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We’ve been scouring the California RV Show for the past week (yea, it’s a very long show) looking for the new, the noteworthy and the “Best Of” the 2015 RV selection.  Every year it seems the RV industry takes a step towards the 21st century and this year is no different; with transitional spaces, cabinets that cleverly turn into desks, skylights that open up to the stars and even high end luxury without looking like Vegas threw up (don't worry, they have that too)! We’ve handpicked 11 of the Best 2015 RVs that have loads of cool features and amenities worth checking out, but to keep the video from becoming a half hour snorefest we’ve selected only a few of our favorite items from each rig.  If you’re looking to upgrade, or buy your first RV, this is a good place to start your search.

Motoring along patchworks of vineyards, orchards and oak trees we naturally gravitated away from the typical hotspots of Sonoma County and found ourselves drawn to the not so obvious and slightly quirky. Sebastopol Napa put California on the world's viticulture map but its fame and fortune have made its upscale and somewhat ‘snobby tourist’ mark (of course with the exception of a few James Dean like characters).  Sonoma seems truer and filled with open minded traditions cultivated by people who appreciate the low-key charm.

Rolling along Highway 49 in Northern California, we passed a chain of quaint towns that all sprang up to accommodate the floods of prospectors looking to strike it rich during the Gold Rush.  (I like to think if we were around in the mid 40’s, we’d be right next to those adventurers digging around in the California dirt!)  One town that really sparked our interest and seemed to stand out along the way is Nevada City. nevada city streets Nevada City is a mining camp that survived, and prospered, because it was able to transition to modern times while maintaining its vintage architecture.  At one time Nevada City was California’s third-largest city; then all those worldly fortune seekers who managed to strike it rich likely discovered the coast and said ‘sayonara suckers, I just bought myself a beach house…or something similar.  I have nothing to back this up, just making assumptions and feel free to correct me if I’m wrong…but I digress, let’s get back to the city today.

Most people would advise spending more than just one day in Lake Tahoe California but alas, we are not most people. lake tahoe You see, we were camping at Thousand Trails Snowflower and Lake Tahoe was only 45 minutes away.  This should seem like nothing to people who live in a house on wheels but to us, that is an hour and a half sitting in a car that could be spent outside.  So we quickly made the decision to only drive into North Lake Tahoe once during our 5 day stint in the area.  I know some of you are already thinking we’re crazy…hang in there, we do have our reasons.

I have to admit that we’ve been to this area before, even stayed at the same campground but wow, we totally missed Temecula and what a mistake! We missed out on some serious sippin’ and swingin’! temecula Two years ago we found ourselves at the Wilderness Lakes RV Resort and Campground in Menifee, CA and made the mistake of just exploring about a 5 mile radius. In our defense, we were only staying for two days, still new to full time travel and entirely too anxious to get to the next BIG destination.