Category: 2022 Travels

A new place! This is a county park in the Sonoma County system and has always been just a bit too far out of reach for us to go visit. We did drive through the campground at some point a few years ago, and I remember my overall impression was that it was a very small campground. Pretty, and nicely quiet, but a tight squeeze to drive through. The location made it also a bit far for Richard to bike to from Fort Bragg. Instead, I dropped him about half way at Manchester State Beach. There, he got out and rode the rest of Highway 1 to the campground. He considered doing a longer ride up Annapolis to Skaggs-Stewart Point Road, but that would have added another couple of hours. He’d like to try it some day, but it would take better planning.

It was a particularly foggy day, so much of the ocean viewing along the way was completely obscured in a thick white blanket. It didn’t clear until I was just about to arrive in Gualala. This is a very cute little town and a nice place to stop if you need a quick bite, or shopping essentials while you are on the coast. I headed right to the campground to set up.

The campground itself is very small, with a narrow loop road coming quite close to large redwood trees on both sides as you pass through. The site I reserved fit Dory ok, but it was pushing it to get the car positioned in front of her in a way that could be counted as “in the site.” I took off the towing mirrors to prevent anyone clipping them, and basically just crossed my fingers that there was enough room for other trailers to get past.

Following a stretch of five days with zero solar, it was time to pull out the generator and top up the batteries. I’m very happy we now have dual lithium batteries and massive solar panels on the roof, but all those potential watts and amp hours don’t get you very far when it’s winter and you’re under the cover of tall trees. I am not usually the generator person, so I am rather proud of myself for getting it all up and running long before Richard arrived.

I kept myself entertained by catching up on the blog. While there is no cell service down in the campground, there was super fast, and free, wifi available. That was all I needed for the rest of the afternoon and evening. That, and pizza. I noted that there was a good looking pizza joint in town and Richard got to go out on a mission to get some take out. He texted that it was quite the operation and we’d have to wait almost an hour. He said there were many people working the kitchen, and pizzas were coming fresh out of the oven like an assembly line. Surprising to have such a wait in such a small town, but perhaps the nearby resort complex of Sea Ranch keeps the pizza people busy on the day before Thanksgiving. In any case, the pizza was fabulous and put me well over my calorie budget for the day.

We spent Thanksgiving Day checking out the beach and Bluffs Trail. There is a little trail that goes right from the campground, under Highway 1, and to the day use area of the park near the shore. You can walk down to the beach from there, which we did. From there, we picked up the start of the Bluff Trail and just kept walking until we decided to turn around. This trail goes on for something like six and a half miles and skirts Sea Ranch Lodge and golf club much of the way. There are stunning views of the ocean all the way and it is completely flat. We walked far enough that I figured I had worked off the pizza splurge from the night before, and then turned around and walked back.

My favorite part was stopping to look at waves as they were cresting in the wind. The spray coming off the top created a rainbow effect that was just crazy beautiful.

Our Thanksgiving consisted of Chicken Cordon Bleu, precooked and frozen, then reheated in the Omnia. This paired with sauteed green beans and a bottle of Rombauer. For dessert, it was apple pie heated to perfection in the Omnia. We brought out the “fancy” Corelle plates to mark the special occasion (but still the plastic wine cup because we are not pretentious).

This was a perfect Thanksgiving for us. We even got to video chat with our son. Stop #3 of 4 was delightful and introduced a new location. While the location of Manchester is more centrally located along the coast, I preferred Gualala because there was a fun little town and a beautiful campground. I would very happily stay here again.

Total miles from MacKerricher: 68.6, 16.7 mpg, 3 hours 4 min (stopping at Manchester SB). Site 13, no solar, no hookups. Amazing free wifi. No cell from campground. Very tight campground loop road. Most sites ok for Dory, but not all. No solar sites at all. Site 10 would be nice, with a river view too. Good dump.

This is one of my all time favorite areas. The campground does not surpass Wrights Beach status, because the sites themselves are dark and have no views to speak of. But the park is in close proximity to the town of Fort Bragg, and it boasts a very nice beach overlook, with boardwalks and trails down to tide pools. It has it all, with the only downside being that it takes a commitment to get to.

When we came here with the van, my chief complaint (that I basically sustained through the entire stay) was that I felt trapped and unable to get to town to enjoy its fun things. We actually really factored that into the following and rapid fire crazy decisions to: 1) put in the order for Dory2, not knowing when she might be ready, and 2) buy a used Alto to get us through the wait time and serve as a backup should anything happen ever again. The van was fun, you see, but a pain in the ass to pack up and move if you want to take a little trip somewhere. And we didn’t have my bike with us on that trip, so I couldn’t even do that. This was an excellent do over.

Just when my pretty blue bike was feeling hopelessly abandoned, we found a place that was the absolute perfect application for it. It is a short ride from the campground down to the beach, so that became our first order of business upon arrival. I recognize that we are not in Buffalo, NY here, but we were super cold and had to pull out all the winter things in order to endure staying out to watch the sunset. Well worth it for sure. There are lots of tide pools with an abundance of hermit crabs and little fishies. And way out on the horizon there was at least one, but probably more than one, whale! We think they were Grey Whales because someone with a fancier camera than my iPhone was able to get a great shot of the dorsal fin. We saw periodic spouting and surfacing, and that was loads of fun.

