, an it seems that we had so much other stuff to do.  We were here for a week and never got bored. Hiking and biking trails are all around the area, and are frequented by the residents.  I will come back to this area again. 

Next we head to Bodega Bay for the holiday weekend. We are on the beach for 4 days in a no hook up spot. This should be interesting.
 

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Peacocks also will attack the "other bird" in a shiny bumper.  We had quite a time leaving a Texas campground because the peacocks were in mating season.  I felt like an idiot chasing the bird away while Jerry was trying to drive the opposite direction.  Probably the most exciting exit we've ever experienced!

ArdraF
 
We also had an experience at a campground with peacocks. It was at a campground in Ojai, and they had about 15 of them wandering the campground.  At first it was fascinating, but that soon changed.  As it turns out, when in mating season, the male peacocks will fan their remarkable tail feathers, and "scream".  It sounds like someone yelling for help, and they like to do it starting at around 5 AM. 
 
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