Trip to California wine country
Wife wants to go to wine country as our 1st trip in new to us RV, we live in Ohio (Columbus area) and were wondering what the best route would be considering we aren't in a big hurry. we were thinkin...
Forum Discussion
If you're first leaving in October I would suggest heading west first rather than Florida. You don't want to get stuck in bad weather. September would be even better.
From Ohio take I-80 which will put you into the Napa/Sonoma areas of 'wine country' - just north of San Francisco. Also, for both Napa/Sonoma there's Napa Valley Expo RV park which would be a very good stopping point or...pick out a RV park along Hwy 101 (NOT Hwy 1 for your first time). Make a reservation now as that's a popular time of year.
If that area and amount of time for touring is enough for you then return via I-80 to Hwy 395 at Lake Tahoe/Reno area. Take 395 south to I-40 (you'll miss a lot of Los Angeles/San Francisco traffic by the very scenic Hwy 395 (We just drove that way, once again). Then take I-40 east to connect to I-10. (Between CA 395 and Lake Havasu, AZ there are very few RV parks so when you find one closer to the 395 end you'd better take it for a night.) Lone Pine along 395 is a neat place to explore (lots of westerns made here) and has a nice RV park - Boulder Creek. You could even check out Death Valley from Lone Pine with your vehicles if you don't want to take your RVs there.
You can get off I-40 at the CA/AZ border on AZ Hwy 95 (a very good highway) and head along the Colorado River through Lake Havasu (a good stop - nice state parks) on to Parker to the 'famous' Quartzsite - which will not have thousands of RVers until January :) - and then to I-10 east to Florida by Nov/Dec.
Have a fun trip but don't rush it...lots to see along the way!
From Ohio take I-80 which will put you into the Napa/Sonoma areas of 'wine country' - just north of San Francisco. Also, for both Napa/Sonoma there's Napa Valley Expo RV park which would be a very good stopping point or...pick out a RV park along Hwy 101 (NOT Hwy 1 for your first time). Make a reservation now as that's a popular time of year.
If that area and amount of time for touring is enough for you then return via I-80 to Hwy 395 at Lake Tahoe/Reno area. Take 395 south to I-40 (you'll miss a lot of Los Angeles/San Francisco traffic by the very scenic Hwy 395 (We just drove that way, once again). Then take I-40 east to connect to I-10. (Between CA 395 and Lake Havasu, AZ there are very few RV parks so when you find one closer to the 395 end you'd better take it for a night.) Lone Pine along 395 is a neat place to explore (lots of westerns made here) and has a nice RV park - Boulder Creek. You could even check out Death Valley from Lone Pine with your vehicles if you don't want to take your RVs there.
You can get off I-40 at the CA/AZ border on AZ Hwy 95 (a very good highway) and head along the Colorado River through Lake Havasu (a good stop - nice state parks) on to Parker to the 'famous' Quartzsite - which will not have thousands of RVers until January :) - and then to I-10 east to Florida by Nov/Dec.
Have a fun trip but don't rush it...lots to see along the way!