The next day we really put my seldom used biking ability to the test. There is a multi-use trail that runs something like ten flat miles along the beach, all the way to the south side of Fort Bragg. There are a few places where you can turn off the path and go into town, but otherwise, it is just an endless coastal cruise with spectacular views the whole way. This is also a must do for anyone visiting the area, even if it means you have to rent bikes in town.

We did poke around town for a while with two specific missions in mind. Mission #1 was to check out Cowlick’s Ice Cream Shop, since I had earned some calories. They have mushroom flavored ice cream, which I was not brave enough to try. Richard got a taster and said it mostly seemed like maple. I got a Black Forest, which was chocolate ice cream with chocolate chunks, bing cherries, and almond extract. OMG YUM.

The second mission was to see if there was any kind of fun souvenir to bring back to our daughter. We often pop into weird looking, crystally type shops to see if they have little dragons or D&D dice. Mostly the answer is no, but there was a music store that also had every sort of Ultra Gaming Nerd accessory that one could possibly imagine. And many options for dice. While we do not fully understand the need to have more than one set of dice, especially if you solely play D&D online and thus have no need for physical dice, we appreciate the fact that it is a thing. The store guy said that he has a “stupid number” of dice sets himself, so we were talking to the right person. Mission #2 accomplished.

We also wanted to check out the Sea Glass Museum. That is located inside of a big building that houses multiple shops and businesses, including an actual physical video rental store. I did not know any of those still existed, but there you are. I did not see evidence of ancient video tape technology, but their DVD selection was impressive. The Sea Glass Museum was cute and small, and featured collections by color that had been curated over a lifetime of combing Glass Beach.

Richard was convinced that Glass Beach would not have any glass left, but he was so wrong. There is something about the tides that makes this stretch of shore particularly perfect for collecting all sorts of sea glass. Everyone who goes there seems to know the drill. You crouch and sift and pick up little pieces of glass, keeping an eye out for anything that seems unusual or rare. But in honesty, none of us has any real idea of what would be considered rare. Someone said lavender is rare. We did not find anything lavender. But we did find little camouflaged fishies, and more hermit crabs, and a nice sunset.

We could have eaten out at any number of places in Fort Bragg that seemed fun. But I was content with a Mushroom Grilled Cheese with a pear and mixed greens salad. We cut into our apple pie too, to get a head start on Thanksgiving. And it was amazing.

I would come back to this campground in a heartbeat. And after sending photos of the dice selection in town, combined with the information that it never gets hot here, our daughter has decided Fort Bragg is definitely the place she wants to some day live. We would certainly not mind coming to visit. Of course, she would need to get some kind of job or something. Maybe the dice guy is hiring.

This area rates a ten out of ten in my book. It is fun and right by the ocean. I did about 12 miles of flat, easy biking on the multi-use trail, and was able to get to town and back with no problem. We even got some shopping done to top up the milk and paper towels. The campground is perfectly situated and has other loops that were closed for the season. I didn’t see any jaw dropping premium type sites in our loop, and the ones that would have gotten solar were also pretty non private. Ours was fine, just dark. The dual lithium batteries are holding up well, but we will need to do some generator charging on our next stop.

Total miles from Hendy Woods: 45.0, 18.0 mpg, 1 hour 55 min. Site 71. No solar, no hookups. Ok dump but fresh water is on the wrong side. Our hose reached, but it was close. Ok cell service for ATT, not so great for Verizon from the campground. Super cell service in Fort Bragg.

Welcome to our Van Trip Do Over Thanksgiving Break. This time two years ago, I had lined up all kinds of wonderful reservations down the coast. Then we lost Dory. But rather than slip into a despair coma and lose the reservations, we rented a van and made do. So this is our chance to do this trip the way we normally would.

First stop: Hendy Woods, where our ulterior motive is to pick up an apple pie from Gowan’s Oak Tree. And sure, we’ll do some hiking or biking too. But mostly, we’re here for the pie.

I took a half day off on Friday so that we could arrive in daylight. That was a great call. The only thing about the trip worth noting is that I have an ingrained memory of Highway 128 as being “mostly flat and straight after the initial curves.” Do not listen to my bullshit. That is all false. The only strip of 128 that is flat and straight is about three miles in Booneville. The rest is curvy swervy. It’s totally fine for trailers, but it’s best to be prepared appropriately. The other hiccup was that I missed the turn into the state park. It is well signed, except for the fact that it said “Hendy Woods 1/2 mile” with an arrow pointing to the left. You are supposed to turn left there, obviously. But, to my mind, at the last minute, it said to me, “Go another 1/2 mile, and then turn left.” That is also don’t listen to my bullshit. I was able to awkwardly turn around at the next winery, but only because they luckily had an exit gate. If they hadn’t, I’m not sure how I would have gotten out of that parking lot. No harm, no foul, but I lost many “trust the driver” points on that approach.

Redwoods are magical organisms. They resist fire, can survive in environments other trees can’t, and they make the most effective natural refrigerators. In the dead heat of summer, a redwood forest is going to be cool. However, with November not being summer, what we found was that it was dark, really cold, and relentlessly damp. Our weather apps said it got a bit below freezing overnight, and I mentioned many times, out loud, how much I love having dual propane tanks. We just ran the heater with abandon all the time.

