Friday, January 4, 2013

Day Trip

The plan for today was a dry run to Anza Borrego State Park to check out boondocking sites and the area in general.  Started out in Temecula where I filled up the truck with diesel for $3.85 gallon (good for California).  Plugged Borrego Springs into our GPS and it said 107 miles, which I thought was a little far, but the GPS is never wrong, right?  GPS put us on I-15 south to Escondido and getting off on CA 78 eastbound.  Sure glad we were making a practice run.  CA 78 goes through the congested town of Escondido, then 50 miles of narrow, windy curving highway with steep grades.  Travel Alert:  If you have a big rig Class A or a fifth wheel over 28’, do not take CA Highway 78.  It goes through the picturesque little towns of Ramona and Julian, but the streets are narrow here also.  We finally hit a stretch of straight and fairly flat highway just before the western entrance to the Park.

Our first stop was at Tamarisk Grove Campground on S3 just off of 78.  Had a long conversation with the Ranger on site.  Our rig is too big for the campground (20 ft. limit), but we bought a map of the Park for a dollar and got a lot of good info from the Ranger.  He directed us to the most frequently used boondocking area on the north east end of Borrego Springs.  He also advised us of a much better route from Temecula to the park.  We drove to Borrego Springs and found the boondocking area:

IMG_6179                                                                       Welcome Sign                                                                         

IMG_6182                                                Class A serious Solar Panel set up  IMG_6189

                                                       Other Class A’s on site.

We were walking around with the pooches and I noticed a very unusual looking rig.  A closer look revealed German license plates.  Well, Rosie always enjoys interacting with fellow Germans so we go up and introduce ourselves to the couple with the really unusual camper.

IMG_6184

This couple is on a year long journey through North America.  They have shipped their camper to many other countries as well.  They look pretty relaxed, don’t you think.  There were three other rigs there with German and Austrian license plates.  These people must have some serious money.  I read an article recently that talked about a German shipping his Camper to the US at a cost of $4,500 one way.  Of course, it would be very costly to rent a motor home for a year, so I guess it is worth it.

It was about 120 miles getting to Borrego Springs on 15 and 78.  We returned on CA 79 and it was 64 miles back to our starting point at the gas station in Temecula.  The road was also much better in size and condition.  So now we are looking forward to a little boondocking time next week.  The new plan is to extend here until next Friday before heading out for Borrego.

After a short Wal-Mart stop for dinner items tomorrow we got back to the camp about 4:30.  The sun was setting and I got this sunset shot.

IMG_6191

Thanks for stopping by.

3 comments:

owensontheroad said...

What an interesting camper! First look I thought it was an old garbage truck :)
Howard & Linda are boondocking in Borrego as well.

The BooneDocks said...

We have only boondocked on a very limited basis, but as we travel more in the west, we guess it is something we should look into.

Jim and Judy said...

That was a very different camper for sure. Just some of the things you run across "on the road."