Diary of a Pair of RV Virgins: Stockton CA

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?

After a nice night in Needles, CA at the Desert View RV Resort, we headed out about 9am, Bakersfield bound. Before we left, I snapped these two shots - one of the pool and one of the outdoor visiting area, outside the clubhouse.

The pool was covered overnight - I took this shot about 8am.

At about 9:30, the CAC tube blew off again (it had happened on our way south 6 weeks ago). Kim put it back on, tightened the clamp and off we went. For about 30 minutes. Boom! Off it went again. Pulling over once again for Kim to adjust it. Back on the road, Boom! When it happened the fourth time, and we hadn't even gone 100 yards, we knew it was time to call Coach Net. Although it took some extra calls, we were finally able to talk to Carlos from Ken's Towing who had been dispatched from Baker, CA to our location about 30 miles outside of Barstow. Kim told Carlos what he needed, and it sounded like he had the items in his truck. As best I understand it, the hose had lost the adhesiveness that helps to hold the clamp on. Kim had the brilliant idea to cut a small piece of emery cloth to put under the clamp and hopefully that would hold. We gave it a try and were able to at least get up to the Rest Area just outside of Barstow so we were off the road. Carlos showed up about 30 minutes later. He didn't have the parts we needed, but he did double check the tightness of the clamp and it appeared to be holding. He followed us almost all the way to the Ford dealer in Barstow (his turn off to go back to Baker was just before our exit).

We made it to the Ford dealer, and they had the parts we needed. Kim initially was just going to take the parts along with us in case we needed them, but then decided he was going to fix it right then as we were on a side street without traffic. Good thing he made that decision, because the parts guy had given him the CAC hose that went under the engine, and the one we needed went on top. This time, Kim took the original hose, along with the wrong one, went back to the parts department, and this time came back with the right hose. A few minutes later, fingers crossed, we were on our way.

I have to tell you, there was a whole lotta praying' going on during this drive. I had to keep reminding myself that we knew what the problem was, and we fixed it. End of story. But I come from a family of worriers, so it wasn't so easy. You hear all the time about the importance of positive thinking.....I had to focus my thoughts on being positive everything was going right, not positive that everything was going wrong.

We stopped to get fuel in Mojave, paying $3.99 a gallon, and then we started up Tehachapi Pass....praying all the way. I can't tell you the relief I had when we crested the summit. I relaxed considerably. Unfortunately, that was the point where Kim informed me that going up a hill really made no difference. If the hose was going to pop off, it was because there was nothing holding the clamp on, not because the engine was working harder. I'm not sure I believe his story, but he was sticking to it. I was sticking to my prayer treatments.

We finally pulled into the Bakersfield RV Resort about 7pm. We had stayed here before, about 4 years ago, and things had not changed much at all. Even the check in gal was the same person. You can read my review of their park here: Bakersfield RV Park Experiences

The only hiccup that happened at the park is that all of a sudden our 12 volt battery started acting up. All the lights went out, but the TV and the computers stayed on. It only happened for a few seconds, and came back on. It happened again about an hour later when we turned on the AC. This may or may not have been a coincidence. Again, the TV and the computers stayed on, but the lights went out. And then came right back on. We turned off the AC, and plugged in the fans, and no more problems. I didn't sleep well, but that is typical for me after a stressful day. I heard the trains about 2am, but I must have fallen back asleep because I woke up about 5:30am, in time to open the shades and watch the skies become light.

The morning went smoothly, and we were on the road by about 9:30am. Things went so smoothly that we only stopped for fuel because we saw an easy on and off spot in Fresno, paying $3.83 a gallon. We got back on the road, and remarked about how they must have done some highway improvements along Hwy 99 as the road wasn't nearly as rough as we remembered. About 1:00pm, we stopped for a bite to eat at some big Travel Center of America around Merced. We opted for the Popeye's Chicken. I had a Shrimp Po'Boy with cole slaw, and Kim had chicken strips with fries. I'd never eaten at a Popeye's before. It was pretty good.

We hit the road again, and encountered a little bit of traffic coming over to I-5 from Hwy 99 as we entered Stockton. We had reservations at the Riverpoint Landing Marina and RV Resort. We are backed onto the delta with a terrific view and a very nice breeze. It is a small park with water, electric and wifi - no sewer and no cable TV. They assigned us space 3, but we were unable to get out slides out because of the trees. This place had good reviews on rvparkreviews.com and it seems very nice. I haven't checked out the restrooms or the laundry so I can't comment on them. We were unable to get our DirecTV dish to pick up a signal, possibly due to the high tension wires across the channel. We'd get a signal and lose it without even touching the dish. I told Kim to just give up. I had plenty of things recorded we hadn't yet watched, plus we are still working through the DVDs we brought along.

The view out our back window.