Since almost day one of our 35 year marriage, we have parked our RV's along the coast at Rincon Parkway in Ventura County, CA. 

Imagine parking your RV on a 15 foot high bluff overlooking the blue Pacific Ocean.   The waves caress a sandy beach not more than 30 feet away from the door of your RV.   Off in the distance across the ocean are a couple of the Channel Islands that seem so close you could swim to them. Several times each day a pod of Dolphins swim by while feeding on the abundant sea life near the shore.  Quite often you’re treated to the delight of watching the dolphins at play jumping out of the water or surfing a wave.

 As the day ends the sunsets are majestic and then the night sky lights up with “billions and billions” of stars as you roast marshmallows over a crackling fire.  The air is warm as you sit in your tee-shirt and shorts, enjoying the sound of the fire, listening to the waves and looking up at the stars.  Off to bed and Gentle ocean breezes with the sound of breaking waves make for a peaceful and relaxing night sleep.

Rincon Parkway is located a few miles north of the City of Ventura.  It is accessible off of Highway 101 and is located along a stretch of old highway 1 the original Pacific Coast Highway.  You park nose to tail parallel to the roadway on asphalt, with a bike path and pedestrian walkway separating your RV from vehicles travelling down the roadway at 45MPH.  On the curbside (ocean side) your campsite transitions from an asphalt pad (big enough to place your under awning carpet or mat) to dirt then to a boulder covered bluff to the beach below.  The spaces are 47ft long which allows a 37ft 5th wheel and your tow vehicle parked perpendicular (or a MH & Toad) in the spot.  It can be a tight fit for longer RVs, but worth it.  These are boon docking campsites.  Maximum stay is 5 days so it all works out.

It doesn’t sound like this is a very pleasant type parking arrangement but when you consider the ocean and the view are on the curbside of your RV.  Within minutes of parking you forget there’s a roadway so close.  Great news, the sounds of the waves pretty much eliminate the sounds of the roadway and generators.  The roadway traffic is usually light during the day and dies off at bedtime.

Here’s the full disclosure stuff-   I started out this article with a true description of what you see as you sit under your awning in your lounger looking out over the ocean.  This was intentional so you would be able to picture this paradise RV parking spot.  I’m sure after reading the description above, about how the sites are setup, with the roadway so close and the next piece of information I’m providing, you’ll wonder how we find this to be such a wonderful place to camp.  On the far side of the roadway about 60 ft from your RV is a heavily travelled railway track used by freight trains and Amtrak.   The sites are first come and it’s difficult to get a spot unless you arrive on Wednesday or Thursday before a weekend. Or arrive on Sunday after noon to get a spot for the week.  It’s a very popular RV campground.

Why is this a great place to stay in an RV ?  If you focus just on my description at the beginning of this article, the rest of the stuff fades deep into the background.   The sounds of the ocean block most noises, including the freight trains to the point where you don’t hear them after about an hour of being in your spot.   There are hardly any cars on the roadway and only a couple of trains after 9PM.  With the soothing ocean waves, we sleep so sound, there are some nights we don’t even hear the trains.

Lots to do in the area if you can pull yourself away from the beautiful view, there’s ocean stuff (like swimming, surfing, fishing…etc), there’s a great bike path, close to cities of Santa Barbara and Ventura for shopping and sight seeing, golfing….and more.

Spend a few days at Rincon Parkway and you feel like you’ve gone for a week.

Here’s the VenturaCounty website:
http://portal.countyofventura.org/portal/page?_pageid=829,1103671&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

If you stay at Rincon Parkway, you have to promise to not tell anyone else about it.  We don’t want so many RV’ers to find out about this piece of paradise, that it will become so popular, you and I will never be able to get a spot.

Sorry for such a long post but this is an unique camping spot so I needed the space to make my full disclosure.