Solo Full-Time RV Life - A Week in Sacramento

American River Scenery

Cal Expo RV Park

When you check into the Cal Expo RV Park for a week you get a day free. This brings the costs for a site down to $42.50/night which, for me, feels affordable. Traveling in California is more expensive and I am very conscious of the price of gas and accommodation - these are my biggest expenses, by far. I have managed to bring costs down by staying at Harvest Hosts locations, boondocking and not driving every day. To fill my tank is almost $200 and I try to make a tank last 3-4 days. Many of the places I've been staying at recently have had great cycling and I've been able to park the truck. The Cal Expo RV Park has direct access to the American River Bike Trail and I spent a week riding and exploring.

With Alice for a foggy ride

Alice showing me historic Old Town Sacramento

Reflective American River

The 1st day, a woman who I have only known through Facebook recumbent groups met me at the RV park trail entrance. I spent a very enjoyable morning riding with Alice to old town Sacramento. It was terrific to finally meet her in person. She lives an hour away and I appreciated her taking the time to drive so far to do this ride. The day was foggy and cooler but I loved cycling along the river and exploring the historic area of old Sacramento.

Video of my week in Sacramento

Meeting local people is always the best way to learn about an area. Locals will know what to see and it's more fun to have company. At the same time, since I have a fairly big online presence, the people I meet will have a better idea of who I am than the other way around. There's some risk involved but, so far, everyone has been generous, nice and interesting.

El Dorado Trail

Cute coffee stop

Pumpkin patch

A couple days later, I met up with another rider, Mike. We actually met higher in the hills above Sacramento in the picturesque area of El Dorado. Every day it was foggy at the RV park but away from the American river the skies were clear and the temperature was warmer. We spent a few hours riding another terrific trail that has a lot of railroad history going back to the gold rush and earlier. This was not your typical rail trail with no more than 3% grades. There were some good climbs and varied oak tree lined terrain.  Mike took me through the historic towns of Folsom and Camino.  There were some fabulous downhills on the way back to the trail head where we started. My speed got up over 35 mph - woohoo!!

Mike at the Placerville Coffee depot

Myrtle parked with Mike's monster fat tire bike

While I was in a bigger city, I took care of lots of errands. The RV park is located in the center of Sacramento which made all of this easy. I follow the Ketogenic diet and I was able to make a batch of bone broth with a slow cooker I carry in the RV. I left the meat, veggies and spices cooking for 36 hours. I ended up freezing 4 quarts to eat on the road - delicious. 

I also have a set of quick zip sheets that I used for the 1st time. One of my most difficult RV life chores is remaking the bed. I have a queen size bed that fits fairly tight within 3 walls. Getting a fitted bottom sheet on the bed has always felt like wrestling a bear. The new set has a fitted bottom sheet where the top square part of the sheet zips off. I'm hoping this will help remaking the bed easier. These sheets are pricier than normal fitted sheets but I think it will be worth the expense. I'll let you know.

Riding through Fair Oaks

Fair Oaks looks after their chickens

Fair Oaks aardvark art

The 2nd to last day in Sacramento I did another trike ride along the American River trail. This time in the other direction from where I went with Alice. This ride would be much longer too. I was excited about this ride because I could ride the entire trail and make a detour to Laid Back Cycles. Mickey O'Brien owns Laid Back Cycles and has been a sponsor of my Youtube channel for almost a year. This would be my 1st time meeting him and visiting the shop. For this ride, the weather warmed up and the fog lifted. It was a gorgeous day. The 1st 15 miles was on the trail and then I crossed a bridge into the historic town of Fair Oaks. Right away, you can see this is an area that feels upscale. The town has a boutique, quaint look. I located Mickey's shop in a small shopping center after a few miles of road riding. 

Meeting Mickey

Very cool Terra Trike panniers

Mickey showing me an in-house e-assist design

I had a great time meeting Tyler, Clay and James. They showed me some very cool custom built Terra Trikes. One looked like it was carbon fiber but was actually aluminum. They also showed me panniers that were designed by Terra Trike. I had never seen them before and they looked slick. Mickey showed me a new electric assist that he has designed with a motor company out of Colorado that has a 500w mid-drive with a throttle. It looked very sweet. I was impressed with how much inventory the shop had. There were stacks of Terra Trikes boxes ready to be assembled. I really appreciated them taking the time to show me around and talk about the different trikes in the shop.

Mickey talking about his new e-assist

Mike met me at the shop and we continued riding together. From the shop, we went back to the American River Trail and took it out to the Nimbus Dam fish hatchery. A year ago, I had ridden out there and thought it was where the trail ended. Mike showed me the trail went much further beyond the dam and around Lake Natoma. This part of the trail is probably my favorite. It was quite hilly with big twists and turns. The lake was wonderfully reflective and we crossed a couple of bridges too. The whole day was fantastic and this was the highlight of my stay in Sacramento. Mike is a seriously strong rider and without e-assist I would never have been able to keep up. We parted ways about 7 miles from the RV Park. I really appreciated Mike showing me around and explaining the history of the area. The riding was absolutely fabulous. I put in 49 miles for the day and felt great.

Mike on his fat-tire 1000w monster bike

Crossing the Rainbow Bridge

Nimbus Dam

After a week in Sacramento, it was high time to push on. My family was having a traditional Thanksgiving in Berkeley which was still 6 days off.  Since I was headed to the bay area of San Francisco I got in touch with Zach and Michi in Alameda. Zach owns Zach Kaplan Cycles and is a very active member of the recumbent community. I've known Zach and Michi for many years. They invited me to park my truck and trailer in front of their house and we would do some rides with BARC (Bay Area Recumbent Cyclists). Here again, I was going to meet up with lots of people I've known for years as well as people I've only known online. I've also been wanting to ride with BARC for a long time and the weather forecast looked to be fantastic.

Michi helping me get parked in front of the house

Welcome to Alameda and the bay area of San Francisco!!