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Driving something this large sometimes feels a bit more like piloting a 747 approaching the landing strip than driving a car down a freeway lane, but you get used to it. It requires a bit more concentration than driving a car... there is less margin for error. But I had done quite a bit of driving of our Ford F-250 loaded with the big Lance Camper and towing our sailboat, and that too requires a high level of concentration. Libby and I spent a couple weeks tweaking the rig, loading our stuff on board and organizing everything. By second week of October we were itching to try it out. And I really wanted to give it a serious test to be certain the concept was completely valid: living on the road for months at a time, carrying a small car onboard and towing a good size sailboat. At 22' the boat on the trailer is right around 25' and on the back of the 40' Gulfstream we are right at 65', which is the legal limit in states like Oregon, Washington and California. A few states allow longer rigs and some have shorter limits like 60' or 55' which require a special permit for a setup like ours. There's a pretty good breakdown by state here
Anyhow, we had approached the whole concept fairly carefully, doing our homework along the way, and the drive up from San Diego had given me the necessary confidence to drive this beast on long trips. But still, you never know what the whole experience will be like until you 'just do it.' The weather in Oregon had turned chilly and rainy as fall sets in and we were hankering for some sunshine and hopefully some more sailing before putting the Anne Marie into winter storage. So we decided on Clear Lake in northern California. We had been there before and know it to be a large lake in a scenic part of the state, just northwest of Sacramento. The weather outlook was for warm and sunny with highs each day in the 80's for at least our first week. So we loaded the Tracker into the garage bay, loaded all our gear, the two westies, Gracie and Corey, and our two cockatiels, Millie and Sparky. We hooked up the boat and set out Wednesday afternoon, October 12.
It was raining as we left Oregon. I had a mild case of butterflies, but it subsided quickly as my new Gulfstream Road Warrior settled into its rhythm, big Cummins diesel humming along as the heavy duty Freightliner chassis tracked down I-5 like the semi it was designed to be. I was glad I had upgraded the Catalina's trailer to a tandem axle setup last year... it tracked flawlessly behind the big rig, and the Gulfstream barely noticed it was there. I like having the rear cameras so I can watch the boat tracking behind and would get plenty of warning if things started to wrong back there. No worries on this trip though... it towed smoothly and effortlessly.
Weather cleared as we reached Roseburg. I had researched I-5 rest areas online - Oregon and Washington both permit overnighting at rest areas without issue. We were headed toward the one near Medford at milepost 22, but we stopped instead at the one just off the highway at exit 82... a new one not yet listed on the above website. This one has a huge lot with pull throughs for big rigs, and we parked, closed the curtains had some dinner and slept there for the night. One of the tweaks we did before leaving was to upgrade the kingsize mattress in the master bedroom loft to a Tempur-pedic Cloud... a very comfortable bed indeed. I slept like a baby.
Next morning we arose with the sun and got on the road before 7. I was anxious to see how this baby would do going over Mt Ashland and the Siskiyou Mountains. The pass there is around 4300' and it's a pretty good climb to get up there. Our combined weight with towing being some 15.5 tons, I wanted to be sure the big Cummins Turbo diesel was up to the job. I needn't have worried. For most of it I set the Alison transmission in 4th gear and tooled up the grades between 40-45 mph without needing to give it full throttle. We just loafed up most of the grades at around 2200 rpm. Coming back down the other side as we descended into California, I utilized the exhaust brake to keep my speed under control without burning up the brakes. Again no problem there.
We exited I-5 at Highway 20 just north of Sacramento and headed over towards Clear lake. We had made reservations at the Edgewater RV Resort. Our GPS (Garmin dezl 560LMT for trucks and RVs) took us in around the south end of the lake, which was a mistake. Next time I would definitely come in around the north end... a few miles further perhaps, but much straighter roads and avoid the 8% grades around the south end. No fun there in a giant rig like ours.
Edgewater turned out to be a scenic spot right on the west shore of Clear Lake, but with the combination of the narrow winding roads in and the tight quarters inside the park, we only spent the one night. Next day we investigated some other options in the Tracker and decided on the RV Park at Konocti Vista Casino in Lakeport. This was a much better choice for us... level asphalt pads, full 50 amp hookups with sewer, right on the lake with FREE boat docking for Resort guests. And because it is partially subsidized by the casino, it was less than $20/night with the Good Sam discount. And lots of available space to boot! Hard to beat! And there's a nice inexpensive restaurant at the Casino. And we even took in a show Saturday night... the incomparable Journey Tribute band, DSB. Most enjoyable rock n' roll evening.
We arrived with the weather in a persistent high pressure system with daily highs in the 80's and little or no wind. But this gave us a chance to run into Lakeport, just a few miles down the road, do some shopping, and pick up some odds and ends for the coach. I was also able to wash it thoroughly in our spot, polish, and do some further tweaking. Another RV owner gave me a welcome tip... the water here is pretty hard and will leave hard water spots if you don't wipe it down before it dries... so I washed it carefully, drying it with a chamois section by section. I had thought ahead on that one and purchased an 8' fiberglass and aluminum stepladder from Home Depot for the trip, and it fits neatly in the pass through storage bin towards the rear.
The coach came out gleaming. Meanwhile Libby busied herself inside, nesting as she likes to call it, and making our rolling house a home. The dogs, the birds... everyone seems to be enjoying themselves... so thus far as we approach the end of our first week on the road, the trip is a resounding success. We learned some important lessons about selecting RV parks... and Weather.com shows a cooling trend beginning Tuesday with highs only in the lower 70's which we hope will bring back the wind as well, and I can get to work on our sailing log.
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