Man down

Looks like Chris won't be able to make the trip. We'll have to figure out what to do with his share of the cannabis.

Stealing Women and Raping Horses

I think that a game of RISK is essential on this trip. Erik, do you own it?

Host Gift for Joel?

By the way Erik. I would like to bring a small thank you gift to Joel & Carol for letting us use the R.V. I would normally bring a bottle of wine or a fine cheese for such an occasion but with Joel's epicurean expertise I have no idea what would really appeal to him. I was going to ask Todd to make a quick stop once we crossed the California border on the way down but first I'd have to have some idea what we'd be stopping for. Any suggestions?

Food and Supplies

Erik are there any supplies that need to be brought? Sleeping bags? Any details would be helpful.

What do we want to do about food? I know we're planning on hitting Costco before heading out but any thoughts on what people want? By my count we have five breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.

Contact info & cancellation policy for Railroad RV park in Dunsmuir

Erik, sorry to get this posted so late. However here is the contact info & cancellation policy for Railroad RV park in Dunsmuir. Thanks for taking care of this.

RV Park/Campground:  530-235-0420

Also it may be possible to register online. I was looking for the cancellation policy by going through the site map on their website and some kind of calendar came up. I'm just not sure if it was open to the public or meant to be an office reservation system.

A one night's deposit must be received 2 weeks prior to your stay, either by check or money order.
Cancellation must be made 1 week prior to your stay to receive a full refund, less a $5.00 processing fee

DAILY BASE RATES (Subject to Change)
Base rate includes 2 persons & 1 automobile. All extra persons $3 each/per night.
FULL HOOK-UP (Electric, water, and sewer) - $37.00

 

 

Railroad Park Resort

100 Railroad Park Road

Dunsmuir, California, 96025, United States

railroadparkresortoffice@gmail.com

(530) 235-4440

(530) 235-4064

Guess who Mom ran into at the grocery store?

You all remember Tor, Oysteins brother? Mom ran into him at the grocery store and did some catching up. Turns out he's working for King county, is married and has two kids, Aiden and Ander. Oldest is sixteen.

Mom says Tor would love to hear from all of us so I'm putting it on both blogs so I know Charlie can see it (even if he can't post).

I promised Mom I would send everyone an e-mail letting you know about Tor and giving his contact number. But really the post is more efficient so here it is.

Tor Lone
206 799-4593

Do you have a reservation?

I called Erik about reserving a campsite and we both felt that it was time to get something reserved. Erik said that we should check on a "no deposit" option or about cancellation charges.  Also we'll need to decide whose credit card we are using for the reservation and how we will split the charges when we get there.

Inquired with Dutcher Creek campground. ($55.00 per night) my first choice for wine country for two night (July 13, 14). Talked to a lovely person named Francis who said that how they do it is you pay in full up front. Cancellation policy was if you cancel more than 48hr prior to the reservation they refund with a  $10.00 cancellation fee. However Francis admitted to me that she does not actually collect the $10.00 because " it messes up my books and I don't know where to put it on the paperwork".  We both had a good laugh over this.

Francis mentioned that they had a swimming pool "for now" but that any day now they might be told to close it due to the drought.  Erik how would you feel about a little gentleman's wager? I'll bet you a lunch at In'N Out burger that the swimming pool at the campground we stay at our first night in wine county is closed. If it is closed you owe me a lunch at In'N Out but if it is open I owe you same. Are you up for it?

Called Novato, the other campground I posted in wine county, and got the answering service I'll try again tomorrow and post the results. We should make a reservation by this weekend.

Chrysler 300

We rented a Chrysler 300 in Hawaii. Nice car to drive. Accelerates very well and handles smoothly, at least compared to the XTERRA.

Nice to have a backup camera, and the proximity key is convenient. Took me awhile to realize the little button on the door handle locks/unlocks the doors if the key is nearby. Found the touch screen lacking, though I could get used to a navigation system.

