Month: July 2023

Travel from Bakersfield to Paso Robles, California

We drove our coach 116 miles, about two hours of driving, from Bakersfield, California to Paso Robles, California.

Here’s the map route, heading west:

Route

An interactive map, with potential and actual stops:

Leaving the RV park:

Leaving RV park

Dam water!

Dam water

Paladin enjoying the steps:

Paladin

Big cow:

Cow

Fuel and lunch stop:

Fuel stop

Fuel stop

Parked

Fuel stop

Fuel stop

Popeyes

Popeyes

Popeyes

Paladin in the steps, with my feet up:

Paladin

Interesting bridge:

Interesting bridge

Lots of pump jacks:

Lots of pump jacks

Solar farm:

Solar farm

Flowers and green hills:

Flowers

Flowers

Vineyard:

Vineyard

Paso Robles:

Paso Robles

Resort entrance:

Resort entrance

I untoaded while Jenn checked in, then followed our coach to our site:

Following coach

Fridge latch repair

Our coach has a residential-sized fridge/freezer:

Fridge

In order to keep the doors closed as we drive down the road, they have catches and latches, that require a somewhat firm tug to open. Here’s the catch above the right door:

Hook

The latch on that door had a crack in it, which didn’t prevent it from working, but it was more rough than usual:

Broken latch

So I bought some replacement catches and latches, and replaced it. You can see the broken one at the bottom, and a new replacement above it:

Catches and latches

Now the door opens much more smoothly. An easy fix.

Orange Grove RV Park

We stayed at Orange Grove RV Park in Bakersfield, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our second stay here. Not an exciting town or campground, but it was nice to stay amongst the orange trees.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2023-04-16
  • Check out: 2023-04-20
  • 4 nights

Weather:

  • Partly cloudy
  • High temps ranging between 65-77°F, lows around 42-51°F
  • Negligible wind, up to 18 MPH gusts

Noise:

  • Some distant freeway noise
  • No road noise
  • Frequent train noise
  • Little neighbor noise

Site:

  • #174, pull-through, gravel
  • Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
  • Unlevel; had to use blocks, and still didn’t get it very level
  • Medium site: about 80 feet long by about 25 feet wide
  • Picnic table
  • Orange trees

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, conveniently located
  • 45 PSI water, conveniently located
  • Good sewer connection, somewhat conveniently located (2 10-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 52-62 Mbps down, 14-17 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
  • AT&T: 64 Mbps down, 28 Mbps up, 25 ms ping
  • Verizon: 40 Mbps down, 19 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters
  • Swimming pool

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Excellent stop in Bakersfield

This was our second stay here on the way through the area, and it’s still a pleasant stopover. There was more road and train noise than I remembered, however. It’s still a neat treat to park amongst the orange trees and enjoy the aroma of the blossoms. Our site was a nice, large pull-through long enough for our motorhome and tow vehicle. It was, however, very unlevel both side-to-side and front-to-back, and we couldn’t get completely level even with additional blocks. We camped at Orange Grove RV Park in a Motorhome.

Interactive map:

Campground map:

Map

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Bathrooms:

Bathrooms

Office:

Office

Pool:

Pool

Maintenance building artwork:

Maintenance building artwork

Maintenance building facade:

Maintenance building facade

Maintenance building facade

Travel from San Diego to Bakersfield, California

We drove our coach 244 miles, about four hours of driving, from San Diego, California to Bakersfield, California.

Here’s the map route, heading northwest:

Route

Interactive map:

Leaving the RV park:

Leaving RV park

Plane:

Plane

Plane taking off:

Plane taking off

Church:

Church

Paladin:

Paladin

Lagoon:

Lagoon

U-pick strawberries:

U-pick strawberries

Rest area:

Rest area

An easy lunch, prefab charcuterie:

Lunch

We were amused by the “Butts Only Box”:

Butts Only Box

Paladin:

Paladin

Paladin

Heavy traffic:

Traffic

Paladin prefers looking out the small window in the door from the steps, so I’ve been leaving the step cover open, and using the footrest instead:

Paladin and footrest

Great Balloon Park:

Great Balloon Park

Discovery Cube:

Discovery Cube

Rocket:

Rocket

Horrible roads in the LA area — concrete is not a good material for roads:

Horrible roads

Horrible roads

Cathedral:

Cathedral

More bad roads:

More bad roads

More bad roads

Green hills with flowers:

Flowers

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Fuel stop

More flowers:

Flowers

Bridge building:

Bridge building

Our destination:

Our destination

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day! 🇺🇸

On a personal level, we enjoy our independence and seeing this vast and diverse country as we drive our home around the states.

Here’s the map of our journey so far, and up until the end of this year — the 2021 Yellowstone trip is in brown, 2021 coach travel in green, 2022 travel in blue, and 2023 travel in purple:

Route map 2021 to 2023

The same map as an animated GIF, adding each year:

Route map GIF

Looking forward to exploring the east side of the country over the next couple of years.