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Average Joe's RV Living

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Our RV Trip South from Canada to El Centro, California

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In October we towed our 30-foot fifth wheel from Langley, British Columbia, Canada, to San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico. Along the way we had a few lovely stops, including at golf courses and at the home of friends. We also enjoyed a sunny two weeks at Rio Bend Golf and RV Resort in El Centro, California, before tackling the border crossing into Mexico. This post includes our adventures until just before we left El Centro for Mexico. It includes some route tips for any RVers planning a similar trip south.

Here is our rig at Fort Camping in Langley, BC, all packed up and ready to head south for the winter. We were fortunate to have perfect fall driving weather for the entire trip
Here is our rig at Fort Camping in Langley, BC, all packed up and ready to head south for the winter. We were fortunate to have perfect fall driving weather for the entire trip

The photo below is of my phone on the day we were leaving. It shows the improvement in temperatures that we could look forward to as we drove south. The temperatures are in degrees Celsius.

This is the improvement in temperatures that we could look forward to as we drove south.  The temperatures are in degrees Celsius
This is the improvement in temperatures that we could look forward to as we drove south.  The temperatures are in degrees Celsius

Below is the route we took. Most of the distances were short enough that we seldom felt over-tired by the towing. Note that we changed the second-to-last leg, from Bakersfield to El Centro, in order to travel on quieter roads, and avoid traffic near Los Angeles. More details on this later on in this post.

Our route down south this fall, traveling from BC, Canada, to San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico
Our route down south this fall, traveling from BC, Canada, to San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico

Tulalip Casino Stop, Seattle

Our first stop was at Tulalip Casino, near Seattle, where you can park your rig for free in the enormous parking lot at the back. Unfortunately, we cannot go to any of their restaurants, because they all reek of cigarette smoke. (They try hard to filter the air, but you can’t hide cigarette smoke.) The casino is right next to the highway, and easy to get to. Once you get there, it is a bit tricky to find the RV parking. Basically, just try to get behind the casino, and then look for parked RVs. Thanks to Norrie for tipping us off about this great stop!

Here we are parked at Tulalip Casino, just north of Seattle. Every time we have stopped there, there has been plenty of space in the RV parking lot at the back. It is a bit hard to find, but basically, just try to get behind the casino, then look for the other RVs
Here we are parked at Tulalip Casino, just north of Seattle. Every time we have stopped there, there has been plenty of space in the RV parking lot at the back. It is a bit hard to find, but basically, just try to get behind the casino, then look for the other RVs

The casino is close to all kinds of useful shopping, so it is a great first stop after you cross the border with an empty fridge and pantry! On this occasion, we did not want to unhitch the fifth wheel. So, we walked about half a mile to Walmart and stocked up on groceries and wine for the trip south. We used our cart to get all our supplies back.

Here is Maggie with our cart full of groceries, on our way back from the Walmart near Tulalip Casino. This is a very useful stop, which we will probably make every year on our way south. The opportunity to fill up our empty pantry and fridge was priceless!
Here is Maggie with our cart full of groceries, on our way back from the Walmart near Tulalip Casino. This is a very useful stop, which we will probably make every year on our way south. The opportunity to fill up our empty pantry and fridge was priceless!
Here is Maggie enjoying an evening glass of wine by candlelight at Tulalip Casino. We use a lot of candles and solar lights when we are dry camping. However, we don’t really need them, as we have an excellent solar power system. It is just fun to feel like we are boondocking!
Here is Maggie enjoying an evening glass of wine by candlelight at Tulalip Casino. We use a lot of candles and solar lights when we are dry camping. However, we don’t really need them, as we have an excellent solar power system. It is just fun to feel like we are boondocking!

Harvest Hosts Golf Courses

As you can see, we stopped at three different golf courses on our RV trip south. We found these through Harvest Hosts, which hooks you up with golf courses, wineries, fruit farms, and museums, where you can stay overnight with your RV for free. We really enjoy our Harvest Hosts stays. It costs less than a hundred dollars per year, and saves us many hundreds of dollars on every trip. You can find out more about Harvest Hosts at this link, and also get a generous discount off the annual membership fee.

Our two best stays on this trip were at the Langdon Farms Golf Club and the Laurel Hill Golf Course. Both are easy to access and have lovely grounds and golf courses. At Langdon you park in the huge overflow parking, usually all alone. There is a very good restaurant at the club, which is open all day.

