Having safely crossed the border (see previous post) it was straight into the mayhem of Tecate and finding our way around a Mexican supermarket.  

From there it was on to our first stop which was recommended to us by @giasa.inviadi who we “met” on Instagram but who we’d meet for real at the ranch. It was great to be able to sit down with them, Raul (one of the ranch owners) and a map to plot out a route for Baja.

We basically zigzagged across the peninsula from one beach to another, moving from the heat on the Sea of Cortez to the humidity of the Pacific with one stay in the mountains for a couple of cool, dry days.

Baja is known for its beaches but the forested mountains of the Sierra de San Pedro Martin were a welcome change of scenery and at over 8,000ft a blessed relief from the sun and heat.

A little south from the Sierra is the area around Cataviña, a weird landscape of huge boulders and larger cacti.  

The landscapes have certainly been very different to what we expected and much of the central area is remote desert and extinct volcanoes.  

Motorhoming on Baja

The most difficult thing so far has been negotiating the pot holes in the roads! It doesn’t matter if you’re on the main north-south road or in a small town – every so often the tarmac is broken up, undulating or just not there. 

And if you dare to explore a little further then it’s dirt tracks and topes, speed bumps to us Brits, in a multitude of sizes.  On the plus side we’ve encountered no road rage and driving, on the whole, is quite a leisurely experience.  

No-one drinks the tap water here so we’re buying all our water from Agua Purificada shops and they are everywhere.  We are using iOverlander to find those which have a hosepipe rather than using the 20l “garrafon” containers used by locals – think the big bottles on office water coolers.  In most places it would have cost us under £5 to fill our 120l tank and despite our water filter system, we think it’s a price worth paying!

We’ve had no issues with finding fuel and all but two garages have accepted our credit card.  We are aware of a number of potential scams involving fuel stations so are extra vigilant each time we fill up but so far, we’ve had no problems.

You definitely need a constant supply of cash! Most fuel stations and large grocery stores will accept cards but for campsites it has been cash only.  We both each have Monzo and Revolut accounts so can easily withdraw sufficient cash without any UK charges but there are local fees to pay.

Wild camping is not easy in our vehicle as we cannot get too far off the beaten track but campsites are, in relative terms, cheap.  We are also conscious of our security so only wild camp where we feel safe. We’ve paid between MXP150 and MXP500 per night, the equivalent of £5.80 to £19.30 at today’s rate and what you get for that varies widely – just don’t try to compare with any sites back home. We are dry camping so no hook up and we don’t use the campsite water to top up the tank.  It has been a little difficult to truly rate the campsites as we are still very early in the season so have had most places to ourselves (not that we are complaining about that!) and a lot of places are still preparing to open fully.

Campsites used

Rancho La Bellota: no set fee but a donation is appreciated. Our introduction to Baja and a great start.  This is a working ranch and has accommodation for fee paying guests but also a small area set aside for passing travellers with its own toilet and shower.  Spring water is available and the spring also feeds a small swimming pool. All very clean and well looked after. Raul is a font of knowledge for Baja and recommended places all along the peninsula.  He and his wife Caroline made us feel very welcome.  Only downside is the 17km of off-road driving to get to the ranch.

Campo Meneses, nr Ensenada: MXP500 p/n. The most expensive site we’ve used so far but wasn’t really much more than a car park for the beach. Basic showers and toilets.

Don Eddies, San Quintin: MXP325 p/n.  As we didn’t need hook up (extra cost) we were able to park on the water’s edge.  We had access to a shower and toilet.  Restaurant and bar on site.

Parque Nacional Sierra de San Pedro Martin: MXP60.67 per day entrance fee to the park which includes camping.  The access was a bit bumpy and probably not for big rigs.  Forested campsite and we noticed a couple of Portaloos.  Well worth the 100km drive from the main road.

