Truck Camping Cali Series

WELCOME to the Truck Camping California series! The first part of our 12 day journey through California, camping in our Go Fast Camper on our 2012 Nissan Frontier 5′ bed, exploring through Lake Tahoe, Sacramento, Wine Country and the Pacific Coast Highway!   This first episode of the series is all about Lake Tahoe, this is the first time we’ve ever been here so we were stoked to check it out and we weren’t disappointed! The views of the water were amazing and the tall trees made us miss Home in Alaska.

The temps were cool in Lake Tahoe, they were unseasonable cold for this time of year (first night it was about 60 F and the second night it dipped into the 30s F).

Itinerary Details

Day 1: DRIVE from Las Vegas to Lake Tahoe (8 Hours)

We left at 8am and got to Lake Tahoe at about 4pm

Leveling blocks: https://amzn.to/3PH0JDM

Tonopah NV (Halloween Truck Camping Special) video:

Stay: William Kent Campground ($33/Night) – Dog Friendly campground ** there were a lot of campgrounds around Lake Tahoe that were not dog friendly. https://goo.gl/maps/cAs75QNj2kUR7LZW6  

• Online reservations available – we stayed in Spot 42 which had a huge living room area but had an unlevel parking spot which made sleeping in the truck a bit tough if you didn’t have any leveling blocks
• Features: Bathrooms and potable water. Each campsite had a picnic table, firepit and bear locker

Day 2: Exploring Lake Tahoe

Kings Beach (North Lake Tahoe): https://goo.gl/maps/FvfY6znFRPQssr3q9

Artimis Café (South Lake Tahoe): http://artemislakefrontcafe.com/

Kiva Dog Beach (South Lake Tahoe):  https://goo.gl/maps/r9yMB3ZwztxisqjQA

Stay: Camp Shelly Campground ($60/night): https://goo.gl/maps/1RZr1zH8cy9ojJxY7

• I had to call them to make the reservation. No online reservations available

Episode 2 of Truck Camping Cali in our Go Fast Camper v2 on a Nissan Frontier!

We are now 3 days in of our 12 day trip camping through California, this episode we check out Sacramento and Wine Country!

Sacramento was a great time, hanging with family and exploring the city. We loved Old Sacramento and seeing all the old buildings and railroads like we were in the wild west.  We hit up a few breweries and ended up having dinner with family for the night.

The following day we started our drive out toward Wine Country (less than 2 hours away to Sonoma/Napa area). On the way out of Sacramento we did a few “Van life” chores, got water, stocked up on food. On the way toward Sonoma, we went to a small winery called Wooden Valley Farms which honestly was the best winery we went to (for the price) on this entire trip! Highly recommend them for their atmosphere, customer service and wine! It was $20 per person for a 5 course wine tasting AND if you ended up buying wine, the price of the wine tasting would go toward wine purchases so we ended up buying 2 bottles and paid a TOTAL of $50 for both of our wine tastings plus 2x bottles of wine. SUCH A STEAL as we found out more about wineries in Sonoma and Napa which can pricey. This place was also dog Friendly which is a Plus and a requirement as we checked wineries out (it was hot out so we didn’t want to leave Rio in the truck).

After the winery we made our way past Napa/Sonoma and up toward Petaluma where we ended up camping (KOA Petaluma) which turned out to be an awesome campground, good showers and amenities (petting zoo, basket ball court, trampoline, corn hole, etc). They even had a hay ride for kids that drove around the park lol It was as great campground at $70 a night (Night 1 was 65 and Night 2 was $75 (weekend vs non weekend rate).  Great location!

Sacramento Itinerary

Camp – Sac West RV Park ($56/night): http://www.sacwestrvpark.com/

Old Town Sacramento: https://www.oldsacramento.com/

Rabbit Brewery: https://www.jackrabbitbrewingcompany.com/

Wine Country Itinerary

Camp – KOA Petaluma ($75/night): https://koa.com/campgrounds/san-francisco/

Wooden Valley Farms (the best winery we went to on this entire trip, outside seating area/dog friendly, not too crowded, awesome customer service, great deal on wine tastings ($20 per person), and very good wines!): https://www.woodenvalley.com/

Brewsters Beer Garden (Good food and bear, awesome outdoor seating area and right in the middle of town so you can park and eat there and then walk around downtown Petaluma from there): https://brewstersbeergarden.com/

Angela’s Ice Cream (Really good ice cream and we got some mini Pies to go): https://www.angelasicecream.com/

Helen Putnam Regional Park (10 minutes from KOA Petaluam): https://parks.sonomacounty.ca.gov/visit/find-a-park/helen-putnam-regional-park

Cochon Tasting Bar: https://cochonwines.com/

Highway 12 The Barn: https://www.highway12winery.com/

Murphy’s Irish Pub (Food wasn’t great but they have beer on tap and happy hour): https://sonomapub.com/

The 3rd episode of Truck Camping Cali series! This episode of jam packed with beaches, brews and good food! We kick started our Pacific Coast Highway drive from San Francisco and made our way to our first stop on the coast – Half Moon Bay! Hit the bakery there and continued the drive toward Santa Cruz where we were met with RECORD breaking HIGH temps which was pretty killer especially since we rented out a TENT on Airbnb lol We hung out in the area and ended up going to a Hawaiian restaurant which turned out really good.

