Solo Full-time RV life - Oregon to California

Driving on a beautiful Oregon road with lots of fall colors

As with all my trips and tours all over the world for the last 15 years, I spent a good deal of time thinking about where I wanted to go and what I wanted to accomplish. On all of my past trips, there was always a definite start and end point. Typically, these cities were chosen because there was an international airport to fly in and out of with my trike. All other trips had an end date when my friend Mitzi left Portland for her home in France. When Mitzi went to France, I would go house-sit in Portland. That was the routine for 15 years. This trip would be the first where there wouldn't be an end date because I'm not returning to Portland next summer. For the 1st time in my life, I was truly a solo full-time RV nomad. 

Oregon country road

The trip also started differently from how I imagined. I have always traveled solo and was surprised that a number of friends asked if they could join me for the first few days. This has never happened before. At first, there was a good size group wanting to go but once the weather forecast showed terrible storms, pelting rain and fierce winds coming through the area this group dwindled down to 4. 

Dave, Edna, Patty and I had a terrific time camping together at Hult Pond deep in an Oregon forest. I found a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) campsite by researching online. I wanted to find a spot that was a manageable drive and, hopefully, secluded from the strong 50 mph winds the coast would experience. It was a great find. 

Start of drive to the coast

On the morning of the 3rd day, Dave and Edna got going early as they wanted to make some mileage down the coast. Patty and I were more leisurely taking a walk to the pond to fly my drone. The pond was completely still and very reflective. If you go to my Youtube channel you can see the drone video. We got hitched up in the late morning thinking we would find a place near Florence to boondock. There are many phone apps and websites where people put boondocking locations on maps with a description of the sites. One thing I really like to know when reading these reviews is what size rig the reviewer is driving. With my truck and trailer, it's important to know I can fit in a site and there's enough room to turn around. Sometimes Google earth view can provide clues unless the tree cover is too thick to see pull outs. Patty's van is much more nimble and will be able to fit in any site. 

Drone shot of Hult Pond

Flying the drone with Patty and little Luna

Hult Pond from above

We liked a couple of posted options in the apps. One was an elk preserve with viewing area that had a large parking lot. Apparently, someone got away with staying there but we saw signs clearly posted that overnight parking isn't allowed. Maybe if you pull in late and leave early it would work but this isn't what me or Patty were looking for. We wanted a quiet spot that we could enjoy and not feel rushed to leave in the morning. There were a few others that, on closer inspection, were nothing more than pull-outs on a busy highway. I could see using these if I just wanted a place to spend the night but, again, not what we wanted.

We ended up stopping at the Salmon Marina Campground in Winchester Bay. This is very basic camping in an asphalt parking lot where the sites have fantastic views of Winchester bay and marina. There are no services at the sites such as electricity or water but the campground does have bathrooms with showers. It cost $25/night and is centrally located to restaurants and other businesses. Probably because of the fierce storms that had come through the area, this campground was mostly vacant. The marina had quite of few boats docked and we had our choice of probably 100 sites.  It was tranquil, quiet and peaceful. There were lots of sea bird activity which was fun to watch. It was also nice to have phone service again.

Parked next to Patty's Van at Salmon Marina in Winchester Bay

Boat ready to load crab pots

This area can have super fierce winds.  It's not unusual for winds in Florence to be blowing 20mph. Over the last few days the winds got up to 50mph. Camping here would have been a nightmare but those storms passed and we camped in calm but drizzly skies. The wispy clouds hanging over the coastal hills had an ethereal quality that were especially beautiful. 

Salmon Marina through the RV window

While we were camping, Patty was trying out lots of things in her newly renovated van. She discovered her battery bank wasn't big enough to keep her refrigerator going overnight. These are things can make or break a camping trip. I had plenty of power between my lithium batteries and generator. Most RVs have outside outlets and she ran an extension cord to keep her refrigerator powered up. This was a good test for me as well. I'm still not sure how low I can run my lithium batteries. My real concern is having enough power overnight for my refrigerator and being able to use the power hitch in the morning. I have a few things, like a small electric heating pad for my bed and microwave that will use more power but I also don't need to use these every day. Otherwise, my power usage is from my laptop and charging up camera batteries which I don't think use much. It seems that 300ah lithium batteries should be enough to power everything but I wasn't sure. I ran my propane powered generator for an hour to top off the batteries to be on the safe side. Power usage is something I'll probably understand better as I boondock more. Power and water usage are the biggest concerns when off grid camping self-contained.

