RV Park Review – Orange Grove RV Park, Bakerfield, CA

Hanging in the orange grove at Orange Grove RV Park

An immaculate RV park set in a lovely orange grove in S. CA. Great stop-over spot for anyone travelling I-5.

Link to park here: Orange Grove RV Park
Link to map location here: Orange Grove RV Park

1. Site quality = 4/5 Very nice sites here. They are all spacious, flat dirt, but kept in very good condition with picnic table, individual orange trees (you can pluck as much fruit as you like in season) and good hookups (50Amp/water/sewer and cable). Most are pull-throughs with a few back-ins along the far rear. Only slight ding is that there is not much separation between sites (apart from the orange trees). Most sites are very similar, but edge sites (on end of every row) do have some extra space.
2. Facilities = 5/5 Very nice facilities here. Large, clean toilets with very big individual showers (huge in fact) with table and hooks for your clothes. Nice modern feel.
3. Amenities = 5/5 Very good amenities. There is a cute country store and lodge (with books, puzzles and tables), a decent pool area (just a tad small, but otherwise very nice), playground, laundry, fitness room (all new equipment). RV & car washing section in back (nice, little touch), plus free WiFi (which works well -> I gather it was just updated recently). Also on-site propane and dump station.
4. Location = 3/5 Bakersfield is not exactly a location destination (for most folks), but the park is a very convenient stopover for anyone travelling on I-5/99. In addition it’s nicely set ~9 miles out of town and inside an orange grove which means peace and relaxation -> a real bonus for the area. You are also just around the corner from the CA Fruit Depot.
5. Pet friendliness = 4/5 Great doggie spot. There is a walking area in the orange groves all around the park, plus a very cute (and nicely sized) off-leash area in the shaded grove on the SW corner. No bags, but poop-scooper areas all around. Only ding is no real hiking out the door. Nearest hiking w/ pooch is ~10 miles away at Kern River County Park.

Overall rating = 4.2
BONUS ALERT = Pluck oranges from the tree next to your site!

Summary: We needed a good stop-over with hookups (because of the heat) on I-5 and this park had been highly recommended by just about everyone we talked to. It definitely lived up to its reputation. Set quietly ~9 miles out of town the entire park is in the middle of an orange grove, with trees at each and every site. It’s immaculately kept with large, dirt sites, good hookups and great amenities (pool, hangout room, fitness room, RV washing station…you name it). Even the WiFi works well! The only slight dings are that sites do not really have much separation (apart from the orange trees) and there’s no real hiking directly from the park. In low-season the owners book everyone with space between, but in high-season (snowbird migration) I gather it’s packed. There are a few things to do and see around town. A lovely and relaxing stop-over and one I would definitely recommend to others.

Extra Info: Good 4G & 3G Signal on Verizon. Free WiFi on-site (works well). Sites $39/night ($35 for Good Sam’s or seniors), $195/week or $450/mo (all-inclusive).

Extra, Extra Info – Other Camping? There are a few other camping options which I can recommend in the area. For smaller rigs (I would say 35-max. It’s a tad tight for our size) nearby Kern River County Park is a lovely non-hookup park set beautifully right next to the river. Surrounding area has lots of hiking, trees, picnic area and recreation. For those looking for a “freebie” Camping World allows overnight camping in their lot.

Front view of our site (#161). All sites are very similar.

Another typical site view. RV in site #171

View down front empty row showing sites & picnic tables

Another view down a typical row. Our RV is on the left.

View down one of the back rows. Most of the monthly residents stay here. Front RV in site #67 on left.

View of facilities

View of pool area

View of playground

View of off-leash dog run

The Magic Mojo Of Random Travel Stops – Bakersfield, CA

Gas pump from the original 1936 Sonora Service Station

On yesterday’s post quite a few folks commented positively on the fact that we always take a “chill” day between drives. It’s actually been a habit of ours since we started RVing. We decided early on that, as much as possible, we were going to do short(ish) drives (our average is ~150 miles), take our time to enjoy the ride and stop to smell the roses along the way. This approach has meant we’ve ended up in some pretty godforsaken spots, but it’s also given us some of our best “surprises”, all from random travel stops along the way. There’s the cool vintage car museum we stumbled across in the middle of nowhere in Murdo, SD, the surrealistic Garden of the Gods that we discovered in the deep forest of Illinois, and the stunning Owl Canyon that was hidden outside Barstow, CA…..just to name a few. For me these unexcpected encounters are all part of the magic of travel. I believe everywhere has something to offer and I am always looking for that magic to reveal itself.

I was not expecting this at all! The green glory of Kern County Park.

Take our layover day here in Bakersfield, CA. We had no expectations and no plans coming into this town, other than to take a break on our route north. But with a combo of tips from blog readers and some travel magic mojo it’s turned out to be another one of those surprising and educational stops.

It all started out bright and early with a tip from blog reader Jerry B. that directed us to green glory at the Kern River County Park. This total surprise of a place is only ~10 miles from our RV park and is a huge, deep-shade-lined recreation area with camping (bit small for our size, but otherwise gorgeous), fishing, a golf course (!), a living museum, miles of hiking & endless reams of squirrel-chasing (for the furry ones of us that like that kind of thing). Total peace and relaxation (we only saw one other person on our hike) in what is otherwise a pretty hot and dense town. What a find!

