US Highway 395 - good to travel in a motorhome?

Craig....395 is a little out of the way to go, but is okay with a motor home. It's a lot of desert, but is pretty as you get farther north. Campgrounds in that area are often closed until spring or early summer, so check before you go. There are some grades and curves near June Lake.

Do you not want to take I-5 or 99, the most direct routes?

Craig95005 wrote:
Planning a trip that will take us from Southern California to Sacramento, and looking at US 395 as the way to go. I remember driving it many years ago when I had a primitive motorhome but don't recall many details. Is it a pretty drive? Is the road okay? Any recommendations as to RV Parks along the way? Thanks.

Craig,
We've done it several times. There's some things to think about here. One, and in my opinion, the most important one. L.A. traffic is now and has been bad at just about all times of the day. And that includes the middle of the night. Some who live in that area may differ but, I can only speak from the times we've been through L.A. at various times and have stopped, completely dead stopped, in the middle of the freeway, for what appears to be no reason at all, several times.

Two, I don't know about I-5 now but, for years both it and 99 have been in seriously bad shape. I'm talking some major sized pot holes and bad concrete. Again, it's been a while but, I've not heard too much about "how nice the I-5 or 99" drive is now". I can speak directly from experience in the 395.

First off, basically from the Temecula on I-15 area, all the way through the San Bernadino area, and up to the split of 15 and 395, there's very little to see but freeways, residential and, commercial buildings. Once your in the split area, around Adelanto, it get's even more boring. From that point, all the way to about, Independence, plus or minus a few miles, it's nothing but desert.

Now, this is what we do but, not many would take this approach. I'm not EVER going to go through L.A. again, as long as I live, if I have any choice in the matter. And, you have to, to get to even 99. So, what we do is, since we live in Ramona, we pack up, get the coach and toad ready and park it in our street at home. At straight up midnight, we fire it up and head down to 15.

Once on 15, there's absolutely no traffic, coming or going and, I'm not jockeying for position with a zillion trucks, School busses, rice burners trying to zip in and out of lanes and all that. It's seriously peaceful. We climb the Cajon Pass in complete calmness. Once at the top, where the split is, we're almost completely alone, all the way up the baron 395 all the way to Independence, Big Pine, lone Pine and Bishop, where we've broken into daylight. Doing it that way is so phenomenally peaceful, it's incredible.

There's no competition for lanes, no one's pushing us and we're not pushing anyone. We've done it that way for the last two Eastern Sierra trips and, as far as I'm concerned, I'll not do it any other way. Now, as for the road, it's flawless. Your motorhome will love it. It's been good pavement for about 95% of it. And the bad parts, are still light years better than I-5.

Now, again, not many guys would do this. Some, have bad eyesight at night, some loose judgment, some get sleepy and more. And that's fine. I wouldn't want anyone out there, at that time of night, that's not enjoying his/her trip.

And, like stated, in my opinion, between Temecula CA and, Lone Pine/Big Pine/Bishop/Independence etc. there's absolutely nothing you're going to miss. From those towns on, that's a whole different story.

And, when coming home, we depart Bishop at the same exact time, MIDNIGHT! We fight no traffic, all the way home until we get to around Escondido at about 6:00-6:30 A.M. Even then, it's not bad 'cause we cut off of 15 at Camino Del Norte. Good luck on what ever route you choose. Have a safe trip.
Scott

We're based in Northern California and will probably take 101 down south, which is much more interesting than I-5. One of the things we want to visit in Southern California is the two presidential libraries there - Nixon and Reagan - and you have to brave the traffic if you're going to see them.

In fact, presidential libraries are a good theme for a motorhome trip. We toured the LBJ and FDR libraries on previous trips and I suspect they are all fascinating; the ones we saw certainly were. The next time we go on a circuit around the US we'll catch as many as possible, along with other historical museums. One that I highly recommend is the George H.W. Bush WWII museum in Fredericksburg, Texas. Outstanding.

As bad as the traffic can be in LA, I've had reasonably good luck at times as long as I got there before 3 PM.

Thanks for the information on 395.

Craig95005 wrote:
Planning a trip that will take us from Southern California to Sacramento, and looking at US 395 as the way to go. I remember driving it many years ago when I had a primitive motorhome but don't recall many details. Is it a pretty drive? Is the road okay? Any recommendations as to RV Parks along the way? Thanks.

All road lead to fun in a RV.

Craig.....I can see the Reagan library from my backyard. If you plan to visit, there are really NO campgrounds near by, but there is a Walmart that allows parking in Simi Valley. It's about 3 miles from the library. There is a small County Park, called Oak Park, that has RV sites nearby. It's safe, but kind of a dive.

PM me if you need more info about the ins and outs of the Reagan library.

How do you plan on getting fro 395 to Sacramento? I80 would be your best route but the longest, next would be US50 but lots of two lane and some steep grates. There is CA89 but but I wouldn't recommend it in an RV.

For a completly differnt route to Sacramento, take a look at:
1. 210 to I-5 to 126 to Ventura. At 101 head towards Santa Barbara, Pismo Beach.
2. Continue north up to Hwy 46 then head east to I-5
3. Go north on I-5 and you will be in Sacramento in about 4 hours.
This a very scenic route and gets you to the ocean at Pismo Beach. All the hwys. are ok for RV's. On your return trip to L.A. you might want to consider I-80 to Reno or 395 and then south all the way to L.A.

Hwy 395 is excellent for RVs and we take Hwy 50 into Sacramento. Have a good trip! There are many nice forest service campgrounds and boondocking spots along the way on 395.

You asked about 395 for larger RV's. We have a 36'DP and tow a Nissan Xterra. We take 395 from Reno to So.Cal all of the time. You will go from sea level in LA and San Diego to 5,000' in Bishop to 8,200' at Conway Pas above Mono lake and back down to 4,500' in Reno. 395 is a superb 2 and 4 lane hyway all the way. Very pretty drive from Bishop to Reno thru the Sierras. The climb/grade from Bishop to Conway Pass is a long one mostly 4 lane but oddly only about 25 miles is 5/6% grades. From Bridgeport north the road is next to the Walker River with some USFS campgrounds on the river, very accessible and can handle larger RVs, all dry camping. South Of Lone Pine is a very fine RV park Boulder Creek with all amenities....50 amp, sewer & water hook ups, a pool etc. Fill up in Bishop at the Vons store ( Safeway store) has good diesel prices. Just south of Independence is the Ft. Independence Fuel stop with the best gas/diesel prices between Bishop and Carson City/Minden/ Gardnerville. Enjoy your trip up 395.

395 is one of the smoothest routes in CA only issue for you would be cutting over the mountains to Sacramento. Lots of cool things to see.

Regarding rv camping near Reagan Library there are two county parks. Tapo offers full hookups and is about 15 min from the library. Oak Park is partial hookup and about 8 min away.