Here is our rig parked in the overflow parking at Langdon Farms Golf Course. It is super easy to park. You will find it just on your left as you enter the Golf Course. We have been there in fall and spring, and it is always quiet and peaceful
Here is our rig parked in the overflow parking at Langdon Farms Golf Course. It is super easy to park. You will find the parking just on your left as you enter the Golf Course. We have been there in fall and spring, and it is always quiet and peaceful
Here is another view of our rig at Langdon Farms Golf Course. As you can see, it is picturesque, and there is plenty of space. Also, because there is usually no one there, no need to leash the dogs. They enjoy the chance to wander around a bit.
Here is another view of our rig at Langdon Farms Golf Course. As you can see, it is picturesque, and there is plenty of space. Also, because there is usually no one there, there is no need to leash our dogs. They enjoy the chance to wander around a bit.

At the Laurel Hill Golf Course, you are in the corner of the main parking lot, parked under lovely oak trees. As with Langdon Farms, we were the only rig there. They had a small grill, where the super-friendly cook stayed late to make Maggie a burger after we got there (they were supposed to close at 3). So if you stop there, bear in mind that you cannot get restaurant food after 3.

Here is Maggie enjoying sitting under the oak trees at Laurel Hill Golf Course, where we stayed for free, thanks to Harvest Hosts
Here is Maggie enjoying sitting under the oak trees at Laurel Hill Golf Course, where we stayed for free, thanks to Harvest Hosts

We sat out under the oak trees while at the Laurel Hill Golf Course, enjoying the peace and quiet. The dogs were free to roam the lovely grounds (although they never go further than 20 feet away!)

Here is another view of our Denali fifth wheel parked in the parking lot at Laurel Hill Golf Course
Here is another view of our Denali fifth wheel parked in the parking lot at Laurel Hill Golf Course

Stopover with Friends in Redding, California

The 6751 Woodrum Circle address on the map is the address of the Redding Airport, Redding. We don’t actually stay at the airport – we stay just down the road, at the home of Nancy and Richard, good friends from our Baja California caravan trip. They own a lovely big property, where they kindly allow us to park our rig, hook up to electricity and water, and take a break from driving. We always enjoy our time with them, and the barbecues we share. And Redding itself is a hidden gem, with many lovely spots to visit.

Related: Our RV Caravan Trip in Baja California
These are our friends Nancy and Richard from Redding, California, with their blind dog, Wylie. They are incredibly kind and gracious hosts every time we pass through Redding
These are our friends Nancy and Richard from Redding, California, with their blind dog, Wylie. They are incredibly kind and gracious hosts every time we pass through Redding

Elkhorn Golf Club, Stockton

From Redding we headed to Elkhorn Golf Club, Stockton, also part of Harvest Hosts. RVs are supposed to park at the far end of the parking lot. The parking was easy, and the restaurant was nice, with excellent service. Unfortunately, at 5 the next morning, the entire grounds crew stood directly outside our RV window and had a very loud conversation. There was no need at all to choose just that part of the otherwise empty parking lot to have their conversation, so it was either deliberately mean or just incredibly thoughtless. Whichever, we won’t be staying there again.

Here we are parked at the Elkhorn Golf Course, which we accessed through our membership of Harvest Hosts. It was reasonably easy to park at the back of the car park, and there was a decent restaurant. Unfortunately, we were woken at 5:00 a.m. by workers having a loud conversation directly outside our window
Here we are parked at the Elkhorn Golf Course, which we accessed through our membership of Harvest Hosts. It was reasonably easy to park at the back of the car park, and there was a decent restaurant. Unfortunately, we were woken at 5:00 a.m. by workers having a loud conversation directly outside our window

Orange Grove RV Park, Bakersfield, via the Horrible 99

From Elkhorn Golf Club in Stockton we drove to the Orange Grove RV Park, which is probably the nicest RV park in Bakersfield. We took the 99 to Bakersfield, which was a bad mistake. It was Google Map’s first choice, and we thought it would be a quieter highway. But in fact, we should have stayed on the I5. The 99 was packed with 18-wheelers all the way, many of them being driven aggressively, and the road surface was astonishingly bad for about 40% of the trip. We will never take that route again.

