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scamp trailers

Central California  

150 150 gavin

Central California  
August 22nd – August 29th, 2021 (7 nights)

This adventure was put together at the last minute after plans for our Mammoth Lakes trip were scrapped due to poor air quality (as a result of summer fires in California).  The locations were chosen based on towns showing good air quality on the AQI air quality map, the amount of time we had available for travel (7 days), and campsite availability.  We also had just purchased new bikes and a bike carrier for our Scamp 13’ and wanted to go places where we would be able to ride.

Santa Barbara
Whenever we head north, we make it a point to stay over a night in Santa Barbara (a 3 ½ hour drive from our home in San Diego).  Not only is it a fantastic location with great scenery and plenty to do, but our cousin Jon lives here and he lets us camp in his driveway!  This trip was a little different though.  When we arrived, we discovered a car in his driveway.  Jon’s son, Melvin, was in Italy and his car keys were nowhere to be found!  What to do with the Scamp?!!!  Fortunately, my cousin’s next door neighbor saw us and realized what had happened.  He generously offered to let us stay on his property (and even provided electric and water hookups)!  Phew!

On this trip, we visited the Old Santa Barbara Mission and walked around downtown Santa Barbara to eat lunch at our favorite Mexican food restaurant, Taco Pipeye.  We also rode our new bikes from my cousin’s house all the way down to the Goleta bike path, past the end of the runway of Santa Barbara airport, and toured UC Santa Barbara!  We also had a great dinner with my vegan cousin Jon and enjoyed his ocean view while we ate on his balcony.  Overall, we had a very enjoyable and busy 24 hours in Santa Barbara.

Pismo Beach
Just about an hour and a half north of Santa Barbara lies Pismo Beach.  Campsites in this beautiful beach town are very difficult to get.  However, we got lucky and two of the best possible sites at Pismo State Beach North Beach Campground just happened to show available when I was looking (likely last minute cancellations)!   In order to stay 3 nights though, we had to move from site #27 after the first night to site #29 for the remaining 2 nights.  Both of these sites are premium sites and right next to each other and directly in front of the beach.  The only downside with splitting the reservation is paying the reservation fee ($7.99) twice and being required to completely leave the campground between Noon to 2 p.m. the day the next reservation begins (for campsite maintenance).  “Rules are rules” is what we were told by one of the camp hosts!  So, we packed up after our first night and headed to a nearby horse lot where we ate lunch before returning to check in for our second campsite at 2 p.m.  On our way back to the campground, one of our tail lights on our Scamp 13’ blew out (our tow vehicle gave a warning on the dashboard showing short circuit).  Fortunately, there are two fully equipped RV supply stores right across the street from the campground and had the bulb we needed for less than 3 dollars a pair!

Pismo State Beach North Beach Campground is fantastic.  The campsites are very spread out and the beach is just over a little hill adjacent to the campground.  There are no hookups, but there are water spigots and a central dump ($10 at this time).  We had no problem staying 3 nights (even with the two of us taking a shower each night) by using our solar panel briefcase to recharge our batteries during the day and our “Holy Grail Portable Grey Water Tank Solution” to drain our Grey water tank after a couple of days.  The beach in front of the campground is very wide and beautiful with a glorious view north of the Pismo pier.  There are some nice walking paths that are on the perimeter of the campground.  One goes south above the beach toward Oceano.  Another leads into the Pismo Beach Monarch Butterfly Grove.  This site hosts over 10,000 butterflies annually.  The Monarch Butterflies flock to Pismo Beach from late October through February, seeking shelter from freezing northern winters.  The butterflies cluster in the limbs of the large Eucalyptus trees that tower over the grove.  Although we saw Monarch butterflies on this trip, we did not see even one at the Grove (not the right time of year)!

Walking over the sand dunes from the campground onto the beach and taking long walks is a favorite activity for many campers here.  We enjoyed walking the sand from the campground to the pier and strolling out to the end of the pier.  Exploring  the town of Pismo Beach is also entertaining. There are a lot of shops and restaurants and plenty to see.   For example, we enjoyed perusing the toys and kites at “The Sky’s The Limit” on Dolliver Street.

Bringing bikes to North Beach Campground is definitely recommended.  We had a blast riding our mountain bikes up the coast along streets, bike paths, and dirt trails.  We pedaled almost all the way to Avila Beach (stopping right before the steep drop into town) – about 8 ½ miles each way.  We used Google Maps for directions and selected “Walking” so we would be off the main roads whenever possible.  Every day, we enjoyed cool ocean breezes and sounds of the waves from inside our Scamp 13’ so much that it was hard to leave after just a few nights.  We met one nice couple in an Airstream that reserves a spot here every summer for 2 weeks at a time as an affordable family yearly gathering spot!

