March 2014 RV trip Inland Empire to Santa Cruz?

[katdcliff]

Hello all, this is my first post, hopefully I can get some good tips. I just started planning my families spring break vacation for 2014. We are looking at the last week of march. It will be 7 adults, 2 kids (7&5) and 2 dogs. Around 7 days, in an RV from Riverside,CA to the Monterey-Santa Cruz area. This is my first draft of our itinerary

Saturday-Leave early, stop for lunch in Oxnard, set up camp in Morro Bay/San Luis Obispo
Sun-Tour area
Mon-Head to Monterey campsite
Tues-Aquarium,Cannery Row,etc
Wed-Big Sur, possibly leaving for campsite closer to santa cruz and san jose
Thurs-Santa Cruz
Fri-San Jose, then start back home possibly stopping to camp
Sat-Home

We will be in a 31foot RV, so I'm just wondering the best routes to take, possible areas to stop for doggy and kid breaks that can accommodate the large trailer. Does it see like enough time for the areas? And any other must see places I need to know about? Or must eat places since we are huge foodies? Oh and how busy we can expect it to be? Do we need reservations asap? And some recs for good rv campgrounds?

Thanks in advance

[glc]

Welcome!

How many seat belts does that RV have? You are legally going to have to have 9, and I can't find any 31 foot class C that have more than 7. The closest I can find is a 40 foot class A that looks like a bus.

[katdcliff]

sorry should of specified, RV is a trailer being pulled by a tundra. We will have 2-3 separate cars on the trip. so some days will involved the group splitting up.

[glc]

Okay, that makes more sense!

[Southwest Dave]

If you want to avoid taking your rig along the coast road then 101 would be your best bet between Morro Bay and Monterey and then use the cars to explore Big Sur and the State parks etc on CA1. You might also enjoy a Hearst Castle tour near San Simeon. If you are planning to drive and camp along the coast with the rig then I would head to your furthest point north [San Jose ] and then drive the coast road heading back south. The advantage to this is it would put the Ocean and Oceanside pull outs on your side of the road. With a big rig and on a road that would be slow going, you should also use the pull outs to move over and let vehicles past if you are holding them up.

With a mini convoy and a large rig to accomodate, I personally would book my campgrounds in advance.

[DonnaR57]

Bear in mind that some campgrounds will charge you if you have more than one vehicle for your site. One tow vehicle and one 5W or TT per site. Extra vehicles, often an extra $1-2 per night per vehicle.


Donna

[Charlie H]

While in the Monterey area, the drive along Ocean View Blvd. in Pacific Grove is a beautiful drive and unlike the 17 Mile Drive, it is free.