One of the reasons we wanted a trailer was to have an easy way to get out of town and into a warm place in the spring. As much as I love all things Pacific NW, I get frustrated and depressed in the spring when it’s still cold and raining here and warm literally everywhere else in the entire country (maybe not Everywhere, but it always seems like it).
Luckily I managed to score a reservation at Joshua Tree National Park for a week in April. Rob and I aren’t really lovers of the desert, but with everyone moving to Pheonix and Las Vegas, we thought we’d give it a try. Plus it was sure to be Warm and Dry!
The first night traveling south we stopped in Albany. This was essentially a delivery trip to California, and we were making miles. We stayed at a nice private RV park right off the freeway (Knox Butte RV), and came in late and left early. The next morning was an up early and long day of putting miles and cold weather behind us. That night we stopped at our very first Harvest Hosts winery, We were inland off I-5 traveling down Hwy 99, and this winery was just a few miles off the highway.
Harvest Hosts is a membership service that connects RV travelers with wineries, breweries and farms who have room to host overnight stays. They have strict rules about coming and going, making it easy for the hosts to want to continue inviting the RVers. We book only one night at each winery, and are not allowed to ask if we can stay another night. If the hosts invites us then we can stay longer. There is no cost to park your RV, but you are requested (strongly requested) to stop by the tasting room and purchase some wine.
OK, I don’t know about you, but what does this sound like to me – FREE WINE! Literally we would pay $50 to park in a private RV park, or even $15 for a National Park. So if I have to spend money on wine to cover my spot for the night, that’s ALL GOOD!
We picked Vista Ranch Winery in Merced, CA based purely on how many miles Rob could drive that day. We arrived just as the tasting room was closing, so we bought two bottles (basically free since we’re not paying to park) and headed to the trailer for dinner and a quiet night after a very long day of making miles towards warm weather.
We were parked in a not very interesting dirt parking area, but we had wine and a place to stay, and were leaving early in the morning anyway. We were still on a mission to deliver me to warm sunny desert weather.
The next afternoon we passed the fleet of 737 airplanes parked in the desert at Edwards Air Force Base. You don’t see them on Google Earth, but they sit on the runways waiting for their flight controls to be fixed. It was sad seeing them all there, but now with covid raging, many of them would be without passengers anyway.
Finally on the third of three long days we arrived at the park. And it was definitely in the middle of the desert. The campsite we had booked at Joshua Tree was actually not attached to the rest of the park. It was accessed from a residential area in a little town about 20 miles from the northern park entrance. It was all on a hillside, which was a bit of a surprise for us trying to park our little trailer somewhat level.
There are some nice walking trails around this campground and we spent an afternoon in the hot sun walking and taking pictures.
We spent one day touring around Palm Springs, which also was not our cup of tea. And we spent one day touring around the National Park and seeing all the sights it has to offer (did you say that was another big boulder over there?). We had the campsite booked for a week, but ended up leaving early and traveling north sooner than planned.
We turned back toward home, heading for a weekend in Sonoma to show Rob some of the beautiful places Erin and I had seen on her 60th birthday trip in 2019. We stayed one night in another RV park near the highway in Coalinga, CA for a quick stopover. The day after that we found another Harvest Hosts winery, Jessie’s Grove in Lodi, CA. After our tasting of their delicious old vine zinfandels and chardonnays, we were invited to stay an additional day. Turns out that weekend was their quarterly release party for members and they were bringing in two food trucks and two bands. Early the next morning the parking area started filling with RVs, and the couple who parked next to us turned out to be lots of fun. The entire day and evening was spent enjoying their company on the winery lawn, listening to live music and eating yummy food.
Sunday morning we headed north again toward home, with another quick overnighter in Roseburg, OR and three cases of Jessie’s Grove chardonnay carefully tucked away in Nonnie’s Diner.