Solvang
After using the central Dump on our way out of the Pismo Beach North Beach Campground, we drove about an hour south and inland to the quaint Danish town of Solvang.  We stayed at a Boondockers Welcome location, a home just a couple of miles from the center of town.  Our host location was part of a parcel that was once a large farm.  We stayed in their large driveway and the hosts provided us electricity and water ($5/night).  Our hosts were very friendly and gave us fruits and vegetables from their farm as well as shared bicycling tips for good routes throughout this wine country.  The only noise we heard in the evenings was the loud chirping of crickets!

The days were hot (90 degrees) but the mornings and evenings cooled down considerably (high 50’s).  We rode bikes in the early morning and late afternoon and relaxed during the day to avoid the heat.  The quiet country back roads of the Santa Ynez Valley are magical and we cycled passed beautiful vineyards and farms.  If you are in this area, we recommend these neighborhood streets to bike on:  Calzada, Samantha, Robler, and Baseline, with the winery called Bridlewood being the caketopper highlight (on Baseline).  We also had a chance to explore the Danish town of Solvang with its Old Mission Santa Ines and Danish shops and bakeries.  After a couple of nights and days of exploring, we bid our generous hosts goodbye and headed toward the ocean again.

Oxnard
Our last stop before heading home was to see our friends Cheryl and Hugh.  They were scheduled, with us, to go to Mammoth Lakes / Silver Lake before that trip was cancelled.  Instead, they invited us to stay in their driveway at their home near the beach in Oxnard (about 1 ½ hours south of Solvang).  The temperature really dropped as we drove up and over the mountains down to the coast.  The searing heat was replaced with cool foggy air – a welcome relief from the hot temperatures of the Santa Ynez Valley.  Our Scamp 13’ easily fit at the side of our friends’ driveway along with our tow vehicle.  They even have a Dump port in their driveway which we used to dump our Grey water!  Oxnard is a beach community with a harbor with shops and restaurants.  Cheryl and Hugh live only a short walk from the sand.

Our friends Cheryl & Hugh are super generous and treated us like royalty.  They fed us a great lunch, took us on a tour of downtown Oxnard on their new golf cart (with the Beach Boys music cranking on the stereo), and later treated us to a fantastic seafood restaurant dinner!  And, Cheryl made her famous gluten free Lava Cake (dark chocolate cake with molten chocolate oozing everywhere) for dessert back at home (of course there was vanilla ice cream on the side)!  To top it all off, they even gifted us plates with images of camper trailers on them for our Scamp 13’!  We are always blown away by their hospitality.  We had a fantastic visit with Cheryl & Hugh.  And, we also thoroughly enjoyed playing with their Havanese dogs, Avatar & Gidget.  On our way out the next morning, Hugh made sure we took a couple of King Salmon filets that he caught on his recent trip to Alaska (which we ate a couple of days later and were delicious)!  We drove back to our home in San Diego (3 hour drive) early enough to get our Scamp cleaned up and ready for our next trip!

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly. 

Coast Trip from San Diego to Coos Bay Oregon With Stops (10 Days)

150 150 gavin

Coast Trip from San Diego to Coos Bay Oregon With Stops (10 Days)
October 18th – 28th 2020

Driving the iconic Highway 1 along the coast of California from San Diego to its northern border is a must adventure for anyone who enjoys beautiful views, sensational campgrounds, and excitement on many levels.  It’s not a drive for the faint of heart since there are long portions of very windy roads.  But, with a small travel trailer, it’s entirely manageable.   And, there are many different types of geography to explore and plenty of really nice state parks to make the trip enjoyable.  We decided that it would be a great addition to cross the border into Oregon and stay over in Coos Bay before heading back home.

We made reservations just a week before the trip and were lucky in finding site openings in wonderful state park campgrounds.  And every site we had was a really nice one.  It seems if one is flexible and can vary campground locations depending on availability then openings are more easily attained.  Our main goal was to get up the coast without driving more than 4 hours at a time and stopping at some key locations such as San Simeon, Santa Cruz, and the Redwoods.  We prefer to stay at state parks because the sites are often spread out and tend to be economical.  When planning our stay overs, we also consider our needs for dumping, water replenishment, and electricity demand.  We generally need to dump every few days, but can usually find dump stations at gas stations if they are not available at campsites (which they often are in at least a centralized dump station at the campground).

Our first stop was at my Uncle Mel’s house in Santa Barbara (about a 3 1/2 hour drive from San Diego).  We parked in the driveway on the quiet street and got set up with water and electricity.  We made some pasta for lunch in our Scamp and my cousin Melvin joined us.  We then enjoyed a stroll in Tucker’s Grove Park with my cousin Jon and his dog Charlie.  In the afternoon, we enjoyed sitting and admiring my Uncle Mel’s beautiful artwork in his backyard studio garden.  My cousins made a really nice family BBQ dinner in the backyard in the evening.  The next day we visited some of our family in the Santa Barbara cemetery (along with a family of foxes who live there).  After a really quiet and restful sleep, we left for Hearst San Simeon State Park in the morning.

