Trip Planning

[olddog49]

Planning trip from Vegas to the Napa Valley area in late Feb or early Mar. Anyone with info good bad and indifferent. Will probably make it a 2 day travel, trying to stop half way. Mountain area of concern if any? And any suggestions would be helpful, thanks in advance.

[biosensai]

My routing app suggests that your route be to Barstow then to Bakersfield & up I5. That has you going over the Tehachapi grade. The pass isn't an issue, but check ahead for wind warnings in the area. Bakersfield has a number of good parks - check campgroundreviews.com. Almond Tree, a little past there is fine, but the sites are narrow for rigs with slides on both sides if you have neighbors in those sites. (Having said that, I remember the name as Almond Tree, but my files show it as Somerville.). We prefer to use 99 as opposed to 5 cutting over at 120 & 205.

[Percival6]

Originally Posted by olddog49

Planning trip from Vegas to the Napa Valley area in late Feb or early Mar. Anyone with info good bad and indifferent. Will probably make it a 2 day travel, trying to stop half way. Mountain area of concern if any? And any suggestions would be helpful, thanks in advance.

Going across the Tehachapi Pass on Highway 58 is the the best way to go. Just check the weather first to make sure that no winter storms are headed that way. Thus avoiding L.A. entirely. But if you have the time, going thru L.A. , to the coast, and up 101 is an awesome drive, just came up that way last week.

If you are in more of a hurry, then go over Tehachapi and take either 99 or I-5. I-5 is very boring, but if there are dense fog advisories in the central valley I would avoid 99.

As said before you can either head into the Bay Area at I-580 then to 680 or go a little further north and take Highway 12 thru Fairfield and into Napa. Do NOT take Highway 4 the road is built on top of a network of levies that are on the verge of collapse.

Just so you know there is no other place to cross the Sierras between highway 58 and Highway 50 or I-80, all passes are closed for the winter, and most you would not want to take a motorhome on even if they were open.

Good luck! Enjoy the trip and your stay in Napa. You picked a good time of year to visit, everything is green and there are next to no crowds in The Valley. If you want to splurge on a dinner one night, try Auberge du Soliel above Yountville, near Rutherford. Beautiful views over looking the valley, DW and I got engaged there many years ago! Though you can't go wrong with any restaurant around here

[twogypsies]

We've always traveled up Hwy 395 and taken 50 into Sacramento/Napa. You could also take I-80. Hwy 395 is a gorgeous drive with many nice campgrounds.


However, I just re-read your post and you're leaving Feb/March. This is too early in the season for 395. Can you travel later?

[olddog49]

Originally Posted by twogypsies

We've always traveled up Hwy 395 and taken 50 into Sacramento/Napa. You could also take I-80. Hwy 395 is a gorgeous drive with many nice campgrounds.


However, I just re-read your post and you're leaving Feb/March. This is too early in the season for 395. Can you travel later?

Think we decided to go later in year, maybe August or September. Thanks for your imput.