How to register a Patriot Camper Trailer in California

If you want to buy a camper trailer out of state and are wondering what to do about registering it in California, here are the steps:

• Pick up from out of state – obviously ...
• Fill out Reg 343 for California's "Application for Title or Registration", a Patriot Camper trailer is considered a "trailer coach", get the rest from the paperwork. Fill this form out at home, that'll make the person at the DMV much happier, but don't sign at home, sign it at the DMV, don't know whether this is necessary, we've did it this way).
  
• Go to your preferred DMV (tip: check Google for one that has decent reviews in your area, you don't have to go to the closest one).
• Have the trailer inspected (they check VIN, size, other data against the paperwork you get when buying the trailer).
• Sign the paperwork when and where they tell you.
• Ask to get a title in your name.
• Pay sales/use tax.
• Done!

It was actually a super simple process, we were concerned  about the various different forms floating around, but it was quick and painless. 

Picking up our new trailer

CC20 - Day 35 – Back Home

Today was the last day of my cross-country ride. Sunnyvale to the East Coast and back. It was a great trip! Yesterday I met up with Andrea and we rode the last section together. Along the Pacific Coast Highway from Santa Maria to Sunnyvale, CA.

California Backroads, near Paso Robles

We started with a nice section going from Paso Robles to Cambria. Then on Highway 1 along the coast. Weather was like it so often is along the coast:

Fog along PCH

It was foggy and wet most of the way close to the ocean. Whenever we were more inland, it was sunny and warm. 

A short stop along the way

Fog rolls in

A few hours later we reached our home, from where I had left exactly five weeks ago.

Back home

My route took me 15.430km or 9588 miles across the country. One rear tire change, one service (12k miles), thousands of splattered bugs, lots of curvy roads, endless miles across straight roads, long days, interesting days, and countless memories! 

CC20 - The Full Route

Proof ...

Home, Sweet Home

And here's the last route picture. Day 35, fives weeks after leaving.

Route Day 35

CC20 - Day 34

Artistically not a great photo – but it was soooooo good to see my lovely wife again! I didn't ride today, but Andrea did. She came South on the Pacific Coast Highway and met me here in Santa Maria, CA.

Together again

Tomorrow we'll ride home, probably the same route she took today, just the other direction.

Andrea's Route

CC20 - Day 33

Second to last riding day – tomorrow I won't be riding, just waiting for my wife to arrive here. I rode through some burned and non-burned landscape today, it was very interesting to see how fast nature is already taking over again. The burned areas (not from this year though) were sprinkled with fresh green everywhere. It gives hope!

Burned California Landscape

More ...

Overall, it was a good day. I rode about a mix of maybe 60:40 straight roads and twisties. While I'd love to have a more twisty mix, it's hard to achieve during a trip like this.

Route Day 33

CC20 - Day 32

Since Andrea and I agreed to meet up in Santa Maria, CA, and I wanted to have one day without riding in the next few days, I had some options: I could ride from Palm Desert to San Diego, stay a full day to have the non-riding on Friday and then head North to Santa Maria, or, option two, ride towards Los Angeles on some nice roads, stay overnight somewhere, ride to Santa Maria and arrive a day early and take my non-riding day on Saturday.

This morning I decided to take option two. Part of it was that I wanted to ride Angeles Crest highway again tomorrow, this time East to West, but I hadn't planned with fire related road closures (welcome back to California). So, I'll plan some mixed riding for tomorrow to get to Santa Maria.

Today I had a beautiful riding day, wonderful roads, it's really worth taking a closer look at the map and zoom around in it on Google Maps.

I took only one photo while being stopped at one of four one-lane road construction stops:

Typical California Mountain Landscape

It was a very hot day, even in the mountains it rarely dropped below 30C/86F, so I wasn't all too inclined to stop in the sun (not much shade here) and take photos. I'm in GoreTex gear and stopping in this heat feels like I'm wearing a non-ventilated plastic bag ... while riding it's okay with the air moving, but even traffic lights are not nice.

Route Day 32

CC20 - Day 31

California – I'm back. At least back in the state. Right now I'm in the South, Palm Desert to be precise. The route from Kingman, AZ to Palm Desert, CA brought me to my "traditional" destination I always visit when I'm in the area: Oatman, AZ. I just can't get around this town, first the road to get there is a lot of fun and also the last chance for some nice cornering before heading 150 miles West into California.

I have this photo probably a dozen times ...

Not many donkeys roaming around today

No comment ...

I hadn't seen these before

There were a few donkeys roaming around, not as many as there are normally. These were along the road to the South of Oatman, but I didn't get a photo of these. In Oatman, I scratched a few ears and then headed on, it was just too warm to stick around.

The way into California was rather sad, temperatures up to 42C/108F were challenging and the road was rather boring:

Through the desert into California

Made me beat my own record in freehand riding (Disclaimer: professional rider, closed course, don't try at home),which is rather sad since it means that the road was mostly straight for around 90km without any curve worth mentioning, only a single stop sign at an intersection in the middle ...

Route Day 31

CC20 - Day 2

Another day to get out of California, away from the fires and smoke. I rode from Ridgecrest, CA to Henderson, NV. Henderson is South of Las Vegas, about 450km overall. The hotels there are better, cheaper and much more relaxed, plus we have stayed in this one before and I had an idea how it would be.

I took a route through Death Valley, and although most of it was rather boring and straight, there were some fun bits in there as well.

Route for Day 2

Especially the part that ends on 190 was fun. Some gravel passages and some twisty bits. This is still part of getting out of the areas I already know quite well, I have crossed Death Valley many times on the motorcycle, therefore I hadn't planned exciting routes, just a way to get out of California that wasn't a freeway blast.

Temperature was an okay 42C/108F in Death Valley, I poured some water over my base layer and into the arms of my GoreTex jacket and then controlled the temperature via ventilation. It was quite okay. 

Burros crossing ... ;-)

And yes, they did cross. Not quite in front of me, but they seemed to have used the road as a toilet rather often ... there were some signs of that. Plus I saw a few in the distant hills.

Boring stretches.

And I was wondering why my water was gone so fast!

I easily had 3L of water during the ride today. Even though my temperature regulation measures worked quite well, I was going through the water fast.

Entering Nevada

I arrived early today and will hopefully have a better night than last where an overly loud AC system kept me awake. The AC here in the hotel isn't quiet either, but I still hope I can get some more sleep.

Tomorrow morning I'll visit the Las Vegas BMW Motorcycle dealer and try to convince them to sell me a cover for the GPS mount when no GPS is in there. I take mine to the room each night and forgot the cover at home. Don't want it to sit like this when I might get rain. Not a problem right now, but during the trip it will likely happen.

CC20 – Day 1

Packed everything up nicely yesterday and today it was mostly just getting on the road. Everything from the photo before is packed in here:

All packed into Luggage Liners

I weighed the liners, they were 7.1kg (left side case) and 5.5kg (right side case), so with the tripod on the right side it turns out to be just right. The bike feels balanced, although it is a bit heavy ...

Side cases took the liners, camera gear in black case behind the seat.

Then it was time to go ...

Ready to leave

I didn't go all that far today, Sunnyvale to Ridgecrest. I had to re-plan my route due to the fires in California and Oregon, so I'm taking a route that I have done a few times before to get out of California and then through Nevada. 

This was today:

Click for a larger view

I arrived shortly before 6pm, had some dinner and now I'm about to plan the route for tomorrow. Again, since I'm taking it a bit slower for the first few days, I'm just headed to Las Vegas, but at least I can try to find a nice route.