Travel from Petaluma to Meyers Flat, California

We drove our coach 181 miles, about three hours of driving, from Petaluma, California to Meyers Flat, California.

Here’s the map route, heading northwest:

Route

An interactive map, with potential and actual stops:

Ready to depart:

Ready to depart

Motorcycles:

Motorcycles

Vines:

Vines

Vines

Vines

Bridge:

Bridge

Lunch stop:

Lunch stop

Lunch stop

Menu

Breakfast for lunch

Rough road — hey California, concrete isn’t a good road surface:

Rough road

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Listening to a Seattle Mariners game via the MLB app:

Listening to Mariners game

Cows:

Cows

Rest area stop:

Rest area stop

Rough road, no kidding:

Rough road

7% grade:

7% grade

Warning sign of tight curves:

Warning sign

Yep, a sharp curve:

Sharp curve

River:

River

Redwoods:

Redwoods

River

Redwoods

Narrow detour:

Detour

Detour

One-Log House:

One-Log House

Road Narrows, yay:

Road Narrows

Very close redwoods:

Redwoods

Redwoods

Legend of Bigfoot:

Legend of BigFoot

Bridge:

Bridge

More roadworks:

Roadworks

River:

River

Our destination:

Our destination

Our destination

Our destination

San Francisco North / Petaluma KOA

We stayed at San Francisco North / Petaluma KOA in Petaluma, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Another nice RV park in another wine country.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2023-04-30
  • Check out: 2023-05-07
  • 7 nights

Weather:

  • Cloudy and drizzle
  • High temps ranging between 58-64°F, lows around 43-47°F
  • Negligible wind in the shelter of redwood trees, apparently up to 25 MPH gusts nearby

Noise:

  • No freeway noise
  • No road noise
  • Distant train noise, rarely heard
  • Occasional neighbor noise (kids)

Site:

  • #17, back in, gravel
  • Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach
  • Very unlevel; used blocks on front jacks
  • Medium site: about 40 feet long by about 40 feet wide
  • Swing seat, table & chairs, fire pit on nice concrete patio
  • Tall trees; shrubs and hedges between sites

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, conveniently located
  • 55 PSI water, conveniently located
  • Loose sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 20 Mbps down, 5-14 Mbps up, 45-140 ms ping
  • AT&T: 11 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
  • Verizon: 16 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters
  • Swimming pool
  • Petting zoo

Our review on Campground Reviews:

A bit expensive, but pleasant enough after the initial hurdles

We stayed for a week in a deluxe patio back-in site in the redwood grove. The beginning of our stay was not auspicious: firstly, my husband went to check us in but didn’t have his wallet, and they demanded ID, so I had to go in with my full wallet because they not only wanted ID but to also actually physically see the “card on file” and made me swipe it instead of just charging it from the computer.

Secondly, unlike most KOAs, we did not have an escort to show us to our site…which was occupied by a long-term resident. So we had to drive our rig back around to the office to get that sorted out. They were due to leave the following day, but we got the (almost) as good site next to it. So even though I’d paid the site lock fee (like a chump), I didn’t get the site I’d selected (and did not get a refund).

The site was unlevel front-to-back and was just big enough for our 40-foot motorhome. Any longer and we would have either 1) hit the berm behind the site or 2) had our nose out in the street.

However, once we settled in, we enjoyed our stay here. The large family groups were in another part of the park, and the redwood grove area was nice and quiet. We also enjoyed the hedges between the back-in sites, which provided some privacy on the lovely patio. We camped at San Francisco North / Petaluma KOA in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: The Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa is fun for Peanuts fans. Lots of fantastic wineries in the area. If you enjoy bubbly, definitely check out Iron Horse. Head to Muir Woods for a beautiful walk and take the scenic route along Hwy 1 back to camp.

Interactive map:

The RV park map; it says our site was #16, which was the one we had chosen (and paid the site lock fee to reserve), but when we pulled up to the site, it was occupied. So we went back to the office, and they reassigned us to the site next to it, #17:

Map

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

A nice fairly private patio, with shrubs and a hedge providing screening, and attractive stamped concrete:

Patio

Patio

Bear and fish stamps:

Bear and fish stamps

Our site

Not much clearance:

Not much clearance

Utilities; I used a water-weighted bag to secure the sewer, since it was unthreaded:

Utilities

This is site #16, which we were supposed to have, next to where we ended up; a bigger site, being on an angle, but otherwise much the same:

Next site

A free range peahen:

Peahen

Peahen

Peahen

Other sites:

Other sites

Most of the sites seem rather unlevel:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Entrance gate:

Entrance gate

Office:

Office

Office

Office

Petting farm:

Petting farm

Goats:

Goats

Goats

Goats

Goats

Goats

Goats

Jenn petting goats

Games:

Games

Deflated jump pad:

Deflated jump pad

Picnic area:

Picnic area

Picnic area

Chicken run:

Chicken run

Chickens and peacock:

Chickens and peacock

Chickens

Rooster and peacock:

Rooster and peacock

Chickens

Rooster

Chickens and peacock

Donkeys:

Donkeys

Donkeys

Dogrun:

Dogrun

Games:

Games

Feral cat:

Feral cat

Cabins:

Cabins

Cabins

Cabins

Cabins

Cabins

Covered seating:

Covered seating

Covered seating

Playground:

Playground

Travel from Paso Robles to Petaluma, California

We drove our coach 244 miles, about four hours of driving, from Paso Robles, California to Petaluma, California.

