How We Drove Our HUGE RV Through 200+ Wild Mountain Curves!

1 month ago
Chad

We finished up our last day in the Grand Canyon area with our mule ride along the rim, and it did not disappoint. It was a blast, but we were both sore for a couple of days afterward — next time, we’re requesting a memory-foam-padded saddle. 😎 Before heading out, we swung by the South Rim KOA Holiday for a quick look around, since it’s a smaller, more low-key option about ten minutes from the South Rim with its own kid-friendly activities. Then it was time to pack up for a two-day, roughly 700-mile push toward our next stop.

Fueling Up and Crossing Into California

Our first travel day started with a stop at a Love’s to top off the truck using our discounted fuel program before hitting California fuel prices! By the time we crossed into California, the heat had fully set in. We stopped at a Route 66 rest area for lunch, and it was pushing 109 degrees outside. At the state line, we went through the standard agricultural inspection — no fruit or firewood crossing with us, just a couple of apples, maybe? We weren’t sure but said no anyway.

Lunch was Carl’s Jr., and we learned the hard way that the single is plenty. The double nearly needed its own trailer.

A Surprisingly Cool Stop at Guidos @ The Hangar

Our Harvest Host stop for the night was tucked next to a small local airstrip — we could see the runway right from our parking spot. We’d been bracing for triple-digit heat and ran the generator and air conditioning the entire final stretch of the drive so the RV would already be cool by the time we arrived. Turned out we didn’t need to worry nearly as much — it was only 88 degrees when we pulled in, a lot cooler than we expected.

The parking area was on a noticeable slope, so we chocked the wheels carefully on both sides before disconnecting from the truck. Once we were leveled and settled in, it turned out to be a quiet, comfortable night with a restaurant right on site — we grabbed a calzone and beer and called it a win.

California 49: Mariposa to Moccasin

We weren’t entirely sure what we were driving into. Our route from the Harvest Host took us onto California 49 between Mariposa and Moccasin, and the road came with a posted advisory: rigs longer than 30 feet from kingpin to rear axle weren’t recommended. Honestly, we weren’t even sure of our own exact measurement — we were guessing we’re somewhere around 20 to 25 feet, but we couldn’t say for certain. The GPS routed us this way anyway, and with no better option in front of us, we went for it.

What followed was a lot of uncertainty. Long stretches with no guardrails, one hairpin after another, and no real way to know what the next blind curve would bring. We pulled off more than once, both to admire the view and more to let our nerves settle before continuing.

It was doable, but it kept us tense the entire way through, never quite sure what was coming next. This isn’t a road we’d recommend for a new RVer, especially towing anything sizable.

Regrouping Before the Next Climb

Once we made it through the worst of CA-49, we pulled over to check our brakes and catch our breath. Temperatures were running around 300 degrees, which is on the higher end of normal after a stretch of downhill braking but still well within the acceptable range.

While we were stopped, we also noticed the RV’s pantry door had worked itself open (breaking the front off one drawer) after all the rough, curvy roads. It’s a recurring issue for us (the broken drawer was new), and we finally decided it’s time for a proper child lock.

California 120: Moccasin to Groveland

If CA-49 left us uneasy, CA-120 from Moccasin to Groveland looked worse on the GPS — we genuinely didn’t know what we were about to face. There are two ways up into the area, and not knowing which one our GPS would send us on added its own layer of dread. We ended up on the route designed for larger vehicles, but that didn’t make it comfortable.

The road narrowed down to almost no shoulder in places, with the same lack of guardrails we’d already grown wary of. We let faster traffic pass when we could and crept through the tightest sections, never fully sure what was around the next bend. By the end, we were both just relieved to be back on flat, straight pavement.

We won’t pretend that combo of CA-49 and CA-120 was anything but nerve-wracking. It was a lot of not knowing what came next, mile after mile, and we were genuinely glad to have it behind us.

With the toughest driving behind us, we’re closing in on Yosemite — and even better, Chad’s girls are joining us there in just a couple of days, right in time for Father’s Day.

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