Travel from Paicines to Bakersfield, California

Back to our regular posts….

We drove our coach 225 miles, about five hours of driving, from Paicines to Bakersfield, California.

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

Route

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Didn’t see any of the wild pigs:

Didn't see any of the wild pigs

Narrow bridge in the campground:

Narrow bridge

Tres Pinos:

Tres Pinos

San Luis Reservoir:

San Luis Reservoir

San Luis Reservoir

Petro lunch stop:

Lunch stop

BK for lunch:

BK for lunch

Joining I-5 South:

Joining I-5 South

Closed rest area:

Closed rest area

Next one was open, though:

Next one was open, though

Classic BMWs:

Classic BMWs

Exit to Bakersfield:

Exit to Bakersfield

Bakersfield Auto Mall:

Bakersfield Auto Mall

Arriving at the KOA:

Arriving at KOA

KOA check in:

KOA check in

Guided to our site:

Guided to our site

2025 stickers

On the passenger-side slide-out, we have a large sticker with the Sinclair Trails logo, a map of the US showing the states we’re visited, a QR code for the website, and stickers with the SinclairTrails.com domain name and @SinclairTrails social handle:

Stickers on side of RV

The states sticker consists of separate stickers for each state, applied to a base sticker. Our rule is that we have to have done something in a state for it to count (e.g. camp, eat in a restaurant, or explore something, not just driving through). Once we have done something in a new state, we add its sticker. We’ve now visited all of the contiguous states, 48 out of 50; just Alaska and Hawaii to go:

State stickers

These stickers tend to fade fairly quickly; here’s what they looked like a year ago, for comparison:

States map

We may get new stickers that include Canada when we visit Alaska, since we’ll drive through part of Canada to get there.

On the driver-side slide-out of the coach, we have stickers for each of the National Parks we have visited, that being another of the goals in our travels. We visited 5 more parks in 2025 (plus revisited several), so have visited 52 of the 63 parks; just 11 left:

National Park stickers

Of course, we’ve also visited numerous National Monuments, National Historic Sites, and other classifications. With 433 units of various types in the National Park System, not to mention parks administered by states, forest services, etc, we had to cap the memorializing of them somewhere! National Parks are the goal; others are gravy.

However, inside our coach we have a framed board with a wooden map of the US, around which we add stickers and pins for any kind of attraction we visit (we get stickers if available small enough, but tend to get pins instead). It’s populated a bit more since 2024, 2023, and 2022, though still some space for future attractions:

Sticker and pin board

The wooden map has pins for states we’ve visited; the pins feature the state flags:

Sticker and pin board

Fun memorabilia.

2025 special posts

While most of the posts on this blog are about modifications, travel, campgrounds, and attractions, I sometimes post about other topics. This is a summary of those posts from 2025. (See also those from 2024, 2023, and 2022.) These posts have the special category (with earliest or latest posts at the top).

You can also see all of these summary posts together via the Special Summary tag, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top.

As with previous summaries, for each I include a link to the corresponding blog post, and a sample picture; see the post for details.

Completed visiting all contiguous states:

Jenn adding last state pin

Completed visiting all contiguous National Parks:

National Park stickers on slide of motorhome

Spending a month exploring New Zealand:

New Zealand route

After visiting all National Parks in the 48 contiguious states, which are our most and least favorites?

NPS tier list

Back from New Zealand:

Van on beachfront with lighthouse in background

Video

Video: 2021-2025 motorhome travel timelapses in 23 minutes!

Was the 2025 timelapses video not fast enough for you? Hey, I understand; 45 minutes is quite long, even at 20x the original timelapses speed.

This video combines the 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 timelapse videos, and makes them eight times faster (i.e. 160 times faster than original timelapses), so you can see about 45k miles of motorhome travel in about 23 minutes!