We did the Big Hendy Grove hike, hitting all of the loops. That is a beautiful stroll through the forest and a must do for anyone wanting a redwoods experience. Bonus: I spotted a river otter splashing around in the Navarro River.

We also did the biking/SAGing thing up Philo Greenwood Road, out to Navarro Beach. That got Richard some quality biking time. I met him at the Navarro General Store and we drove the rest of the way. He enjoys the backroads more than biking 128, but it sure is a pretty drive. It goes right through Navarro River Redwoods State Park, and hugs the river most of the drive. That road is my favorite way to get from the inland valleys to the coast.

I wanted to take a little jaunt into Booneville for maybe a dinner out, but we timed it poorly. Sunday most places were closed and there aren’t that many to choose from. Richard had earned an ice cream, so he got that, but I decided it was better to just head on back to Dory for one of our Blue Aprons.

We packed for 9 days’ worth of dinners, knowing we could eat out if we wanted to. We chose 5 Blue Aprons, packed 3 pan dinners, and frozen Chicken Cordon Bleu for a “fancy” Thanksgiving dinner. That’s about the limit for our fridge, but we also will need to probably go shopping at some point to replenish milk. Add to the full fridge a frozen apple pie and that’s a good week right there. I wasn’t totally sure the pie was going to go in, but it turns out Dory2’s fridge is exactly the same kind and size as the one in the rented van. So now we know our maximum dinner + pie capacity.

Next we hit the coast!

Total miles: 138.8, 17.0 mpg, 3 hours 49 min. Site 43. Other good sites: 61, 64, 68, 11, 12, 19, 25, 43. No solar anywhere. No hookups. Good dump. Water spigots, nice bathrooms. Some LTE and sometimes 5g for both of us.

November is the month to be thankful, and there is nothing more conducive to fully embracing all the gratitude feels than a premium site at Wrights Beach. On this day, two years ago, we were in shock on the side of the road, watching as our beloved Dory was getting hauled away after the collision that totaled her. Today, we’re still power camping every weekend, but now in Dory2, with Lola Too, the “spare,” ready and waiting should we need her to spring into action. And at long last, home construction has begun on the project we hope will culminate in the creation of a backyard campground where Dory1 can retire and spend her days welcoming guests for gatherings with a warm place to hang out, toss back a few, and chat while dinner cooks on the grill. What do you say, Supper Club?

We have so much to be thankful for. My mind once again goes to Randy and his guys, JR and Jason. Randy and his crew have kept us road worthy for over seven years. We trust them completely, and that’s not something we ever take for granted. I wonder if they would say yes if we invited them to be our first backyard campground dinner guests. What do you say, Randy? We are also ever so grateful for the friendship, advice, and 24/7 technical support from the Altoistes Facebook group. What an amazing journey, from group of 2, to well over seven thousand members. I have so appreciated the positive and helpful nature of that community. I count many of those people as cherished friends. And we’re pretty grateful to our daughter, and to our awesome neighbors for holding down the fort and feeding the kitty while we are out galavanting across the country. Damn, but we are lucky.

With the photo gallery snapped from this delicious three day weekend, I feel I hardly need say more about feeling lucky.

I can note that we went on a hike to Pomo Canyon Campground on Friday. I was looking to get in some walking time so that I could enjoy La Bodeguita guilt free. I wasn’t expecting Willow Creek Road to be quite so well paved. I think we did this hike years ago and it was barely a dirt road. This time, it felt less like a hike than a “where did I park the car?” excursion. However, after about a mile of walking on newly laid pavement, it became a little more rugged. We walked through the campground, where the sites are nestled inside a Redwood forest, and all walk in. It is just a small step up from backpacking. When we returned to our own beachy campground, we totally caught a woman in the act of peering through Dory’s windows to get a peek inside. We offered to give her a tour if she came back later, but she was probably too embarrassed to take us up on it.

We got some nice sunsets this weekend and the blue sky weather could not have been more perfect. It was nippy in the late afternoon, but I was armed with my sleeping bag jacket with the furry hood. Richard was armed with shorts and bare feet. But I outlasted him and he retreated inside and ran the heater. A very talented Altoiste captured the scene of what it would look like if Richard went and visited Canada right now.

On Saturday, Richard got in a big ride and I scored by meeting up with him at Wild Flour Bakery. They are set up for long lines and running out of things. A woman periodically emerges and crosses things off the chalkboard menu, or adds things that have been freshly baked. We split two scones to share: one a Meyer lemon and cranberry, the other a mixed berry. Those scones are basically gluten based crack. I can still smell them in my mind. They were warm and soft and so crazy good.

I followed Richard up and over Bay Hill Road, which I had never taken before. I sure wouldn’t want to try that with Dory in tow, but the views of the ocean and Bodega Bay were incredible on the last bit. That’s the bit where you shoot straight down to Highway 1 and hope your brakes are working. I can’t believe some of the things Richard bikes.

On Sunday, we really really really did not want to leave. A teacher friend asked me how I gather the will power to drive home and return to work each Sunday. I explained how, luckily, at a campground, they kick you out. Also, our water tanks are not infinite. “How did you force yourself to leave?” “Black tank was full.”

