Current Location: Vacationer RV Park, El Cajon, California

Today was another long drive – 489 miles. We pulled out of Pleasanton around 8:00 AM and pulled into our spot here in El Cajon about 8:00 PM. Having not investigated the best route (if there is one) through the Los Angeles area, we just stuck with I-5 all the way through. Traffic was a mess most of the way through that area and off and on down the coast into the San Diego area. It would often slow to a crawl, but never really stopped, so it was tedious but didn’t add hours to the commute.

The only big climb was Tejon Pass. We actually had to pull over once on the way up due to the engine temperature climbing on us. A few minutes at a pull-off (with water, though we didn’t need any) allowed us to run back to the trailer and use the restroom as well as let the truck cool off. We were most of the way up the hill by that point, so the rest of the climb was uneventful.

At the top of Tejon Pass

As we were passing through Los Angeles, about the time Malcolm thought we better call the campground to let them know we’d be late, they called us. We assured them we would arrive today sometime, but it would be late. They left our welcome packet up front and told us to check in with the camp host. Since it was dinner time after we left Los Angeles, we stopped and ate sandwiches at a rest area near the ocean.

Pacific Ocean

Once we got to the park here, we found the camp host who was very nice and showed us the different spots that were available. We selected the one pull-through site that we later found was marked on our paperwork, so it was a good choice. The park is fairly tight, so backing our rig into a back-in site was going to be a challenge.

The area outside the park is a little run down, a little industrial, but the park itself isn’t too bad. One advantage is that there is a Ford dealer right next door. Malcolm wanted to get some work done on the truck while we were here, so Val can drop it off and walk back to the trailer. We will be picking up a rental car Monday morning that Malcolm will use to drive to work (and we’ll probably take advantage of for traveling around town when Malcolm’s not working).