Unrelatedly, I met a paramedic from the Seattle Fire Dept while hiking through a volcano crater. Took a photo with Dave Van V who knows Charles well.

Good news for summer travelers

Drivers can look forward to the lowest summer gas prices in 6 years; time to see the USA?

"NEW YORK — Drivers will see the lowest summer gasoline prices in about 6 years, according to the Energy Department.
The national average price is forecast to fall 32 percent from a year ago to $2.45 a gallon between April and September, the period when Americans do most of their driving. That would mark the lowest seasonal average since 2009"

I don't know about you guys but this sounds like a really good thing to me.

Announcement from Captain Obvious...

USA Today reports the following:

"California's snowpack is at historically low levels, a casualty of the state's wimpy winter and ongoing drought.
In Northern California, the Sierra Nevada snowpack's water content is at its lowest late-March level since records began in 1950, at just 6% of the late-March average, the California Department of Water Resources said Monday"

With the ongoing drought conditions in California I expect that no matter where we stay we will find fire restrictions in effect. Which of course means no campfires. Which means no wiener roasts, limited BBQ and of course no swimming pools. Plan accordingly.

Gas prices

Todd and I were having a sidebar conversation about what to drive from Edmonds to Mountain View. I offered to run the options though the AAA Gas Calculator tool and post the results. See below.

Please note all these prices are based on current prices and will change as summer approaches. We can rerun them as we get closer. Also the calculator asks for model year and I didn't have that so all vehicles are 2013 unless otherwise indicated.
                                              1 way   / Round Trip
Chevy suburban c1500 2wd $163.47/$326.94
Chevy suburban c2500 2wd $245.20$490.40
Chevy Impala                       $136.22/$272.44
Ford Fusion AWD                $111.46/$222.92
Ford Fusion FWD                 $102.17/$204.34
Chrysler PT Cruiser('04)       $129.05/$258.10

Todd, I can't recall exactly how much you said the rental would be but it looks like borrowing the suburban might be a wash. You'll have to decide how much you want to invest in that project.

RV Parking at Walmart

I was reminded recently that Walmart often allows RV's to park in their lots overnight. Click here for a convenient video. 

Walmart's website confirmed this convenient policy with some very reasonable caveats. Also I learned that up to 20 percent of Walmarts do not allow RV parking and frequently these stores are in some of the high tourist areas we are likely to be. The website has a convenient list of non-participating stores and a video of basic user protocols to follow when parking at a Walmart.

My conclusion  after viewing the video is that while we might consider Walmart a reasonable follow up but I wouldn't plan on it up front.

Some RV campground results

O.K. here are some initial findings for where we can park the R.V. by region, showing availability

WINE COUNTRY

Dutcher Creek RV Park
Dutcher Creek Village, 230 Theresa Drive, Cloverdale, CA 95425
(about 2 1/2 hrs from Mountain View)

Full hookup = $55 + tax per night
Currently has spots available. Could not advise how fast they would fill up but my impression that while this is the best option it has fewer spaces than other sites.

Website blurb"  Plan day trips to the Bay Area, the Northern California coast, historic sites, Lake Sonoma, the Russian River, The Solar Living Institute and redwood forests. Or, visit the local wineries & vineyards for your own personal wine tasting tour; by bike (bikes can be rented in nearby Cloverdale), " Also has swimming pool and trails. Location has spots with a view of adjoining vineyards.  My first choice for wine country.

Novato RV park
1530 Armstrong AveNovato, CA 94945

(about 1 1/2 hours from Mountain View)

$65.25 pernight with AAA/Good Sam membership (I have AAA we can use mine)
Good Sam: ratings  9.5/10+/9.5

A call to the desk advised that we should plan on waiting no more than another month as they are starting to fill up.

Note: website says free Wi-Fi but reviews say it is really limited bandwidth. Has a good looking pool (If you link to the website you have to hunt for the photo gallery, its on the Right margin at the bottom.) I wasn't big on this one at first but the reviews are strong, it has good facilities, (deli/store, pool, clean laundry) and is the closest to both San Francisco and Wine Country.  Saw some Yelp posts that said the bathrooms were old and worn but the manager said that was "next years project" since the post was 2 years old that may be out of date, and I wasn't planning on using the camps toilets anyway right?

