Mount Shasta, California to Blue Ox RV Park in Albany, Oregon

We drove our coach 292 miles, about six hours of driving, from Mount Shasta City KOA Holiday in Mount Shasta, California to Blue Ox RV Park in Albany, Oregon.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Back through the narrow KOA driveway:

Back through the narrow KOA driveway

Entering I-5 North:

Entering I-5 North

Black Butte:

Black Butte

Barn:

Barn

Anderson Grade Summit Elevation 3067 Feet:

Anderson Grade Summit Elevation 3067

Klamath River bridge:

Klamath River bridge

Oregon Welcomes You:

Oregon Welcomes You

Siskiyou Mountain Summit Elevation 4310 Feet, Highest Elevation on I-5:

Siskiyou Mountain Summit Elevation 4310 Feet, Highest Elevation on I-5

Truck speed guidance:

Truck speed guidance

6% Downgrade:

6% Downgrade

Emigrant Lake looking mostly full:

Emigrant Lake looking mostly full

Oregon Welcome Center rest area:

Oregon Welcome Center rest area

More barns:

More barns

Table Rock:

Table Rock

Ouch:

Ouch

Exit 99:

Exit 99

Seven Feathers rest area:

Seven Feathers rest area

Paladin on the dash:

Paladin on the dash

Downhill:

Downhill

Willamette River:

Willamette River

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Exit 233:

Exit 233

Arriving at Blue Ox RV Park:

Blue Ox RV Park

They recommended (in the reservation email) parking here to check in:

They recommended parking here to check in

Office:

Blue Ox RV Park

Campground map:

Map

Blue Ox RV Park

It’s them again:

It's them again

Our site, #144:

Our site

A mostly long-term RV park, but decent short-term spots.

Lodi to Mount Shasta City KOA Holiday in Mount Shasta, California

We drove our coach 255 miles, about five hours of driving, from Flag City RV Resort in Lodi to Mount Shasta City KOA Holiday in Mount Shasta, California.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Entering I-5 North:

Entering I-5 North

Sacramento River:

Sacramento River

Rest area:

Rest area

Billboard for Granzella’s… truck & RV parking, eh? Interesting… I quickly investigated them for a lunch stop:

Billboard for Granzella's... truck & RV parking, eh? Interesting...

Swimming pools:

Swimming pools

Granzella’s parking looked compatible, so exit to Williams:

Exit to Williams

Williams arch:

Williams arch

The aforementioned truck & RV parking:

The aforementioned truck & RV parking

Parked:

Parked

Granzella’s Restaurant:

Granzella's

Granzella’s

Tasty:

Granzella’s

Later, a rest area:

Rest area

Mount Shasta in the distance:

Mount Shasta

Shasta Lake:

Shasta Lake

Bridge

Paladin asleep:

Paladin asleep

Mount Shasta:

Mount Shasta

Castle Crags:

Castle Crags

Mount Shasta:

Mount Shasta

Pointy peak:

Pointy peak

City of Mount Shasta:

City of Mount Shasta

Arriving at Mount Shasta City KOA Holiday:

Mount Shasta KOA

A narrow access road:

A narrow access road

Mount Shasta KOA

Campground map:

Campground map

Our site, #32:

Our site

Take note of the neighbor RV; we saw them again at our next stop, too:

Our site

A tight access road, but a perfectly fine place for a one-night stop. Though some train horn noise. Not a lot of options in this area; KOA is easy.

Orange to Flag City RV Resort in Lodi, California

We drove our coach 379 miles, about six hours of driving, from Orangeland RV Park in Orange to Flag City RV Resort in Lodi, California.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading north:

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Following the coach to toad up by the office, as usual:

Following the coach to toad up by the office, as usual

Toaded up

Tight corner for a motorhome and toad totaling over 60 feet, but easier when we can take both lanes:

Tight corner for a 60-foot motorhome and toad, but easier when we can take both lanes

In the correct lane for CA-91 East:

In the correct lane for CA-91 East

Exit to CA-91:

Exit to CA-91

Exit to I-5 North:

Exit to I-5 North

I-5 North:

I-5 North

Downtown LA:

Downtown LA

California freeways doing their thing:

California freeways doing their thing

Traffic and hill:

Traffic and hill

Wildflowers:

Wildflowers

Rest area:

Rest area

Hills:

Hills

Exit to CA-269:

Exit to CA-269

An interesting toad:

An interesting toad

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Spendy fuel:

Spendy fuel

Paladin keeping the seat warm:

Paladin keeping the seat warm

Hills:

Hills

Aquaduct:

Aquaduct

Closed rest area:

Closed rest area

Exit to CA-12:

Exit to CA-12

Arriving at Flag City RV Resort:

Arriving at Flag City RV Resort

Campground map:

Campground map

Our site, #E14:

Our site

Annoyingly for a one-night stay, we had to untoad, as the site was too short to remain connected. That might be my fault, though; they let you choose your site when booking, and I must not have measured it with Google Maps:

Our site

If we stay here again in the future, we’d choose a better site.

