Orange to Flag City RV Resort in Lodi, California

We drove our coach 379 miles, about six hours of driving, from Orangeland RV Park in Orange to Flag City RV Resort in Lodi, California.

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

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Following the coach to toad up by the office, as usual:

Following the coach to toad up by the office, as usual

Toaded up

Tight corner for a motorhome and toad totaling over 60 feet, but easier when we can take both lanes:

Tight corner for a 60-foot motorhome and toad, but easier when we can take both lanes

In the correct lane for CA-91 East:

In the correct lane for CA-91 East

Exit to CA-91:

Exit to CA-91

Exit to I-5 North:

Exit to I-5 North

I-5 North:

I-5 North

Downtown LA:

Downtown LA

California freeways doing their thing:

California freeways doing their thing

Traffic and hill:

Traffic and hill

Wildflowers:

Wildflowers

Rest area:

Rest area

Hills:

Hills

Exit to CA-269:

Exit to CA-269

An interesting toad:

An interesting toad

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Spendy fuel:

Spendy fuel

Paladin keeping the seat warm:

Paladin keeping the seat warm

Hills:

Hills

Aquaduct:

Aquaduct

Closed rest area:

Closed rest area

Exit to CA-12:

Exit to CA-12

Arriving at Flag City RV Resort:

Arriving at Flag City RV Resort

Campground map:

Campground map

Our site, #E14:

Our site

Annoyingly for a one-night stay, we had to untoad, as the site was too short to remain connected. That might be my fault, though; they let you choose your site when booking, and I must not have measured it with Google Maps:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

If we stay here again in the future, we’d choose a better site.

Bonita to Orangeland RV Park in Orange, California

We drove our coach 104 miles, about two hours of driving, from Sweetwater Summit Regional Park in Bonita to Orangeland RV Park in Orange, California.

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

Route map

An interactive map, with a potential stop pinned:

Tight turn for a big coach:

Tight turn for a big coach

Big skeleton, narrow road:

Big skeleton, narrow road

CA-54 West:

CA-54 West

Exit to I-805 North:

Exit to I-805 North

Heading to LA:

Heading to LA

I like when they have helpful markings in each lane:

I like when they have helpful markings in each lane

Traffic:

Traffic

Traffic

A large chandelier in this car:

A large chandelier in this car

Rest area, but it was full; that’s okay, we didn’t really need to stop:

Rest area, but it was full

Exit to CA-57 North:

Exit to CA-57 North

Passing Angel Stadium:

Passing Angel Stadium

Exit:

Exit

Still working on this new garage:

Still working on this new garage

Arriving at Orangeland RV Park, our fifth stay here, the last just back in December:

Arriving at Orangeland RV Park

Arriving at Orangeland RV Park

Campground map:

Campground map

Untoaded:

Untoading

Our site, #29:

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Always a nice place to stay when going to Disneyland… and in this case Angel Stadium.

Sun City, Arizona to Sweetwater Summit Regional Park in Bonita, California

We drove our coach 354 miles, about six hours of driving, from Encore Paradise RV Resort in Sun City, Arizona to Sweetwater Summit Regional Park in Bonita, California.

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

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Pulled out of our site in Encore Paradise:

Pulled out of our site in Phoenix

Pulled out of our site in Phoenix

Leaving Paradise:

Leaving Paradise

Exit to I-10 West:

Exit to I-10 West

Teacups ride trailer:

Teacups trailer

Rail crossing:

Rail crossing

Dinosaurs:

Dinosaurs

Another Tiffin Allegro Bus (with poor lane placement):

Another Tiffin Allegro Bus

Oversize load:

Oversize load

Train:

Train

Rest area:

Rest area

Mountains:

Mountains

Mountains

Arizona centennial sign:

Arizona

Fuel stop before leaving Arizona:

Fuel stop before leaving Arizona

This short handle isn’t all that useful for washing RV windshields:

This short handle isn't all that useful for washing RV windshields

Spendy fuel, but cheaper than California:

Spendy fuel, but cheaper than California

Interesting bridge art:

Interesting bridge art

California State Line:

California State Line

Welcome to California, and Pacific Time Zone:

Welcome to California

Agricultural Inspection Station:

Agricultural Inspection Station

No Inspection Today:

No Inspection Today

Rest area (with a dump station):

Rest area (with a dump station)

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Interesting rocks

Tecate Divide; Elevation 4140 feet:

Tecate Divide; Elevation 4140 feet

Closed immigration inspection:

Closed immigration inspection

Exit to CA-125 South:

Exit to CA-125 South

Arriving at the campground of Sweetwater Summit Regional Park:

Arriving at Sweetwater Summit Campground

Entrance station:

Entrance station

Campground map:

Map

Our site, #134, with a nice concrete pad:

Our site

Very level site:

Level site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

Our site

A nice campground; we’d stay here again.

