A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 99 miles from Orange, California to San Diego, California.
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Posts featuring the coach.
Travel from Orange to San Diego, California
We drove our coach 99 miles, about two hours of driving, from Orange (Los Angeles), California to San Diego, California.
Here’s the map route, heading south:
An interactive map, showing our stops and potential stops:
Leaving the RV park; Jenn drove our coach around the block to the check-in area so we could toad up:
Paladin on the steps; this has become one of his favorite places for travel days, so I’m happy to leave the step cover open for him:
Bright green hills:
I-5 freeway traffic:
The Pacific Ocean and yellow flowers:
A stop at a rest area to kill some time (since it was a relatively short drive) and have lunch:
Annoyingly, the truck parking was overrun with cars:
Back to heavy I-5 freeway traffic:
Heading to Chula Vista:
Checking in:
We had a back-in site, so I untoaded while Jenn checked in, then followed the coach to the site:
Our site before parking:
Open Roads fuel discount card
Our coach has a 150 gallon diesel tank, and gets about 7 miles per gallon, so we can use a fair bit of fuel in our travels.
We are glad that there is an option to save a bit of money: the Open Roads fuel discount card.
This service offers significant discounts off diesel fuel at select fuel stops, and enables paying at the pump, instead of having to go in to authorize the purchase (except in Oregon and Nevada).
It also includes an app that helps us find the discounted locations, and compare prices:
The detail page has additional information:
As a recent example, we filled about 76 gallons of diesel (half our tank capacity; we usually fill when it gets about halfway). The pump price was $376.66:
But we saved $92.82 on that fuel up, so “only” paid $293.77:
To learn more about Open Roads, take a look at this blog post and video on the Our Journey in Miles blog. They have a spreadsheet to help track the savings, too.
We don’t have a referral code or anything, so if you join, you could use theirs, or could enter “Jennifer Sinclair” as the referrer to give us credit.
Orangeland RV Park
We stayed at Orangeland RV Park in Orange (Los Angeles), California. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Our second stay here; a nice park, just a few miles from Disneyland.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-04-01
- Check out: 2023-04-08
- 7 nights
Weather:
- Sunny
- High temps ranging between 64-82°F, lows around 44-54°F
- Little wind; one day of 28 MPH gusts
Noise:
- No freeway noise, some road noise
- No train noise, but distant horns a few times
- Some neighbor noise
Site:
- #96, pull-through, asphalt
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked in front of coach
- Fairly level
- Small site: about 50 feet long by about 30 feet wide
- Patio table & chairs on asphalt
- Orange trees that can be harvested
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, somewhat conveniently located
- 80 PSI water, conveniently located
- Unthreaded sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 78-86 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
- AT&T: 20 Mbps down, 6-18 Mbps up, 30 ms ping
- Verizon: 21-28 Mbps down, 16-23 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage collection from site
- Swimming pool & hot tub
- Package delivery to office
- Just a few miles from Disneyland
Our review on Campground Reviews:
The place to stay for Disneyland
This was our second time staying here, and I would happily stay again. For an urban setting so close to Disneyland and other attractions, they could easily charge more than they do. This park is genuinely a park, with lovely landscaping and attention to service. We had site 96, which was an interestingly located pull-through site right at the end of a row close to the office. The only downside to the location is there is no privacy screening between your living area and the check-in area. There’s entertainment value in watching the flow of people coming into the park, but I would’ve preferred a nice trellis or hedge to look at. We also enjoyed being close enough to civilization to order food delivery and get some service done on our rig while here. But the main draw, of course, is being a 10-minute drive to Disneyland. We camped at Orangeland RV Park in a Motorhome.
Interactive map:
Campground map:
They also have a map on a wall showing where all of the fruit trees are:
Our site:
Our site was near the registration area:
Setting up our site; here’s a video of a leveling jack going down:
Griddle, filters, and water softener stored for transport:
Setting up utilities:
A nice thing about being in a city; we can get pizza delivery:
Working outside:
The registration area was so close:
A nice thing about this park is they offer trash pickup from the site (and even provide a bag):
The Orangeland RV Park entrance:
Office:
Registration area:
Pool:
Hot tub (which was undergoing renovations last time we were here):
Putting area:
Games:
Pool table:
Outdoor livng area:
Outdoor kitchen:
Covered playground:
The local bus goes through the park:
A Tiffin Phaeton arrival:
Other RV sites:
Video: Palm Desert to Orange, California motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 103 miles from Palm Desert, California to Orange, California.
