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

Fridge latch repair

Our coach has a residential-sized fridge/freezer:

Fridge

In order to keep the doors closed as we drive down the road, they have catches and latches, that require a somewhat firm tug to open. Here’s the catch above the right door:

Hook

The latch on that door had a crack in it, which didn’t prevent it from working, but it was more rough than usual:

Broken latch

So I bought some replacement catches and latches, and replaced it. You can see the broken one at the bottom, and a new replacement above it:

Catches and latches

Now the door opens much more smoothly. An easy fix.

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.

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:

Route

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:

Leaving the RV park

Leaving the RV park

Honda Center:

Honda Center

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:

Paladin in the steps

Bright green hills:

Bright green hills

I-5 freeway traffic:

I-5 freeway traffic

I-5 freeway traffic

The Pacific Ocean and yellow flowers:

Ocean and yellow flowers

A stop at a rest area to kill some time (since it was a relatively short drive) and have lunch:

Rest area

Annoyingly, the truck parking was overrun with cars:

Cars parked in truck parking

Back to heavy I-5 freeway traffic:

I-5 freeway traffic

Heading to Chula Vista:

Heading to Chula Vista

Checking in:

Checking in

We had a back-in site, so I untoaded while Jenn checked in, then followed the coach to the site:

Following coach

Our site before parking:

Our site before parking