New Four Wheel Camper and the Northern California Coast

April 29, 2013  •  Leave a Comment

It was by pure chance that I'm now the owner of a Four Wheel Camper (FWC).  It's a dream come true.  After last years road trip to Texas, I decided I wanted to get another truck camper.  I've had one before, a 9.5' S&S, which I liked but was too big and heavy.  Even with a a F-350 dually, it was too much weight when I added my pig of a boat.  I've always thought a FWC would be the way to go when I first saw the Turtle Expedition F-350 in Four Wheeler Magazine way back in the 80's.  I'd been doing my research and asking questions on the Wander the West Forum and had gotten to the point where I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted.  Our trip to the Rogue a few weeks ago helped drive the point home that some sort of "RV" was going to be needed as it rained 3-4 inches the 3.5 days we were camping at Quosatana Campground.  

One day at a local shopping mall I saw what looked like a new FWC in the parking lot and I pulled up along side and was looking it over.  The owner came out of the store and we got to talking and he gave me the tour of his new Hawk.  I mentioned I was looking at getting one next year when he said he had a "Grandby", the 8' model for sale down at the factory in Woodland, CA.  Too bad it was 550 miles away when it used to live about a mile from me.  We cut a deal and at 9 pm on Weds the 24th, we headed south to pick it up.  We arrived at the FWC factory at 6 am on the 25th.  By noon we were on our way home.  Of course with this type of camper, adventure is what it's made for so our return trip home would be to head west from Woodland to Bodega Bay and then north along Hwy 1 to home.  After being up for over 40 hours, we settled in at Doran Beach CG.   Remember we just picked this thing up and wasn't even sure everything worked. It was bought sight unseen...we only had the word of the owner and a sales guy who had sent me a few photo's to show it's condition.  We loaded the back seat with things we thought we needed.  What we didn't have or forgot, we bought along the way.  We forgot a lot of the little stuff.  Bodega bay is a beautiful bay. 

Just walking down the beach and here is a razor clam "showing".  Anyone that digs razors can only dream of seeing them like this... 

Talk about a flat bar...  I can only dream about fishing an ocean this flat...

From here we headed north along Hwy 1 to Mendocino and Fort Bragg.

Usal Beach was our next stop.  There were a few people there who were tent camping in the CG.  A few locals were around fishing for smelt which haven't been in the area for 40 years according to them.  There was a lone picnic table at the edge of the beach and that looked as good as any place to call home for the night.  

Not much better than falling asleep to the should have waves on the beach. One thing about getting off the beaten path... there is not much in the way of "facilities".  It seems the budget crunch is all over...

Some of the locals...

By this time it was Friday night and I had hopes of getting to Shelter Cove and beyond via Usal Road but time wasn't on our side.  The Lost Coast will have to wait for another trip.  We headed back to Hwy 1 to make up some time so we could be near Brookings buy Saturday night.  We stopped at Trinidad, Gold Bluffs, the Redwoods and Crescent City as we headed north.  

 Fern Canyon.

Gold Bluff beach.

The Redwoods...The Big tree

Must be more budget cuts....now we just get a photo of the sign that use to be there.... 

 

Crescent City where the weather turned sunny and warm instead of the gray we had been in for most of the trip along the coast. 

Finally we made it to Brookings and Harris Beach State CG.  We found a nice quiet tent spot in the back.  Who needs hook ups... It was good to be "home" where camping seemed a little cheaper and the showers were free. 

We managed to catch a nice sunset which was a good way to mark our last night of the trip....  

Harris beach in the early morning...

 

A great trip in a "new to us" camper which exceeded our expectations.  We're looking forward to many more adventures to out of the way places for many years to come.  

A big thank you to Stan and all of the folks at FWC for building a great product and providing some of the best customer service there is.  

 


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