After a week’s stay, we left Highlands RV Park on Wednesday, July 29.
We stayed in three nondescript campgrounds on our way home and that’s the end of our summer RV trip.
Takeaways from this Summer’s RV trip:
• Never camp along the Eastern Sierras (aka Highway 395) in Summer. Way too hot!
• From now on it’s the Coast, Not Toast. That’s our plan for next year – travel when it’s cool and hunker down for extended stays in fair weather locations (like coastal Oregon).
While in Bishop, we visited Lake Sabrina which was low on water but big on natural beauty
A sunset at Highlands RV Park
The last leg of our trip back home took us through a nasty Highway 178. White knuckles much of the way. Never again.
About a week after returning home, we traded in our Honda CRV for a 2017 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Winter Edition. We are happy Jeep owners again.
It’s been 10 days since our last post. That was 5 campgrounds ago – mostly 1 or 2 day stops. We’re now in Highlands RV Park in Bishop, CA for a week. This is the park where we used to work some 5 years ago. It’s a cool town to visit. But getting here was the real challenge . . .
BISCAR FIRE
While on our way on Highway 395 from our campground in Lakeview, OR to Days End RV Park in Standish, CA, we discovered that part of Highway 395 was closed because of the Biscar wildfire.
And we had to take a detour along Highway 139 which added about 20 miles to our trip.
Biscar Fire Highway 139 Detour
However, it was actually a great detour across a valley and open range. Open range? That’s where cattle are free to roam across fields . . . and roads . . .
Don’t hit that steer
ROCK FIRE
We’re in Bishop, CA now. It’s our former stomping ground and we’re planning a day trip to the mountains where it’s cooler.
Next Wednesday we leave for our next campground (Boulder Creek RV Park) near Lone Pine along Highway 395.
We’re watching the Rock fire which has been threatening to close Highway 395 . . .
IF YOU’RE TRAVELING TO CALIFORNIA . . .
Here are a couple of resources to consider during fire season which is pretty much 12 months a year . . .
GOLD BEACH, OR – It only took us about an hour to get here from AtRiver’s Edge in Brookings.
When we arrived on Wednesday we immediately wanted to stay longer than a week. Not this year, but we made reservations in 2027 for a 5-week stay.
We also plan to camp in AtRiver’s Edge in 2027 for a month. We really want to avoid as much summer heat as possible. For this summer it’s been heaven – cool temperatures all along the coast. However, starting tomorrow we turn inland and temps in the 90s. C’est la vie.
We’ll be in Site 11 again next year . . .
Site 11
Early morning Drone Flyover of Lucky Lodge and the Rogue River
From our campsite, it’s a short walk to the Rogue River . . .
The trip on Highway 101 from Giant Redwoods RV to our next stop, AtRivers Edge RV Campground, took about 4.5 hours – 2 hours longer than expected.
Lots of One-Lane Highway Stops on this leg of our journey
One of our “destination” campgrounds
Our reward after a long drive
Our site #103
Our site overlooks the Chetco River and a working quarry
The view out of our RV
NEXT YEAR’S CAMPSITE
We’re hoping to book Site 127 for the month of July 2027.
The view from Site 127
TOILET EMERGENCY !!!
At about 8 am this morning (Friday) our toilet’s “flapper” broke. So our original 25-year-old Dometic toilet could no longer be flushed. Kaput.
Kaput Flapper
This, of course, caused no small amount of consternation for us. A night time bathroom visit would mean a trip to the campground’s loo. No thanks.
However, after a phone call to a local RV repair shop I found out that an RV toilet could be had in Crescent City, CA ACE Hardware about 20 miles away.
Crescent City, CA hardware store – that carries Dometic RV toilets
The old toilet
Old toilet removed
Gateway to Hell
New Dometic 300 toilet installed
HAPPY ENDING
Besides having replaced a broken toilet in about 4 hours, the day ended by stumbling upon a lakefront festival on our way to a restaurant . . .