It was a glorious weekend, filled with natural beauty and feelings of gratitude. As it was Veterans Day Weekend, I also am thankful to those who have sacrificed and served for the sake of others. Thank you to those reading this silly blog, and thank you to those who share your stories. Thank you to friends and family, near and far. And thank you to all at Safari Condo, for making the magical little memory makers that allow me to pause and notice all the ways I am so deeply grateful.

Total miles: 83.7, 16.5 mpg, 2 hours 33 min. Site 7. No hookups. 2 bars of LTE for Verizon from the site. That was a first. 5g for ATT out on the beach. No dump. Tried Bodega Dunes, but there was a line. Dumped at Bodega Bay RV for $15.

We seem to be visiting lots of peaky places lately. I have long avoided reserving this one, due to negative reviews, all involving the road getting there. I guess I figured, after doing Fremont Peak and Mt. Diablo, this would be easy peasy. While I would not say it did me in, I cannot say it was easy. Comparing the various roads, this one comes in at #1 in terms of road condition. It is a very nice, newly paved road the whole way to the campground. And as for narrowness, it is wider than Fremont Peak and probably wider than most places on Mt. Diablo. What makes this one the most brutal of the three is the relentlessness of the blind, deathy corners. Up to the campground, it’s 9 miles of twisty turns, mostly without guard rails, and mostly with huge dropoffs to your right. You never get a break or a chance to catch your breath until you are almost at the campground. And that’s the easy part of the road. I can’t imagine trying to tow a trailer up to the summit of Mt. Hamilton, but luckily, I didn’t have to. Also, EVERYONE notes that you should never ever go there via Quimby Road, even if your gps tells you to.

On a positive travel note, we have honed in on a really great way to completely avoid highways going to the south. I tried taking Niles Canyon Road this time, instead of hopping on 680, and it was really nice. Plus, I’m getting used to our Avoid Highways long-cut around San Jose and this was a huge benefit. It meant I was not hitting the mountain climb already burned out. One thing I somehow did not catch was that they close the gates to the park at sunset. We were just lucky to have gotten there right as the sun was going down. I’m sure it said something about this in the reservation confirmation, but I either didn’t catch it, or had forgotten. That would have been no fun. They said at the kiosk that we could have called ahead to say we’d be arriving after sunset, so if you know ahead of time, great. If you screw up, there is no cell service up there.

We drove from the kiosk to the campground in fading light, and I missed the very sharp turn into the loop. No problem, I thought. I’ll just go through the back side of the loop. That did not work. The road is One Way and has very large curbs along the narrow one lane road. I knew that if I approached the site from the wrong direction, it would be very hard to back in. It took me a while to find a place I could turn around, and then I had to go all the way back out and make the sharp turn from the other direction. Moral of the story: don’t miss the turn.

Site 6 is suitable for a trailer. So is maybe site 1. But not so much most of the others. I can understand why this campground would not be super trailer friendly, given the approach, but at least our site was nicely distanced from others and had good solar. It was also pretty level. And since I’m not 100% sure I could back into site 1 without hitting those curbs, I think I’d stay with 6.

Saturday was all about clouds. I knew that Richard was going to need to do the ride up to the top of Mt. Hamilton, so that was the plan for the day. I gave him an hour or so head start and began the drive to meet him at the observatory. What had seemed a challenging road to get to the campground was nothing compared to the 11 miles up up up to the summit. I was enjoying it for maybe five miles. Then it just started to become grueling. There were tons of bikies out, and really, this kind of road is meant for them. It would be a great thing if they closed the road to cars on certain days and just let the crazy fit people take over. It would be so much safer. Going around all of those blind corners, you never know if there will be oncoming traffic, whether another car or a bikie. You really can’t take the center of the lane too often, so you’re just on the edge of the abyss for the better part of eleven miles. I was happy to reach the top and find that Richard had just arrived.

At the top of this road is a short turnoff to Lick Observatory. We were fully engulfed in a thick cloud, but I’ll bet the views on a clear day would be amazing. I would say I’ll try again some day, but I’m not sure even that view would be worth it. We both retreated from the cold into the, almost equally cold, visitor center and observatory. I will say, the huge old telescope, operational since 1888, is gorgeous. Apparently it is still functional, though all manually controlled. They stopped using it for scientific purposes in 1961, but they do still use it as a teaching tool, or as part of an exhibit or private group event. There are something like five other modern telescopes up on that peak which do all of the actual sciencing. I can definitely imagine it being cool to attend an astronomical viewing event there. Except then you’d have to drive down in the dark. Right. Never mind. Pictures are cool too.

Coming down was somewhat better, because at least you get to mostly hug the high side of the mountain, instead of the precipice. We stopped for a little hike at Grant Lake before heading back to Dory. There are lots of trails in the park, but it was cold and drizzly, so we opted for heated indoor naps.

In the morning, we woke to an unexpected view of wild pigs, all scattered through the brush by our site. We’d seen signs about them, but Richard hypothesized that pigs hibernate in winter. Once I opened the curtains and saw them all surrounding us, we realized that pig hibernation is maybe not a thing. They were pretty fun to watch, all snorfelly in the grass. I can see now how they are able to cause so much damage to lawns and turf. They’re fast little buggers and their snouts never stop moving. Fun!

Our descent back down was all about the bikies. Unfortunately, Dory found herself in the middle of a peloton. It was extremely difficult to find any safe opportunities to pass, so we traveled a lot of the way down at 8-10 mph. I mean, that was ok. It’s not like I wanted to take those curves much faster. But yeah, that drive is a lot. Not sure I’m wanting to go back any time soon. But the pigs were cool!

