Friday, May 30, 2003

The First Trip, Went to The Pinnacles

Our first trip was to the Pinnacles National Monument south of Hollister, California. We stayed at the Pinnacles East Campground which is a private park just outside the monument. Our site had electric only and it being summer, that came in handy for the air conditioner. The flowers along the trails are beautiful at most times but especially on this visit in June.

The Beginning

Welcome to our site. We're Don Wood and Lou Manners.

Our first RV was a 1968 VW camper made by Concord. This camper was unusual because it had sliding doors on both the left and right. I bought it used in 1973 and put about 250,000 miles on it. The highlight trip was in 1979 when we took a six week trip around the states. We took our two dogs and went north from San Jose, California to Vancouver, Canada; East to Montana; Wyoming; Colorado; South Dakota; Chicago; Rochester, NY and Niagara Falls; Boston; New York; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Philadelphia; Washington DC; Mammoth Caves; Nashville; Miami; Key West, Kansas; and Las Vegas. We left Key West Florida with two days left of our vacation and with short stops in Kansas and Las Vegas we made it back on time, 24 hour team driving. This trip may sound a bit rushed, but it was actually relaxed.

We tent camped from about 1987 until this year (2003). This was fun but airing up mattresses and pitching tents isn't as much fun when you're only spending one night or when it rains.

We recently acquired (May 2003) a slightly used 29 foot, 1999 National Sea Breeze Class A RV. We had been attending RV shows and studying RV's for a little over a year before taking the plunge. We consider this our trainer and hope to use it for a few years then move to a larger model and possibly go full-time.


We wanted to be able to get around without breaking camp so we equipped our car for towing. We have a 1992 Volvo 240 wagon that we equipped with a Remco drive line disconnect, a Roadmaster Sterling towbar, and a US Gear Unified Brake System. The cost of the modifications probably equaled the value of the vehicle but we like the car.

Don retired June 2004, Lou in June 2005. We plan on traveling as much as possible possibly going full-time sometime in the future. We're looking for a nice place to re-settle. We'll be keeping the house until we're sure it's for us. Don has lots of chores to fix up the house and arrange for storage for when we leave.