RV Park Mini Reviews - March 2018

San Benito Thousand Trails - Paicines, CA:  This was our second trip to San Benito, and it has become one of my favorites.  It is the wildlife and the setting that attracts me.  This time we stayed in the 30 amp section, site 75, which backed up onto the creek.  We had deer visit our site each morning.  We spotted wild pigs and just got a glimpse of one of the bobcats in a tree.  The parade of quails scurrying back and forth is always entertaining.  I hung a bird feeder from a nearby tree.  It took a few days but soon the sparrows, finches, flickers, scrub jays and so on came to visit.  We had neighbors with hummingbird feeders so we were able to enjoy these as well.  This is what draws me to this park.

We had a decent Verizon signal for our wifi and phones.  The free wifi at the club house was pretty good as well.  We were able to get good satellite signal for Direct TV but have patience when setting it up.  This campground is surrounded by hills and the signal tends to bounce around.  The "cafe" is open at the clubhouse on Friday, Saturday and Sunday for dinner, and I think daily for breakfast and lunch.  The food was pretty good.  We aren't activity people so we did not spend much time doing any of the activities offered at the park.  We didn't check out the bathhouses either.

One of the topics that often comes up in relation to this park is whether or not to take Highway 25 going from the park, or coming from the south.  My opinion is this - it's doable, but most people would find it stressful.  It is a 2 lane road, narrow in many places, and there are a lot of twists and turns.  I certainly wouldn't want to take this if I were driving a big motor home or pulling a rig.  We opted to do a "Sunday drive" to check it out, and I was glad we did.  We took the loop around, picking up Highway 101 in Hollister, taking that south, and then heading east at King City, and then taking Highway 25 north back to Paicines.  It was a very pretty drive.  If you like the pretty drive thing, try take a right when you exit the park.  Cienga Way goes through and comes in at the back side of Hollister.  It takes longer than going through Tres Pinos, but it was a different view.

Lake Minden Thousand Trails - Nicolaus, CA:  Okay, this was not my favorite park.  There are two sections - the 50 amp full hook ups that are near the office, and then the 30 amp W&E only on the other side of the lake.  Things are tight in the 50 amp section.  Sites are larger in the 30 amp section.  The positives about this park are that the staff is great.  The restrooms were clean.  It was a nice walk around the lake.  The setting was nice.  If you have kids, there was so much open space for them to run around and play.  I'm a bit hesitant to talk about what I didn't like about the park.  It rained most of the time we were there.  It appeared that greater than 75% of the park was made up of long term residents.  One gal I spoke to told me that many of the people in the park were there because they had been misplaced due to the fires and flooding that had occurred in the area over the past year.  The whole place just had a "trailer park" type feel.  People walked through your site.  It just wasn't a place I really wanted to return to.  I was glad when the week I had planned there was up. Now all that said, I have since talked with other people who love the park.  They visited when the weather was more cooperative.  We may try again, but will only plan on staying for a few days.  I did like exploring the area, driving around Yuba City and down to Marysville.  It is an easy drive to explore Sacramento if that appeals to you.  I have pictures of the surrounding area on the post titled March Pictures.  I was so glad to get out of the park that I forgot to take pictures of our site, but here is a picture of one of the more interesting resident.

Another travel note here, when we left Lake Minden headed north, we stayed on Highway 99.  What a nice easy and lovely drive!

JGW RV Park - Redding, CA:  This is one of my go to parks when traveling north or south.  One of the reasons we stop here, over and above the easy off and on from I-5, the setting on the river and the fact that it is a nice clean quiet park, is that they have a great on-site laundromat.  After a week without a sewer hook up at Lake Minden, I had a bunch of laundry to do.  I didn't take any pictures this time around but you can see our previous stay by clicking here .

Seven Feathers RV Resort - Canyonville, OR:  Another favorite place to overnight.....or more.  The park is beautifully laid out and landscaped.   They have a free shuttle to the casino (and free dry camping in the casino parking lot).  There are laundry facilities and an indoor pool and spa at the RV Resort.  This is a popular place, so reservations are recommended.