Total miles: 74.2, 14.6 mpg, 3 hours 6 min with no highway driving. Site 6. Either get this one, or 1, but I’m not sure I could back into it without hitting a curb. No hookups. Good solar. NO Cell for either of us until we were a few miles up, or a few miles down, from the campground. Great dump.

I mean. Come on. This is just the best thing in the whole wide world. I could happily camp at Wrights Beach every weekend, I think. It’s our twelfth time, and that is only because it’s so damn hard to reserve. It would be more otherwise. An airstream pulled into the site next to us and noted that our site was better than theirs (it was). We all laughed and they followed with, “But this does not suck,” as they strolled out to the beach from their door. Life simply does not get better than this.

We had to launch Dory from Randy’s this week. She went in for a physical and he is super slammed with work. He got her ready for us for the weekend, but wants to keep digging deeper into the electrical issues we had over the summer, so we have to drop her again on Sunday. Friday we were discombobulated leaving the house without a trailer, but I’d say we did pretty well in terms of not forgetting anything. We normally pack Dory in the garage on Thursday night. There really isn’t much besides food to pack though, because she comes fully stocked with everything we need. We had to put all of the refrigerator items in shopping bags and put them away when we got to her, but I suppose that’s how everyone does camping when your rig stays in a storage facility. It wasn’t too bad really, and we still arrived at the site by six thirty, even with a bit of a wait due to a huge construction project on 1.

All of the transferring of things and remote packing actually got me thinking about Lola the backup Alto. She’s always there for us in case of emergencies, but how much would it actually take to get her stocked with the bare essentials? We spent a lot of time this weekend pondering how we could make Lola more ready-at-a-moment’s-notice without being crazy (…more crazy) about it. Like obviously, we wouldn’t store any kind of food in there, nor would we want entire duplicate sets of clothing, but there are lots of things that make camping comfortable that could easily be stowed and ready for departure, which would therefore mean we would not have to pack or think about them. Like dishes, or paper towels, that kind of thing. So that gave my organizational brain something to pick at all weekend long. That sort of task is basically the exact thing my prefrontal cortex enjoys the most. And once I get started down an organizational rabbit hole, it is nearly impossible to interrupt the process, unless you shut me down with wine.

Happily, I am able to make lists in my head and hike at the same time. The weather was gorgeous on Saturday and we went out on the Kortum Trail to Shell Beach and back. That is a spectacular trail, hugging the coastal cliffs the whole way. Shell Beach is a big drop down, so you know you’re going to face a lot of wooden steps to get back up. We enjoyed a bit of lunch down on the beach, which had all but disappeared with the high tide. Then, we turned around and walked back. It was a little under five miles for the out and back, which added an extra allowance of calories for the day. I knew in advance that I would want to spend those on our “place,” La Bodeguita. I had a couple of grilled chicken tacos with rice and beans and it was heaven. On Friday I cooked up a Blue Apron lettuce cup dinner, which was also lovely. I learned that if I serve all of the components of a lettuce cup in separate containers, rather than try to assemble all of the ingredients into a catastrophe of prefilled cups myself, it goes way better. I had removed all lettuce cup recipes from our recipe collection, but now they are cleared to return.

Someone has done a ton of maintenance work in the campground. All of the trees and bushes have gotten cut way back. Some of the sites that used to have a vegetation screen between them, do not anymore. They have repaved all of the campground roads and resurfaced the campsites themselves. Most of them were covered in at least a half inch of sand, with some appearing to be made of sand. Now there is a solid surface for all of them. They also improved the water runoff channels. We’ve been here when there are actual small rivers running through the sites out to the ocean. They seem to be in the middle of improving the sewer system at the bathroom as well, and we had hoped that maybe that meant they were going to put in a dump. Not so sure about that. But the day use parking area sure looks better without the all of the deep ruts and bumps. All in all, it’s looking really nice. If only they would fix the major damage to the entrance road over the culvert where the pavement is falling down into the ditch. But that might mean closing the campground again, so probably it’s fine the way it is.

We hated packing up and leaving on Sunday. But I am consoled by the fact that we have a few more upcoming reservations, so it will be ok. Staring at the cresting waves, listening to the steady crash, gazing at the setting sun, all from Dory’s front porch, or through the big glorious windows, this is the best. And this is also exactly why we have a backup Alto. I mean, what if Dory could not have gone out and we had premium site reservations?? That is not a scenario either of us is willing to accept. And don’t even suggest we could tent it. I mean. Come ON.

Total miles (from Randy’s): 80.5, 15.5 mpg, 2 hours 30 min. Site 3, premium. No hookups. Water spigot near site. Service if you go out on the beach or walk up the the staging area up top. No service from site. No dump. Bodega Dunes dump closed again. Dumped at Bodega RV for $20. Worth it. Tons of major construction on 1 between Bodega Dunes and Wrights Beach.