Chapters:

00:00 2021 travel
00:52 2022 travel
05:41 2023 travel
10:44 2024 travel
17:13 2025 travel

About Sinclair Trails:

The travels of David and Jennifer Sinclair around the US, full-timing in their 40-foot 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP luxury motorhome.

We post timelapse videos of our travel days on YouTube, typically on Tuesdays.

On the Sinclair Trails blog, we post about RV modifications on Mondays, travel on Tuesdays, campgrounds and RV parks on Wednesdays, and exploring national parks and other parks and attractions on Thursdays and Fridays.

About Sinclair Trails

2025 campgrounds

Another interesting summary of 2025 — the places we stayed during the year. See also the posts for 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021.

You can also see all of these summary posts together via the Campgrounds Summary tag, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top.

For each location, I’ve included a link to the corresponding blog post, so you can click through to see a lot more information, and a picture of our site.

You can also see all of the campground-related blog posts via the campsite category, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top.

Read to the end for some sneak peeks of places we stayed that I haven’t yet posted about!

Rainbow Springs State Park:

Our site

Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort:

Our site

Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground:

Our site

Thousand Trails Orlando RV Resort:

Our site

Thousand Trails Peace River:

Our site

Crooked River State Park:

Our site

James Island County Park:

Our site

Holly Point Campground – Falls Lake SRA:

Our site

Emporia / I-95 KOA:

Our site

Thousand Trails Chesapeake Bay:

Our site

Cherry Hill Park:

Our site

Thousand Trails Lake & Shore:

Our site

Thousand Trails Hershey RV Campground:

Our site

West Branch State Park:

Our site

Thousand Trails St Clair:

Our site

Traverse City KOA Holiday:

Our site

Shipshewana Campground – South Park:

Our site

Punderson State Park Campground:

Our site

Four Mile Creek State Park:

Our site

Cooperstown KOA Journey:

Our site

Quechee Pine Valley Campground:

Our site

Thousand Trails Moody Beach:

Our site

Narrows Too Camping Resort:

Our site

Normandy Farms Family Camping Resort:

Our site

New York City North / Newburgh KOA Holiday:

Our site

The Bellefonte Campground:

Our site

Mountain Top Campground:

Our site

Olive Branch Campground:

Our site

Scottsburg Raintree Lake KOA Holiday:

Our site

Indiana Dunes State Park:

Our site

HWH Corporation:

Our site

Milton KOA Holiday:

Our site

Kewaunee RV & Campground:

Our site

Hancock City Park:

Our site

Cloquet / Duluth KOA Journey:

Our site

The Pines of Kabetogama Resort:

Our site

Minneapolis Northwest KOA Journey:

Our site

Mitchell KOA Journey:

Our site

Custer’s Gulch RV Park:

Our site

Buffalo KOA Journey:

Our site

Fishing Bridge RV Park, Yellowstone National Park:

Our site

Jim & Mary’s RV Park:

Our site

Ephrata RV Park & Campground:

Our site

Our Washington home:

Our coach at home

Portland Fairview RV Park:

Our site

Sutherlin/Umpqua Valley KOA Holiday:

Our site

Red Bluff KOA Journey:

Our site

Thousand Trails San Benito:

Our site

Bakersfield KOA Journey: [post coming later]

Our site

Golden Shore RV Resort: [post coming later]

Our site

We camped in lots of places in New Zealand at this point, but I’ll summarize those sometime after I’ve published the blog posts about them.

Orangeland RV Park: [post coming later]

Our site

Thousand Trails Palm Springs: [post coming later]

Our site

Lots of interesting (and not so interesting) places to stay last year.

2025 travel days

An interesting summary of our RV travel days in 2025. Here are links to blog posts, and a sample picture of the view of each, so you can see how the landscape changed as we traveled in our coach. Previous years posts are 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021.

You can also see all of these summary posts together via the Travel Summary tag, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top.

You can see all of the travel-related blog posts via the travel category, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top.

Read to the end for some sneak peeks of places we went that I haven’t yet posted about!