Brookhollow RV Park - Kelso, WA:  And here we have yet another of my favorite overnight spots.  This is a well run park.  Easy access from I-5.  Far enough away from the freeway that noise is not an issue. Plenty of shopping and restaurants within 1-2 miles.

Tall Chief RV Park - Fall City, WA:  This is an Encore Park, owned by the same parent company that owns Thousand Trails, namely Equity Lifestyle Properties.  We hadn't stayed in this park in about ten years, which means it was probably more like twenty years - because I am of that age that it seems like yesterday and I'm always shocked about how long ago it really way.  At any rate, the primary benefit of this park is location, location, location.  Depending on traffic, this park puts you 30 - 60 minutes from Seattle.  The park if basically a piece of forest land near Issaquah - a bedroom community for Seattle and Bellevue.  The sites are good sized.  It has 30 amp electric, however, the voltage dips when the park is full...or when rather your loop is full.  Satellite spots are hit and miss.  Husband and I grew up in Western Washington, and for the last 25 years have lived about 40 miles from this park.  That explains why I don't have much to contribute about touristy things.  We didn't do much of anything.  We stay here primarily because of family in the area.  What I do want to share is that if you don't want to drive into Issaquah or Redmond to grocery shop, there is a very nice Albertson's store less than 5 miles from the park.  And I found a fabulous laundromat in Carnation, with big machines and attendants that keep the place very clean!

Note:  I have been struggling with this blogging program, when it comes to uploading pictures.  I'm not sure if it is our internet access which is slow - although it has been slow for the last 5 months and all up and down the west coast.  Or is that because I am no longer participating in blogger's advertising program that they have downgraded my priority.  Am I posting too many pictures?  Or is it just that blogging has become such a popular thing to do that blogger's servers are overwhelmed?  Or is it an Apple vs Google thing.  I don't know.  I don't really care.  I just know that it is frustrating for me, and for the six people that routinely read this blog - it is not worth the effort to figure it out.  However, because I write this blog as much for my own enjoyment as a way of documenting our experiences as I do to provide information for those surfing the internet for information on RVing, I attempting to learn to work with Word Press and moving the blog to our own domain.  The name of the blog will be changing to Northwest Travelers.  So stay tuned.

RV Park Mini-Reviews for November 2017

Here are the parks where in stayed in November 2017.

Chehalis, WA - Thousand Trails:  Nice rural, forested park.  Space sites were good.

Creswell, OR - Meadowlark RV:  Right off I-5.  Traffic noise.  Employees with a great sense of humor.  Nothing special.

Grant's Pass, OR - Bridgeview RV:  Overnight spots are right on the river.  Other side of the river is the freeway, so there was noise.  Very nice and friendly owners/managers.  Easy on and off from freeway.  This was our view!

Redding, CA - JGW Park:  Stayed there before.  On the river.  Nice clean park.  Good laundry.  Easy on and off the freeway. With another great view!

Lodi, CA - Flag City RV:  Right off the freeway.  Nice clean park.  Manicured sites with cement pads.

Paicines, CA - San Benito Thousand Trails:  This park is out in the middle of nowhere -  about 15 miles from Hollister where there is major shopping, and then another 10 miles north is Gilroy.  What I loved about this park was the wildlife.  There are deer, fox, birds, and my favorite - the resident bobcat family!

Santa Barbara, CA - Rancho Oso Thousand Trails:  This Thousand Trails Park is also a working horse ranch, so one of the perks they offer is guided trail rides.  It is a rather nerve racking mile long drive into the park on a one lane road (once you turn off onto the park property from Paradise Road).  People either love or hate this park.  I was in the latter group, but that was mostly because cell, wifi and satellite service was iffy.  And the drive in terrified me.  That road is the reason there is an 11am check out and a 12pm check in time.

 Acton, CA - Soledad Canyon Thousand Trails:  Another rural park.  We were there during a time when it was warm and dry .... really dry and dusty.  Depending on where your site is within the park, you may or may not get cell, wifi or satellite.  Commuter trains and an occasional freight train run daily.  The park is showing its age, but the sales office and check in area have been updated.  The pool and clubhouse were fine.

Bullhead City, AZ - Mirage RV Park:  This is a nice residential park, with a few open spots for travelers.  The spaces are good sized, and paved.  Park residents are friendly.  We enjoyed our stay.  Lots of restaurant and shopping in Bullhead City.  We especially liked the Smith's Store for groceries.  Laughlin, NV with gambling and entertainment is on the other side of the Colorado River.  We took a side excursion to Oatman, AZ - about 40 miles.  This is an old ghost town where wild mules wander the streets.  It's a tourist thing, but worth the visit.

Redding, California

I'm happy to report that we had a non-eventful trip from Stockton to Redding.  We had intended to be on the road by 9am, but a tanker fuel truck came to fill the fuel tanks at the marina, and we were blocked in.  We took it in stride - what else can you do.  We kicked back and watched the action on the delta - scullers, fisherman, a small Coast Guard boat, birds and a river otter.  We hit I-5 northbound about 10:20am.

A few comments about the evening at Riverpoint Landing Marina and RV Resort.  I can imagine that it gets pretty loud there during the summer when school is out and the weather is very warm.  As it was on this spring evening, our neighbor was having a good old time with his buddy, but things quieted down about 9:30ish.  In the middle of the night, I was awakened by what I thought was someone yelling "Help, Help, Help".  The only thing was that it repeated in the same tone, sometimes sounding closer, sometimes sounding further away.  The tone never changed, and there were no other words like you might expect "Somebody - help me."  Just "Help, Help, Help".  At some point, I figured it had to be a bird.  There was no action from any of the other rigs in the park, so I went back to sleep.  Geez, I hope it was a bird......

We never did get our satellite dish to connect, and for that reason, we will probably not return to this park.  If you are not a TV addict like me, you may like it there.

My other comment is that the lovely tree lined road that you take to get to the marina has 3 lanes in each direction.  You will want to stay in the middle lane.  Some of the branches on those trees were low hanging.  Also, the roots of the trees have grown under the road so the road is very lumpy.  I think the speed limit was 40, but we drove about 20mph.

There is really not a whole lot to be said about the drive along I-5 from Stockton to Redding, except for the following:

1.  Some time in the last four years, they resurfaced a lot of this road, and let me say - Thank God!  There are parts they are still working on, but oh how much better it is not to be bounced around until your kidneys and bladder are begging for mercy.

2.  It should be a law that crops grown along side the freeway must have signage.  I still don't know if I was looking at olive trees or some sort of nut tree.

3.  Why don't all sections of freeway have Rest Areas every 25 - 30 miles like this part of I-5 does?

We pulled into JGW RV Park about 3:00pm.  Set up was relatively easy - isn't that always the case, just as you are headed home, things start coming together.  All sites in this park are pull through in either direction.  The premium sites all face the Sacramento River if you are in a motor home, or have the back window facing the river if you are a 5th wheel or trailer.  The regular sites are also pull through without the view, but they do have nice cement pads along with a patch of grass.  There is a long patch of grass along the river, and we pulled our chairs out there to enjoy an afternoon beer.

This is how I spent the next few hours.

A picture of our site, #22.

And a few other shots I took on our afternoon stroll.

This is the view out our back window - very relaxing.

If it weren't that I am very anxious to get home and get some lovin' from my grandsons, I would consider staying here a few more days.

As we are getting ready to hit the sack, I can hear the muffled sounds of traffic from I-5 (you can see the park from the freeway), and I do believe I hear rain.  It has been so long since I heard that sound that I cannot be sure.......

Tomorrow we hope to get an early start, and drive at least as far as Eugene, OR.  This will be a first for me - heading out without reservations.  Life is an adventure, eh?