Quinta Cristina, south of San Quintin: MXP200 p/n. A small seaside campsite but a bit of a gem – we planned two nights but stayed for five! There are no specific pitches but there are several palapas scattered around, each with a water tap, table and BBQ grill.  There are also a couple of Portaloos. No beach to speak of but the sea is accessible.  The owner came round a couple of times a day to check everything was ok.  It’s a local fishing point and families would come to fish and have a BBQ.

Papa Fernandez, near Willard: MXP150 p/n.  Beach camping on the Sea of Cortez.  Several toilets  (Portaloo or pit toilets – it was hard to tell!) but the reviews said not to use them so we didn’t.  Restaurant has good reviews but was closed when we visited.  Great beach for bird watching.

Guerrero Negro Campground: MXP350 p/n on a fully serviced pitch. Toilet and shower available.  Nothing more than a large, open car park which was fine for a stopover as we headed south.  The campsite is behind Mario’s Restaurant which was recommended to us.  We ate there and the food was fine but as we were the only ones there, the atmosphere was lacking a little! 

Wild camping spots 

Condor viewpoint – on the road to San Pedro Martir.  Sadly no condors but a great spot with amazing views out to the Pacific.

Cactus camp, Cataviña – a night hiding in amongst the boulders and cacti.

Playa La Gringa, Bahia de Los Angeles – a large area of wild camping on the beach with the town not too far for amenities.  Toilets available as you enter the beach but follow the road round for parking on more solid ground. Great place for bird and wildlife watching.  We took a wildlife boat trip with a company in town and it was amazing – blue footed boobies, ospreys, pelicans, sea lions and whale sharks.  

We picked up the Alaska Highway again at Watson Lake following it all the way to “Mile 0” at Dawson Creek (we did it backwards!). 

By this time our route was being determined by wildfires and we did have to take Jasper off the itinerary after the devastating fire there.

Although the clock was ticking on our time in Canada we still had for a couple of diversions so stopped at Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park where we were lucky enough to secure one of the last camp spots for a couple of nights.  Camping here comes with free unlimited access to the hot springs and we spent a couple of hours soaking in the waters.

We were on a bit of a dash south but broke up one of the driving days with a stop at the Ancient Forest in the Columbia Mountains, a temperate rainforest located 800km from the ocean!  We came across this on Atlas Obscura – a great app for finding weird and wonderful places across the world. 

By not going to Jasper, our route took us past Wells Gray Provincial Park where we stayed a couple of nights.  The park is great for hiking and there are so many waterfalls. 

We crossed the provincial border into Alberta and headed to Banff, one of the main tourist spots in the Canadian Rockies. 

We chose to walk into town one day, about 5km mostly downhill and on a marked path, to explore Banff more and whilst busy, it wasn’t unbearable. Whilst known as a skiing centre, there is plenty to see in the summer and by the time we took the bus back to the campsite we were exhausted!

From the town centre we took the tour bus, about 50 mins each way,  to Lake Louise to see the famous turquoise lake – it didn’t disappoint!  There is free RV parking (day use only) near the station in Banff and from there it’s a short walk to the transport hub. 

Johnston Canyon was also worth a side trip but an early start is needed in order to secure an RV parking space! We’ve taken to getting on the road early and having breakfast once we’re parked.  We can then take our time.

For all things in the Banff area forward planning is highly recommended. Being on the road we didn’t know exactly what days we’d be there so left it late to book anything – our four night stay at the campsite was split over two pitches and the timing of the buses only gave us two hours at the lake.

At the visitor centre in Banff we were advised that some of the Icefield Parkway had reopened and whilst we could still not get all the way to Jasper, we could now get to the Columbia Icefield Visitor Centre.

It feels like we’re always saying this, but this really was one of the most spectacular drives we have done! The road cuts through huge mountains, many of them topped by glaciers.  We ran out of superlatives to describe what we were seeing.

On our way to the US border we stopped at a trail head for the Paint Pots (another Atlas Obscura find!). We weren’t sure what we were heading to and a short walk took us to two small ponds and lots of mineral filled red/orange mud.