Here’s the map route, heading northwest:

Route

An interactive map, with potential and actual stops:

A steep hill in the RV park on the way out:

Steep hill leaving RV park

Joining US-101 for our trip up the coast (somewhat inland at this stage):

US-101

Listening to a Mariners baseball game, streaming from the MLB app:

Listening to Mariners baseball game

Pump jacks; when did we get back to Texas?

Pump jacks

Vineyards:

Vineyards

Roadside artwork:

Roadside artwork

A lunch stop at Wildhorse Cafe in King City:

Restaurant

Restaurant

Menu

Menu

Coffee

Breakfast for lunch

Back to our coach:

Back to our coach

Paladin on the steps, with my feet up:

Paladin on the steps

Historic El Camino Real bell markers:

Historic El Camino Real bell markers

Roadside artwork:

Roadside artwork

Bright pink flowers:

Bright pink flowers

Roadside artwork

Roadside artwork

A bald eagle:

Bald eagle

Historic El Camino Real bell markers

Paladin looking a little freaked out:

Paladin

A fuel stop at SC Fuels in Gilroy:

Fuel stop

Fuel stop

It’s a cardlock fuel station, but works with our Open Roads discount fuel card:

Cardlock fuel stop

Fuel stop

A snack (fun fact: the Pringles can sticks magnetically to the MacBook Pro in that spot):

Snack

Oakland Coliseum:

Oakland Collseum

Oakland:

Oakland

Flowers:

Flowers

Toll booths:

Toll booths

Richmond-San Rafael Bridge:

Richmond-San Rafael Bridge

Richmond-San Rafael Bridge

Richmond-San Rafael Bridge

Richmond-San Rafael Bridge

Green hills:

Green hills

Drawbridge:

Drawbridge

Our destination, a KOA:

KOA

Following our coach to our site (with some adventures with that; stay tuned!):

Following coach to our site

Sun Outdoors Paso Robles

We stayed at Sun Outdoors Paso Robles in Paso Robles, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)

A nice RV park in wine country.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2023-04-20
  • Check out: 2023-04-30
  • 10 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly sunny
  • High temps ranging between 73-83°F, lows around 42-50°F
  • A little wind, typically in afternoons, up to 18 MPH gusts

Noise:

  • No freeway noise
  • No road noise
  • Very distant train noise, rarely heard
  • Some plane noise from nearby airport
  • Some neighbor noise from large groups

Site:

  • #316, back in, gravel
  • Needed to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
  • Level
  • Medium site: about 60 feet long by about 35 feet wide
  • Picnic table & fire pit on concrete patio

Utilities:

  • 50 amp power, conveniently located
  • 80 PSI water, conveniently located
  • Good sewer connection, fairly conveniently located (1 10-foot + 1 4-foot pipes needed)

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • Starlink direct: 85 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
  • Starlink via modem: 10-45 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
  • Campground Wi-Fi: 30-77 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 50 ms ping (used on phones away from site)
  • Verizon: 30 Mbps down, 4 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
  • T-Mobile: 5-33 Mbps down, 0.5-3 Mbps up, 60-666 ms ping
  • AT&T: 2 Mbps down, 0.1 Mbps up, 64 ms ping

Amenities:

  • Garbage dumpsters (really should have pickup from site in a resort!)
  • Swimming pools
  • Cafe being renovated, so had food trucks instead

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Gorgeous campground in the heart of Paso Robles wine country

We stayed here for 10 days in order to experience the wine country scene and explore the central coast. Our site was a deluxe back-in, overlooking a greenspace and vineyard, which we absolutely loved. Our site was meticulously clean and perfectly flat. During the week, this place was absolutely wonderful and quiet. On the weekends, however, it got very busy with groups and families, so it was a bit noisier.

I have to agree with another review that pointed out they don’t enforce the “no political flags” rule because there were quite a few during our stay, which is unfortunate and creates a less-welcoming atmosphere. We also had issues with our neighbor not keeping their three dogs leashed or under voice control, and we had to repeatedly shoo them away from our living area.

The one thing keeping me from giving this a 5-star review is the lack of garbage pickup from our site. At such an expensive resort, it really should be a standard amenity. We camped at Sun Outdoors Paso Robles in a Motorhome.

Tip for Other Campers: Do the food & wine pairing experience at Le Cuvier, have lunch (and get the BLT!) at Parrish, and experience the art installations at Sensorio. It’s also an easy (and beautiful) drive to Hearst Castle and the coast.

