En route again: Pacific Coast Highway

We are en route from Bellingham WA (a stone’s throw from Canada) to San Diego CA (a stone’s throw from Mexico). We’ll drive the Pacific Coast Highway in California, visit the Redwood National Park, see the Big Sur, “driveway surf” to visit old friends. Like all campervan adventures, the endless miles of interstate highway between destination(s) and random stopovers are what make the trip.

This time, we rented a Pleasure Way Ontour 2020 2.0. First impressions are very good. We spent most of the first day inching along bumper-to-bumper on I-5 in heavy Seattle traffic. The cab of the Ford transit chassis is comfortable, and it’s noticeably quieter than the Mercedes Sprinter or Ram ProMaster that we’ve driven before. Part of the quiet ride is that it doesn’t have the lifted chassis or the all-terrain tires of the Winnebago Revel; part of it is that Pleasure Way does a much better job than Winnebago with build quality, so cabinets and joints don’t rattle and squeak when I’m cruising at 60 MPH. I parked the 19 foot van in a crowded Trader Joe’s parking lot in Everett, and it maneuvered into the space with ease. Despite the small footprint, it feels like we have plenty of room, to lounge, to eat dinner, and to sleep.

March 26, 2022