Half Moon Bay State Park: 440 Balboa Blvd, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019 

Half Moon Bay Bakery: https://halfmoonbaybakery.com/

Hawaiian Restaurant: https://www.hulastiki.com/

Airbnb ($140 a night incl Taxes): https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/35256718?source_impression_id=p3_1660088093_D5KC1829akHWLsgI

Bagel place in Santa Cruz – Bagelry: http://bagelrysantacruz.com/

It’s Beach (Dog Beach in Santa Cruz): https://dogtrekker.com/yp/its-beach-santa-cruz-95060

Oyster place (Monterey Pier) – Abalonetti Bar & Grill: https://abalonetti.com/

We spent the night at the Airbnb tent by TENTR, got to sleep in a bed for the first time in 6 days which was cozy break from the Roof Top tent. Luckily, we had our all camp gear and food with us to make our stay enjoyable (food, beer, water, etc). Since there was no shower, we hosed off in the yard lol

The next day we made our way to Monterey, made a quick stop at a roadside food stand where we found the FRESHEST (and picture perfect) strawberries we’ve ever had (SO GOOD)! These Fruit stands are everywhere along the coast and highly recommend stopping at them for some fresh produce, dried fruits, nuts and other goodies!

In Monterey, we spent the night in Carmel by the River RV Park, which was an awesome park! Clean facilities, great amenities and well-spaced out spots for trailers, RVs and Vans. No tent camping allowed though.

Carmel Beach: https://www.carmelcalifornia.com/carmel-beach.htm

AW Shucks (Good Clam Chowder in Downtown Carmel): https://www.awshuckscarmel.com/

Carmel By the River RV Park ($145/night): https://www.carmelrv.com/

• Definitely one of the most expensive nights we’ve paid at an RV park but there weren’t a lot of options in the area. I think this was actually the cheapest option compared to a Hotel or Airbnb

The following day we made our way to Big Sur which was supposed to be the highlight of the trip but unfortunately, we woke up to a ton of FOG which blocked most our view of the ocean for the majority of the day. We find out later that the fog is pretty normal along the coast especially when the temperatures on the inland are high.

We ended up driving through Big Sur pretty quick, we found that most of the hikes and points of interest that we flagged were not dog friendly and the beach we tried to go to had zero parking (Pfeiffer beach). So in summary, Big Sur wasn’t what we were expecting but what can you do about the weather? Oh well

A few items on our list in Big Sur:

Bixby Bridge (too foggy to see and no parking to pull off to the bridge): https://www.visitcalifornia.com/experience/bixby-bridge/

McWay Falls: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g240329-d1379030-Reviews-McWay_Falls-Big_Sur_California.html

Pfeiffer Beach: https://www.californiabeaches.com/beach/pfeiffer-beach/

Partington Cove (not dog friendly): https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/california/partington-cove-trail

After leaving Big Sur we made our way toward Moro Bay, driving by Hearst Castle (which we thought was closed but ended up being open) and hit up Seal Rock beach where a ton of seals were hanging out on the beach. We were able to walk the boardwalk and see them close up! This made up for our sad drive through Big Sur lol

Elephant Seal Vista Point: https://goo.gl/maps/CgRFVU1o7H7fS74x5

Hearst Castle: https://goo.gl/maps/6SAF2T3Xtpx6s8rRA (Tours $30 per person and you have to make reservations online for a specific date/time slot)

Moonstone Beach: https://www.californiabeaches.com/beach/moonstone-beach/

After the seal beach we drove into the small seaside town of Cambria, got a beer from a local brewery and walked around town.

927 Beer Company: https://www.927beer.com/

We continued on our journey and made our way to our final stop of the day – Moro Bay, where we rented an Airbnb for the night in town. Before heading to the Airbnb we stopped by the local dog beach to let Rio run around in the sand, unfortunately when we came back to the Airbnb we found out we had stepped in some Tar (legit road tar that someone graciously left for dogs and humans to step on). We spent around an hour trying to wash this crud off (or at least most of it). We ended up getting some take out Italian food nearby and called it an early night.