These are the two routes you can take south from Stockton to Bakersfield. Only do the 99 if you actually enjoy being wedged between 18-wheelers on really bad road surfaces
These are the two routes you can take south from Stockton to Bakersfield. Only do the 99 if you actually enjoy being wedged between 18-wheelers on really bad road surfaces

We did enjoy our short stay at Orange Grove RV Park, which has good facilities and polite, friendly campers.

Here is our rig parked at the very pleasant Orange Grove RV Resort, near Bakersfield, California
Here is our rig parked at the very pleasant Orange Grove RV Resort, near Bakersfield, California

We enjoyed our stay at Orange Grove RV Park, even though the oranges were not ripe yet, and the pool is not heated. For the latter reason, we won’t be staying there again. I LOVE pools, but unheated pools are just basically useless in the fall. I always feel like I have been cheated when a place advertises a pool, and then when you get there, looking forward to a swim, and it is unusable. These days, I always ask if the pool still exists, and if it is heated, before I make a booking.

Here are the dogs enjoying the very pleasant, large dog park at Orange Grove RV Resort. For some reason, all of the tree trunks are stained white. It looks very pretty
Here are the dogs enjoying the very pleasant, large dog park at Orange Grove RV Resort. For some reason, all of the tree trunks are stained white. It looks very pretty

An Alternative Route from Bakersfield to El Centro

After Bakersfield, we took the advice of friends and took a more secondary route. Apparently, the primary route as recommended by Google Maps will take you through extremely heavy traffic near San Francisco.


Instead, we took the CA-58 E to the I-15N, to CA-247S, to CA-62 W, to I-10E , to the 865 Expressway, to the 86 (which is the best part of the whole trip, past the Salton Sea), to El Centro. Then we followed our Garmin 780 RV GPS to the Rio Bend RV and Golf Resort. This route is shown on the map below.

This is a map of the alternative route we took south from Bakersfield to the Rio Bend RV and Golf Resort in El Centro, California
This is a map of the alternative route we took south from Bakersfield to the Rio Bend RV and Golf Resort in El Centro, California

I added in the stops shown on the map to force Google Maps to take the route we wanted. Google Maps really, really, REALLY did not want us to take this route. But in fact, we had no stops except one at a gas station near Barstow, and one on the side of the 247 to switch drivers. There were absolutely no rest stops for the entire 7.5 hours, except for one that we found – hilariously – just 5 minutes before we reached our destination! The driving was by and large easy, apart from one or two mountains (notably the Tehachapi Mountains) and a steep descent into the Palm Springs desert area. Some of it was very quiet and desolate, as if we were in the middle of nowhere. That was on the 247, which Maggie found a little spooky.

On the other hand, there were no stressful heavy-traffic parts. Once you descend into the Yukka Valley, it is very easy driving all rest of the way. Your GPS will NOT take you on this route – you will have to keep overriding it. It was not until we were on the I10 East that our Garmin 770 RV GPS was finally on the same page as us, so we were able to follow it from there. Of course, the I10 is a super easy towing highway, so we were relieved to get to the turnoff to the I-10E from CA-62 W.

We were relieved to get to the turnoff to the I-10E from CA-62 W
We were relieved to get to the turnoff to the I-10E from CA-62 W

It took us onto the road for Brawley/El Centro on the 865 Expressway. This gets you to the 86, which is an easy bit of flat driving next to the Salton Sea.

From the i10, we took the turnoff for Brawley/El Centro on the 865 Expressway. This got us to the 86, which was an easy stretch of flat driving next to the Salton Sea
From the I-10 E, we took the turnoff for Brawley/El Centro on the 865 Expressway. This got us to the 86, which was an easy stretch of flat driving next to the Salton Sea

This was our longest day of driving – we took turns driving for that total of 7.5 hours, which was the longest period of time we have ever towed (the map says about 6 hours, but that does not factor in towing). This route added about 50 miles and a whole lot of time to the trip.

Make Sure to Get Gas at Barstow!

Just before Barstow we exited to the CA247 and followed that south. At this exit, you can see gas stations to the left (north) and right (south). It’s a good idea to gas up there, as there are limited possibilities on the very desolate road ahead.

We chose the gas station on the right, which was a mistake. It was very difficult to access this gas station with a trailer. I had to get out and direct as Maggie reversed the fifth wheel out into traffic. And because she was so stressed, she could not find the walkie talkie, so there was a whole lot of yelling. We would have been better to have gone to one of the gas stations on the left, and then doubled back.