Interactive map:

Campground map:

Map

Our site before parking:

Our site before parking

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site and beyond:

Our site and beyond

Moon:

Moon

Utilities:

Utilities

Working outside:

Working outside

Patio with our griddle, rugs, tables, chairs, and Starlink:

Patio

Hot dogs and beans:

Hot dogs and beans

Another day, a griddle pork loin and pasta salad:

Griddle pork loin and pasta salad

A nice view from the patio:

View from patio

A somewhat reduced view once a neighbor turned up:

Neighbor

Open space behind our site:

Open space behind site

Other sites:

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

Other sites

The Valley Pavilon:

The Valley Pavilon

The Valley Pavilon

Grills, fire pit, etc:

The Valley Pavilon

Hot tub; we enjoyed having it to ourselves on our first evening:

Hot tub

Hot tub

Welcome Center:

Welcome Center

Entrance sign:

Entrance sign

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

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.

Sun Outdoors San Diego Bay

We stayed at Sun Outdoors San Diego Bay in Chula Vista, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)

Party city. We don’t like parties.

Dates:

  • Check in: 2023-04-08
  • Check out: 2023-04-16
  • 8 nights

Weather:

  • Mostly cloudy, one day with drizzle
  • High temps ranging between 57-70°F, lows around 48-52°F
  • Negligible wind, up to 16 MPH gusts

Noise:

  • Some distant freeway noise
  • No road noise
  • No train noise most of the time; once or twice distant noise
  • Frequent helicopter noise from a naval air station
  • Lots of neighbor noise (this was a bit more of a “fun” resort than we usually prefer)

Site:

  • #16, back-in, concrete
  • Needed to disconnect toad; parked next to coach
  • Level
  • Small site: about 50 feet long by about 25 feet wide
  • Patio table, chairs, plumbed-in gas fire pit on concrete
  • Shrubs (in need of a trim)

Utilities:

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

Internet (in usage priority order):

  • T-Mobile: 35-46 Mbps down, 13-21 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
  • AT&T: 1 Mbps down, 3 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
  • Verizon: 2 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, 45 ms ping
  • Starlink: not used
  • Campground Wi-Fi: not used

Amenities:

  • Central garbage compactor, not very convenient (a resort really should have garbage collection from site)
  • Swimming pool & hot tubs
  • Onsite cafe with delivery to site

Our review on Campground Reviews:

Party central, not the place for quiet contemplation

This was the most expensive place we’ve ever stayed and I really wanted to like it but wound up counting the hours until we departed. Perhaps it was because it was spring break, but this resort was packed with rowdy groups and masses of kids. You could hardly drive down the road without dodging the corn hole games, kids on bikes, adults on skateboards, etc. And, oh the noise, noise, noise. If the neighbors weren’t blasting their music or shrieking, the park itself had music blaring from the pool area or roving the streets. We work during the week, so it was unconducive to concentration. It’s petty, but the biggest complaint is that for $165/night they should have trash pickup at your site. They have one dumpster/compactor and it’s equally inconvenient wherever you are in the park. They also have annoyingly planted trees right next to the patio on the northern sites along the fence. We couldn’t get between our front door and the patio without squeezing between the tree and our slide. On the plus side, the cafe and bar were nice and we enjoyed several meals there, and the plumbed-in gas firepit at our site was a nice addition. The Bayshore Bikeway runs right by the park and it was nice to ride around the bay. We camped at Sun Outdoors San Diego Bay in a Motorhome. 

Tip for Other Campers: San Diego Zoo is worth the hype (order your tickets online to save a few bucks and avoid the line at the park), and Balboa Park has so much to see. The Cabrillo National Monument is also a great place to check out.

Interactive map; the RV park is too new for the satellite image as of this writing, but may be there if you check later:

Campground map:

Map

Our site:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

We rode our bikes:

Our site

This shrub was touching our coach; I trimmed it back so we could access the patio:

Our site

A nice plumbed-in fire pit:

Fire pit

Fire pit

We like places with on-site restaurants, even better when they will deliver to our site, which we took advantage of on travel day; we’re always tired then, so nice to not to have to cook or go out:

Food delivery to site

We went to the cafe a few times:

Cafe and bar

Cafe and bar

Bar

Breakfast:

Breakfast

Another day, free drinks from tokens given on arrival:

Free drinks

Dinner:

Dinner

Dinner

Another breakfast:

Breakfast

This place had a definite party vibe, including roving live music on our first day:

Roving live music

Other sites:

Other sites

Cabins:

Cabins

Cabins

Cabins

Concrete stamps

Cabins

Community center

Game rooms

The Commons

The Commons

Pool area:

Pool area

Pool area

Pool area

Pool area

Finally, another view of our site, with our coach packed up and ready to leave:

Our site

This was a nice, new resort. We enjoyed the convenience of the cafe. But we didn’t enjoy the noisy neighbors, with lots of people having large gatherings in front of their sites (and on the roads), with loud talking, loud children, and loud music. Not our kind of place.