Camping in really nice sites is like getting a surprise present every weekend, especially if you have kind of forgotten the campground since you were last there. We stayed off the highways almost all the way there, enjoying turkey club wraps in the car so we wouldn’t be hungry. It didn’t actually cost us any more time than sitting in Friday traffic, so we arrived unfrazzled and unhungry, with some daylight to spare. Site 44 is all the way at the end of the lower campground loop, so as we were driving through, counting off numbers, we could see this one on the horizon. “Could it be?” we were thinking. And as the confirmation came once we passed 43, we both said, “Yes!!” out loud. It is such a nice and unobstructed view. You can fully see the lake and there is no one right next to you. A satisfying score indeed.

This is the campground with wild pigs. Right away, we spotted a whole herd (bunch? muddening? baconnette?) running across the marshy area below. The binoculars came out and verified the pigness. We spent the remainder of the daylight watching them from inside with the heater running.

There is a lot of wildlife in this park actually. We hiked up to the top of “Mummy Mountain” on Saturday and found ourselves needing to carefully and slowly pass through a herd of calves as their mamas watched us suspiciously. There were cute little spotted fawns up there too. Lower down we saw tons of ground squirrels (a scurry) running across the trail, and a flock (rafter) of wild turkeys. P.S. now that I’m looking things up, a group of pigs is called a passel, a team, or a sounder.

The view from the top spanned all the way from the barely visible tall buildings of downtown San Jose, to the distant passage that eventually leads to the Salinas valley. Below us were the sprawling communities of Morgan Hill and Gilroy. And after coming around to the other side of the ridge, we were treated to gorgeous views of Coyote Lake. Pretty cool and well worth a five mile hike.

We squeezed in plenty of lazy time and nappy time. After dinner, the porcine parade came out again and we watched from a respectable distance. Wild pigs are impressively fast, and while we weren’t quite sure whether they were the kind with tusks, we didn’t want to press our luck with a close encounter.

Richard tried getting in a Sunday morning bike ride while I slowly showered and got moving. He doesn’t usually do that, but it does the trick for getting his ya-yas out for the day. As we were hitching up, we saw the adorable VW bugs and vans we had noticed in the campground, all group together for a photo. We figured they must have been part of an organized gather.

It was bumpy highway drive back, with a stop at Randy’s to deliver Dory2 for a once over. It is super weird not coming home with a Dory. We do not like it. But it’s ok. It’s good to get her a check up. Hope to get her back in time for a premium site in Wrights Beach next weekend. Premium site joy is the best.

Total miles: 84.3, 16.8 mpg, 3 hours (avoiding highways). Site 44, so nice, no hookups, plenty of solar. Sometimes 1 bar of 5g, sometimes nothing. Great dump.

Message to future Fremont Peaking self: Do not stress about the last ten miles or the backing into the site in the dark. You will be fine. Get off the highway. You can have a margarita when you get there. It’ll be fine. Stop stressing. Eat something besides popcorn.

Some context: Friday’s travel to the campground was brutal. It was bad enough that I vowed never to reserve this campground again. We got a bit of a late start, partly due to me chatting with a colleague at the end of the day (it’s all your fault, Jenn!), and partly due to trouble with the driver side Caravan Mover. It has started an annoying habit of slipping against the wheel when we are on the steepest part of the driveway. This is not good. Thankfully, we have a winch and can manage the ramp maneuver with a carefully choreographed combination of alternating microbursts from the CM and the winch. It is honestly impressive that we can do this, but it is also time consuming and fairly stressful. So that’s how we launched.

As soon as we were hitched an en route, it became clear that Highway 101 was a mess in multiple places. We began as we normally would, taking 680 south toward San Jose. I have long wanted to find a back way to skirt around Silicon Valley, and that seemed like a good time to try something since the time difference between sitting in traffic vs taking surface streets was not going to make that much of a difference. And that part worked pretty well, minus a wrong turn somewhere in Morgan Hill. The stress started building once I realized there was no way to avoid hitting the crazy drive up to the campground in full darkness. I also remembered that backing into site 7 was dodgy and required blinking safety cones. So I just stressed for about three hours solid.

Once we got there, we took a moment to get out of the car before backing into the site. We did use the collapsible cones, thanks to the fact that I ALWAYS pack a ton of spare AA and AAA batteries, and half of the blinky lights were dead. The walkie talkies were also dead. We are thus reminded that winter is coming and we need to dust off our nighttime arrival tools. Even so, I nailed the backing, if I do say so, and rewarded myself with an extra strong margarita. Life was good again and the billions of stars visible from the darkness of the peak were especially amazing.

In the morning, I was reminded why I love this site. I am pretty convinced that none of the other sites in the whole campground would make that drive tip into the “worth it” category. But 7 does. You feel like you are on top of the world, and quite removed and private from the other campers. It is already a very small and rustic campground, and the dilapidated state of the road keeps away most casual partiers. There is no chance a big rig is going to pull in next to you up there. So it is very peaceful.

Looking down, we could see the whole Salinas Valley covered in a dense layer of fog. Richard was interested in doing the ten mile climb on his bike, and I actually enjoy the crazy drive in the daytime. The road is in absolutely terrible condition. There are pot holes or pot hole fills everywhere. It’s bumpy and jarring, even if you are going slow. Most of it would barely classify as having two lanes. Yes, there is a yellow line there, but really you’re driving the middle unless you see someone coming. It is a good thing there usually isn’t much activity on the second half.

