Escondido to Santa Paula, California
Ventura Ranch KOA
Distance: 190 miles
Duration: 1 night
Cost: $45 (normally $55, but the cable was out)
Weather: Sunny and 80s
After breakfast and goodbyes, we were back on the road heading north to Santa Paula. I've never driven an RV in L.A. and even driving a car there can cause a lot of stress. So, I did a lot of research trying to find the best possible route for this leg of the trip, getting advice from relatives, friends and bloggers who either live in the area or have traveled that freeway system. The consensus was to take I-15 to 210 to 5 to 126, which turned out to be just fine, with the exception of the interchange between 210 and 5, which is near Sylmar. The road was very bumpy and we probably should have taken the truck route since the ascent caused us to slow down and left me with nowhere to go to get out of the way of the merging semis. Traffic was heavy! Thankfully, that was the only stressful time of the whole day and to add to the enjoyment of the day, we had our final In-n-Out burger for this long road trip. So, L.A. wasn't a terrible experience after all.
Declan and his daddy, Tim.
So hard to say goodbye!
Santa Paula, California
We arrived at our campground and got settled in without any trouble. We've only stayed in a couple of KOAs, preferring to camp at state parks or boondock on BLM property. Sadly, this rundown campground didn't change our minds to seek out more KOAs in the future. It wasn't terrible, but it certainly wasn't as nice as the KOA in Lynden, Washington or Garberville (Benbow), Calfornia. We had some shade, but no grass. (For future reference, the lower level loops have grass next to the sites.) The KOA offers electric/water hookups and provides a dump station near the front office. We needed a few blocks to get level and the walk to the showers/restrooms were quite a distance from our site. On the plus side, it was quiet and we enjoyed watching a dozen or so peacocks wandering around our loop. I'll take those over javelina any day!
Ventura Ranch KOA
One of a dozen.
No grass next to the campsites,
but there was a large section the middle of the loop.
Overlooking the lower loop.
Final Thoughts: Nothing special, but sufficient for an overnight.
