Road Trip 2022 {Departure Prep, Day 1 & 2}

 Prepping for Our Big Trip - Capri's Part

We had to start planning this trip in late November in order to get a campsite reserved in Yosemite.  They opened up reservations for arrivals to the park from April 15-May 14, 2022 on December 15, 2021.  We decided to arrive on May 14, 2022 and stay for a week.  On the morning of reservation day (12/15/21 0700 CST) I was all set.  I had researched campsites, made a list of my top 10 sites, and had rehearsed the booking steps. I had my top 3 campsites added to my cart at 6:45 AM and just had to wait for the reservation window to officially open. It seemed like time was crawling by while the boys and I sat and stared at the clock. Finally a full 15 minutes (that felt like 15 hours) later, we had my top choice campsite booked for a full week!  Our Big American Family Road Trip was on its way to becoming a reality.

Next, I started looking at how we would actually get there.  What route should we take? Should we meander around and see things along the way, or just drive a straight shot and get there fast?  We decided to do a little of both, but mostly just get there fast.  

The other thing to think about was B's birthday.  He would be turning 10 while we were on vacation.  He said he would really like to see the beach and the Pacific Ocean on his birthday. So I found a place to stay that was only a 3.5 hour drive from Yosemite. We decided to spend a couple days in Monterey, CA after our week in Yosemite Valley. I wanted to do something fun while we were there and in researching found a great whale watching guide company. Dan and I decided to book it and keep it a secret from the boys for the next 6 months! 

Once the big stops were planned, it was time to figure out the overnight stops during the drive to Yosemite and the drive home from Monterey. We didn't want to spend a lot of time setting up and taking down the RV everyday and we wanted to keep the trip as inexpensive as possible so we decided on rest areas. There are some really nice rest areas! 

After that, it was all about planning food, clothing, gear, etc.  As it turned out, route planning was the easy part! But, we got it all worked out and the couple days before our trip we were prepped, packed, and staged for departure.

 Prepping for Our Big Trip - Dan's Part

While I was on the logistical planning side, Dan had to take care of some pretty big items too. We knew we would be taking the truck because we had to haul the RV, but there were 2 big things that were needed to be addressed.

1) We needed a way to keep our things safe and dry in the back of the truck.

2) How would we get our bikes to California, and keep them from getting stolen or broken?

Dan's first thought was to get a camper shell for the truck, that way we could lock it and it would keep everything dry and dust free. But, with the global production issues there was a LOOOONNNGGG lead time on getting a camper shell. The alternative was a bed cover, which at first we weren't too excited about, but that quickly changed once Dan was able to talk to the business that sells and installs them.  They recommended this super awesome one that is hard, rolls smoothly up and out of the way, and locks!  With that decided and an installation date scheduled Problem 1 was solved.  

But how to transport the bikes was still in the air.  We didn't want to mount them to the back of the RV because we have heard some horror stories of them breaking off the bumper and being destroyed. We thought about mounting them to the front of the truck, but that didn't seem very appealing either. Then we found out we could have a mounting system installed over the bed cover. Dan did some research and found a great option.  He got the install scheduled and done!  Problem 2 solved!

We were officially ready to hit the road!

 

On the Road Day 1 - May 11, 2022

We left the house around 7:45AM CST and started our day. It was a pretty easy and uneventful drive. The boys were playing the license plate game and doing pretty well on IH10. We stopped every 2-3 hours for gas, bathroom, and leg stretches. There was not much going on to write about...until El Paso.

We were in stop and go traffic at about 4:45PM MST in El Paso, TX. We were pretty close to being through the traffic and on our way out of town when **BAM** we got rear ended. It was quite unexpected because we had been fully stopped for about 5-10 seconds already. Luckily there were no injuries since it was a low speed accident, but there was a lot of damage to the back of the RV.

  

 

 

 

After exchanging insurance and contact information we drove to the nearest Camping World, which luckily was only a few minutes away. They helped us get the RV unhooked from the damaged trailer hitch and did a preliminary scan for any significant structural damage. 

Its times like those that I'm happy Dan is there. I would have given up and gone home, but Dan insisted we keep on trucking. He kept the vacation going and I will be forever grateful for that!

So we were back on the road and set to arrive at our first planned overnight stop at 6:00PM MST. Now it was HOT out and we were planning to stay at a rest area with no power hookup for the RV. So it was going to be HOT in the RV.  Dan wasn't tired so he suggested we just keep driving. I found another nice rest area about 3.5 hours away, so we headed to it. We got to see a beautiful sunset and some cool mountain profiles.

 

 

 {Can you find the face profile in the mountain ridge?}

 

We arrived at the Texas Canyon Rest Area in Arizona at about 9:45PM MST. We pulled in between a couple big rigs and called it a night.

{Our rig next to their rigs.}

{Crazy rock cliffs in the Texas Canyon Rest Area}

 On the Road Day 2 - May 12, 2022

 

Since we made such good time on Day 1, even with an accident, we decided to arrive at our first RV park stop a day early. So driving Day 2 went pretty much the same as Day 1, only no more accidents.

 

 {Leaving Arizona}

{Rolling into California}

{Still driving}

{Cool looking rock formations}

 

{Saw lots of wind turbines}

We made it safely to our destination, Orange Grove RV Park and Resort in Bakersfield, CA. We got everything set up for use for the next couple of days and looked around the park some. There were orange trees all over the park so B decided to pick an orange. It was not very good, but it was fun to pick.

 

Then Dan went out in search of hot food and brought back some Fat Burger for dinner! Yum! After that we played a few games and then went to bed to rest up for the next day's adventures.