Morro Bay Airbnb ($120/Night Total inc Taxes) – great place to stay, our host Barry was awesome! https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/13778864?source_impression_id=p3_1660088796_U%2FQiJqPscbnL9e51

Morro Bay Dog Beach: https://goo.gl/maps/vBWgoPTdJFuVhK3f6

Italian Food: https://goo.gl/maps/qt3kJPqLnsXNZniF8

The 4th and final episode of the series!

We woke up early the next morning to catch a tour at Hearst Castle! One of the more highly recommended points of interest that multiple people recommended to us. And since it was open we figured we better jump on it! We went early so we could leave Rio in the truck (temps were in the 50s so we knew she would be fine for an hour in the truck). We started the truck’s auto start before we left to get the truck really cold.

Hearst Castle was wild. The tour we did was the grand room tour (there were tours for other sections of the Castle – this place is so big (65k SqFt) the is no single tour that can cover everything).

After the Castle tour we made our way back to Morro Bay and had lunch at one of the most popular spots in town, Bayside Café, known for its good clam chowder and fish tacos! Both of these didn’t disappoint, the tacos were delicious! They are also dog friendly with a nice patio area along with heaters when its cold out

Bayside Café: http://baysidecafe.com/

After lunch, we walked around Morrow Bay State Park Boardwalk which was right across the street from Bayside Café. https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=594

Kelsey Winery: https://www.kelseywine.com/

We continued our journey toward Pismo Beach, went to an awesome winery (Kelsey Winery) with a bunch of peecocks free roaming lol Also dog friendly and you could taste test both their wines and ciders!

We then made our way to Pismo Beach downtown area, saw the beach, walked around downtown and grabbed some BBQ for dinner which was SO GOOD! We ordered a bit too much so we took that to go and had the left overs for breakfast the following morning. We stayed at Pismo Dunes RV park which lined the Pismo Dunes, which was amazing. Such a cool place to hang and play in the sand! The camp spots were a bit close to each other and the amenities were kinda rusty but overall a good place for a one night stay.

Pismo Beach BBQ – Central Coast MEAT Market: https://www.centralcoastmeatmarket.com/

Pacific Dunes Ranch RV Resort ($85/night): https://www.rvonthego.com/california/pacific-dunes-ranch-rv-resort/?utm_source=yext&utm_medium=directory&utm_campaign=Yext%20Directory%20Listing

We made our way to Solvang, the Danish Capital of America! It was like walking into another country with the building architecture (and Katy Perry blasting lol). In Solvang we walked around and ran into a Pride festival, got a beer and went to find some food! We ended up at a hot dog house with giant beers and really good dogs!

Copenhagen Sausage Garden: https://www.csg-solvang.com/

Danish Mill Bakery and Coffee house – GET A DANISH! SO GOOD: https://www.danishmillbakerysolvang.com/ After exploring Solvang we make our way toward Santa Barbara for our last night in the truck! We walk around Santa Barbera, exploring downtown and the pier. Grab a few drinks and appetizers before making our way to the Santa Barbera RV Park! This is a small park next to the highway (there is a highway noise but we knew that coming in) but for $65 a night we cant complain 😊

Milk and Honey – good Happy hour (food and drinks were great but drinks are expensive):

Santa Barbera Sunrise RV Park ($65/night): https://santabarbararv.com/

Moby Dick Restaurant – good fish and chips: https://mobydicksb.com/

The Santa Barbera RV Park was great! It’s a small family owned park with everything you need, clean bathrooms/showers, close to the beach and downtown but it’s a bit loud since its close to the highway but we knew that coming in. At this price point compared to our other options we ignored it lol

The following day we had Danish’s from Solvang for breakfast which was AMAZING, probably some of the best Danishes we’ve ever had 😊 We walked the beach in Santa Barbera to say bye to the coast which I’m glad we did because we didn’t get a chance to hit the beach in Malibu. Malibu traffic ended up being CRAZY, the beaches there were so busy with cars and traffic on all sides of us and it didn’t get any better as we came closer to LA. What should have been a 3 hour drive ended up being an extra 2 hours for a total of 5 hours on the road which was killer. We were happy to finally get to LA and settle into our Airbnb for the night. We found our hotel to be in a bit of a sketchy location but the room itself was nice and updated. They were pet friendly and had a pool.

The following morning we hit the road and made our 3.5 hour drive back to Las Vegas.

And that concludes our 12 day trip around California! What an amazing adventure.

Cost Breakdowns:

GAS TOTAL for 1500 miles: ~$800

Accommodations TOTAL (RV Parks/Airbnbs): ~$850

And each day we probably spent about $100 a day for both of us in food/other items

In total we spent under $2500 for a 12 day jaunt around California!