My experiences and opinions of Cali were a little unexpected. This, I’m sure, was due to a number of factors, but mostly I think due to the time of year and the fact we were traveling in an RV.

There is one huge thing we’ve learnt while traveling in an RV at this time of year, and that is “winterizing” gets in the way of everything. Winterizing is basically the need to drain all the water from your tanks and replace it with antifreeze if the weather where you’re staying could potentially drop below 0°C i.e. freezing point. If you don’t winterize and the temperature drops below freezing then it can cause major (expensive) issues for your pipes and tanks apparently, so not really a risk we wanted to take. Winterizing can generally only be done at specific RV centers and apparently costs between $70-100 each time you winterize and un-winterize your vehicle (and obviously when your RV is winterized you can’t use the taps, which is a bit shit too).

So what has this got to do with CA? Well basically we had to change our original travel plans to avoid having to winterize, cos areas like Napa and Yosemite were dropping below zero at night. So we have made a goal to go back to Cali and spend a bit of time at these other places in summer when the weather is a bit more agreeable (potentially on our way back to Oz…)

Anyway, I still really loved the state despite all this. Just in different ways than I thought… Firstly, we pretty much didn’t even go anywhere worth mentioning in LA, cos we were in a rush to get our RV out on the open road and open road doesn’t really exist in LA. So my highlights of California were smaller places like Santa Cruz, Sonoma and Felton in the Henry Cowell Redwood Forest, which weren’t really on my original list of places to go at all. And probably my biggest disappointment? San Fran….

Read More

Name: Viking RV Park

Location: 11858 E Kamm st Kingsburg, California 93631

Details: Full hookup, showers at a quarter for a 1.5 minutes, no wifi, laundry.

Club: They mention a number of clubs they comply with, however if you are with another club they are pretty competitive and offer 50% off for all club members. Club.

Price: $20/night with Good Sam Club card.

Despite it’s unfortunately dull location situated right next to the highway and train tracks and the small amount of space we were assigned to, they managed to make it quite a charming RV park by placing importance on the little things. They only had one unisex bathroom with shower and toilet for the whole RV park (but I get the feeling that no one actually uses the public bathrooms and just use their own), however, it was very spacious and clean with the perfect amount of water pressure in the shower. They also had a top quality BBQ and a nice seating area with a built in gazebo for anyone to use. They also had a room available, which they called “theater”. This was basically there as a form of space for you to do what you will which I thought was a nice touch. Ultimately, I wouldn’t spend too much time in this RV park as it’s a pretty dud location and has no wifi but it was a nice stopover.

Rating:

Name: Golden Gate Trailer Park

Location: 2000 Redwood Highway Greenbrae, San Francisco, CA 94904

Details: Full hookup, free wifi (but can only be used by one modem), free showers, laundry at $1.50/load to wash and $1.25/load to dry.

Price: $43/night.

Unfortunately, this was the closest RV park to San Francisco city and still it was an expensive ferry or bus ride and a good 45 mins into town (probably equivalent to the Manly ferry in Sydney). This RV park tries to cramp 60+ sites into a small amount of space which meant that there wasn’t much room between us and our neighbours. The wifi was also a difficult one as only one computer was allowed to use the connection. Having said that, the area was right near the water (no view though), the showers were free (although there was some serious issues with the jets), the laundry loads were cheaper than we have come across and we discovered a Trader Joes around the corner - our latest favourite place to do our grocery shopping!! Oh and we met a lovely old man George and his Schnauzer Clause, who gets so excited at just seeing another human being. Clause = best name ever!!

Rating: 

Where:  Mo’s Grill, North Beach San Francisco CA, USA

Name and Description: “California Burger” - Monterey Jack Cheese & Avocado

Ingredients: beef patty, cheese, mayo, lettuce, tomato, pickle, red onion 

Table Additions: ketchup

Served with: Fries

Price: $11.48

Score: 6 out of 10

Comments: Everything about this burger and cafe shouted high marks and awesome burgers but there were a few factors which cut them off at the knees. Firstly, the burgers weren’t fuckin made! They just dumped all the ingredients on a plate. Literally. Not like an open burger, but just a pile of ingredients e.g. my Avocado was half an avocado which had been scooped out of the skin and sitting on the side of my plate. and the pickle which i requested to be “on the burger” was a big long thing which i had to cut up myself! Dub-tee-eff?! The burger itself was actually pretty tasty, but once I actually made it, it was an absolute mess to eat (see photo), and there were probably too many flavours with the extras for my liking anyways… 

note: Zoe got the mushroom burger which was a lot more put together and a lot nicer than mine. 

Name: Cotillion Gardens Trailer Park Campground

Location: 300 Old Big Trees Road Felton, California 95018

Details: Elec-water hookup, picnic tables at each site, free wifi, free showers, swimming pool, games room (pool, ping pong, arcade).

Clubs: Good Sam Club

Price: $43 for elec-water hookup / $40 with GSC (paid with cash) otherwise $51 with CC.

It was such a beautiful (however windy) drive to this RV park passing the mountains of Redwood trees. The park itself has a few wooden lodges, one major communal lodge which holds the games and chillout rooms and quite a number of sites for RVs all hidden amongst the redwood trees which gives each area a bit of privacy. They’ve even put a couple of older style park benches on a wooden bridge over trickling water to add to the scenery. It has a real foresty feel to it, you can actually smell the pines! And it is in a prime location being 5 mins from Felton, a small homely town and 15 mins from Santa Cruz a pop and beach culture influenced city.

Rating: 

Name: Lake Casitas Recreation Area Campground

Location: 11311 Santa Ana Road Ventura, California 93003

Details: Elec-water hookup, picnic tables and grill at each site, paid internet, toilets, showers at $1/5mins minimum. 

Price: $35 for full hookup (+ $7.50 reservation fee)

Thoughts: Entry into the campsite was pretty smooth and as it was a last minute venture to the RV park we didn’t have to pay the reservation fee. Win! I think you can normally choose which campsite you would like to occupy but because we were just staying there for the one night they gave us the closest area to set up which was probably not as lovely as they come. The next morning, however, we discovered that even the RVs who get the runt of the litter still manage to get a beautiful surrounding. We were situated right on the northern part of the lake and got to hang out with Pocket Goufers (apparently are total pests but to me are adorable!) while having our breakfast. And the road back from the Lake going towards Santa Barbara was pretty amazing!!

Rating: