Pilgrim International – Cirrus

I am an extremely satisfied owner of a Cirrus travel trailer made by Pilgrim International. It appears that PI is victim of the recession. Their home of Elkhart Indiana is one of the ten worst small cities for jobs per Forbes Magazine. As of today, there is an 18 percent unemployment rate and it said to get worse before it gets better.

With that said, us Pilgrim owners may need to discuss problems with each other for technical support since “factory support” no longer exists. E-mail me or write a comment if you are a Pilgrim owner and would like to be included in a group for technical support or just questions. Include your contact information.

Emma Wood State Beach

    Have you ever dreamed of the perfect beach setting with your RV? The trailer backed in towards the ocean. The clean ocean breeze blowing in your face. A few seagulls making some noise. An occasional dolphin sighting. The freedom of grabbing your fishing pole and walking less then 30 seconds to a place you can cast out your line. WAKE UP! You can find this at Emma Wood State Beach.

    Just on the Northern outskirts of the city of Ventura, there lies a coastal park named Emma Wood State Beach. The park is actually the old 101 freeway from many years ago. You park on sites that are connected to this main path with the back of your RV towards the water. There are no hook ups at all so bring plenty of fresh water.

    The nights are as good as the days. There is usually a fire pit made of rocks left from the previous camper. If there is no fire pit, you can easily make one with the rocks. The camp host sells firewood if you do not want to bring any. I have spent hours in a chair in front of the fire with the waves crashing just 50 feet away. The sunset is amazing. If you wake up early enough, you can get back in your chair and watch the surfers until breakfast is ready. If you have a surf board, you can catch a few waves. This park gives you the million dollar view for less then $25.00 a night.

    The park is reservation-only during the summer days. They release the sites on a first-come-first-serve basis in the middle of September. Try to get one of the sites numbered 1-8 as they have very easy beach access. They fill up fast. The best thing to do is come in the middle of the week if you want to be there for the week end. All of the prime sites are taken by Thursday night.

    This park has given my family some great experiences. If you like to fall asleep to crashing waves, this is the place to go. The waves are so close that I actually wake up in the middle of the night because they can get loud. There is a train that comes though once or twice a night so that can be noisy for a minute at a time.

    I am looking forward to spending as much time as possible at Emma Wood State Beach. Please feel free to post any comments or questions that you may have.

RV Tips for the kids

     Depending on the the type of park you are visiting, there are some that are very kid friendly and some that generate constant boredom among the hyper ones.

     I have a quick tip that helped these type of situations. The price will vary but it can last a while. Go to Target or Wall mart and visit the sporting goods section. There is a section of the store that has items like Zim Zam, Giant Badminton, Trac Ball, etc. They usually cost between $10.00 and $30.00 a game. We have all of these and our camp spot sometimes turns into a really fun place. It raises the moral for the whole family if the park is bare and it is also inviting for others to come visit. The kids will make friends quicker.

     If you have a dare devil for a child, you can bring one or two of those portable plastic bike ramps. They run about $35.00 a piece. Don’t forget the helmets.

Have a great time.

Ventura Beach RV Resort

Ventura Beach R.V. Resort
800 W. Main Street
Ventura, Ca. 93001
Phone: (805) 643-9137
Fax: (805) 643-747

     You will find that many of my articles are based out of Ventura County. The actual city of Ventura is a coastal community that is full of clean air and beaches. There are some nice areas right on the water such as Emma Wood State Beach and the Rincon. Today, we will be talking about a large park that is walking distance to the beach (recommend car or bike). The park is Ventura Beach RV Resort.

     Ventura Beach RV Resort is locating on the North end of Main St. Just about a half mile away is a nostalgic part of Ventura that has the Ventura Mission and some very old buildings. The street is full of coffee shops, restaurants, and small shops. It is a great place to spend the afternoon.

     The park is a place that you do not need to leave if you do not want to. There is a large market on the premises that sells great soft serve ice cream and everything you may need for your stay. The prices in the market are reasonable. The pool and Jacuzzi is clean. There are indoor ping-pong tables and pool tables. There is a basket ball court, horse shoe pit, and play ground for the kids. You can rent some neat 4 wheel bikes to ride around this large park.

     There are a few negatives about the park. The first is the price. It is very expensive when comparing to other parks in the area. I remember paying around $55.00 a night. The park is always full so the price obviously does not affect the demand. The second negative is the thefts at night. I have heard of bicycles being stolen during the night so make sure that you lock them up. The last negative is getting your sight when you arrive. If you arrive when the check-in/market is full, the ladies behind the counter are overwhelmed. It seems that they are on a paper system and not computers. This place is too big for paper. This can cause problems getting your space. Don’t get me wrong. They are extremely nice. They take care of problems. If anything happens, they will take good care of you.  They are worked too hard at times and this can affect customer service no matter how nice a person is. Please be forgiving and make sure that all of your details are confirmed the day before you arrive.

     If you have a few extra bucks and you want to stay at a place in which you do not want to go far for anything, visit Ventura Beach RV Park. It is very clean and you will have a great time. Be sure to check out the outdoor movie theater with a fire pit. There is also some Karaoke on certain nights. That is fun to watch but you will not see me up there. Don’t forget to lock your bikes up at night.

Have fun.

 

RV Tip for the beach.

