I’m home and kickin’ back.
I waited out some really high wind days in Van Horn Texas and got a calm day on Thursday March 24. Having lost some days to the high winds I needed to get in a few long days of driving (long by my standards – 280 miles) so I could make Phoenix on Friday. My planning avoided any windy conditions and other than some up and down across southern Arizona the driving was great. I spent Thursday night in Lordsburg New Mexico and arrived in Phoenix Friday afternoon.
Friday evening, I visited with my friends Steve and Norm and spent the night with them – thus allowing me to enjoy their wine cellar. Grin
Easter Sunday I drove to Quartzsite Arizona where I ended up spending 3 nights waiting for low wind. Even so I did hit some 20 – 25 mph sections but that wasn’t bad at all compared to the days that would have had 50 mph gusts. I crossed the Palm Desert valley on Thursday March 31st and reached my destination of Castaic CA on I-5 near Magic Mountain north of Los Angeles. I planned the drive to reach the Los Angeles area after rush hour but still get on the road early before the morning heated up with the associated increase in wind speed. This planning worked perfectly.
After some preplanning and discussions with other RVers in Facebook groups I decided to avoid climbing up I-5 and down the Grapevine and to cut over to the coast instead and go north on highway 101. The normal route to the cost would be to take I-210 to Pasadena which becomes CA-134 and then in to highway 101 on across the north side of Los Angeles. The problem with that route is the intense LA traffic. I had noticed a route from I-5 to the coast on CA-126 that look to be out of the normal LA commute area. I queried a Facebook group of RVers and an experienced RVer and former trucker told me it was a great route and would have no traffic.
The reason for all of this planning and concern regarding I-5 and the Grapevine is that my RV is 31 years old and one of the 8 cylinders has low compression so I’m a bit short on engine power (more on that later). If you aren’t familiar with this segment of I-5 check this out. Just to get to Castaic I had to go from about 300’ over a 2500’ hill and back down to 1300’ in Castaic. From there to the central California valley there is a 4100’ peak over a 40 mile stretch. Check this out — click on the word “Grapevine” below which is actually a link to an elevation graph.
The drive to the coast on CA-126 was just beautiful. It is a gradual decline of 1300’ over 35 miles and it goes through an incredible agricultural valley. From there I drove up 101 past Ventura and Santa Barbara to Pismo Beach. On Saturday morning I drove from there to my home base at the Betabel RV Park in San Juan Bautista. This included the one 7% up and down grade. It was only about 6 miles long climbing a simple 1500’ but by the top I was down to 25 mph and in second gear, thinking about dropping into first gear. So I definitely made the right decision to not take I-5.
Here I am at my California home kickin’ back. I’ve also put in 5 tomato plants for my RV garden. This was a wonderful trip but in hindsite I’ll target 4 month trips instead of 6 months as this was. I was ready to be home about a month ago.
Retirement Escape 