Sadly that was the end of our time in Canada and it’s somewhere that we’d certainly come back to. Next stop was Montana to see some new to us parts of the USA.

Motorhoming 

On the whole we are using free overnight spots but did use the following:

Liard Hot Springs Provincial Park: CAD26 p/n no services but water and toilets in campground (although water tap was out of order when we visited).  Forest site and some large pitches were shared. Camping fee includes unlimited access to the natural hot springs.

Falls Creek Campground, Wells Gray Provincial Park: CAD23 p/n plus CAD6 p/n reservation fee. Forest site with a number of pitches by the river.

Tunnel Mountain Campground Number 1,  Banff: CAD30.50 p/n no services.  A forested campsite with water and dumping facilities.  A free shuttle bus will take you into town but it costs CAD2 per adult to return to the campground.  

We’re using iOverlander on a daily basis to find park ups, water, dumps, LPG (propane) and laundromats.

Safe to say we had a blast in Alaska and ticked off a few things we had pinned on our Google map from when we originally started planning this trip.

We didn’t spend too much time in the larger cities, stopping mostly for supplies as larger supermarkets are not so easy to find.  Our route was almost a figure of eight starting and ending in Tok taking in Fairbanks, Denali, Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula, Whittier and Valdez en route. From there it was back towards Canada.

We managed to secure a camp spot at Teklanika Campground in Denali from where we were able to explore the park on the transit buses.  We didn’t see too much wildlife but Denali showed herself in all her glory for the three days we were there; on average she is visible for only three days in ten so we were very lucky!  Only about half of the park is accessible due to the road being reconstructed after a landslide a few years ago when the permafrost melted but that didn’t take away from our visit at all.  They anticipate it will be another couple of years before the public is allowed beyond mile 43.

An unusual stop next at the Alaska Scottish Highland Games and a celebration of all things Celtic (they had Irish dancers too so not entirely Scottish!).  We passed a couple of hours watching people throwing various odd shaped things to the sound of bagpipes in the background. 

Before leaving the UK we had a good clear out of all our “stuff”, selling what we could and putting the money into a “days out” pot for doing things we wouldn’t normally do.  We arrived in Anchorage for one of those days – a flight in a float plane to a glacier, spotting wildlife as we flew over the Alaskan tundra.  Big smile time for both of us.

Homer Spit at the end of the Kenai Peninsula would be our most westerly point of this trip.  We spent a couple of days here with a beachfront park up and a couple of visits to the Salty Dawg Saloon, famous for people pinning $1 bills to the walls, ceilings and just about anywhere else they can find!

Seward was home for 4th July where there were parades on and off the water, fireworks and the Mt Marathon race where very fit lunatics run a 3.1 mile course up and down Mt Marathon just outside the town.  The race climbs almost 3,000ft and takes runners across mud and loose rock.  We were amazed to see two runners aged 84 and 88 cross the finish line!

We drove to Whittier to catch the ferry to Valdez but in order to get there we had to drive through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel, a shared road and rail tunnel between Portage and Whittier.  Road traffic flows for 15 minutes in one direction, stops for 15 minutes and then the direction changes for another 15 minutes.  When the road traffic is stopped, it’s the turn of the trains!

As we were on the ferry to Valdez we decided to take a boat tour (the power of social media!) and were able to book ourselves on the Lu-Lu Belle for a glacier and wildlife cruise.  We had an amazing day seeing humpback whales, albeit briefly, sea otters, sea lions and stunning glaciers.  Captain Fred gave a running commentary and his crew provided delicious, reasonably priced food and snacks from the galley.

Our final stop in Alaska was Chicken.  The story behind the name was that the original gold mining settlers wanted to name the town after the ptarmigan birds prevalent in the area but couldn’t agree on the spelling so called it Chicken instead!  After a beer in the saloon we camped, for free, in their carpark.  

Motorhoming 

For this section we did use a few paid sites, especially in towns.  Denali National Park has several campgrounds and advance reservations at this time of year are essential.