Hearst San Simeon State Park, about a three hour drive from Santa Barbara, is an enjoyable campground above a beautiful beach (which is within walking distance).  We paid $43 for Site #17.  There are water spigots at the campground and a free central dump.  The cellphone service here is poor (Verizon).  However, we were able to pick up 9 channels of crystal clear high definition television signals (HDTV)!  We set up our briefcase solar panel on the picnic bench behind our Scamp and were able to charge up our batteries while out exploring.  Moonstone Beach is a fantastic location for beachcombing.  There are so many beautiful rocks on the sand, including the famous shimmering moonstones.  We were lucky enough to find a few.  California Jade and other rocks can also be collected on Moonstone Beach.  We just purchased a rock tumbler and are currently tumbling these tones, hoping to transform them into semi-precious jewels!  If you are lucky, you might also find a sand dollar on the beach (we did!).  We also visited Elephant Seal Beach which is close by and enjoyed viewing and listening to the hundreds of seals that migrate through here.

The next day, after about a two and a half hour drive north, we arrived at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park (Santa Cruz).  We paid $43 for Site #27, which is a good and shady private site.  There are water spigots here but no dumps.  The cellphone service is poor (Verizon), but the HDTV is great since the campground is high up on a hill above downtown Santa Cruz.  There are really nice hikes at this campground, with one that leads up to an observation deck.  We were able to see deer, plenty of woodpeckers, beautiful redwoods, ocean views, and a nice sunset.  We drove down into town (about an 8 minute drive) and parked close to the Santa Cruz wharf.  We had a nice long walk to the end of the wharf and saw seals resting below on the wooden pilings.  The next morning, after a long hike and viewing the sites from the observation deck above the campground, we drove to the UC Santa Cruz campus (about 15 minute drive) and purchased a Slug t-shirt in their student store.  We also walked a bit on the campus which is like walking through the redwoods in a state park.

The next morning, we spent about four hours driving north to Van Damme State Park (Ft. Bragg).  We paid $48 for site #68 – a pleasant, private site (the meadow sites near #68 are also good).  There is no cellphone service here (Verizon) and no over the air HDTV.  There is a gas station very close by.  There are water spigots and a $10 dump site.  The area campsite was too shady for using our solar panel, but we had plenty of power to charge all our devices using our lithium powered Jackery 500 battery power bank!   There’s a nice long walk to a beautiful beach down below the campground.  We found abalone shells on the beach.  There are great hiking trails in the redwoods as well as an interesting pygmy forest hike close by.  We met some really friendly people at the campground and had a very relaxing stay here.

The next day we drove four hours north to reach Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park (located in Humbolt County near the town of Orick, about 50 miles north of Eureka).  The park is over 14,000 acres and is home to some very old giant Coast Redwoods.  There is a big meadow and you can sometimes see large Elk grazing (we did!).  This campground is about 1,500 feet above sea level and was a bit chilly when we visited in October (clear and sunny but in the 50’s during the day).  The chill gave us a chance to try out our gas powered Scamp furnace (which is very effective at quickly creating hot air and blowing it into the Scamp).  It doesn’t take long for the Scamp to get really toasty with the furnace running!  There is no dump here, but there are water spigots.  We paid $43 for site #49 which is nice and private (but too shady for solar panels).  We had no cellphone service (Verizon) here and couldn’t receive any over the air HDTV signals.  Our water bandit came in handy in filling up our water jug as the faucet sprayed too wildly for the stream to be contained and efficiently fill the jug.  The redwood hikes are spectacular with trees so huge they seem to be from fairy tales.  We watched a couple large bull Elks in the meadow in front of the visitor center for a couple of hours in the morning.  The visitor center is nice for souvenirs (I bought a cool hat that says Redwood National & State Parks and I purchased the Elk pin for the hat since we saw two big Elk!).  This park is a must visit.

The drive to Coos Bay, about four hours north along the Oregon coast from Prairie Creek Redwoods SP, is spectacular.  With huge rocks jutting out of the ocean along the rugged coastline, the views on this part of the journey are spectacular.  We parked for lunch at a beach rest stop in the Gold Beach area and had fantastic views right out of Scamp’s rear window.  Sunset Bay State Park (Coos Bay area, Oregon) is a wonderful campground with nice amenities.  We paid $45 / night for our full hookup site #D01 and stayed two nights (note:  we paid a 30% surcharge imposed on non-Oregon residents).  The site we had was an end spot and very quiet and there is good spacing between campsites here.  We had no cellphone service (Verizon) and no over the air HDTV reception.  However, there is an RV park close by and there is mobile data (Verizon) reception out in front.  The hosts at Sunset Bay SP are really friendly and spent a lot of time talking to us about the area.  There is a great beach within walking distance (a trail leads from the campground to the beach).  In addition, there is an awesome hike (about 2 miles each way) along the top of the bluffs to a state park called Shore Acres Botanical Gardens (it was originally an estate owned by a timber baron, but sold to the State of Oregon to use as a park in 1942).  There are a couple of homes on the property as well as wonderful gardens.  We met a nice couple from Salem, OR (Todd & Yvonne) who occupied the site next to ours and they recommended the botanical garden hike.  They were taking their first trip in their small Helio travel trailer and we enjoyed talking with them about all things small travel trailers!  We’ve kept in touch via email since coming home and learned we share many common interests.