Travel from Carrabelle to Dunnellon, Florida:

Toading up at Ho-Hum RV Park

Travel from Dunnellon to Clermont, Florida:

Welcome to Florida's Turnpike, The Less Stressway

Travel from Clermont to Disney World, Florida:

Entering Walt Disney World

Travel from Disney World to Clermont, Florida:

Welcome

Travel from Clermont to Wauchula, Florida:

Paladin on the dash

Travel from Wauchula, Florida to Saint Marys, Georgia:

Thank you for visiting Florida

Travel from Saint Marys, Georgia to Charleston, South Carolina:

Welcome to South Carolina

Travel from Charleston, South Carolina to Wake Forest, North Carolina:

South of the Border

Travel from Wake Forest, North Carolina to Emporia, Virginia:

Welcome to Virginia

Travel from Emporia to Gloucester, Virginia:

Bridge over James River

Travel from Gloucester, Virginia to College Park, Maryland:

Maryland Welcomes You

Travel from College Park, Maryland to Ocean View, New Jersey:

Fort McHenry Tunnel under the Baltimore harbor

Travel from Ocean View, New Jersey to Lebanon, Pennsylvania:

St John the Baptist church

Travel from Lebanon, Pennsylvania to Ravenna, Ohio:

Tunnels

Travel from Ravenna, Ohio to St Clair, Michigan:

Welcome to Pure Michigan

Travel from St Clair to Buckley, Michigan:

Flint Strong

Travel from Buckley, Michigan to Shipshewana, Indiana:

More to Discover in Indiana

Travel from Shipshewana, Indiana to Newbury, Ohio:

Amish

Travel from Newbury, Ohio to Youngstown, New York:

Welcome to Pennsylvania

Travel from Youngstown to Richfield Springs, New York:

Bridge

Travel from Richfield Springs, New York to White River Junction, Vermont:

Welcome to Vermont

Travel from White River Junction, Vermont to Wells, Maine:

Maine state line on Piscataqua River bridge

Travel from Wells to Trenton, Maine:

Service plaza

Travel from Trenton, Maine to Foxboro, Massachusetts:

Massachusetts Welcomes You

Travel from Foxboro, Massachusetts to Plattekill, New York:

East Hartford

Travel from Plattekill, New York to Bellefonte, Pennsylvania:

More patches than road

Travel from Bellefonte to Tarentum, Pennsylvania:

New Bethlehem

Travel from Tarentum, Pennsylvania to Oregonia, Ohio:

Welcome to Ohio

Travel from Oregonia, Ohio to Lebanon, Tennessee:

Entering Central Time Zone

Travel from Lebanon, Tennessee to Scottsburg, Indiana:

Bridges in Louisville

Travel from Scottsburg to Chesterton, Indiana:

Interesting bridge

Travel from Chesterton, Indiana to Moscow, Iowa:

Welcome to Iowa

Travel from Moscow, Iowa to Milton, Wisconsin:

Iowa 80 truck stop

Travel from Milton to Kewaunee, Wisconsin:

Kewaunee

Travel from Kewaunee, Wisconsin to Hancock, Michigan:

Welcome to Pure Michigan

Travel from Hancock, Michigan to Cloquet, Minnesota:

Wisconsin Welcomes You

Travel from Cloquet to Kabetogama, Minnesota:

Saunas

Travel from Kabetogama to Maple Grove, Minnesota:

Paddler

Travel from Maple Grove, Minnesota to Mitchell, South Dakota:

Welcome to South Dakota

Travel from Mitchell to Custer, South Dakota:

Dignity of Earth and Sky

Travel from Custer, South Dakota to Buffalo, Wyoming:

Welcome to Wyoming

Travel from Buffalo to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming:

Interesting rocks

Travel from Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming to Missoula, Montana:

Madison River

Travel from Missoula, Montana to Ephrata, Washington:

Clark Fork River

Travel from Ephrata to Shelton, Washington:

I-90 West Vantage Bridge

Travel from Shelton, Washington to Fairview, Oregon:

Welcome to Oregon

Travel from Fairview to Eugene, Oregon:

Paladin getting off the dash as we get back on the freeway

Travel from Eugene to Sutherlin, Oregon:

I-5

Travel from Sutherlin, Oregon to Red Bluff, California:

Mount Shasta

Travel from Red Bluff to Paicines, California:

San Luis Reservoir

Travel from Paicines to Bakersfield, California: [post coming later]

San Luis Reservoir

Travel from Bakersfield to Long Beach, California: [post coming later]

Downhill

Travel from Long Beach to Northridge, California: [post coming later]

The Goodyear blimp coming in for a landing

We traveled around New Zealand at this point, but I’ll summarize those sometime after I’ve published the blog posts about them.

Travel from Northridge to Orange, California: [post coming later]

A pickup carrying half a car

Travel from Orange to Palm Desert, California: [post coming later]

Entrance

That’s a lot of travel!

2025 modifications

Happy New Year! 🎉

As we begin 2026, let’s look back at 2025, as is my tradition on this blog.

I will have a series of blog posts reviewing topics from last year. I typically schedule my posts following a pattern: Modification Mondays, Travel Tuesdays, Whereabouts Wednesdays, and To and Fro Thursdays and Fridays (okay, those last ones are bit of a stretch). So I will post my annual summaries in that order too (though not on those days), starting with modifications today.

We have done a number of modifications to our 2017 Tiffin Allegro Bus 40SP motorhome, to make it more comfortable as a full-time home, to improve the features, or to repair issues. This is a summary of some of the changes done in 2025; also check out the changes from 2024, 2023, 2022, and 2021.

You can also see all of these summary posts together via the Modifications Summary tag, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top.

For each modification topic I include a link to the corresponding blog post, and a sample picture; see the post for details. (Tip: you can click or tap on either the link or picture to go to the corresponding post.)

You can see all of the modification-related blog posts via the modifications category, with the earliest posts at the top, or the latest posts at the top.

Humidifier and water distiller:

Distiller

Broom hanging grippers:

Broom and mop on wall

Girard replaced window awning:

New window awning

Shower soap dispensers:

Shower soap dispensers

Extra pantry shelf:

Pantry shelves

Custom desk tweaks:

Desk

Polished and replaced exhaust tips:

Aqua-Hot exhaust tip

Power steering fluid leak repair, engine bracket replacements, underside of coach:

Behind the front wheels, with air horns and generator exhaust

Clock in bathroom:

Clock

Peeking behind the wet bay:

Pipes

Override Tecma macerating toilet controller with this one weird trick:

Toilet wires

Loose mudguard above rear wheels:

Mudguard above rear wheel

Using a sewer tote tank and macerator pump to dump waste tanks from the back of our truck again:

Dumping at dump station

Using magnets to hold a cupboard door out of the way:

Magnets joined to hold the door

Compact garbage bin fits next to toilet:

Garbage bin

Mirror head replacement:

New mirror head

AC replacements:

Carrying new AC up to roof

Moved toilet paper holder in half bath:

Toilet paper holder

Replacing light under kitchen sink:

Light

Flushing the gray tank:

Wet bay

Exploded AC squirrel cage:

Broken squirrel cage

Polishing wheel rims and headlights:

Purple metal polish

We were stuck! Slide-out failed to retract due to leaking piston:

Capped hydraulic hoses

Replacing cover on vent fan lid lift motor:

Cover on motor

RoamLink cellular service:

RoamLink

Dashcams:

Dashcams

Starlink Mini mounted on our truck:

Starlink dish in magnetic mount

Entry steps stuck:

Disconnected motor

Oregon Motorcoach Center repair of hydraulic slide-out:

Fridge connected to electricity

I hope you found these posts interesting and useful.