I had a wonderful time riding and visiting with friends in the bay area. The weather was great until the last couple of days and I did some fantastic rides all over San Francisco, Alameda, Fremont, Palo Alto, Los Gatos and the Sacramento Delta. I also had Thanksgiving dinner with lots of family I hadn't seen in 2 years. I really want to go back and do it all again.
Video of ride from Fremont to Palo Alto
Video of spectacular ride through San Francisco with BARC
Parked at Paicines Ranch
The temperatures had dropped reminding us it was December. I pulled up stakes getting hitched up, saying goodbye to Leslie and Paula, to start traveling south where I hoped temperatures would be warmer. From Dumbarton Quarry I went south east to Paicines where I had a reservation at a Harvest Hosts ranch. The pictures and reviews were stellar. The drive was very beautiful through soft rolling hills with lots of vineyards and oak groves.
I pulled into Paicines Ranch early in the afternoon. The directions were excellent and I had no problem finding my way. In fact, there is a Thousand Trails campground next door to the ranch and I had a couple of campers ask me if I needed directions which was very nice. There was a code provided to get in the gate and then I made my way down the long tree-lined entrance. This is a working farm with lots of live stock. They have an online store where you can order frozen meats slaughtered on the farm. I order 2 packs of lamb chops that were waiting for me in a freezer on the porch to the office with a welcome packet. They have 4 Harvest Hosts spaces as well as lots of Air BnB cabins and small homes for rent. The area I parked in was large under big trees and perfectly level. Since I've started RVing, I really appreciate level ground and lots of room where I know I can easily turn around. I was only going to be parked one night and I didn't bother to unhitch and getting settled was simple. The farm is very big and picturesque. I thought they had an impressive and clearly thriving business going on. I could see renting a building for a big event and everyone invited would have comfortable rooms to stay in. The packet map showed a few hiking trails but it was a little too cold for me to venture out. As the sun set, the sky became bright with stars. I would stay here again without hesitation.
Harvest Hosts location
In the morning, it didn't take long for me to get ready to roll. I always use my laminated cheat sheet to go through everything. I'm sure the day I don't bring out this sheet I'll forget to do something important. Since I have solar power and can use my microwave without shore power, I've had to add checking the microwave to make sure nothing is left inside to the list. There had been lots of rain over night and the air smelled fresh. In fact, I had been awakened in the night by the sound of the rain on my trailer roof. This is a sound I really enjoy.
Drive to Pinnacles National Park, the newest national park
The drive to William Hill Recreation Area and campground was terrific. After the night's rain, the roads were wet and the skies were clear. There were lots of vineyards on the way. I passed the newest national park for the US, Pinnacles, stopping in just to take a quick look around. The campground is 3 miles down a beautiful undulating twisting road lined with oak trees. The park has 30 miles of hiking trails for all levels as well as rock climbing. There are talus caves with large bat colonies and good birdwatching too. I would like to stay here sometime.
Beautiful view driving up to William Hill campground
Narrow dirt road
I found the campground at 2700 ft
From Pinnacles National Park, I took off on a road that quickly turned to dirt and started climbing. The road was quite narrow in spots and I wondered what would happen if I met another vehicle coming in the other direction. Luckily, this didn't happen. The William Hill campground is at 2700 ft in elevation. The campground is on Bureau of Land Management public lands. There are no fees and you are allowed to camp for 14 days at a time. I've camped in a few BLM sites and this was, by far, the nicest. The sites were big and well organized with lots of room between neighbors. All the sites had a covered picnic table and wonderful views of the area. There are no services for BLM campsites. You have be completely self-contained with everything you need. This campground had a well-maintained vault toilet but there is no water, electricity or sewer hook-ups. Surprisingly, there was great phone service. This campground is high up on a hill and there is nothing but nature as far as the eye can see. I had 3 bars of 5G ATT and 4 bars of Verizon LTE. What a lovely place. I stayed for 2 nights.
Video of my time at Paicines Ranch and William Hill
The second night was very cold. I have lithium batteries that are charged from my solar panels. When I had the system installed, the solar guy really wanted to put the batteries in the storage area under the bed. I had him put them on the front hitch triangle behind the propane tanks. This is where the AGM batteries were and I thought it would be easier to just swap them out. They actually fit perfectly and I was quite happy with this decision - until this night. Lithium batteries don't like cold below freezing. My system has a battery safety cut off when the voltage gets below 10.5. The temperature over night got down to 28 degrees which was too cold for the batteries and I woke up to a system that was shut off. All I had to do was start up my generator to get the batteries charged up but who wants to hear a generator going 1st thing in the morning. Luckily, my generator is quieter than most and it is in a generator box that also muffles the sound. I asked my closest neighbor if it was a problem and they couldn't hear it. Pphheewww! I may look into having the batteries moved to the storage area under the bed like the installer originally suggested.
View from campground overlook
Views for days
This campground is popular for ATV
From William Hill I had a fairly long drive to Ventura where I would meet up with recumbent cycling friends. Again, I didn't unhitch and getting packed up to hit the road didn't take long. I've been wanting to try having my new Skydio drone follow the truck and trailer while I'm driving. This new drone doesn't require a screen to fly. I can hold a simple GPS beacon and, I think, this is legal. I also have a DJI Mavic 2 Zoom drone but that one needs a screen to fly which I doubt is legal to use while driving. The active track on the DJI drone is completely unreliable which means you are forced to fly manually. I know people do use DJI drones while driving but I think it's dangerous and illegal. The dirt road down the mountain would have been a perfect situation with no traffic or wires and a great view but I was a nervous I might have trouble going down especially since the unpaved road was wet from the overnight rains. I really need to try the drone on a quiet country road where I won't worry about problems meeting other vehicles. My imagination got the best of me as there was no need to be nervous. The road down is different than the road up and I wish I had known that earlier.
The drive to Ventura was long but uneventful and lots of it was very beautiful. Just before coming into Santa Barbara I started to get gorgeous ocean views. The afternoon was quite blustery and I could feel the trailer getting pushed around a bit. Soon I was parking in front of my friends Alan and Anne's home. I have known these trikers for many, many years. We wanted to go for a ride but the wind was far too strong. Triking would have to wait until the morning.
Surfers at Ventura
Trailer and truck parked in front of Alan and Anne's house. Dawn on her trike talking to a neighbor.
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