Travel from Palm Desert to Orange, California
We drove our coach 103 miles, about two hours of driving, from Palm Desert, California to Orange (Los Angeles), California.
Here’s the map route, heading west:
An interactive map of our route, with potential stops marked:
Leaving our site:
Toading up:
Leaving the campground:
Palm Springs overpass:
There were lots of yellow flowers below the wind turbines:
A stop at a rest area:
A school bus next to us at the rest area:
Exit:
Green hills:
Snowy mountains:
Exit:
Castle Park theme park:
Heavy traffic:
Green hills:
Exit:
Honda Center:
Our destination, Orangeland RV Park:
Guided to our site by a guy on a Segway; the site was that empty one on the left, but we needed to loop around the block to get into it:
Going the wrong way, and crossing grass, to pull through into our site:
Engine compartment door stop replacement
One weak point in our coach is the door stop of the rear engine compartment. Twice I’ve had it break.
Here’s the rear door:
It is held closed with a couple of latches, that hook onto door stops like this (the left one):
Twice the right-hand one has broken off:
So I ordered some replacements from Tiffin, part number 5116094 (“REAR ENGINE DOOR STOP BRE 2016”):
I didn’t have any of the weather stripping padding, so I used some self-adhesive cupboard bumpers instead, which works fine:
I now have a couple more spare, so if it breaks again, I’ll be ready!
Video: Thousand Trails Palm Springs campground timelapse
A timelapse of the Thousand Trails Palm Springs campground.
Thousand Trails Palm Springs
We stayed at Thousand Trails Palm Springs in Palm Desert, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Our second stay here; a working date palm farm as a Thousand Trails park. Tricky to get positioned, but convenient once there.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-03-25
- Check out: 2023-04-01
- 7 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny
- High temps ranging between 65-76°F, lows around 47-51°F
- Little wind; one day of 24 MPH gusts
Noise:
- Distant freeway noise
- Some train noise, but no horns most of the time
- Some neighbor noise
Site:
- #282, back in, sand
- Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach
- Fairly level
- Small site: about 45 feet long by about 25 feet wide
- Picnic table on concrete pad palm trees
- Super difficult to park due to palm trees, light post, and wacky sewer position
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, very inconveniently located
- 50 PSI water, very inconveniently located
- Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 26-88 Mbps down, 60 Mbps up, 35 ms ping
- AT&T: 3 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
- Verizon: 5 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
- Swimming pool
- Package delivery to site
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Parking here is not for the faint of heart
This was our second stay, and it was pretty much the same as the last time. The check-in staff are very helpful and informative, giving you a rundown of the park and the best way to wedge your RV between the trees. With a 40′ motorhome and tow vehicle, the best way to find a site is to park your rig by the pool, unhook, and then drive the tow vehicle around to scope a decent site. Not all sites are created equal; some have palm trees that lean more than others, some are quite a bit shorter than others, and some are narrower. Once you find the best site you can, parking your rig in it is a community endeavor. Between the trees and the narrow roads, you may have to enlist the aid of your neighbors to move their vehicles so you can back in. Compromise may be required. I saw smaller rigs than ours balk at sites along our row. But once you get in, it’s very nice under the palms. We camped at Thousand Trails Palm Springs in a Motorhome.
Interactive map:
Campground map:
Our site; it took literally half an hour to get positioned between the trees, sewer, and light pole; the most difficult park to get situated in. But once set up, we enjoy the proximity to Joshua Tree National Park and the desert cities:
The electric and water utilities are at the back of the site, rather inconvenient:
The sewer is conveniently located, though, other than in terms of the palm trees:
Working outside:
We drove our truck around to scout for a site (this being Thousand Trails). This is the site we chose; a little tight between the palm tree and sewer at the rear, and a light pole and another palm tree at the front:
Other sites we considered:
A nice thing about this park is UPS, FedEx, and Amazon will deliver directly to the sites:
For USPS or packages without site numbers, they post a notice on a message board near the entrance:
Other sites:
Cabins:
Entrance:
Swimming pools:
The sky with palm trees:
Video: Yermo to Palm Desert, California motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 146 miles from Yermo to Palm Desert, California.