I am not sure we would do that route again. But if we do, we will definitely stop off in the Palm Springs area. That would be an easy stop, and the trip from there to El Centro would be a comparative walk in the park. Also, we would take more water in the truck. Two bottles of water and two teas were not enough for a 7.5 mile drive through the desert. However, there were some opportunities to stop at gas stations, so we could have got supplies if we had become really desperate.

This was on the 86. Ahead of us going south, there was very little traffic. On the left, going north, was a very long line-up of vehicles waiting to get through the Californian agricultural inspection
This was on the 86. Ahead of us going south, there was very little traffic. On the left, going north, was a very long line-up of vehicles waiting to get through the Californian agricultural inspection

Note that if you are doing this trip in a northward direction, you should go on the eastern side of the Salton Sea, because there is an agricultural inspection if you travel north on the western side, and it can delay you for as long as two hours. We saw traffic stopped for endless miles, waiting for that inspection. It would definitely be faster and less stressful to go around the Salton Sea.

The Rio Bend RV & Golf Resort, El Centro, California

This is the entrance to the Rio Bend RV and Golf Resort in El Centro, California
This is the entrance to the Rio Bend RV and Golf Resort in El Centro, California

At the end of that long drive was the peaceful oasis of the Rio Bend RV Resort. After two weeks there, we did not want to leave!

Here is our fifth wheel, just after we parked it at Rio Bend RV and Golf Resort.
Here is our fifth wheel, just after we parked it at Rio Bend RV and Golf Resort.

Rio Bend is one of those RV resorts that has it all – most notably, kind, helpful, and friendly strangers who quickly become good friends. We especially valued meeting John and Susan from Vancouver Island, and also Bob and Candace, from San Felipe.

We enjoyed some delicious dinners with Susan and John. In this photo, John is missing because he is behind the camera. We have him to thank for the delicious meal that evening
We enjoyed some delicious dinners with Susan and John. In this photo, John is missing because he is behind the camera. We have him to thank for the delicious meal that evening
Here is another view of our Denali fifth wheel parked at Rio Bend. Our site had a privacy hedge, and was spacious, like most of the sites
Here is another view of our Denali fifth wheel parked at Rio Bend. Our site had a privacy hedge, and was spacious, like most of the sites

The Rio Bend Resort also has a lovely pool and pool-side bar, a fabulous golf course with two man-made lakes, and the best gym I have seen in an RV resort.

The pool at Rio Bend RV Resort and Golf Course is among the Top 3 Resort pools we have found on our RV travels
The pool at Rio Bend RV Resort and Golf Course is among the top 3 resort pools we have found on our RV travels
This is the beautiful man-made lake in the center of the golf course at Rio Bend RV Resort

Add in regular events and friendly staff, and it is a real winner! Also, the gym at Rio Bend is the best we have seen at any RV resort. It even has free weights and weight benches. I used the opportunity to tackle a lot of muscles that have not been tackled for a very long time! Note that the rates at Rio Bend are very good in October, but double in November. They do have a lot of good deals, and Passport America discounts.

The gym at Rio Bend is the best we have seen at any RV resort
The gym at Rio Bend is the best we have seen at any RV resort
We were struck by the beauty of this cactus plant, which bloomed for just one day in the desert at Rio Bend RV and Golf Resort
We were struck by the beauty of this cactus plant, which bloomed for just one day in the desert at Rio Bend RV and Golf Resort
As everywhere in the deserts of California, Arizona, and Mexico, the sunsets at Rio Bend RV Resort were spectacular
As everywhere in the deserts of California, Arizona, and Mexico, the sunsets at Rio Bend RV Resort were spectacular

One of the best things about the deserts of California, Arizona, and Mexico, are the spectacular sunsets. Below is the sunset over the lake and golf course at at Rio Bend RV & Golf Resort.

This is sunset over the lake and golf course at Rio Bend RV Resort
This was our view from our fifth wheel in Rio Bend RV Resort
This was our view from our fifth wheel in Rio Bend RV Resort

In the next post, I will tell you all about the last leg of our trip – crossing the border into Mexico, and heading south to El Dorado Ranch, San Felipe, Baja California. That post will include a video I made about the border crossing, and about how to navigate through Mexicali to Highway 5, and how to find El Dorado Ranch. Watch this space!

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