Summer ‘24 Week 1

Hi there. Our 8-week summer 2024 road trip is underway. We’re at the end of the first week, so I thought I’d share what we’ve been up to so far.

Our first stop was near Yosemite National Park. We stayed at the Thousand Trails Yosemite Lakes RV Park in Groveland, CA, for three nights. It was really hot when we got there (around 107F). There are quite a few shaded spots along the river, but they were all taken (in this park, they don’t assign you a spot, so you have to drive around until find an empty spot you like). We did manage to get a pretty nice, partially shaded spot in the row passed the river spots, and it was the last 50 amp hook-up spot they had available, (which was important because we can’t run both air-conditioners with a 30 amp hook-up, and, as I mentioned, it was really hot). Here’s what our spot looked like:

The river at Thousand Trails Yosemite Lakes RV Park

After the first night, we got up pretty early, and, after breakfast, we drove in to Yosemite National Park. Our campground was about 8 miles from the park entrance, and there were only a few cars ahead of us. After driving into the valley, we did a couple hikes, one at Bridal Veil Fall, and the other at Lower Yosemite Falls. Then we had lunch in Yosemite Village, before heading back for a relaxing afternoon at the campground.

After the second night, we decided we’d drive back into the Yosemite, then head to the South entrance, leave the park and take a ride on the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad steam train. It was very similar experience to the steam train ride at Roaring Camp, and we (and Rosie) enjoyed the hour long ride through the shady forest.

After the train ride, we continued the loop by driving down to Mariposa, CA, where we thought we’d check out the town and have dinner, but it was just too hot to stay there for more than a few minutes. So, we headed back to the campground via the windy, narrow, cliff-edge road known as State Highway 49. Little did I know I was going to have to drive the RV on that same road the next day. That was quite a challenge, but we took it slow, and eventually got back down to Central Valley.

Our next stop was a one-nighter in Bakersfield, CA. We’d previously stayed at the Bakersfield KOA a couple times, but this time we decided to try Orange Grove RV Park instead. At this park, there are orange trees in every RV site, and in the right season, you are free to pick as many oranges from those trees as you want (not in July, however). It seems like a nice park, with spacious sites, but it was so hot while we were there, that we barely left the RV. Luckily, we were able to get pizza delivered directly to the RV, and after dark, Rosie and I finally ventured out a bit around the park.

Our site at Orange Grove RV Park. The park was mostly empty, due to the unbearable heat.

Too hot to cook, or to even leave the RV? Have pizza delivered instead.

Our hot night in Bakersfield was followed by an even hotter one night stay at the Barstow / Calico KOA Holiday, just outside of Barstow, CA. We stayed at this RV park last year as well, and we even ended up getting the same spot as last year. This was the hottest day of our trip (so far), and even when we woke up the next morning, it was still in the 90s.

Our site at Barstow / Calico KOA Holiday

After Barstow, we headed to Las Vegas, NV to stay at the Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort. We had previously stayed in this park when we rented an RV the year before we purchased our Verona, and I was really looking forward to returning for a two night stay this year. But, similar to Bakersfield and Barstow, it was still triple digit heat when we arrived, and all we could think of doing was to spend the afternoon at the Fashion Show Mall, which we found out is an indoor, air-conditioned dog-friendly mall. We shopped for a few hours, then had dinner at Maggiano's Little Italy in the mall (Rosie sat quietly under the table as we ate). In the evening, the clouds came in, and we even had a short rain shower which cooled us down a bit (still in the 90s though).

A little evening rain at Oasis Las Vegas RV Resort helped us cool down into the 90s

Even though we had originally booked two nights in Las Vegas, we noticed that at our next stop in Williams, AZ, it was going to be a lot cooler. So we called our first audible of the trip, and decided to only stay in Las Vegas the one night, and head to Williams a day earlier than planned (luckily they were able to accommodate us for the extra day). I’ll discuss our stay in Williams in next week’s update.

So that was our first week, of our eight week RV road-trip this summer. Overall, we really enjoyed our three nights in and around Yosemite, and the three one-night stops that followed were not great (due to the excessive heat), but were necessary stops along the way towards cooler, more enjoyable locations. Next week, we’ll cover our time in Williams and Sedona.

Summer ‘24 Week 2

History and Upcoming