I dropped the crazy bikie down at the bottom and went back up. Of the ten miles of San Juan Canyon Road, about half winds easily through wooded rural residential properties and ranch lands. Then the grade kicks up pretty quickly until you are on the ridgey part. This is where you have to navigate multiple blind corners with steep drop offs on one, or both, sides. There is about a half mile of ridge road, and then you get into a woodsy part, hugging the north side of the mountain. That’s when you know you’re getting close. That, and the abandoned RV off to the right.

The campground road is barely more than a sidewalk in places, and there’s one spot were you don’t really believe you’re supposed to go that way. And then there’s site 7. If you can do all that with a trailer, you have earned the view.

I chilled for a while until Richard made it back. He enjoyed the ride, like he does, and after a rest, we went on a hike up to the peak. The fog layer was rising and looked like it was going to engulf the campground. I thought it would be cool to see that from above. It was a nice hike, but the very last part to the actual peak was a scramble over rocks. We were contented being about twenty feet from it, and just looked out over the vast sea of white. We had clear blue skies overhead and it was fun to watch the banks of clouds wafting and drifting, like a huge ocean of highly whipped meringue.

As soon as we started down to Dory, we entered the fog layer. It was downright chilly then, so we banged on the heater and got all snuggly under blankets inside for some quality nappy time. We indulged our naughty side (get your mind out of the gutter) by staring at the tent campers all bundled up and huddled together as whisps of fog blew over the fire pits they were not allowed to use. All they could do was gather around their camp stoves until it was deemed fair play to call it a night and retreat into their tents. Meanwhile I rocked out to music while making Turkey & Shawarma-Spiced Rice with carrots, currants & lemon labneh (used sour cream), garnished with fresh chopped parsley. We followed that with a big screen viewing of “Lightyear” and an episode of “Derry Girls.”

Sunday we had to really talk ourselves out of staying another night. I think if we’d had the makings for another dinner, we might have gone for it. But alas, descend we did, and then headed over to Betabel RV to use their dump. I had put lots of thought into finding a decent backroads way around San Jose, so we tried it. I’m sure it added an hour to travel time, but the route bypassed all of the 101/680 interchange mess and put us back on the highway in a much calmer section near Sunol. I can’t say whether it’s “worth it,” but it sure would be in the rain, or in the dark. For fall and winter weekends, I decided it would really help to have some wraps in the car so we could eat on the way. That would ease the stress of avoiding highways because at least I wouldn’t be hungry and trying to push to get to the campsite for dinner.

In the end, this campground remains in the mix, as long as I can reserve #7.

Total miles: 107.2, 15.8 mpg, 4 hours 14 min (avoiding highways from Morgan Hill on). Site 7 no hookups. 2 bars LTE or 5g for both but sometimes cut out. Trash, water, vault toilets in campground. No dump; dumped at Betabel for $15. Future self driving tips: heading north, get off at Bailey; heading south, get off at Jacklin.

I’m definitely not going to oversell this campground. I mean, we always have fun camping, but this state park is just really not well suited for trailers. I’m sure they know that, but now we’ve tried both campgrounds and we’ve decided there is really only one site that is reasonable. And it’s not the one we were in this weekend.

The fun thing about Mt. Diablo is how tall it is compared to everything else around it. From the summit, you can see the Bay and all the way to San Francisco, if it’s clear. The upper campground, Juniper, has a couple of sites that have fun views, but it is really hard to level a trailer in there. Plus the roads are very narrow, super windy, and deathy the whole way. It is slow going to drive up or down. The lower campground, Live Oak, is decidedly easier to get to, but there is pretty much only one site that works for leveling.

The pictures seemed to show site 2, our site, as being long and flat. Yes to the long part, but it got less level the farther I backed, ending under low hanging oak trees that would have prevented the roof from going up. We ended up pulling forward the the very front, which was on a cement pad, but also right next to the designated parking spot for site 1. We didn’t figure anyone would be foolish enough to drag a big rig up that road, and in fact we were the only trailer up there at all. All the rest were tenters or a couple of vans.

After a quick dinner, we drove up to the summit to watch the sunset. It was hazy down below, but the views are so cool. It’s fun trying to figure out where all the known buildings and roads are. And as the light fades, the twinkling of city lights and cars starts to bring definition to the well traveled routes. “Oh yeah, there’s 24 over there.” We could make out the windmills on the Altamont Pass, as well as the ones on the Delta. Everything was so far below us, like when you’re on an airplane.

Richard has biked up to the top many a time, but we did some hiking together on Saturday and then just chilled. The area around the campground is called Rock City and it is where you can bring your whole family and let the kids scramble around the rock formations. Richard went out and climbed up Sentinel Peak and I got a picture of him. It looked too reminiscent of Angel’s Landing for me to be interested, but he says it was not that bad. I say, if you need to hang onto chains and scramble up steps carved in the side of a sheer rock face, I’ll wave to you when you get to the top. Have fun with that.

It was warm in the afternoon and Dory was too hot inside for nappy time. The people who had tented in site 1 Friday night bailed so we had the whole area to ourselves. We set up our Nemo chairs in the shade and dozed off for a while.

Eventually, it was time for dinner. This time, it was Seared Chicken with Sour Cherry Sauce, and roasted potatoes, onions, and Delicata Squash. There is no alcohol allowed in the park, so I enjoyed sipping my icy “lemonade” while I cooked. Richard made it nice and strong “lemonade.”