Teklanika Campground, Denali National Park: USD40 p/n for camping only and reservations needed.  No hookups, water for containers only and vault toilets on site.  There are full water and dump facilities for RVs close to the park entrance.  At Teklanika it’s a minimum three night stay and you are not allowed to move your vehicle between arriving and leaving but it’s easy to get around on the transit buses (additional cost of USD33 each but valid for multiple days). 

Fishing Hole Campground, Homer Spit: USD30 p/n for camping only on a large gravel carpark.  No booking for this one, just first come, first served and not much marking of pitches.  Water and dump available at extra cost (free if you head back into Homer).  Great though for easy access to the bars and restaurants of Homer Spit.  We also arrived early enough to get a waterside pitch.

Boulder Campground, Seward:  USD45 p/n in a similar carpark to above.  Being the 4th July all the municipal campsites were fully booked and we just managed to get one of the last places here; lots of pitches but big rigs were taking 2 or 3 places so it was a bit of a scramble.  Free service point just across the road. Good location between downtown Seward and the marina.

LuLu Belle RV park:  USD30 p/n for a fully serviced pitch.  We chanced on this place by sheer fluke as it is where the office of the tour we wanted to take was located. Close to the town centre.

The Alaska Maritime Highway is a network of ferries running between various points on the coast and the outlying islands.  It’s a great way, although not necessarily a cheap way, to see the country from a different perspective and is sometimes the quickest route between two places.  We used the website for booking and they are very adept at getting vehicles of all sizes on and off the ships.

Fuel on average was under 80p a litre!

We’re using iOverlander on a daily basis to find park ups, water, dumps, LPG (propane) and laundromats.

Having taken a few weeks away from driving Route 66, we picked up the road again just south of Kingman, Arizona taking the Oatman Highway over the Sitegreaves Pass and down to the Colorado River after which we were in California.

The drive over the pass was stunning but the town of Oatman, once a thriving gold mining town, is now one big tourist attraction with “wild” donkeys roaming the streets and a daily cowboy gunfight.

In Amboy, California we climbed the extinct volcano cone and walked down into the solidified lava lake in the centre. Definitely a unique experience!

After a couple of days in the Silverwood Lake area we hit the road to Los Angeles – we couldn’t put it off any longer if we wanted to finish Route 66.

Safe to say that the LA traffic lived up to its reputation and it took us 9.5 hours to drive about 150 miles into Santa Monica and out again to a campsite.

We’re not big city people (a bit strange given June was born in and worked in London all her life!) and if it hadn’t been for Route 66 we wouldn’t have even thought about visiting LA in the van.

There’s not a single designated finish point; there’s one on the road on Lincoln Boulevard, the much photographed “End of the Trail” sign on Santa Monica pier and a third, less well known original end sign on the door of the Route 66 booth at the entrance to the pier, where having signed the log book we also had our photo taken.

A few thoughts on Route 66

Planning is essential!  We thought we’d just hit the road and go but you do have to plan what to see and what road to take as there are so many options and unless your time is unlimited you won’t see everything.  As mentioned previously we used the EZ66 Guide for Travellers as our main planning tool along with the  Ultimate Route 66 Guide App.

Understandably many places play up their Route 66 connection no matter how tenuous, but there are some real gems to visit that we are glad we found.  All the business owners we met and talked to were so friendly, enthusiastic and knowledgeable on not just their area but much of the Route, usually because they had driven it themselves and often several times.  It was sad to see how many places hadn’t made it though and were in various states of decay. 

Travelling when we did in the offseason meant that a lot of places were closed or open only for limited hours.  For us that wasn’t really a problem as we tend to avoid overly busy places but if planning a trip then it’s worth taking into consideration.  The weather is another factor to think about when planning and we were lucky to avoid much of the winter snow

We really enjoyed from New Mexico to eastern California but that was as much about the natural landscapes as what was on the road itself.