It was nice having a small travel trailer on our journey because we often unhitched and were able to easily explore the areas with just our SUV.  We had a couple of such opportunities while in Oregon.  We drove about 20 minutes from Sunset Bay SP to visit the waterside town of Coos Bay and also the fishing town of Charleston (where we purchased some excellent teriyaki smoked steelhead trout which we had on our breakfast toast the next morning)!

Having completed our coastal adventure from San Diego to Coos Bay, OR, we opted to take the more direct way home via I-5 on an inland route.  We drove about 5 hours from Coos Bay, OR to Weed, California (Mt. Shasta area).  This was our first stop during the trip at a private RV park (places we tend to avoid).  The Friendly RV Park in Weed, CA, was actually very pleasant and not very crowded.  It’s a full hookup RV park that is close to the freeway but is not very noisy.  We paid $49 / night for Site #13 (a pull through full hookup site).  The WiFi was weak and we couldn’t get the cable TV to work.  We did have cellphone service (Verizon).  We were also advised not to use a hose because it would freeze overnight.  We used our internal boondocking water tank.  We kept our water heater and furnace on all night as a precaution and to keep warm as it was cold.  There is a limited view of Mt. Shasta behind the campground (I sent up the drone and captured a full view of the mountain).  There’s not too much to do in Weed, but just a short 5 minute drive is the small mountain town of Mt. Shasta which has some nice little shops and a great view of the mountain.  This area is home to many legends including the 7 foot tall Lemurians – the beings that are said to live beneath Mt. Shasta; legend has it that they’ve evolved beyond the spiritual into the physical plane, and walk around town in white robes.  However, we only saw the town statue of one.  The next morning was very cold (18 degrees).  Hot cocoa helped!  Fortunately, everything in the Scamp was working except the dump valves which were frozen shut.  We were able to dump a couple hours later at a Pilot station when the temperatures were in the 60s.

After breakfast the next day, we reached Oakland five hours after leaving Weed and arrived at my sister Hilary’s house around 1 p.m.  We set up the Scamp on the street and, like last time, used our leveling wedge to get the Scamp reasonably level side to side (since the street is very angled).  We enjoyed seeing my sister and her family and had a nice dinner in her backyard.  The next morning we all took a long walk through a nice neighborhood on Alameda island.  We had breakfast in the Scamp before heading out to our last stop on a ranch in Bakersfield.

The Rock’n H Ranch is a very fun miniature donkey farm out in the hills of Bakersfield (about halfway between Oakland and San Diego).  It is a Boondocker’s Welcome location and there was no charge for our stay (although we did give the host a small gift for having us).  The host is very generous and has about 20 acres of land (located down a long bumpy dusty dirt road off the main road) and told us we could park anywhere.  We had access to water.  There was cellphone coverage (Verizon) and lots of HDTV channels.  We set up our Scamp on a hillside near the donkey pen and the donkeys seemed very interested in what we were doing as we set up our Scamp!  The host allowed us to pet and feed the animals.  There are also goats, horses, a cat and dog, and a llama on the farm.  We spent a fun afternoon with the host hanging out and playing with and feeding the animals.  We then had a nice quiet evening.  I took some drone images of the ranch at sunrise the next morning at the request of the host.  We left fairly early to be able to get home in time for lunch and then wash and clean our Scamp and SUV before putting them in the garage.

We had a fantastic trip, lots of adventures, and made some new friends.  Fortunately, there were no hard lessons on this trip and we look forward to planning our next adventure!  We did learn a few things about some supplies to improve future trips and will write about those in future articles.

Disclaimer:  You will get the same great Amazon price by clicking on the links here compared to buying directly on Amazon, but by buying here you will also be supporting the continuation of this website as we get a small commission from each sale.  These are products and procedures we use for our own Scamp that we selected and developed from our own research and experiences.  However, we do not endorse any specific product and cannot guarantee that the products we use are exemplary and the procedures we use are complete, accurate, detail the correct recommended procedures, or apply to your model small travel trailer.  It’s always best to double check with your manufacturer or operation manuals to ensure you are doing everything correctly.