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San Benito
After a longer than expected stopover at home, we finally set off on the next leg of our journey. Our first stop was intended to be just a quick weekend visit at the Thousand Trails in San Benito, but the friends we had hoped to rendezvous with were forced to cancel their plans, and after seeing the area, we decided to extend our stay for the full 14 day limit. The campground is full of mature sycamores and stately cork oaks and has a resident herd of deer that can be found near the camp store at almost any time of day. There is a large clubhouse with all the…
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Snowflower
Thousand Trails Snowflower is one of the closest to home and surrounded by the majestic exposed granite of the high sierra, but I’ll have second thoughts about coming back.
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Yosemite Summer ’23
After a short but productive stop over back home, we couldn’t wait to get back in the camper. Sacramento has a way of reminding us why we became gypsies in the first place. On our way out of town, it seemed like everything was trying to stop us from getting out. The valve in the shower that our brand new tenants need to use suddenly stopped working, Dottie needed an urgent vet visit, and somebody tried to steal our Kia. Apparently Kia theft is all the rage these days, but the would-be thief was relegated by their incompetence to the role of vandal, as all the damage they caused didn’t…
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Yosemite – Spring ’23
We have finally arrived back in Northern California, but one last stop before we head home. We booked a full two weeks near one of my favorite places on the planet, Yosemite. Fortunately, Thousand Trails – Yosemite Lake is under 10 minutes from the Big Oak Flat and Hetch Hetchy entrance gates to the park. In fact, a year prior we camped just a couple miles down Hardin Flat Rd with some friends, before we ever heard of Thousand Trails. The campground was still in the process of reopening so we stayed at a site way in the back, near a meadow. It turned out to be a great spot.…
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Rancho Notso Grande
Long hauls are tough with a 2-year-old on board, so we like to break up the drive wherever we can. On the way from Soledad Canyon to Yosemite Lakes, we found another Harvest Host for an overnight stop near Hanford, CA. Rancho Notso Grande is an orchard and berry farm with a roadside farm stand and a steady stream of boondocking visitors. The owner took us on his golf cart for a tour of the farm and a sampling of his wares. It was too early in the season for pick-your-own berries, but he offered an assortment of wines, jams, vinegar, and meat from lamb raised on the farm. We…
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Soledad Canyon
From Vegas we headed south on I-15 and finally crossed back into California after seven months on the road. I have never seen so much greenery on this stretch of desert. We took CA-18 west out of Victorville which becomes CA-138 (Pearblossom Hwy). This route skirts just to the north of the San Gabriel mountains, which separate the Mojave Desert from the LA basin. Once near Palmdale, we veered south toward the town of Acton and our destination, Thousand Trails Soledad Canyon. The campground is so named for the canyon in which it is located, which follows the Santa Clara River through the Angeles National Forest to Santa Clarita. I…
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Las Vegas
We stopped for quick three night stay at Thousand Trails Las Vegas. We learned back in college that three nights is the most anyone should ever stay in Las Vegas, and while this trip was not as hard on the liver as the ones back then, the rule still applies. The campground is on the east side of town, right off of Boulder Hwy. It’s one of the few TT parks we’ve visited that’s in an urban area. It’s tightly packed, but there is a pool and a hot tub, and it’s away from the madness of the strip. There are some old timey casinos near by that are good…
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Grand Canyon
After our stay in Verde Valley, we headed back through Flagstaff, then west on I-40 toward Williams. There, we turned north toward the south rim of the Grand Canyon. Our goal was to find a suitable dispersed site near the south entrance of the park. I knew there would be patchy snow and potentially muddy conditions, but I was hoping at least one of the National Forest roads along AZ-64 would be open and passable. If all else failed, there are a few private RV parks nearby that would be alright for a few nights. As
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Verde Velley
Arizona Thousand Trails
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White Sands
From our camp near Carlsbad Cavern, we headed north for a quick pit stop at Brantley Lake State Park to dump and fill our tanks, then west, over the Sierra Blanca range to White Sands. I had hoped to stay a night or two in the Lincoln National Forest outside of Cloudcroft, NM, but after speaking with the local ranger station we determined the ground was likely still covered in snow or at least very saturated. So, instead we climbed the 8000+ ft pass at night and descended back down the other side to Alamogordo, NM and Holloman Air Force Base without ever getting a good look at the area.…
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