To be honest we were quite pleased to get to the end but at the same time we felt a real sense of achievement at completing the full distance and were pleased we did it.  We saw and experienced a lot of America that we probably would never have seen without Route 66.

Motorhoming

Driving an RV in the southwestern US is so easy.  The roads are wide and the choice of overnight spots is beyond words.  Many of the campgrounds in the national and state parks have service points outside their entrances and therefore accessible to everyone, so we’ve had no problems finding water.

Fuel has remained cheap right up until the California border where it immediately increases by a couple of dollars a gallon, if not more especially in the more remote places – the most we paid was $8.50 whereas back in Arizona it had been around $3.90!

LPG, or propane, is easy to get and prices are pretty much as they are at home.

We avoid the large RV parks wherever possible as we don’t (or can’t) connect to the water, sewage and electrical systems. They are also expensive and in Los Angeles we couldn’t find anything cheaper than $90 a night. By contrast the Mesquite Campground in Death Valley National Park is $14 a night for a pitch without services.

We needed a plan to get us across the country to meet family in Las Vegas mid-December. Rather than drive aimlessly we decided to follow Route 66 to Arizona, have a break over Christmas and New Year, and then return to the Mother Road to do the last few hundred miles to California.

This first section took us through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. We’re using a book called EZ66 Guide for Travellers which (once you’ve read and understood the format – something we highly recommend you do before starting!) gives driving directions and lists what to see on the way.

There are multiple incarnations of Route 66 as development over the years has caused the road to divert from its original route in many places. We’re finding that we’re doing an hour or so a day of route planning – unless you have all the time in the world or are making multiple trips, it is impossible to see everything and drive every mile.

With the exception of St Louis we have mostly driven through the cities and larger towns. Our van is not much bigger than some of the pickup trucks on the road so driving and parking has not been difficult. The southern cities, once away from the main tourist areas, have large numbers of homeless people and I’ve seen more drug taking here in the open in one month than in the 35 years I worked in central London.

We’re not sure what we expected from Route 66 but everywhere along the route plays on its connection and sells the same range of tourist goods. A lot of places are closed for the winter but we are finding the towns and the weird and wonderful sights they have to offer are all rolling into each other.

Once we left the central plains the scenery slowly began to change and we took more time to explore Texas, New Mexico and Arizona beyond Route 66.

As I’m rereading this it sounds quite negative but it’s not meant to be! We have enjoyed this section but it took us a while to get into what we wanted to see and where we were driving. But once we got our heads into it, we embraced all that Route 66 had to offer and yes, we do have some of that tourist tat onboard.

Motorhoming

As previously mentioned our vehicle is not big in the scheme of things here in America so getting around is quite easy.  As we’ve got further south and west, the fuel has got cheaper and we’re paying between 80 and 90pence a litre for diesel – it’s worth shopping around as prices vary wildly.  A word of warning though as not every garage has diesel pumps!

LPG, or propane, is easy to get and prices are pretty much as they are at home.

Water points in the northern states were harder to find as many are shut of for winter.  In the south we’ve had to hunt for free water but there are many places selling it.

As we’ve moved west, the choice of overnight spots has opened up so we have moved out of Walmart and Cracker Barrel car parks to BLM and Forestry Land – no complaints from us about that! 

We stayed on one campsite at Gillespie Lakes in Illinois which averaged $15 a night (we had a couple of discounted nights plus a couple at weekend rates), but we’ve avoided the large (and expensive) RV parks.

After leaving New Brunswick we moved fairly quickly through the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, knowing we were on borrowed time in respect of the weather, pretty much driving in a straight line along the northern bank of the St Lawrence river and the border with the US.

We spent a few hours exploring the old town area of Quebec City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The cobbled streets have a very European feel and French is the main language.

The old buildings are now mostly restaurants, art galleries or tourist shops and parking issues aside (more on that below) we enjoyed our time there.

We found a great spot near St Geneviève-de-Berthier where we stopped in the carpark for a nature reserve on one of the small interconnected islands in the St Lawrence River.