Travel from Palm Desert, California to Sun City, Arizona

We drove our coach 252 miles, about four hours of driving, from Palm Desert, California to Sun City, Arizona.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Entering I-10 East:

Entering I-10 East

We got a little bit of fuel at California prices:

Fuel stop

Back onto I-10 East:

Back onto I-10 East

Foggy:

Foggy

Rest area closed:

Rest area closed

Another rest area:

Another rest area

Rest area

Interesting homebrew van:

Interesting homebrew van

Paladin in a box:

Paladin in a box

Arizona state line, and also Mountain time zone:

Arizona state line, and also Mountain time zone

Welcome to Arizona:

Welcome to Arizona

Arizona Centenial:

Arizona Centenial

Airstream trailer:

Airstream trailer

Interesting mountains:

Interesting mountains

Westbound freeway closed for hours due to accident:

Westbound freeway closed for hours due to accident

Another fuel stop to top up, since we’ll be in one place for three months:

T/A fuel stop

Filling diesel:

T/A fuel stop

Filling DEF:

T/A fuel stop

Exit to AZ-303 North:

Exit to AZ-303 North

Overpass:

Overpass

Exit to Bell Road:

Exit to Bell Road

Arriving at Paradise RV Resort:

Arriving at Paradise RV Resort

Registration parking, where we filled in the paperwork and untoaded:

Registration parking, where we filled in the paperwork and untoaded

Guided to our site:

Guided to our site

Club Cat boarding

In preparation for our big trip to New Zealand (blog posts coming up), we booked Paladin in a cattery in Los Angeles called Club Cat.

We took him there the day before we stored the coach, along with his food, cat bed, and carrier:

Paladin in the truck

The Club Cat foyer:

Club Cat foyer

His suite had a view box above the door, and platforms inside:

View box above the door

They also offered a web cam where we could watch him whenever we liked:

Camera

Plus they emailed “postcards” about every other day, with a cute message “from” him and a few photos, as shown in this post.

They have a large playroom with a bunch of toys, but he didn’t like that, perhaps because it was too open; he’s used to smaller spaces:

Playroom

He kept asking to go back to his room:

Playroom

So after trying the playroom a few times, we switched to fur therapies using a glove:

Fur therapy glove

He really enjoyed that:

Fur therapy glove

They were amused by his happy drool:

Drool

He got lots of pats and attention too:

Pats

Other than his dislike of the playroom, he seemed to enjoy his stay, and was well taken care of. But he was happy to see us when we picked him up after our trip, and happy to be home again.

We’d be happy to board him there again.

Thousand Trails San Benito

We stayed at Thousand Trails San Benito in Paicines, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Our second stay here. Our first stay was our very first experience of a Thousand Trails park. Not a super great experience, but not bad enough to put us off TT. (Which we have some misgivings about, but it has been mostly worthwhile.)

This time, the campground was in the midst of a much-needed major improvements to their electrical system, with new 50/30/20 amp pedestals on all of the sites. At the time we stayed, only about the third of the park was open.

Dates:

Check in: 2025-10-20
Check out: 2025-10-31
11 nights

Weather:

Mostly sunny
High temps 65-82°F, lows 48-54°F
Little wind, gusts to 17 MPH

Noise:

No road noise
No train horn noise
Little neighbor noise

Site:

#C-010, back-in, gravel
Needed to disconnect toad, parked beside coach
Somewhat level site; a little high on passenger side; used hydraulic leveling
Gravel driveway about 60 feet long by 12 feet wide
75-95 feet to neighbor on passenger side
32 feet to neighbor on driver side
Just grass between sites
Picnic table
Fire pit
Tall trees
Somewhat clean site
Elevation 720 feet, front facing north/east/south/west

Utilities:

50 amp power, conveniently located
60 PSI water, conveniently located
Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

