Another RV-themed podcast that I enjoy and recommend is the StressLess Camping podcast.
It is hosted by Peggy and Tony Barthel, RV industry veterans, with hundreds of episodes on RV topics including tips, RV reviews, interviews with guests, and more.
Listen in your preferred podcast app.
We attended a baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres, playing at the Giant’s ballpark, Oracle Park in San Francisco, California. What we thought would be our last game of the year (but actually only our last game of the regular season), and the 8th ballpark we’ve visited in our stretch goal of visiting all of the ballparks (six new ones this year, plus re-visiting the Mariners’ park a couple of times).
Bay Bridge:
Oracle Park:
Team store:
Three times world champions:
Concessions:
Burritos:
View from outfield:
Big Coke bottle:
Big glove:
Cable car:
Ferry next to the ballpark:
View from outfield:
World Series rings:
View from our seats:
Orlando Cepeda memorial:
Mascot:
First pitches:
Out at first:
An advertising boat circled for half the game:
Exploring Oracle Park:
Boats and kayaks next to the ballpark, waiting for a splash home run:
Our traditional ballpark dessert:
Submarine pitcher:
Runs score:
That was a new splash hit home run:
Final scores:
Padres win, sorry Giants:
We stayed at Turtle Beach RV Resort in Manteca, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A Thousand Trails park, so free for us. Calling it a “resort” is a bit of a stretch, though.
Dates:
Weather:
Noise:
Site:
Utilities:
Internet (in usage priority order):
Amenities:
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Smaller campground amidst booming suburbs
This is a standard, older Thousand Trails, which is paying the price for deferred maintenance. The sites were fairly basic and rustic, and we were lucky to snag one of the few 50A sites for our short stay. A no-frills park combined with an access road that is not big rig-friendly makes for interesting times. The road is narrow and winding, with lots of trees right up to the edge of the road and growing low over it. That’s after you pass through a gauntlet of new suburban development with every other road closed and detours everywhere. Frequent train horns all day and night keep it from being very restful once you’re there. We camped at Turtle Beach RV Resort in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
Utilities:
Other sites:
Annual sites:
Tent area:
Large unused area:
Walthall Slough:
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 194 miles from Red Bluff, California to Manteca, California.
We drove our coach 194 miles, about four hours of driving, from Red Bluff, California to Manteca, California.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:
An interactive map:
Rice field:
Rest area:
U-Haul towing a U-Haul:
Yolo:
Another rice field:
Rest area:
Paladin sat on the dash for a minute:
Sacramento:
Lots of tomatoes on the side of the road:
From trucks like this:
Sharp curve:
Roadworks; what kind of crazy road designers would make such narrow main roads? No room for bike lanes or expansion:
Lots of low trees scraped our roof:
Arriving at Thousand Trails Turtle Beach:
Info sign, with arrival packets; someone came along and told us an available site, too:
Our site:
We visited Lassen Volcanic National Park again. The main visitor center was closed, but the museum was open, so we went there first:
And unlike last time, the road through the park was open, so we enjoyed the sights:
The Sulphur Works area was like a tiny Yellowstone. I know many people don’t like the sulphur smell, but we enjoy it, probably thanks to that association (and with Rotorua in New Zealand):
It was nice to be able to see more of the park this time.
We stayed at Red Bluff KOA Journey in Red Bluff, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A nice campground, except for the road and train noise.
Dates:
Weather:
Noise:
Site:
Utilities:
Internet (in usage priority order):
Amenities:
Our review on Campground Reviews:
A bit expensive but convenient
This campground is very convenient along I-5, and we’d probably stay here again for a one-night stop, but for a longer stay, the noise from the interstate is a bit irritating. We had a nice, long pull-through site with plenty of room. The major downside was that we faced our first-ever ant infestation while staying here. They marched up our water hose, into the wet bay, and then into the living area. However, a bait station in the wet bay and a spritz of pyrethrin along the hose deterred them. We camped at Red Bluff KOA Journey in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: It’s a nice day trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park….
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site (which we picked out when booking) was on an edge, with nobody on our driver side (which I prefer):
This site used to be two back-ins, so has two utility pedestals, one at each end. Which is equally inconvenient if parking in the middle of the site. When I first connected the sewer, I used the hookup at the back, which needed three 10-foot pipes plus two 2-foot pipes:
I later switched to the one at the front, which let me remove one of the 10-foot pipes:
Though having the pipe in front of the cargo doors is less preferred, since it gets in the way. Notice also that I used the elbow extenders on both connections, as the sewer ports were too recessed.
While here, we had an invasion of ants; amazingly, the first time we’ve had that:
A fancy entrance:
When checking in, we picked up some sourdough bread that they were selling in the office:
Dog wash:
Pool and clubhouse:
Games area:
Dog park:
Bathrooms:
Group fire pit:
Tent area overlooking the river:
River and freeway view:
Fountains:
Other sites:
Freeway view:
L-shaped sites:
We wouldn’t mind staying here again for a short time, but would probably look elsewhere to avoid the freeway and train noise.
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 165 miles from Ashland, Oregon to Red Bluff, California.
We drove our coach 165 miles, about four hours of driving, from Ashland, Oregon to Red Bluff, California.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:
An interactive map:
Goodbye super-low Emigrant Lake:
Joining I-5, with lots of wildfire smoke:
“Long steep downgrade ahead”:
“Siskiyou Mountain Summit elevation 4,310 feet, highest elevation on I-5”:
“Oregon thanks you, come back soon”:
“Welcome to California”:
A glimpse of Mount Shasta in the background:
Agricultural inspection station, unstaffed when we went through:
Mount Shasta view:
Rest area with RV parking:
Roadworks:
Shasta Lake:
For comparison, a view of the lake when we last went past here in 2021, quite a lot lower:
Fuel stop:
The pump said “Dispenser Reserved”, so should have been blocked off; we had to pull around to another pump:
Our destination:
Our site:
We bought electric bikes a couple of years ago, which we mostly enjoyed, but Jenn didn’t find her one very comfortable, so in due course we sold it, with the idea of replacing it with a trike or something.
A while back we had the idea to try an electric scooter instead, as a more compact alternative.
After some research, we decided to buy a ENGWE Y600 830W electric scooter (see that link for the price and stats).
One reason we chose this model is that it comes with a seat, but it can be removed and replaced with a foot guard, if you always want to stand while riding. We wanted both options; it’s easy to both stand and sit while riding.
Here are some photos of unboxing it:
The assembled scooter:
It folds up fairly small, with the seat and handlebars folding down:
And easily fits in the back of our truck:
Charging port:
Fold down seat post latch:
Fold down handlebars lever and lock:
Brake, head and tail light switch, turn signals, horn:
Display with gear, speed, odometer (or other values), and battery level, plus power and mode buttons and throttle lever; a second display with the battery voltage and key:
For now we have kept my ebike, and have the scooter as a second option. So either we each ride one, or I can quickly get the scooter out when exploring the campground or taking out the trash, etc. The scooter isn’t as useful as the bike, since it doesn’t have any cargo capacity (like a trash bag or when picking up packages), and doesn’t have any exercise benefits, but being more compact and easy to set up are big benefits.
In due course we’ll decide whether to keep my bike and buy a trike for Jenn, or sell my bike and get a second scooter, or just keep both options, or some other variation.