After a good walk along a couple of the marked trails, we awoke the following morning to our first sprinkling of snow!

On our way to Niagara Falls we drove through Toronto but didn’t stop having visited just a couple of months previously.

Niagara Falls are as you would imagine and the noise of the water and the water spray can be heard and seen long before you get to the actual falls. We found the actual town to be quite underwhelming!

Our final stop in Canada for this visit was near Fort Erie on the banks of Lake Erie and looking across the water to Buffalo, USA. Whilst here we were on a mission to eat anything we couldn’t take into the US which was mostly fruit and vegetables so we had a very healthy couple of days!

This was the end of our stay in eastern Canada and we will return to the western provinces when the weather starts to warm up a little next spring. Now all we had to do was clear the van of anything not allowed into the US and hope that they let us in when we cross the Peace Bridge into New York State.

Motorhoming in Quebec and Ontario

We’re having no problems finding diesel (despite not all fuel stations selling it) and LPG, but water sources are starting to get harder to find in these northern regions where public taps are switched off for winter.  

Park ups have also been easy to find via iOverlander but day parking in Quebec was a nightmare – we had parked overnight in a small carpark a few kilometres outside the city which was just too far out to walk and despite our best efforts, we couldn’t really work out the buses! Parking for RVs was shown by the marina but when we got there we found the space full with boats that had been taken out of the water for winter. We eventually found another carpark where we fitted into one space and where another (Canadian) van had stayed overnight without an issue. However when we came back to the van after exploring the city, we had a ticket, thankfully without a fine, telling us there was no RV parking in that car park. At least we had seen all that we came to see.

Niagara, not surprisingly, has plenty of parking. We opted for the car park furthest from the city but still within walking distance (shuttle bus is also available).

The guidebook mentioned that the province of New Brunswick was heavily forested and it wasn’t wrong! However there is more to New Bruswick than trees and the whole of the Fundy coastline is stunning.

The province is also home to the world’s largest axe (Nackawic) and lobster (Shediac), a waterfall where the water flows uphill (Saint John), a road where you appear to roll uphill (Magnetic Hill) and the world’s longest covered bridge (Hartland) – thanks to our Atlas Obscura app for these gems!

We had to spend a few days in and around Moncton for an appointment at Mercedes to get the handbrake checked. They were really helpful and squeezed us in following a cancellation. They even offered us a cab back into the city or a courtesy car whilst the work was being done however we decided just to wait around to drink their coffee and use the wifi – seemed fair enough given the £££s we’d soon be handing over!

We’d also managed to get an appointment for a COVID booster through the local NB healthcare agency (really easy and free, which we weren’t expecting). And once we arrived for the appointment at a drugstore pharmacy we were also offered a flu jab at the same time.

We spent most of the time in the province on the coast exploring more of the Bay of Fundy, visiting Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park, Fundy National Park and Fundy Trail Parkway. The extreme tides in the bay have created some amazing rock formations (our inner geologist went into overdrive here!) and although we didn’t get to see the tidal bore wave, we saw so much else.

There are multiple walking and hiking trails ranging from a few hundred metres to multi-day hikes in the parks. We did a couple of hikes combining a couple of smaller trails and found ourselves wandering through forests, clambering over rocks and up the sides of waterfalls.

We entered the National Park using an annual pass but there were separate entry fees for Hopewell Rocks and Fundy Trail Parkway (around £20 and £13 respectively for the two of us) but both were well worth the fees.

Motorhoming in New Brunswick

We didn’t use any paid for campsites or car parks during our time in New Brunswick, staying at places we found via iOverlander.

Many attractions have specific motorhome parking areas which makes visiting really easy.

Again we picked up water at fuel stations and in the National Park.

Blog: www.bobandjune.com

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PolarSteps:https://www.polarsteps.com/ClewleysOnTour/8608383-the-big-one-canada-to-argentina-and-back-again