Patty and I have good friends that live in Florence and we were hoping to see them. Bill and Connie have been part of the recumbent community longer than I have. On my trike touring trips down the coast I have stayed with them and this was always a highlight. Bill just finished chemo and radiation treatments and I wasn't sure if he would be ready to socialize. He is a very strong guy and drove down from Florence to meet us. We all sat in my trailer and chewed the fat for a couple of hours. Bill is a sweet, dear friend and I was thrilled to see him and hear his treatments were successful.

Patty with Bill

After a very quiet night's rest, I got hitched up to continue on down the coast. The morning was misty but not windy. I decided to try something new with my Skydio drone and have it follow us taking video as we left the marina campground. It worked great. I can see using this drone to get video as I'm driving on quiet country roads.  So far, I've only used the Skydio to track me and friends on our trikes but this is a new way to get fun footage. Patty and I had a terrific time camping together. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. 

Drone shot at the marina

Hwy 101 Viewpoint

The road south on Hwy 101 was gorgeous. My drive started out drizzly and grey but slowly warmed up and became clear. By the time I got to Brookings, the skies had cleared completely and the temperature had risen to 70 degrees. Glorious. 

My route from Winchester Bay, Oregon to Crescent City, California

I had an item on my agenda I wanted to take care of in Brookings. More than a month ago, my friend Lonnie was looking over the trailer and noticed the inside of the trailer tires were wearing. Apparently, this is normal because trailer wheels don't articulate and the inside of the tires get more scrubbed than the outside. At the time, I had stopped at a tire shop and they agreed there was tire wear but not enough to replace the tires. Getting new tires is a big expense especially since my trailer has 2 axles and 4 tires. Oregon doesn't have sales tax and I thought if I needed to replace my tires I could save a good amount of cash doing this before I crossed the border to California. The last coastal town in southern Oregon is Brookings where there is a Les Schwab tire shop. These franchises are well known to be honest and fair. I stopped in and someone helped me right away. The saleswoman looked over the tires and said if it were her trailer she would wait to replace the tires. I was clearly ready to buy tires and I really appreciated her frankness and willingness to forego a sale. That stop saved me a lot of money. 

Video of driving from Oregon to California

From there I went to Fred Meyer for gas. It's always important to fill up before crossing the border because gas prices are at least $1/gallon higher in California.  With a full tank and all errands checked off, I crossed the border into California heading to Crescent City where my sister lives. There was a bonus to arriving in Crescent City today. My friends Dave and Edna were camped an extra day. I pulled into the Lighthouse Cove RV park in bright sunshine with plenty of time to get our trikes out and go for a spin.

Dave and Edna are ready to ride

I had lived in Crescent City with my sister during the Covid lockdown and know the area well. There is, surprisingly, very good biking here. I took Dave and Edna on a bit of a tour showing them some of the highlights. The roads, even neighborhood streets, are extra wide with little traffic. I have always felt safe riding everywhere in Crescent City. The bigger boulevards all have bike lanes or wide shoulders. On this ride I took them to Wonderstump Rd which goes through a thick grove of old growth redwoods. Usually the road is very quiet but we had some major police activity. A house on the road was being raided. We couldn't tell if it was a drug bust or looking for a person of interest. The Pelican Bay super max prison isn't far away and we wondered if, maybe, a prisoner had escaped. That was some unexpected excitement, for sure. 

Riding with Dave and Edna on Wonderstump Rd

Majestic redwoods of Wonderstump Rd

Video riding through spooky Wonderstump Rd redwoods

I think the ride was around 25 miles and it felt good to be on the trike after all the rain and driving. I also enjoyed showing Dave and Edna around. We stopped at Art's BBQ for terrific brisket, pork ribs and chicken with all the fixins to take back to our trailers for dinner. We got back to the RV park just in time to see a beautiful sunset.

Good timing to make it back for the sunset

Brisket - yum!

BBQ pork ribs

I checked into the Lighthouse Cove RV Park for a week. Since my sister lives here and I'm not in a hurry, I decided to take some extra time. Even though my trip had only started 3 days earlier I was already behind on my photo processing, blog and video posting. There is plenty to see and, at the moment, the weather looks favorable. This RV park is also nice and affordable.