Simplifying posts

I’ve decided to simplify my blog posts a bit. You may have noticed that I’m not following the schedule I used to use (Modification Mondays, Travel Tuesdays, etc); I’m now just posting each weekday.

Since the most useful and interesting posts (to certain audiences) are RV modifications and things we do, I will continue those posts much as I have been. The modifcation posts are useful for other Tiffin motorhome owners; I regularly link to them in Facebook groups to help others with similar issues. For other people, those posts are easy to skip. The exploring posts are more interesting to family and friends (and future us!), to see the interesting attractions we’ve experienced.

But travel and campground posts aren’t all that useful, and all the data recorded for campgrounds was a lot of work, so I’m going to merge those two, much as I did for the New Zealand series. The new format will be like the travel posts, with photos from the journey, but end with a few campground pictures, and omit all the data. So each post will document some interesting sights during our travel from one campground to the next, for anyone interested in that. They will continue to include maps with potential stops marked, which are useful for others traveling this route (including our future selves).

I will continue the travel timelapse videos, at least until after Alaska, since that will no doubt be very scenic. Those are a lot of work too, so I may discontinue them in the future, but we’ll see.

I know that the audience for this blog is very small; mostly just family and friends, and a few others who have seen the blog on Facebook on seen our motorhome on the road (via the QR code). In large part, it’s just a hobby travel diary for my own satisfaction. And that’s enough.

Velocity Truck Centers for engine air heater repair

As we were arriving in Phoenix, we got a Check Engine light on our dash. Never a welcome occurrence!

Error codes on dash

Looking in the BlueFire app, it showed more details of the codes; clearly a short of the engine intake air heater:

BlueFire faults page

Later in our stay, we started the engine again to see if the codes were still there. They were, so I contacted NIRVC to see if they could fix it. They referred me to Velocity Truck Centers, which is a Cummins dealer, and has an RV department.

Travel route, heading south then back north afterwards:

Travel route

Our appointment was for 7 AM; we considered arriving the day before, since they had a few full-hookup spots, but decided to just go very early in the morning. Probably a good thing, as their RV department was very busy that day; there may not have been a spot for us.

We toaded up just before sunrise:

Toading up early in the morning

Toading up early in the morning

Sunrise:

Sunrise

Exit to the truck place:

Exit

A hot air balloon in the distance:

Hot air balloon in the distance

Arriving at the truck service center:

Truck service center

Velocity Truck Centers:

Velocity Truck Centers

The RV waiting room was so crowded that one couple brought in camp chairs:

Crowded waiting room

We decided we didn’t want to hang out there, so went to Chick-fil-A for second breakfast:

Chick-fil-A for second breakfast

Then some chores, and to Starbucks to spend the next five hours:

Starbucks

They completed the work in the afternoon; the issue was a metal-wrapped line intermittently touching the heater relay, causing a short. They secured the line, and replaced the relay, since it had been damaged by the arcing. Just over one RV Buck (about $1,300) to fix.

Heading back to the RV park after the work was complete:

Heading back to the RV park

Arriving back at Paradise:

Arriving back at Paradise

Back to our site, which looks a bit weird without the RV there:

Back to our site

Back to our site

A hassle, but I’m glad it was a relatively easy fix.

Travel from Palm Desert, California to Sun City, Arizona

We drove our coach 252 miles, about four hours of driving, from Palm Desert, California to Sun City, Arizona.

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

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Entering I-10 East:

Entering I-10 East

We got a little bit of fuel at California prices:

Fuel stop

Back onto I-10 East:

Back onto I-10 East

Foggy:

Foggy

Rest area closed:

Rest area closed

Another rest area:

Another rest area

Rest area

Interesting homebrew van:

Interesting homebrew van

Paladin in a box:

Paladin in a box

Arizona state line, and also Mountain time zone:

Arizona state line, and also Mountain time zone

Welcome to Arizona:

Welcome to Arizona

Arizona Centenial:

Arizona Centenial

Airstream trailer:

Airstream trailer

Interesting mountains:

Interesting mountains

Westbound freeway closed for hours due to accident:

Westbound freeway closed for hours due to accident

Westbound freeway closed for hours due to accident

Another fuel stop to top up, since we’ll be in one place for three months:

T/A fuel stop

T/A fuel stop

Filling diesel:

T/A fuel stop

Filling DEF:

T/A fuel stop

Exit to AZ-303 North:

Exit to AZ-303 North

Overpass:

Overpass

Exit to Bell Road:

Exit to Bell Road

Arriving at Paradise RV Resort:

Arriving at Paradise RV Resort

Registration parking, where we filled in the paperwork and untoaded:

Registration parking, where we filled in the paperwork and untoaded

Guided to our site:

Guided to our site