Welcome to the travelogue of our RV trip to Northern California and coastal Oregon in the fall of 2017. This was the third month-long trip in our 'coach,' a 30-foot Class A motorhome (an FR3 by Forest River). As on previous long trips, I kept a journal during the trip, and have adapted it to the content you’ll find here. We’ve selected about 250 of our photos (a subset of the 1,000 or so we took) to include in online ‘albums’ for sharing. That’s a lot of culling on Chris’ part! We’ve broken it down into four albums, or sections.
The photos will load as you scroll down this page, and sometimes it takes a few seconds for a photo to appear.
Wednesday, Sept 6, 2017 (California)
Thousand Oaks (home) to Pismo Beach (Pismo State Beach, North Beach Campground)
We took off today for our California/Oregon trip. Well, we hope Oregon. The number of fires burning there, along with the smoke-filled skies, may make it a California-only trip. We’ll have to play it by ear. Our hearts go out to the thousands of people and businesses affected by the fires.
A good trip begins with a well-stocked wine supply!
Our first stop for the night on this trip is Pismo State Beach, the North Beach Campground. We had stayed here for a few nights back in June, and decided it was a good place to stay again. This time our site (reserved in advance) was a great location, just a short walk over a small rise and we’re on the beach!
Our campsite #9 in North Beach Campground at Pismo State Beach. The beach was just beyond that dune in the background.
Cooper just loves sitting at the door.
The campground was loaded with ground squirrels.
The sand here is incredibly soft, like sugar. Powdered sugar. Very fun to walk on and wiggle your toes in! It’s not typical for California beaches, which makes it especially fun.
Is that a naked wood nymyph?
Chris with a glass of "walkin' wine"
Cooper decided it was fun to squeeze between the window screen and the window shade.
Thursday, Sept 7, 2017 (California)
Pismo Beach (North Beach Campground) to Capitola (New Brighton State Beach)
The next day we camped at New Brighton State Beach. We had a nice back-in site here (also reserved in advance) at the edge of the campground with an ocean view.
My friend Doug (whom I’d met many years ago while working at Amgen as a contractor) joined us for dinner. We had a great evening laughing and catching up. Even Barley (the scared-y cat) ventured out to join us for a bit.
Our campsite #75 at New Brighton State Beach campground was at the edge of a bluff with an ocean view.
The view from our campsite.
The cats enjoying the view from the bedroom window.