It is a bright sunny day and the weather is warm. The RV is nestled just 50 feet from the crashing waves. The awning is out. The card table is out with an assortment of munchies and sandwich making stuff. The kids are having a great time enjoying the weekend.

This all sounds great but there is some evil behind this sense of peace. The evil is beach sand. The more kids that you have, the more sand you are going to find in every corner of your rig when the trip is over. The biggest outdoor carpet cannot stop these small grains. Even if you just put your feet in the water, the stuff gets everywhere.

Now here is the tip. On the edge of your outdoor carpet, line up two small containers in which can put your feet in. Also have a cup, chair and towel. You can rinse off your feet before going in. You may only need one bucket but two is nice incase one gets very dirty. The beach sand will sink to the bottom so the water will usually stay clean for the next use.

If you are gong to the beach, trust me on this one. You will only ignore this tip once.

Have a great time.

P.S. – If you have any tips or suggestions, please comment. We look forward to hearing from you.

RV to Disneyland

Orangeland RV Park

 

1600 W. Sturck Ave.

Orang, California 92867

714-633-0414

www.orangeland.com

 

A visit to Southern California should always include a visit to Disneyland. Yes, they say that it is the happiest place on earth. As an RVer, I say it is home to one of the best RV Parks I ever visited.

 

About a 5 minute drive from the magical kingdom is a park called Orangeland RV Park. It gets its name for two reasons. It is in the City of Orange and there are orange trees throughout the park. You are encouraged to pick and enjoy the oranges.

 

This is a very clean park. The workers treat you like one of the family. It is a comfortable place to stay and even live. The bathrooms look like they are cleaned every hour. The showers get very hot.  There are a few long term residents and they are just as nice as the workers. This park is welcoming.

 

The things to do there are endless. There is swimming, a Jacuzzi, shuffle board, ping pong, gas grills, exercise areas, and more.  My family and I have stayed there two times already. The last time we stayed there, the kids were more excited about the RV Park then Disneyland (not joking).

 

If you decide to stay at Orangeland RV Park, make sure you call them for the best price on Disneyland tickets. There might be some packages for sale. Check out their website for more details.

 

I sincerely say that out of all of the places that I have stayed in my RV, Orangeland RV Park is the best park I have seen. I look forward to visiting Orangeland in the future.

Far West Resort – A Clean Place to Relax.

 

7400 Pine Grove Rd
Santa Paula, CA 93060
Phone: (805)933-3200

    Right on the edge of Santa Paul California is a comfortable and affordable RV park nestled in the rolling hills. Less then 10 minutes off of the 126 freeway towards the Ojai Valley. You travel through Santa Paula enough to find out it is a fine community with a heritage of railroad and orchards. Remembering where the little markets are as these are the markets you will use to retrieve that forgotten item.

    We use Far West Resorts as a quick and cheap getaway when the life gets a bit hectic. It is clean and quiet place to stay except when one of the dozen roaming peacocks is calling for his friend. Although they can be loud at times, it is fun to have a strange type of bird walking around the park.

 

    As far as the park itself, there is not much to do there. There are accommodations for large groups such as a large patio, club house, and big western BBQ.  There is a small park area with horseshoe pits and a grill on the side. The horseshoe area is the nicest I have seen. There are showers if you choose not to use your own so bring your quarters. If you feel like driving 20 minutes, you can go to Ventura where there are great beaches, museums, and a beautiful Main St Ventura in which you can eat and shop for hours.

 

    The kids should bring their bicycles or some kind of riding toy if they are young. The sites are arranged in large black-top circles so the kids could ride around the loop and you can still keep an eye on them. You park your rigs on black-top and the site is mostly grass. There is not a lot of dirt so you should be just as clean going home as when you got there. If you are pulling a trailer, you can choose to park your car in your site or in a parking area. There are fire pits. Some of the pits have grills and others do not.

 

    The utilities are decent. There are no sewer hook-ups. There is just water and power. There is a drain station on your way out in which one dump is included in your stay. If your tanks fill up, you can have the “honey wagon” come by and drain your tanks at the site for a fee. There is wireless Internet but I could not get mine to work.

 

    The park is peaceful and the staff is helpful. There are no signs of the city.  If you need a nice place to go and you do not plan on doing much, this is the place to be. Bring plenty of things for the kids to do. My kids usually make a few friends when they are there. I would not travel more then a 60 minute drive to stay here unless you stay more then two nights. It is a great place to stop on the way to some place else. Some of my favorite parks that are less then 30 minutes from this one are Ventura Beach RV Resort, Emma Wood State Beach, and McGrath State Beach. I will do some reviews on them in the near future.

Hello RVers

Hello Everyone. Welcome to California RV Parks. It has been a well thought out process to get this online and we are finally here. We wanted to make sure that the site is extremely useful and fun to read. We hope you enjoy the regular blogs. Let us know how you like it.

 

The purpose of this blog is mainly for Southern California RV owners and enthusiast. Posting articles and experiences with RV parks in California can help us all by enjoying our valuable time off. Not to mention the cost of the gas to get there. There is nothing worse then traveling to a distant park just to find out that the pictures of park found on the Internet are 20 years old and the place is overcome with weeds.

 

We will soon populate these pages with some really fun stuff. We will find the RV parks that will suit our needs. We will post pictures of readers with their rigs with our most and least favorite things about it. We post tips and tricks of the camping world.

Check on us in the next couple days for the RV madness to begin.