We had a five-hour journey to Eureka. Mike’s sister and her daughter and grandkids live in this northern California coastal town. We made this a stop so we could visit with family before making our way up the 101 North toward Newport, Oregon.
Going thru the Lassen National Forest was gorgeous. Still a few of the those devastating areas from fires, but it’s still a majestic part of the USA.
We absolutely fell in love with the little town of Trinity, California – quaint and inviting. Traveling on Highway 299 – Shasta/Trinity National Forest - was so pretty. The river flowing thru, the prettiest yet. I made notes to add this for a potential stop next time traveling in the area. I would just love to spend an afternoon lounging alongside the banks of the river. Green, blue, silvery white colors splashing against massive river rocks and then areas so flat and serene like glass. Yes, please, in the future.
I jotted down Big Flat Campground and Bigfoot Rafting …. So google that if in the area!
Our perfect little travel day turned into chaos upon arrival to the Shoreline Eureka RV Park.
While Mike was un-hooking the tow vehicle, I ran inside the park office with a big smile ready for check in. I was a bit dumbfounded when the lady working the desk advised my reservation had been cancelled. Ummmm…. What??? I had literally only made the reservation just two weeks prior. We discovered this park in Eureka was way closer to Mike’s sister, and elected to cancel our Crescent City park reservation. I even had my confirmation email in hand, but the lady in the office didn’t care and basically told me to find another park. There were many open spots available at 4pm when we arrived, but she advised those were booked. Her attitude and unwillingness to look into WHO cancelled our reservation made me furious – and I will just admit I was not friendly back. I was pissed. How can someone cancel MY reservation without me knowing?
Luckily we were parked next to a Harley Davidson dealership, with a large parking lot. Yep…. Tom and I walked in and asked if we could just boon dock in their lot for the night, and the manager was so friendly and accommodating. SCORE! No offense, but the Shoreline RV Park was run down and not very appealing. The Redwood Harley-Davidson dealership - though - was perfect! It was clean and wide open. They even ran water from a hose for us to fill up our tanks.
Since they were so polite, we spent a few bucks in their store…. I mean we are headed for Sturgis and a new pair of motorcycle boots are needed! A few t-shirts, boots and dress shirts later… we poured some wine and went back inside so they could meet our dogs! I just love when stuff like this happens. We all shared some laughs and thanked them over and over for the last minute hospitality.
We enjoyed a nice dinner with family on the waterfront downtown Eureka, followed by ice cream and lots of photos of everyone together again after so many years.
The Redwood Harley parking lot ended up being full of Mike’s nieces and nephews running around laughing with our dog Clyde while the sun set. Again, a blessing to be boon docking in the dealership parking lot over the run down angry park next door.
We did get a phone call from the RV park next door about an hour after we parked offering two spots because they had cancellations. No thank you. Our new friends at Redwood Harley were just more fun – and I have a generator so boon docking is just fine.
Note: I did end up writing to the manager of the park to complain about our experience. Whomever emailed me back ( no name or signature on the return email provided ) was even ruder and less professional than the lady working the office the day we arrived. They argued we cancelled our reservation four hours after making the booking. I assume someone in their office made a mistake, but they were not willing to admit the mishap. She also shamed us for in her words, “boon docking in our personal parking spaces at the Harley dealership.” I never even responded. Not worth my time or effort anymore.