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bkpine · 08-14-2002, 10:49 AM

Anxious to take trailer out with the family. Any ideas on some great locations in California that are trailer friendly? Some form of water would be nice.

jkleven · 08-14-2002, 11:25 AM

You might try Woodall's campground directory, if you haven't already.
I have not been there yet, but thought Lake Cashuma (sp) above Santa Barbara would be good. We have camped at Lake Casitas near Ojai and liked it. They have some full hookups right on the lake, but hard to get a reservation. Lake San Antonio is good, also. Just throwing names at ya. Haven't really done much 'lake' camping. Newport Beach Resort has some nice water front sites for $179/night. :-)

Jack Kleven
Simi Valley

bkpine · 08-14-2002, 11:34 AM

Thanks Jack.
May check out some San Onofre for the surf.
Keep ya posted.

InsideOut · 08-14-2002, 12:17 PM

San Onofre is great for surfing...I lived in SoCal for 30+ years, & my husband surfed there often. We have tent-camped there, but never in a trailer. The typical site is along the frontage road to the freeway with a short hike down the cliff to the beach...beautiful beach & sunsets, but not much with regards to amenities though. But if you have an Airstream...what more do you need!

Another option is, there is a campground available to military personnel @ Camp Pendelton...I think it's near "Ol' Man's"...

Good luck & have fun!

Shari

83Excella · 08-14-2002, 08:32 PM

Both Woodall's & Trailer Life camping directories are online, links are in the links forum.

John

uwe · 08-14-2002, 10:25 PM

bkpine,

we checked out San Onofre. It's a wonderful place, as long as you don't mind a nuclear power plant, Hwy 5, and the Amtrak all being within 300 feet from your campsite. Oh, and it's reservation only, I believe. You'll get a lot of " Campground full" action there, despite the noise, dust and occasional nuclear glow in the dark shark.
A great place to park and go surf, but we found it annoyingly noisy and dirty.
Try the county and state campgrounds instead. There is a ca state website with all the parks. Also ocparks.com
O'Neill is a pretty good one for the family. No lake, but a safe place for a first time outing.

74Tradewind · 08-15-2002, 10:05 AM

You could try going up the coast a little to Leo Carillo, sites are small but your 18' would fit. Go on up a little more to Sycamore Canyon, not on the beach but quick access. Just a little further is Thornhill-Broome where you can park parallel to the beach sit on your step with your feet in the sand, firepits and tables too. All these places are "dry" but there is a dump station at Sycamore Canyon you can use is you have your receipt from the other campgrounds.

There is a little known secret place that we love to go to. It is a fair schlep but worth the trip. Go to Jalama Beach right by Vandenberg AFB near Lompoc. They have a web site just search for Jalama. Many sites have elect. Some are Dry. All are in a great location and you are right at the beach. Great little store and grill where you can get a "world famous" Jalama Burger.
Good surfing also.

Call first and then Go Quickly as they fill up fast. It is first-come-first-served with no reservations except for the group sites. If you don't call first remember it is an hour drive each way from civilisation and the highway if they are full when you arrive. (Buellton is the nearest RV camp).

Good luck! BTW Jalama would be a great place for a group campout with other forum members later this summer.

Anyone interested?

Ciao, Brian

uwe · 08-15-2002, 10:39 AM

Definitely interested. Let's make a plan!
Seems we got quite few members close enough to go.
It would be about a 4 hour schlepp for me to Vandenberg AFB, or Buellton

bkpine · 08-15-2002, 10:54 AM

Thanks for the updates on local "beaching." Uwe I fired up my trailer last night. Found the pig tail. Electricity inside is perfect. Guess who was in Home Depot this morning at 6am getting "stuff?" That'd be me. Got the 12 gauge 15 amp 100' cord, yeah? I went into my backyard before I left and took some dig pix b4 I left knowing I could upload them to the forum and get some questions answered. Im down loading the camera as I type this. So buckle up. Thanks Guys. Too cool.

uwe · 08-15-2002, 11:08 AM

Feels great, doesn't it? Keep us posted!

bkpine · 08-15-2002, 11:19 AM

This is at the front of the trailer. Whats it all about. Cap is very tight, yet to get it off. Whats with the little "deal" that looks like an air valve. HELP

bkpine · 08-15-2002, 11:30 AM

Taken b4 Home Depot run earlt this AM (8/15).

uwe · 08-15-2002, 11:50 AM

That is your water tank, I believe. The earlier water systems worked on a pressurized tank. The air pressure will make the water come out when you turn on the faucet. If it's been converted to electric water pump, then you probably don't need the air fitting. I am not sure if your trailer is supposed to have an airpump or if you are to pump it up after you put water in it.
I would call Andy at www.inlandrv.com and find out.
One of our members surely knows as well.
Cool pictures. Thanks.

InsideOut · 08-15-2002, 12:01 PM

bkpine ~

Cool picture! A great place to post this would be in the

Airstream Trailers Forum (by Model & Year)

There is a thread started for your 59 Traveler and no pictures posted yet....This way we can build the library & find your pictures later.

Glad to have such an excited new member!

Shari

bkpine · 08-15-2002, 12:03 PM

What is that cap and valve thing all about? See picture.

InsideOut · 08-15-2002, 01:18 PM

I would guess that Uwe's suggestion is right, but I don't know...we don't have anything like that.

You may want to start a new thread specifically asking what it is...more people will see it, instead of it being buried in this thread about CA camping locations.

Shari

gwsullivan · 08-15-2002, 01:22 PM

Brian, we absolutely love Jalama. I think a group get-together would be fun. How many RVs do we need to reserve the group site??

74Tradewind · 08-15-2002, 05:57 PM

I called the beach and here is what they said.

The first available dates for group camping are in November!
Reservations for 2003 are being taken beginning Sept 1.

Small group is 7 or less and the large site will take 13.

If we want to go in September we can reserve for the week of the 22nd-27th. If we arrive on Sunday PM and leave Friday PM.

Sites with elect-water are available but not in the group areas. These are best found in the Monday-Friday times. They are not reservable.

With my (our) small holding tanks I would like to see us go and get sites with hookups. There is a dump station there and I have a blue tank for this. On our last outing to Tahoe we used ALL the water in four days and three showers with two grey water dumps.

We should move this thread to a camping page or something like that.

Let me know what we all want to do.

Ciao, Brian

uwe · 08-15-2002, 06:13 PM

Hi Brian,

Thanks for doing the research. Looks like the camping there is as overbooked as it is in South Orange County. San Clemente is booked through Jan., and Doheny Beach is booked clear year round. They too said to call back Sept.1 for February 2003 bookings.
Pismo has full hookups, but that's even more of a shlep for the weekend. By the way, I can not do a full week, only weekends, perhaps a Friday through Sunday trip etc.
Anyways - let's keep on brainstorming this idea. Sounds like fun to me.