Our water pump was randomly cutting out. I determined that the power connections were loose, so decided to replace the wire nuts with Wago ones, which are easier to use, and hopefully more reliable.
The pump, with boring wire nuts:
Replaced with Wago wire nuts:
We took another drive into Yosemite National Park, to head along Tioga Road to the Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center, with a brief stops by Tenaya Lake and Olmsted Point on the way back, which featured the other side of Half Dome.
Pywiack Dome:
Lembert Dome:
Tuolumne Meadow and a rainbow:
Pothole Dome:
Tenaya Lake:
The other side of Half Dome:
We took a drive into Yosemite National Park to visit the Wawona Visitor Center and Yosemite History Center, then on to Glacier Point, with a nice view of Half Dome.
On the way, a stop at the Tunnel View point:
Wawona Hotel:
Pioneer History Center, with stagecoaches:
A covered bridge:
Glacier Point:
Washburn Point:
Sunset over Yosemite valley:
After arriving at Thousand Trails Yosemite Lakes, we took a drive into Yosemite National Park to visit the Yosemite Valley Welcome Center, and take some photos of some interesting rocks.
Yosemite Valley, with Half Dome visible:
Tunnel:
Waterfall (barely flowing at the end of summer):
El Capitan:
Waterfall:
Historic church:
Welcome Center:
Yosemite Valley map:
We had dinner at the grill, with a couple of ravens watching us (and looking like sitting on my shoulder for a moment):
Heading out of Yosemite Valley:
We headed back into the valley a few days later, and explored some more stuff:
Ansel Adams Gallery:
Exploration Center and Theater (the movie was worth a watch):
Indian Village:
We stayed at Thousand Trails Yosemite Lakes in Groveland, California. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A fairly typical Thousand Trails park, with choose-your-own-sites. Most sites are only 30 amp; only a few 50 amp sites. Just minutes from an entrance to Yosemite National Park.
Dates:
Weather:
Noise:
Site:
Utilities:
Internet (in usage priority order):
Amenities:
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Nice riverfront sites, if you’re lucky
If I were a retail customer, I would rate this campground much harsher than I do as a Thousand Trails member. If I were paying the retail rate, I would give this a scathing 1-star review and never stay here again. But by Thousand Trails standards, this place is not bad, and I would’ve happily stayed longer than a week. We did not luck out and get one of the scarce 50A sites by the river, but we did get a perfectly lovely 30A spot on the river that was actually level and decently wide. I’m glad that my navigator/co-pilot does extensive route planning for our travel days, as the correct road to the campground is not the one the GPS would’ve sent us down, so we were prepared for that. The proper access road isn’t great as it is, but going down Hardin Flat would’ve been extremely dicey. Once you get into the campground and start hunting for a site, the roads inside the park are not for the faint of heart or the low of ground clearance. Driving around in our Chevy Colorado was bad enough, but getting the 40′ motorhome around them was a fun exercise in obstacle avoidance. Once we got parked, though, we were delighted. Since our primary purpose was to visit Yosemite National Park, it was a great launching point. You can’t get much closer without staying in the park (which we couldn’t do with a big rig anyway). We camped at Thousand Trails Yosemite Lakes in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our site:
South Fork Tuolumne River runs right behind our site:
Sitting by the river:
Ducks in the river:
Utilities:
The electrical pedestal only has 30 amps, so we used a “dogbone” to adapt it to our 50 amp plug (and watched our power usage; fortunately it wasn’t too warm, so we avoided AC use most of the week):
After visiting Yosemite National Park, we added the sticker to our coach (gonna need to use a stepladder for future stickers):
There was no cellular service, so we used our Starlink dish. There were some obstructions, but the dish could see enough of the sky to have only occasional disruptions:
The campground has its own gas station:
Other sites:
No, this isn’t our coach; a similar model:
Some buddy sites:
Tent sites:
South Fork Tuolumne River:
Clubhouse:
The welcome center in the background, and a bus stop for the park bus; people without a tow vehicle can catch the bus into the park:
Mini golf:
Playground:
Cabins:
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 95 miles from Manteca to Groveland, California.
We drove our coach 95 miles, about two hours of driving, from Manteca, California to Groveland, California.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:
An interactive map:
Thank you for visiting:
Lots of low trees scraped our roof:
Narrow road and roadworks:
Milk plant:
Oakdale:
CA-120 East:
Yosemite reservations required weekends:
Don Pedro Lake:
Pipes:
Curvy highway (check out the video for this journey with a picture-in-picture of this part):
Groveland:
Thousand Trails gas station:
Campground office:
The site we chose:
Another RV-themed podcast that I enjoy and recommend is the StressLess Camping podcast.
It is hosted by Peggy and Tony Barthel, RV industry veterans, with hundreds of episodes on RV topics including tips, RV reviews, interviews with guests, and more.
Listen in your preferred podcast app.
We attended a baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and the San Diego Padres, playing at the Giant’s ballpark, Oracle Park in San Francisco, California. What we thought would be our last game of the year (but actually only our last game of the regular season), and the 8th ballpark we’ve visited in our stretch goal of visiting all of the ballparks (six new ones this year, plus re-visiting the Mariners’ park a couple of times).
Jenn’s game summary:
The Giants lost after 10 innings. The Padres had a large number of fans in attendance, and it was difficult to distinguish the chants for each team. The weather was very changeable and I got a little sunburnt on my neck. Ramos hit a home run into McCovey Cove, so that was fun—the first right-handed hitter to do so. Tatis Jr. came out to pinch-hit in the 8th and sent the first pitch over the wall. It’s a nice park with lovely panoramic views of the Bay, but not much entertainment between innings.
Bay Bridge:
Oracle Park:
Team store:
Three times world champions:
Concessions:
Burritos:
View from outfield:
Big Coke bottle:
Big glove:
Cable car:
Ferry next to the ballpark:
View from outfield:
World Series rings:
View from our seats:
Orlando Cepeda memorial:
Mascot:
First pitches:
Out at first:
An advertising boat circled for half the game:
Exploring Oracle Park:
Boats and kayaks next to the ballpark, waiting for a splash home run:
Our traditional ballpark dessert:
Submarine pitcher:
Runs score:
That was a new splash hit home run:
Final scores:
Padres win, sorry Giants:
