Where to leave trailer for a day while traveling

[xplodn]

Planning out my summer road trip and have a few times where I'd love to unhook and go into a city for the day like San Francisco... Not feasible to go into it with the trailer really.

Anyone have a secret standard place to leave them or a tip? I am not planning on staying near there for the night hopefully and ant to get further north before stopping for the day.

Thanks.

[xplodn]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I went and flipped the trip around so that I'll be coming down the coast and have some more time. Plan to setup somewhere north of the city and get the time needed then go back out to camp for the night. Playing much more by ear on this trip so we will see how it goes.

[Lantley]

Burbman some it up pretty well. Why not just stay in a CG.
You want to tour the city but you don't have time to tour it? What's the rush. Slow down and spend the night or don't bother and keep moving.

[BurbMan]

3oaks wrote:

Dick_B wrote:
For us, after spending a day anyplace, it is good to come home to an RV that is hooked up and ready for cooking, showering, and sleeping.

Now that's the way we always do it. After a day of sightseeing, it's nice to spend a relaxing night in camp and start out fresh the next day. 😉

X3 on this idea.

You are worried about how two toddlers will do on the BART....think about your plan of starting off in the morning from somewhere, driving to SFO, dropping the TT, driving around the city all day in traffic, picking up the TT then heading north? It will be 11 PM by the time to get to your CG....

I would either plan to camp for at least 2 nights or go to your plan B which is take a few pics and wave driving across the Golden Gate.

We were always on a tight schedule when the kids were little and so had to pick where we would spend time and where we would drive through. Dropping the TT for a few hours to drive around town is the worst of both worlds, it eats up time but you still won't have enough time to see much.

[2112]

I have left my TT at a storage facility for a few days while visiting & staying with friends. It was just a few miles from their place whereas the closest camp site was many, many miles away.

I called ahead and made arrangements.

[pira114]

Driving in SF is not the problem. PARKING is the problem! Holy mackerel!

I wouldn't even try with a trailer. But just parking a car in a lot can run you $20-$30.

[xplodn]

I am not worried so much ah it driving in SF as I am how will the kids do being there all day then fighting to leave on the BART. It will be a weekday, but in SF that doesnt matter much the week of July 4th. Might just come in from the east, drive up to the GG park and then after we see what we see go over the bridge north to the redwoods.

[4X4Dodger]

Campfire Time wrote:
Many campgrounds and motels will let you drop a trailer. Some motels will even let you do a few hours sleep in their lots. But you have to call ahead.

San Francisco? Do not drive your own vehicle in SF or surrounding municipalities. Been there, done that. It's crazy there, worst place I ever drove. Park your vehicle somewhere and take public transportation.

Have fun!

Oh Good Grief! Why try to scare this poor OP? Driving in SF is much better than many cities in this country and abroad. Anyone can do it. I do not suggest taking your trailer to the hillier parts. But there is plenty of level space in SF too.

I prefer driving in SF to Boston any day or Philadelphia. But then again I have driven in places like Bangkok, Jakarta and Cairo, Cambodia and Sri Lanka so my idea of difficult is a bit different.

[noplace2]

mdamerell wrote:
My point, you took all the time and effort to get there. Take the time to experience it.

Bravo!

Listen to this person. Sense is being made here!

[mdamerell]

San Francisco has a pretty good public transportation system. To play tourist you'll need more than a couple of hours. Personally I'd try to find a CG near a hub to the BART and use public transportation to play tourist then come back to my trailer, get a good nights rest and then continue on with my trip. Driving into San Francisco I'd be concerned with wasting my time sitting in traffic and find parking once I got to my destination.

Just a thought to ponder. When I ran long haul I drove by and only saw most things through the windshield. So many times, while I was there, I never really got to experience being there. My goal now is to actually visit the wonderful places I drove by. I did manage to drop a trailer and visit Mount Rushmore. The attendant looked up at my tractor, didn't miss a beat, declared "pickup with a camper, $7, park over there". These days with satellite tracking, I could not get a way with that. My point, you took all the time and effort to get there. Take the time to experience it.

Good Luck and safe journey.

[3oaks]

Dick_B wrote:
For us, after spending a day anyplace, it is good to come home to an RV that is hooked up and ready for cooking, showering, and sleeping.

Now that's the way we always do it. After a day of sightseeing, it's nice to spend a relaxing night in camp and start out fresh the next day. 😉

[xplodn]

I have been to SF before with friends but we will now have a 5 and 2 year old so I am not sire what we will be able to do. Might just be best to drive over the golden gate and keep on going!

[Crowe]

Um... A campsite?

If he's not going to spend the night in the area, why spend the money?

Try any local Elks facility as well.

[RCMAN46]

Use a campground close to SF.

If you are only planning to spend a couple hours in SF you will be wasting time and money.

I can see spending at least two days in SF.

The Golden Gate bridge is at least a 1/2 day.

[Dick_B]

For us, after spending a day anyplace, it is good to come home to an RV that is hooked up and ready for cooking, showering, and sleeping.