Are we the only people in all of So Cal who love to camp?

[funfinderlisa]

Hello - I am new here, and I was wondering...are we the only people in all of So Cal who enjoy camping? :0
I'm beginning to think so! We got our TT last June. My Husband is an experienced camper, and I loved camping as a kid, so we were really excited to hit the road and meet some fellow campers.....but everywhere we go in CA, the people we meet are visiting from another State! There must be other people out there who are camping, from So Cal? We enjoy camping at the State parks and places where we have the feel of really camping...so maybe that has something to do with us only meeting out of town folks? Just curious... 🙂

[doc_brown]

funfinderlisa wrote:

downtheroad wrote:
Maybe everyone who lives IN So Cal is trying to get OUT of So Cal...:)

Lol! Isn't that the truth! I would SOooo NOT be living here if I had my choice! Even though I'm a native, I've always loved Northern California...but our work keeps us here - in the rat race, better known as The OC. 😉

Yep. I spend 95% of my time out of California when camping.

[MontanaCamper]

Glasgow???

[Cyborgie]

I lived in the part of Montana where you could "loose your mind" and unfortunately, I get to go back there.

[profdant139]

Hiway 4x4, if you can go 500 miles in a day, there is a ton of stuff in easy range -- southern Utah, the north and south rims of the Grand Canyon, all of the eastern and western Sierra . . .

[Highway_4x4]

I have no problem with So Cal, 61 years now, so many great things here. The weather is great,,, the weather is great, and, did I mention that the weather is great. As I travel with just dog a lot I am making a list of just the places I can get to in one day travel, say <500 miles and feel OK alone when I get there. High rated in TL or Woodalls or a known great State or Fed camp.

[WoodGlue]

Montana is a State of Mind 🙂

WoodGlue

[gon2dadawgs]

"It may be the folks from other states/countries are friendlier so it seems like they are in the majority. Many of our friends in southern California don't even know their next door neighbors even though they have been living in the same house, condo or apartment for many years."

We have been "stuck" in So Cal for too long, job, and when we wandered 6000+ miles around the country.....sorry to say we found the above statement to ring true. One couple in Iowa said "you two can't be from California.....you're too nice".....humm.

Michael

[MontanaCamper]

funfinderlisa wrote:

MontanaCamper wrote:
Sooo while reading all the information on Southern California on this thread..a question arose...How far do you have to drive to be able to camp? Never been there so don't know anything about it, know only what I've seen in Rockford Files as a kid...

You live in Montana....Why on Earth would you ever need to go anywhere else? :B That's funny, I used to watch Rockford Files all the time as a kid...

Love Montana..45 min east, forest...1 hour west, forest.. 45 min south, forest-lake.. 2 1/2-3 hours north, Glacier.... Can't beat it.

[profdant139]

Niner, my links appear to be working for me and many other folks -- I don't know what's going on. Is your browser up to date? (I have no idea what that means, but that's what people say to me when I am having web trouble.) 😉

[NinerBikes]

profdant139 wrote:
Hey Lisa -- check out our blog links below. We are SoCals who camp in a Fun Finder. And let's try not to encourage other SoCals to join us -- there are maybe 25 million folks here. Tell them all to stay home and go to the beach! (The water is warming up nicely -- it is up to the mid 60s, which is high for May.)

Your links went buh bye...

But I do travel trailer here in So Cal also... 21 ft gazelle. Finding it just easier to boondock instead of dealing with reservations, which completely takes away from the spontanaity of doing a trip in the first place.

[profdant139]

Lisa -- in keeping with the general California theme of this thread, and in response to your statement that you love looking at great camping blogs, check this out:

Ski3Pin's amazing blog

These folks camp in a TC, not a TT, but you can get to many of their destinations in a TT, if you drive slowly and carefully. They boondock mostly in the Eastern Sierra south of Tahoe, an area we can reach from Southern Calif via 395 in a long day of driving. (They also travel in Nevada, which is also reachable.)

This person's blog is worth spending a lot of time on -- he has many, many posts with amazing photos. Go into his archive and you will see what I mean. I do not know if this blogger posts on RV.net -- if he does, he uses a different name.

[funfinderlisa]

napadan wrote:
Profdan and Wheelingit have great blogs about SoCal camping. Try the Santa Ynez Valley, north of Santa Barbara. Paradise Road has several campgrounds with nearby swimming holes. I grew up there, and it's beautiful. Lake Cachuma is nice, too.

Oh my gosh....Napa whoever you are - Thank You for teling me about this blog!!! I'm hooked already! First of all, I love Danish people, and one of my favorite friends is Cuban, so right form the start I was liking it, so I can't wait to go back and read more! I've even Googled for hours looking for camping blogs, and the ones I find are never real people...or real blogs - but always some kind of site that tries to look like a blog, but it's really an online store or their selling something!

[funfinderlisa]

WoodGlue wrote:

funfinderlisa wrote:
Oh my gosh, I couldn't get my Husband to leave the house on a major Holiday - like this weekend for instance. I would have LOVED to go camping, but since I'm way too scared to even attempt pulling that trailer, even though I'm a good driver, and not afraid of much when it comes to driving, that trailer scares me....so we're stuck here at home. The traffic here makes me wonder why people would even want to live here at all. I would give anything to live in Montana...Now that would be the life!

OMG, get in there girl and learn how to pull that trailer! You should know how to in case you're out somewhere and hubby dislocates or breaks his arm or is unable to drive!! You should practice at the local mall parking lot or something and then join:

SistersOnTheFly


WoodGlue - that was funny! I have thought about that, and I know it's the smart thing to do, but for some reason I am so intimidated by the trailer aspect of it. I test drove class A's and class C's, and had no issues at all, but my Husband acts like it takes someone with mad skill to pull a trailer, Lol! And since he's had big toy haulers, I guess I've always felt it takes years of expertise to know how to pull a trailer. I have a hard time even helping guide him while backing into a campsite, because I don't understand the way the trailer works, and teaching is not his strong suit! Oh my gosh, I'm so terrible at it that the Sisters on the Fly would probably send me home! :E Thank You though for your input, because now I am going to suggest going to a parking lot ....(although we'd have to probably drive out of CA to find an empty one) because I do agree that for emergencies, I should know. Although, at that point I would probably just un hook the trailer, and I can put Mario Andretti to shame in the F150, Lol!


They take the occasional trip to Montana (caravan style) to fly fish, drink wine and enjoy themselves without hubbys or children LOL

If these girls can, so can you!

WoodGlue

(You're right about living in Montana! It's beautiful!)

[WandaLust2]

funfinderlisa wrote:

..... I feel like we like in the Twilight Zone....all we see is cars entering a garage and then the garage closing....we could have the UniBomber as a neighbor and I'd never know! Lol

I think this is true in most places today. People tend to keep to themselves unlike when we were young. People today have indoor entertainment and would rather watch TV or be online than outside doing something. I live now in the semi-rural south and the older people here have told me at one time people sat on their porches and chatted with neighbors, had church outings, family gatherings, family visiting from out of state etc. People were friendlier than and needed other people for companionship. Not so these days.... 😞

We see much of this in the CGs also. 😞 A rig pulls in and sets up. As soon as that's done the people go inside, close the door and you don't see them again until they leave a few days later.