Summer 2025 Road Trip – Retire by 40

Hey Everyone! This will be a short post because we are on a road trip! This year, we wanted to visit Yosemite because Mrs. RB40 has never been there. That’s nuts because she grew up in Southern California. She was prone to motion sickness when she was young so her parents didn’t take long road trips. My parents took us to visit Yosemite twice when I was a kid, and it was pretty amazing.

Unfortunately, it seems Yosemite is having a rough year due to staffing cuts, entry permits, and camping reservation issues. Most of that is probably resolved now, but it was a mess when I was looking in January. That’s why we changed the plan, and we will go to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks instead. We’ll visit Yosemite another year. From what I read, early summer might be a better time to visit Yosemite. Next year, we’ll head down as soon as school is over.

1st leg of the Journey

For the first leg of our road trip, we drove down from Portland to Santa Rosa. It was a long, monotonous drive down I-5 until we turned west on CA-20. This windy road took us through the hills of CA wine country. That was more interesting, but you have to pay attention to the drive. We saw an accident on that twisty, hilly road. A car was turned over. The driver was fine and she was on the phone when we drove by. The fire truck got there quickly and had the situation under control. The driver must have gone off the road and flipped the car on the hill.

We arrived in Santa Rosa after a long driving day and checked into the Hotel Centro Sonoma Wine Country. It was a very nice hotel and we slept like a log that night. The beds were extremely comfortable. Mrs. RB40 would like one of those beds at home. I’ll have to see if Hilton sells these beds. I used my reward points to cover the cost of the hotels on this trip. That’s one way to save money on summer travel.

In Santa Rosa, we visited the Charles Shultz Museum and got a couple of items from the gift shop. Mrs. RB40 is Snoppy’s biggest fan. That’s why RB40Jr and I have a bunch of Snoopy t-shirts. We also visited the Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve. It was great to get a little hike in and stretch our legs a bit.

Afterwards, we drove to San Jose to stay with my brother. He has 3 kids so the house is very lively. It’s great for RB40Jr to spend time with his cousins. It’s a big contrast from our home in Portland. It’s usually very quiet because we only have one kid.

We spent a few days in San Jose to catch up with friends and family. It was great to see my college buddies again. We are all getting older and a bit chunkier, but we are all doing well. I think our generation was very lucky. We all got good jobs after college and were able to build wealth over the years. The Millennials and Gen Z had a more difficult time. I think our kids will face many challenges after college as well.

The USS Hornet Museum was a fun experience for everyone.

2nd leg

Next, we’ll leave San Jose and head to Monterey. One of my college buddies lives near the beach. We’ll crash with him for a couple of days. It should be a lot of fun to explore Monterey and Carmel.

After that, we’ll drive down to Pismo Beach and visit Mrs. RB40’s cousin in San Luis Obispo for a few days. Then, we’ll go camping at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. After the parks, we’ll head back to San Jose. My youngest brother is flying in with his kids. We’ll have a big family gathering. It’s good for the kids to spend time together while they’re young. RB40Jr will go off to college before we know it. It’ll be much harder to gather like this when they’re grown-ups. Life gets a lot busier for them soon.

We’ll spend about a week with my brothers then head back home. We may spend a couple of nights at Lake Tahoe on the way back, but it depends on how we feel. If we’re too tired, we might head straight back to Portland.

Alright, that’s it for today. I hope you’re enjoying your summer break. Summer is half over. I can’t believe it flew by so quickly. Next week, we’ll still be on the road so probably no new blog post. Have a great summer!

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Joe started Retire by 40 in 2010 to figure out how to retire early. After 16 years of investing and saving, he achieved financial independence and retired at 38.

Passive income is the key to early retirement. This year, Joe is investing in commercial real estate with CrowdStreet. They have many projects across the USA so check them out!

Joe also highly recommends Personal Capital for DIY investors. They have many useful tools that will help you reach financial independence.