A reproduction of a mining era courthouse and jail at the Kern County Museum.

The afternoon continued my intrepid exploration with a visit to Kern County Museum where I was inspired to go based on a random link I’d seen in the park brochure. It was actually closed today (duh!), but I wandered around and found an open gate in the back which practically begged me to enter the Pioneer House exhibit (it did, really it did). Serendipity! The next hour I was treated to a private viewing of the 55 fabulous reconstructed original houses with a fascinating history of the mid-to-late 1800′s from gold rush to oil boom. Not bad for a total fluke.

Dark chocolate-covered macadamia nuts. Oh, bestill my beating heart…!

To round off the day I motored over to the California Fruit Depot which had been recommended by blog readers Jim and Luke (double tip!). Score again! This cool little store must have at least 80 different versions of dried, spiced, chocolate-covered, candied, roasted…you name it…fruits and nuts. And each and every item is open for tasting, meaning you can literally munch your way around the shop. To top it all off they sell a book that tells “the gripping firsthand account of one of the most miraculous rescues from certain extinction ever achieved“. It’s the dramatic and suspenseful story of the Medjool Date…and no, I’m not kidding. Should you feel swept away by the tale you can even buy a home-made Date milkshake right on-site. Oh, and there’s a hidden Geocache here too. Well worth the stop!

And finally wouldn’t you know we met a fellow blogger here too. Smitty & Sandy’s Tour are staying in the same RV park we are. Smitty came over to say “hi” yesterday afternoon and even picked us a bag of oranges from the grove. Groovy!

An unexpected day in Bakersfield, one new friendship, three unplanned visits and a whole lotta cool memories. The magic mojo of random travel stops is alive and well!

Blacksmith shop from 1890 at the Kern County Museum

Local color in the gardens

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s Northward Bound We Go…..

One shot from I-5 San Diego, and one from I-5 LA -> Wanna guess which is which?

Finally, after what I can only call the long, long winter we are back on the road again! This morning bright and early (and bushy-tailed…well, at least one of us that is) it was jacks up, engine revved and off northward on our journey to Oregon.

Now the only problem with journeying to Oregon is that you have to go Northward through California, and despite this State being the most populous in the nation (by a good margin too), road planning has never kept up and there are really only three viable ways to go. Your choices are:

1/ Follow The Coast (Hwy 1 & 101) - An absolutely gorgeous drive if you’ve got the time, but it’s packed (and expensive to stay there) in summer. And you DO need time.
2/ Go Straight Down the Middle (I-5) - Possibly the most boring route on earth, but it’s the biggest road and it’ll get you there in the straightest way possible.
3/ Take The Eastern Route Thro’ The Sierras (Hwy 395) – We did this last year coming South and it’s our absolute fav route….scenic, relaxed, pristine & road in near-prefect condition (which is really saying something in California). Everyone should do this drive at least once in their life-time, but again you need some time.

Our goal this time was to high-tail it, so we reluctantly submitted to choice #2. Now I admit there are a few scenic bits to I-5, but these rare moments of joy are completely obliterated by the fact that you have to drive through Los Angeles, the fact that much of the road resembles a discarded cheese-grater, and the fact there are at least a gazillion trucks doing the same thing….oh and then there’s that seemingly infinite flat, flat, pancake-stretch in the no-mans land between Bakersfield and Sacramento in the middle. In case you can’t tell it’s not my favorite drive.

Honestly I don’t think LA traffic ever has down-time

But human nature is a mysterious thing. Despite having driven this same route many (many) times in my past, I somehow always imagine that this time it won’t be so bad. I guess it’s the same natural instinct that causes women to forget about the pain of childbirth? In my fantasy-land, I see the RV driving effortlessly through LA, coasting the middle bits with ease and arriving refreshed and satisfied at the northern end.

Light at the end of the tunnel….our relaxing spot in the Orange Grove

Well our little day-drive to Bakersfield, CA managed to shatter those dreams. Instead we got the welcome of bumper-to-bumper cars in LA (and this on a Sunday morning no less), 2 accidents which managed to stop traffic yet again (why does everyone always stop to look?), and a ride so bumpy I’m surprised it didn’t scramble the eggs in the fridge and shake off everything attached to the rig (our front TV actually DID come loose requiring me to do some emergency towel-stuffing of the cabinet to keep it in one piece). To put the cherry on top we entered Bakersfield to a breezy 96 °F (~36 °C) which put all question of free-camping out the window.

Fruit, goat cheese and walnut salad with oranges from our RV park!!

But there was light at the end of the tunnel. My back-up plan for Bakersfield was an RV park set in an Orange Grove which had been recommended by just about everyone I’d talked to. So after our long, stressful, jaw-jarring drive we arrived to blissfull peace in a luscious, green grove with space to breathe and relax. Ahhhhhhhhhhh…..We set-up the rig, went for a walk in the grove with pooch and snabbed a fresh orange right off the tree for dinner.

We never drive two days in a row, so we’ll be taking a day to hang out here before our next leg north. Forecast is for 94 tomorrow so we’re happy for the hook-ups…and the little ray of light in our long journey north.