Our trip began with a rendezvous of three motorhomes next to the Oakland-Alameda County Arena/Coliseum. We met Jim (JB) and Helle along with Jim (JC) and Connie to form a small RV caravan to travel to our ultimate destination of Gold Beach, Oregon. Kay and I were a bit late and as a result the other two rigs were already waiting for us. We pulled up behind JC's motorhome to stop for a short time to meet JC and Connie for the first time. After JB and JC finished walking their dogs, JB led our caravan back onto the I-880 freeway.

The weather was overcast with occasional mist hitting the windshield. After passing beneath a BART(Bay Area Rapid Transit) train going over the freeway, our caravan found its way to I-580 which took us across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and on to northbound US 101. The cloud layer opened up to sunny skies as we headed for our first stop at a campground near Hopland, California.

A BART train is about to run over our heads.

We made good time and arrived at the Thousand Trails RV campground, near Cloverdale, in the late afternoon. My first impression was that the campsites appeared to be small and very close to each other. In fact, it was so close that we had to unhook our towed vehicles before we could continue on into the campground. JC led the way and found a site near the end of the road just before it turned left and continued uphill.

Then JB headed into the campground and passed JC's site, drove up the hill a short distance and slowly backed into his spot. I followed up the hill and backed into a small campsite that was parallel to the road. The site was also short making it necessary to park with the back of our motorhome hanging out over open air. I had to park our tow car across the street next to JB's campsite. The vehicles moving along the roads tended to stir up small clouds of dust.

JC is heading uphill to a better campsite.

After JB and Helle along with Kay and I were settled in, JC decided he liked the site across from us better. So up the hill he drove passing JB's rig and our motorhome to take his place in what turned out to be a very nice campsite. It appeared as if out motorhomes formed a kind of puzzle for us to exit our campsites the next day. JC would have to pull out before I would have enough room to make the turn toward the campground exit. I needed to leave before JB could get out of his campsite. This campground was a very tight place to park RVs.

After settling in, I walked down the hill to get a picture of a woodpecker pecking away at the trim on the motorhome in the campsite behind us. The motorhome belonged to Ron from Florida. He and his wife were traveling around the Western U.S. and now they were getting ready to visit Yosemite National Park. It was nice to visit with Ron before he had to leave to pick up his wife at the Oakland airport. The sound of woodpeckers rat-a-tatting on a tree echoed around the campground off and on until sunset.

JB is grilling our burgers for the evening meal.

With JC and Connie having a spacious campsite, we all decided to gather there to have dinner together. For dinner we all had grilled burgers with the usual trimmings.

After dinner I watched as Roxie — JC's and Connie's dog — zipped around the campsite. She was having fun playing and getting a lot of exercise after being cooped up in the small confines of a motorhome most of the day. Roxie is a blue eyed Australian shepherd with a very colorful coat.

Roxie zipped around the campsite while JB tried to catch her

After a short time visiting, it was decided that we should "call it a day" as we needed to get around a bit early the next morning. We had rain during the night, the sound of which I enjoy hearing on the roof of our home-on-wheels.

[ SUMMARY ]

[ PREV ]

[ NEXT ]

[ RV FUN TRIPS ]

Disclaimer Contact Us
Copyright 2006, RVFunTrips.com. All rights reserved.