A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 140 miles from Meyers Flat, California to Crescent City, California.
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Travel from Meyers Flat to Crescent City, California
We drove our coach 140 miles, about three hours of driving, from Meyers Flat, California to Crescent City, California.
Here’s the map route, heading north:
An interactive map, with potential and actual stops:
Ready to depart:
Not the most successful departure, though; it was a rather tight corner getting out of the site, between a couple of signs, so we had to disconnect the truck so we could back up and try again:
Another sharp corner at the exit:
Outside the RV park was a rather sketchy road:
7% downgrade:
Eel River:
Bridge:
For the first time ever, we stopped at a casino for lunch. We parked behind another coach in the parking lot of Bear River Casino in Loleta, California:
Back on the road:
Interesting murals in Eureka:
A rest area stop:
Inside the coach with slides in:
Low clouds:
Entering Redwood National and State Parks:
Damaged building:
Klamath River bridge:
Roadworks with a temporary bridge:
Trees of Mystery:
Ocean:
More one-way roadworks:
Redwoods:
We tried a Pacific Pride fuel station, to see if it’d work, but it didn’t (which was fine, we didn’t need it, just wanted to try it, since our Open Roads fuel card is the same network, but Pacific Pride is more picky):
Arriving at our destination:
Fresh tank flush
Every six months we sanitize the pipes and fresh water tank in our coach using diluted bleach.
As part of that process, we run the water though the taps, down the drains, then flush them out with fresh water.
But to get the last of the bleachy water out of the fresh tank, I open the fresh tank drain. But I don’t want to just dump that water on the ground, so I rigged up a temporary pipe and quick-connect to hook up to the sewer pipe via the hose sewer rinse cap:
Giant Redwoods RV & Cabin Destination
We stayed at Giant Redwoods RV & Cabin Destination in Myers Flat, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Camping next to a river amongst the big redwoods.
Dates:
- Check in: 2023-05-07
- Check out: 2023-05-10
- 3 nights
Weather:
- Cloudy and drizzle
- High temps ranging between 56-63°F, lows around 39-42°F
- A little wind in the shelter of redwood trees
Noise:
- No freeway noise
- No road noise
- No train noise
- Negligible neighbor noise
Site:
- #35, pull-through, grass
- Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
- Level
- Large site: about 80 feet long by about 45 feet wide
- Fire pit & picnic table on grass
- Tall trees
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 20 PSI water, conveniently located
- No sewer
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Campground Wi-Fi: 7 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up 55 ms ping
- AT&T: 40-48 Mbps down, 8 Mbps up, 28 ms ping
- Verizon: 48-56 Mbps down, 2-9 Mbps up, 36-55 ms ping
- T-Mobile: 41 Mbps down, 10 Mbps up, 50 ms ping, unreliable
- Starlink: 10 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 70 ms ping, obstructed and unreliable
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Beautiful along the river
Do not let the sketchy road to the park deter you; this is an idyllic campground amongst trees and along the river. We had a “big rig” site with power & water only. Even though we were on a grassy surface, our site was wonderfully level. None of our cell carriers worked particularly well, and Starlink was a no-go under the trees, but the campground Wifi was decent enough to work during our stay.
I put “big rig” in quotes because, although our site was plenty long and wide, it was a tricky corner to get out of when we left, requiring a lot of finesse to dodge the trees and signposts on either side of the road. We camped at Giant Redwoods RV & Cabin Destination in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Avenue of the Giants is a must-do. One of the best trails to see huge trees is just across the road from the Humboldt State Park Visitor Center. Don’t bother with the coffee shop in Myers Flat; I’m not bitter, their coffee is.
Interactive map:
Things to do booklet and campground map:
Our site:
Paladin watching a family of quail outside our door:
Entrance:
A cute little garden between the entrance and office:
Office:
Other sites:
Cabins:
Bathrooms:
Dump station:
Dog park:
Path to the river:
A wide area of riverstones:
South Fork Eel River:
We had fun “collecting” interesting rocks — just taking pictures (“take only photographs, leave only footprints”):
Video: Petaluma to Meyers Flat, California motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 181 miles from Petaluma, California to Meyers Flat, California.
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:
An interactive map, with potential and actual stops:
Ready to depart:
Motorcycles:
Vines:
Bridge:
Lunch stop:
Rough road — hey California, concrete isn’t a good road surface:
Roadworks:
Listening to a Seattle Mariners game via the MLB app:
Cows:
Rest area stop:
Rough road, no kidding:
7% grade:
Warning sign of tight curves:
Yep, a sharp curve:
River:
Redwoods:
Narrow detour:
One-Log House:
Road Narrows, yay:
Very close redwoods:
Legend of Bigfoot:
Bridge:
More roadworks:
River:
Our destination:
Extended cup holders
The cup holders that are built in to our coach are a little small for some of our water bottles and travel mugs, so we added extended cup holders to enable fitting larger bottles:
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:
Our site:
A nice fairly private patio, with shrubs and a hedge providing screening, and attractive stamped concrete:
Bear and fish stamps:
Not much clearance:
Utilities; I used a water-weighted bag to secure the sewer, since it was unthreaded:
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:
A free range peahen:
Other sites:
Most of the sites seem rather unlevel:
Entrance gate:
Office:
Petting farm:
Goats:
Games:
Deflated jump pad:
Picnic area:
Chicken run:
Chickens and peacock:
Rooster and peacock:
Donkeys:
Dogrun:
Games:
Feral cat:
Cabins:
Covered seating:
Playground:
Video: Paso Robles to Petaluma, California motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 244 miles from Paso Robles, California to Petaluma, California.
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:
An interactive map, with potential and actual stops:
A steep hill in the RV park on the way out:
Joining US-101 for our trip up the coast (somewhat inland at this stage):
Listening to a Mariners baseball game, streaming from the MLB app:
Pump jacks; when did we get back to Texas?
Vineyards:
Roadside artwork:
A lunch stop at Wildhorse Cafe in King City:
Back to our coach:
Paladin on the steps, with my feet up:
Historic El Camino Real bell markers:
Roadside artwork:
Bright pink flowers:
A bald eagle:
Paladin looking a little freaked out:
A fuel stop at SC Fuels in Gilroy:
It’s a cardlock fuel station, but works with our Open Roads discount fuel card:
A snack (fun fact: the Pringles can sticks magnetically to the MacBook Pro in that spot):
Oakland Coliseum:
Oakland:
Flowers:
Toll booths:
Richmond-San Rafael Bridge:
Green hills:
Drawbridge:
Our destination, a KOA:
Following our coach to our site (with some adventures with that; stay tuned!):