Starlink: 76-108 Mbps down, 22-44 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
RoamLink: 50 Mbps down, 3-5 Mbps up, 125 ms ping (RoamLink uses whichever is best of AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile)
AT&T: 101-145 Mbps down, 1-5 Mbps up, 70 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
Campground Wi-Fi: none

Amenities:

Garbage dumpsters
Pool

Campground map; much of the campground was being renovated at the time of our stay:

Map

An interactive map:

Our site:

Our site

The tree next to our site:

Tree

During our stay the electricians needed to make some modifications to the pedestal; replacing one of the breakers:

Electrical pedistal

And installing a ground rod:

Electrical pedistal

Can’t get packages at the campground, so we used Amazon lockers in Hollister (30 minutes away):

Amazon lockers

And the nearby post office in Paicines (9 minutes away):

Post office

Pool (and ex-hot tub):

Pool

While there, I added a Pokémon Pokéstop at the playground:

Pokémon Pokéstop

Other sites:

Other sites

New big solar array over storage area:

New big solar array over storage area

A big stump with a bird box:

Stump with bird box

Lots of gnomes around the place:

Lots of gnomes around the place

Cat:

Feral cat

Deer:

Deer

Birb:

Birb

A mostly peaceful campground. We’d be happy to stay here again.

Travel from Red Bluff to Paicines, California

We drove our coach 297 miles, about six hours of driving, from Red Bluff to Paicines, California.

We had originally planned to do this in two steps, since we like to aim for about three hours of driving per day. But at our first rest stop we decided we’d prefer to have a single longer drive, since it was mostly on I-5, so arranged to arrive earlier and cancel our original stop for that night.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:

Map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Entering I-5 South:

Entering I-5 South

Hey, hay!

Rice field:

Rice field

Our coach on traffic cams:

Our coach on a traffic cam

Swimming pool:

Swimming pool

Rest area:

Rest area

Woodland bridge:

Woodland bridge

Sacramento River:

Sacramento River

Sacramento:

Sacramento

Paladin touching my foot:

Paladin touching my foot

Aquaduct:

Aquaduct

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Interesting pea soup restaurant:

Interesting pea soup restaurant

San Luis Reservoir:

San Luis Reservoir

Exit to Hollister:

Exit to Hollister

School bus:

School bus

A trailer that didn’t disconnect the water hose and electrical cable; not a great way to travel:

Trailer didn't disconnect water hose and electrical cable

Road to Thousand Trails:

Road to Thousand Trails

Thousand Trails San Benito:

Thousand Trails San Benito

Narrow bridge:

Narrow bridge

Our site:

Our site

Travel from Sutherlin, Oregon to Red Bluff, California

We drove our coach 285 miles, about six hours of driving, from Sutherlin, Oregon to Red Bluff, California.

A long drive, but all on I-5, so pretty easy and familiar.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading south:

Route

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

I-5 South:

I-5 South

Rainy:

Rainy

“Slow Down”:

Slow Down

Misty mountains:

Misty mountains

Examples of various solutions for transporting a side-by-side — motorhome towing, toy hauler, and truck camper towing:

Examples of various solutions for transporting a side-by-side

Rest area:

Rest area

Crossover intersection:

Crossover intersection

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Me taking a photo of Jenn taking a photo of Paladin:

Jenn taking a photo of Paladin

Jenn’s photo:

Jenn's photo

Southern Oregon hills:

Southern Oregon hills

Ashland:

Ashland

Southern Oregon hills

“Siskiyou Mountain Summit, elevation 4310 feet, highest elevation on I-5”:

Siskiyou Mountain Summit, elevation 4310 feet, highest elevation on I-5

Hills

“Oregon Thanks You, Come Back Soon”:

Oregon Thanks You, Come Back Soon

“Welcome to California”:

Welcome to California

Agricultural Inspection Station:

Agricultural Inspection Station

Mount Shasta:

Mount Shasta

Junk cars in a rest area:

Junk cars in a rest area

Shasta Lake:

Shasta Lake

KOA:

KOA

Our site:

Our site

Travel from Mitchell to Custer, South Dakota

We drove our coach 324 miles, about five hours of driving, from Mitchell to Custer, South Dakota.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:

Map

Here’s another variation of the map showing time zones (Mountain and Central) and elevations for the whole year, with a circle showing the highest elevation of this trip; a lot of climbing at the end of the trip, though not as much as ones coming up soon:

Elevations