Sunday, January 25, 2015

Pitstop in Eureka then onto the redwoods


Jedidiah Smith State Park campsite 


Our final three nights on our trial run.  We made a quick pitstop in Eureka and stayed at a KOA campground. It was nice to finally have unlimited water and electricity.  We realized we needed to charge up our battery before heading to the shady redwoods. I was also able to wash a couple loads of  laundry. The girls enjoyed the hot showers. We  went out to brunch the next morning at Denny's then walked to historic downtown. It was nice to be in an RV friendly city with lots of signs for RV parking. The town of Eureka has done a good job trying to revitalize their historic downtown with good signage and a nice boardwalk. The girls did point out that boardwalks should be wooden, but they are concrete in Eureka. The boardwalk area has no smoking signs all over, but the large vagrant community does not seem to follow the signs.

We stayed at Jedidiah Smith State Park in the redwoods. This was one of our favorite campsites on
our trip. We did not have hookups and in the winter they only have one or two loops open. This was the standard $35 a night rate for state parks in California. We were blessed with a river view of the Smith River. Our campsite was very shady so the solar panels couldn't get much charge, but we squeezed out enough power for two nights. We could walk out of the shade and into the sunlight by the river. The girls found a nice sandy spot to play.

We enjoyed taking bike rides as a family. Ella is finally starting to become a more confidant bike rider. We took a narrow windy drive to look at redwood trees. We got out to hike and found the famous Del Norte Titan. Erin and I had a nice walk together our last morning. This campground felt really safe and they have recently remodeled the bathrooms with nice hot showers for 50 cents for 7 minutes. Jedidiah Smith State Park also has a nice visitor center with a gift shop and a wildlife animal display of native animals. Sad to say it is time to drive home now.
Del Norte Titan

Saturday, January 24, 2015

Monterey


We headed to beautiful Monterey next. One of our favorite places we visited on our trip. We were hoping to save some money and try boondocking again, but it felt too stressful. We ended up staying at an interesting county park, Veteran's Memorial Park. You drive up to it and have a view of the city below. We thought our RV would be too long based on their website, but Jeff has mastered backing in on this trip. Jeff parked the RV right next to the play structure that the locals use. It felt a bit strange to be in the middle of a city park, but also nice to be so close to the playground. The park felt mostly safe with many locals using it, but also a little unsettling with a walk in hiker camp that local homeless men were using. The park also has free showers that we did not use, but everyone in town seemed to drive up and enjoy the free showers all day long. This was also our best priced California park at only $30 per night with no hookups.

We scored some discount aquarium tickets on Craigslist and spent most of the day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It is the best aquarium I have ever visited, I highly recommend it. We were able to catch a couple different feedings, our favorite was in the large tank with the tuna. I never realized how big tuna can get. We also loved watching the sardines swirl around.

This was our tourist day so we decide to splurge and go out to lunch at Bubba Gumps.  The kids have not seen the movie Forest Gump, so we spent a lot of time trying to explain the decor. The kid's meals came in a fun shrimp boat. We then enjoyed driving along the ocean.

Jeff finally got in a couple good work days by getting up early and driving to a local Starbucks. We have struggled with good internet reception the whole trip, mega antena has not been cutting it. I tried to be brave in the RV all by myself with the girls and I did pretty well. Monterey is a city we would like to explore further.

Monterey Bay Aquarium 

Friday, January 23, 2015

Morro Bay State Beach

Family 
We made it to Morro Bay. We were a bit nervous coming in that afternoon because we did not have reservations. We couldn't make up our mind where we wanted to stay and waited too long to make a reservation. We were praying a campsite would be available. We went to our first choice Morro Bay State Park. Thankfully they had 4 campsites left to choose from. We picked a nice corner lot with plenty of sun during the day. All California state parks are around $35 per night with no hookups.

The next day our solar panels finally charged the batteries 100%. We were so excited. We were able to leave the panels angled all day and they could absorb the full sun with temperatures almost reaching 70 degrees. We enjoyed exploring the park on our bikes. There is a golf course adjacent to the park if you are a golfer. Across the street is a marina and you can rent kiyaks and stand up paddle boards.

The most exciting part of our three night stay was visiting with our niece and nephew who live in Atescadero. Our niece was able to spend two nights with us in our RV. Our niece is exactly 7 days younger then Erin and they had a blast reconnecting with each other. They rode bikes, climbed trees, made crafts, and had lots of giggles. We explored the beach at Montana de Oro and collected rocks.


Montana de Oro Beach 

Ella found a special rock. 






Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Premium Campsite

This was our only reservation on our adventure so far. A beautiful ocean view near Santa Cruz at New Brighton State Beach. This premium view campsite for $50 per night with no hookups. We definetly can't afford this price every night with our $100 a day budget, but Jeff really wanted the view. Thank goodness for the solar panels. We have had enough power both nights to cook dinner, have the heater on, some lights, and very quick showers (not much water in the water tank). The solar panels have not been charging fully while driving during the day so we have been operating on 20-30% battery charge at night and draining it almost completely by morning. Jeff is workng on some trouble shooting to see if we can get the panels to charge the battery fully.

We ended up arriving in the dark again, but we did have a beautiful view in the morning this time. Jeff and the girls had two raccoons staring them down while sitting around the campfire that night. Ella quickly came inside screaming the whole way. Jeff and the girls quickly followed her inside, minus the screaming:)  We enjoyed a short hike in the morning down to the beach before getting back on the road. I wish we would have had a bit more time to enjoy this beautiful beach.





Sunday, January 18, 2015

Boondocking


We successfully boondocked our first night on the road. We had researched ahead of time and found it is legal to boondock at Shasta Lake. Jeff had a couple options picked out with water views. We got a late start our first day on the road and for some reason everything takes longer when pulling a 31ft. 5th wheel. We got to Shasta Lake well after sunset. Thankfully we found a spot we could pull over for the night. We were excited to wake up and see a beautiful view of the lake. We were basing this excitement from the satellite Google map image. The morning view was lovely, but not much water to be found. We learned you can't always trust Google maps. 




Friday, January 16, 2015

Trial Run

We are taking a trial run in our RV. We are hoping to sell our home in the immediate future and begin a simpler lifestyle, traveling the lower 48. Four solar panels on the roof, 4 new outlets installed that we can plug into when running on solar power. Mega antenna that will help us pick up/boost WiFi. Sounds a little crazy to sell our beautiful home and pack a family of five into a 5th wheel, but we are excited for the challenge and for the freedoms it will allow our family. 

A 10 day trip to California to visit our niece and nephew will be a great opportunity to work out the kinks. We will attempt boondocking(parking/camping for free), running off of solar power, seeing how much propane we go through for cooking and some heating, gas,working, homeschooling, internet reception, maneuvering the RV, and living on a $100 per day budget. My own personal goal is making healthy meals for the family and exercising along the way. We will be bringing our bikes and the kids's scooters and plan on many family outings together. We will keep you updated of our adventures and memories being made.