December Trip - Oregon

December 2007
For Christmas we took the TAB on the longest trip we have been on so far. We went to Jefferson, Oregon..(565 miles)

We left Walnut Creek around 7:00 pm Saturday Dec 22.. We decided to stay overnight at a Rest Area just north of Yreka, CA. We stopped around 1:00am parked and got in the TAB and turned on the furnace and got the trailer warm in a few minutes.. We slept til around 8:30am, took Missy for a short morning walk and got in the Ridgeline and headed off to Oregon. We stayed in front of my brothers house in Jefferson, OR for 2 nights and drove back home to CA all day Christmas as we both had to be at work on Dec 26.

A few notes about Oregon....You can't pump your own gas.. Nice, but if they are busy it can take some time to just gas n go. Oregon has some outstanding Rest Areas, Super Clean, Lots of Room, and spaced well along Interstate 5

Napa Valley, Calistoga & Mud Baths

November 2007

Our Trip this month we stayed at the Napa Valley State Park. I always forget how close we are to the Napa Valley ( 65 miles )

We arrived around 7:30 pm Saturday on Thanksgiving weekend. There are about 40 spaces for avg sized RV/Trailers at Napa Valley State Park. There were maybe 8 spaces being used. One family was there with their small children in a tent.. (brave folks.. it was in the mid 30's over night).

We took a walk around Calistoga, CA (5 mins from camp) we had lunch then decided to take a drive to Clear Lake, CA. We walked around some of the lake, Missy met some other dogs and they played for awhile. That night we had reservations to go to Golden Haven Hot Springs Spa for a couples Mud Bath.. We slept very well that night.

Bodega Bay & New Honda Ridgeline

October 2007
Well, the much loved CRV is gone and we got a new Honda Ridgeline (I wanted the Rigdeline in 2005 when we got the CRV but Nathan won out in 05) We are a one vehicle household so we needed something that fits us all the time. We LOVE the Ridgeline, the trunk is an outstanding feature. Missy our Boston Terrier loves the big back seat of the Truck.

Our first trip we went to Bodega Bay, CA. We left Walnut Creek

Saturday after I got off work. We hit a huge traffic jam on HWY 24 just before the Caldecott Tunnel .. there was an accident inside the tunnel and all lanes blocked for an hour...

We stayed at Bodega Bay RV Park a very nice clean place. Sunday we went to Point Reyes Station, CA. We are huge cheese lovers and the Cowgirl Creamery is our favorite we got some good cheese and ate lunch in town at Rosie's Cowboy Cookhouse. Before heading back to Bodega Bay we took a nice long drive up to Occidental, Ca.

Pictures of our space at Bodega Bay RV Park

Sonoma County

Picking up our Tab

September 2007
After looking at the Tab trailer in person I made contact with every Tab dealer in California to get their best price. Some would not "give me a quote" and a few others did.

We wanted a Sliver/Jolt Grey Tab with:

- Cool Cat / Heat Pump

- Furnace

- TV-DVD

- 3 way Fridge

- Northern Breeze Vent

- Aluminum Rims

- Add a Room Tent

- Awning

- Storage Cover

- adding the hitch and wiring harness to our 2005 Honda CRV

After getting the best deal we could find we settled on California RV Sales in Fontana (about 420 miles from home).. We saved close to $4,000.. ( well worth the 6 hr drive)

We started our drive to Fontana,Ca Sunday September 23rd at 2:00am.. We drove all night.. Well.. I drove all night, Nathan does not enjoy driving as much as I do. We arrived at California RV Sales at 9:00 am ( after stopping for gas and breakfast along the way)

It was a VERY Long Day.. they put on the hitch and wiring harness on our 2005 Honda CRV. After 4 hours we finally pulled out of the dealer with our New TAB ..

We headed West to Leo Carillo State Beach near Malibu. After being up almost 20 hours I was ready for sleep.... We really liked Leo Carillo State Beach and hope to return. The area was stunning the weather was great.. Since this was our frist trip with the TAB and we wanted to head home..

Monday: It was a long slow drive back to the SF Bay Area As it turned out it was a good thing we left and planned to drive back home all day.. the CRV is good for flat land towing but for the hills in California this is NOT a good match for our TAB it was a struggle for the CRV to tow the TAB and keep up a speed of 60

After the long drive home from So Californa we started to look at getting a new Truck... A week later we got a New Silver 2007 Honda Ridgeline.