I’m going to start this post off by saying I am not a camping person.
I liked tent camping with my family as a kid, but as I became a teenager I stopped going on family camping trips. I’m not really sure why, but a big part of it probably had to do with the fact that I was self-conscious about wearing shorts in general, let alone a bathing suit.
Now that I’m almost 39 years old, with a 4 1/2-year-old, in the middle of a pandemic over the summer – my family decided to buy a small travel trailer for responsible travel camping trips around California. Because now is a great time to be a tourist in your own backyard (aka take a staycation).
Normally we would travel down to the LA area to see the in-laws a few times per year, but considering that LA is currently the epicenter of COVID-19 cases here in California (almost 20,000 in the past two weeks, compared to 600 here in Contra Costa County, which is also TOO HIGH for my liking), we don’t see ourselves going down there anytime soon.
My dad and stepmom have a large trailer that they used to go camping several times throughout the year. They’re based in Placer County where the cases are much lower and last weekend they went camping on the delta in Oakley, Ca, and we went to visit them for a socially distanced meet up during the day. Our little four-year-old fell in love with everything about camping, the picnic table, the sticks (lol), the bbq, and he just thought it was hilarious that the trailer had a TV.
Buying a Travel Trailer for Responsible Travel in California
My husband and I decided to start looking for a trailer (and a new truck for my husband so we can tow the trailer) so we could do more camping trips with our small family. With the pandemic showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon, we felt that camping may be one of the best ways to take vacations during the summertime.
According to the CDC, trailer camping checks off several boxes when it comes to responsible travel during COVID19:
✔️ Outdoors (Activities are safer if you can maintain at least 6 feet of space between you and others)
✔️ Fewer people (since we plan on going camping in Northern California areas less impacted by the coronavirus -- NOTE * That doesn’t mean we will be careless since we know it’s not gone, and other travelers could bring it to the area, etc.*
✔️ Having a space to use the restroom and wash hands close by is essential to being safe and a trailer is better suited than tent camping where you would have to use the communal bathrooms to do your business.
✔️ Once again -- being outdoors, and bringing several masks for any grocery trips is key to any forms of responsible travel in California, or elsewhere.
Doing trips during the week also is also a way to stay safer while traveling. Right now many campgrounds are already getting calls for reservations for the weekends, so my family decided to go camping during the week a few times this summer.
Also - anytime you go shopping or want to venture out to eat outdoors at a restaurant, go early to avoid crowds! We realized this was an important travel tip for traveling with a toddler many years ago!
Rv Shopping During a Pandemic
It’s kind of like shopping for a new house, you look online and get excited about all of the cool features and non-negotiables you are looking for (Think House hunters where everybody needs an open floor plan and good lighting). But then when you get to the RV sales lot, you realize that all of the features you may want don’t really work with the size of the RV you’re looking for, and the price point so you have to make some adjustments to your non-negotiable.
We visited Camping World in Vacaville, California, and didn’t have the best experience with the trailer salesman. He didn’t seem to really enjoy his job. Or maybe he was just mad because he had to wear a mask on a 90° morning. He did tell us that sales of trailers, specifically the smaller version have gone up by 400%.
He mentioned that families looking to buy a trailer for the first time are looking at the smaller version. And that checks out because, just like us – they aren’t sure what they’re getting themselves into - so the smaller the better makes sense for first-time travel trailer buyers!
Things to think about before you buy a trailer:
DO THIS FIRST! Where are you going to store it? Call a few local RV storage places and just make sure that you can reserve a space before you buy your RV. Like I said before RV sales are going up, which means people need a place to store them and it took us a WHILE to find one.
Talk to your family about what do you need from a trailer, and write down your top non-negotiables.
Look online, and go shopping in person.
Make sure whatever truck or SUV you have to tow will work with the size you want.
Ask yourself if can you rent an RV or trailer first before buying? We realized pretty quickly that every weekend this summer is sold out in terms of renting. Which is why we were so quick to buy. Double-check your neighborhood and see if you can rent during the week instead.
Start doing your research on where you would like to stay. This is where we had a lot of hiccups. Mostly because it turns out that campground websites are really bad. I spent about a half-hour trying to find how you can make a reservation at Doran Beach in Sonoma County, I got sent to three different websites, nothing worked or else it told me to go somewhere else, and frankly I gave up without finding out any information. It definitely left me with a bad taste in my mouth for Sonoma County Regional Parks. But at the end of the day I do understand that with COVID-19 and so many places being closed, it’s not as easy as it used to be.
If you’re willing to spend a little bit of extra money, definitely check out the KOA. Yes, reservations are a little bit more expensive, but the website is easy to use, there are so many amenities, especially great for small kids and families. And there are a lot of KOAs around California. They are right off of the highway, and not in a beautiful setting, but they are very convenient.
We are planning a two-week-long RV trip to Portland, and Seattle, and back home and for the most part we will be staying in KOAs along the route. The website made it easy to plan out our trip also with a handy map.
If you are looking for responsible travel options in California, I definitely recommend camping. Whether you camp in a tent, an RV, a trailer, or a cabin – you and your family can be outdoors, social distancing, hopefully staying away from crowds - and making lots of great summer memories that will last a lifetime.