Sunday we drove down to the Alameda Fairgrounds to use their dump. It was farther to drive there than it was to get from home to our campground, but there aren’t any closer options for dumping. Richard rode the rest of the way home.

We enjoyed ourselves, like we do, but were both “meh” about the camping set up. All the water was shut off, so there were porta potties for the campers. We use our own facilities now, which was good, because the porta potties were smelly. They lock the gates at night and clear the roads, so you’d better not need to leave for any reason. It’s an adventure driving up, which is worth it for the view at the top, but perhaps not worth dragging a trailer.

Total miles: 17.4, 11.0 mpg (all uphill), 1 hour 24 min. Site 2, no hookups. No water, no dump. We were in a cell dark zone, but there was service on the trails and up at the top. Midday solar. Long site with wooden poles acting as a chute. Very unlevel farther back in the site. Next time just get site 1. Maybe use the CM to spin.

Almost exactly one year ago, we camped in this campground and I commented on the blog that it would be a fun place for an Altogather. An Altoiste responded back with a “Well? How bout it?” This weekend it came to be, and it was so much fun!!

When you have an Alto in California, it is exciting to see any other Alto in a campground. For this rally, we drew 22. Every model was represented with the exception of the newer 24′ model. As is always the case, every Alto owner has customized their space uniquely and we came away very impressed, and inspired with a few new ideas. Altoistes really are cooler than your average camper.

My co-coordinator, Leo, did all of the financial footwork and was the liaison with the campground. He is amazing and I would not have attempted organizing this without him. All I had to do was put together a schedule of activities and manage the event page in our facebook group. I think it ended up being a good balance of structured group activities vs free time to enjoy the area. Another Altoiste, Janel, put together a handout with area attractions, and boy, you could sell that! She did an incredible job! I didn’t know about a whole bunch of things, and we have come here a lot.

Most people arrived Thursday and stayed three nights. Some came a day early and left a day later. In retrospect, that would have been nice, since I was wiped out after an action packed weekend. Richard and I both really wanted to rest and chill for one more day. Note to self for next year…

It was impossible to capture the look of a campground strewn with Altos, but it’s pretty cool. Looking out an Alto window to see multiple Altos always makes me giddy. We got to see long time friends, and make new ones, which is the best part of these events.

An expectation at these rallies is to dedicate some time for people to peek at other people’s Altos, either for inspiration, because they have yet to get their own Alto and are weighing decisions, or because they are looking to solve something. There were experts in all areas present here, with a wealth of information on everything from electrical systems, to aesthetics, to astronomy equipment, to mods and upgrades they have done. The Tesla tow cars even represented, complete with a demonstration of a Tesla “dance.” That was amazing. If you have never seen a Tesla rock out to music, you should make that an item on your To Do list immediately.

We got in a longer than expected hike on Friday. We had intended to do a five mile loop with views of Drakes Bay. I made the fatal error of not really looking over the trail information myself and we ended up going about six and a half miles, with 1200 feet of climbing. That was actually ok (look at me being all climby!), but we really had to huff it in order to make it back to the campground in time for the planned group meal. Good thing all we were bringing was a pre-made cheese platter with crackers.

Dinner Saturday was a shared pot luck and that went over very well. I grilled some shrimp in butter and garlic, while others brought spaghetti, pasta salads, fresh mozzaralla and home grown tomato salad, chicken or veggies skewers…. The list goes on and on and it was all outstanding. My new trick for calorie counting in these situations is to a) try to be reasonable about filling a plate, and b) take a picture. I can then go back later and try to approximate the damage. It also really helps to have accidentally hiked six and a half miles because that gets added into my weekly allowance.

We did some fun activities together, like share fun facts and do a white elephant gift exchange. In the evening, Leo and his wife Brenda put out their Solo stove so people could gather by the fire. Those are really nice times to get to know people. Funny thing though, while I learned to match everyone’s fun fact with their face, the same cannot be said for remembering their names. When I run into them in the future, I am probably more likely to call out, “Hey! It’s spent a year as a French exchange student!” than recall their actual first name. “Aren’t you climbed Mt. Whitney in a day because you didn’t get a permit? How ya doin!” “Oh look! It’s proposed on the Pt. Reyes trail! Great to see you!”

By the time Sunday rolled around, I had a whole bunch of new Altoiste friends. I was so happy to see the already established friends, and sad to miss the friends who couldn’t make it this time. These things are super fun and I would be happy to commit to doing it again next year. Same time, same place. As long as Leo deals with the money part.

On Sunday we wrapped up with a shared final breakfast. I tried out a S’mores Monkey Bread recipe in the Omnia that turned out pretty well. For next time: try baking for 30 minutes, then sprinkle with chocolate chips and marshmallows, and bake for another 10. The Omnia made a nice showing this weekend, with egg frittata dishes, and even meatloaf. It was all really delicious. And I learned that you can bake in a glass dish on a griddle inside your grill. Who knew?? We headed home tired and happy, with another Alto in our rear view mirror. That is a fun weekend.

Total miles: 66.5, 16.7 mpg, 2 hours 38 min (with stop for a work call). Site 124. Really nice. Hookups, pretty good cell, plus campground wifi. Richard declares the dump is good, but it was a long wait. Also, Richard went on a bike ride and says riding Sir Francis Drake is not that bad. Perfect campground for an Altogather.