NOR CAL

Railroad RV Park
 100 Railroad Park Road, Dunsmuir CA.
$37.00 per night plus tax

Checking the Availability on the website shows 21 of 45 RV sites available. Based on what I'm seeing on the website my guess is this place will fill up fast.

Erik & Charlie will remember Dunsmuir, CA will fondness from the Graduation Trip the 3 of us took on the Coast Starlight with a brief stopover while waiting for the return train. Here's a chance to see what we missed. Looks like a lot.

This place is not just an RV site. They have a railroad theme going, (the only Themed RV park I've seen so far).  There are cabins and tent sites but the real draw appears to be hotel quality train cars available for rental, mostly cabooses but also a box car and a genuine restaurant/lounge in train cars.

They bill as a railroad resort, not just a campground, advertise the railroad engines and specialty cars they have available to see. This appears to be consistent with the tourism theme for nearby Dunsmuir (2 miles). " offers creek side camping in the tall pines. " and "Everyone is welcome to enjoy the Game Room with Pool Table, Group BBQ Pit and Recreation Lawn.  Ice and Wood are available for purchase at the entrance station" also "features trout fishing at it's finest.  Many area lakes and creeks are stocked with trout, bass, salmon and catfish.  Area fishing guides are located in Dunsmuir." While not mentioned above I did see a pool in the photo gallery. I suggest you browse the gallery at least once because even if we don't make it to this spot you'll want to catch a glimpse of the classic  cars, the view of Mt Shasta and the railroad bar/restaurant. This place looks really nice.

Yreka RV camp
767 Montague Road, Yreka, CA 96097
$37.58 per night.

This place doesn't seem to have much going for other than the curious name. (I've always liked the sound of the names of Eureka,CA and Yreka, CA,)   That and the free coffee and local paper are about the only thing it has going. Probably explains why this spot has the lowest rates. Also it's Airstream friendly. I'm told that has certain connotations in the R.V. community. If anybody knows something about that maybe they can fill us in? This is the closest camp to Mt. Shasta that I reviewed.

Similar to almost every place I have talked too they advise making a reservation "by the end of this month" for a space during the week of July 12-18. Looks like we have a sunset date for how long we can keep our options open on picking a campground. Best by the end of march, last chance likely near Tax Day (April 15).

I'll put more up as I find 'em. I'd love to hear some opinions.

Campground Sites

At Erik's suggestion I am starting the search for an RV campground in the Sonoma/Napa Valley wine country area. If anyone has any "Gee it would be nice if" ideas here is your opportunity to shout out.

Ride

I took the steed out for a ride over the weekend to keep the battery charged up. Thought you might like a visual.

Nominations for the Destination committe?

We keep starting this conversation only to have it waylaid. I think its time to have an open conversation about our destination.

I've heard:
1)Tahoe (not my favorite but I'm game if it reaches consensus.)
2)Humboldt County ( most discussion, most egg on my face)
3)Nor Cal (Sounds Quiet and comfortable)
4) Pacific Coast Highway (Most Adventure)
5) A combination of Nor Cal & PCH ( take the PCH to a destination in Nor Cal with random stops?)
6) Geocaching (  I think this could be combined with any of the others)

Lets hear your thoughts?

Both 2 and 5 are items on my bucket list.

Costco

As I mentioned on the short-lived WordPress blog, I think we should kick off the trip with some shopping.  We can stock up on supplies for Todd's proposed pyrophilic protagonism and other sundries.

July 12-18

The official dates are July 12-18, 2015.  That leaves wiggle room on the edges.  It'll be no problem to put people up who want to come in or leave a couple days early/late.  Keep us posted as plans develop.

New Platform

The WordPress blog wasn't cutting it access-wise so we're moving over here.  Speak up.