Possibly moving to richmond, ca.

[ColonelSanders]

The East Bay Regional Park District has done a great job of acquiring land in the hills from ranchers and making them available to hikers/bikes/horses.. but not to OHVs. It’s better than having them covered in McMansions.

The ranchers make deals to sell/give the land to the parks but still get to use it forever for grazing. They don’t want Jeeps in there scaring the cows or leaving gates open.

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[LAM]

Richmond does have that (seedy??) reputation. You would, however, have a 1-2 hour gain on us South Bay folk for getting into the Sierra. All of the six passes over the mountains are beautiful. I don’t know much about the west side but once over the mountains there are all kinds of scenery in the Eastern Sierra and Nevada. I drive down to the Hollister area for my one day trips, some dirt some paved, when I need to get out of suburbia. One big Bay Area negative is the traffic, tolerable if you’re retired. But…. Richmond….. maybe buy a sailboat.

 

[Nokones]

You better keep your Jeep locked up and out of site especially at night. If you leave it outside and if they don't take the Jeep, you will be missing parts.

Also, your worst winter weather in Richmond will be during the summer.

 

[JINO]

Richmond! OUCH!!! Don't go out after dark and be Very careful when walking during the day...eyes in the back of your head.

First thing ima do is parade my driveway with my rifle bag on my back.
Then I'll trim all the bushes with my katana..

Im always the 'weird' one on the block.
Plus I got 2 wild dogs that are not friendly.

 

[zouch]

sadly, what that would likely get you is people breaking in armed to steal the weapons they now know you have, and bringing poison meat for your dogs.

First thing ima do is parade my driveway with my rifle bag on my back.
Then I'll trim all the bushes with my katana..

Im always the 'weird' one on the block.
Plus I got 2 wild dogs that are not friendly.

 

[JINO]

sadly, what that would likely get you is people breaking in armed to steal the weapons they now know you have, and bringing poison meat for your dogs.

My dogs aren't bribeable. They will eat steak if I gave it to them, and sometimes they wont even eat it! I dont leave them outside when im not home, so they'd have to break in first.

 

[zouch]

OK, there are plenty of ways to take out our dags; if they want to, they'll find a way.

point is; it helps to not advertise what you have that someone else might want; don't make yourself a target.

My dogs aren't bribeable. They will eat steak if I gave it to them, and sometimes they wont even eat it! I dont leave them outside when im not home, so they'd have to break in first.

 

[KevinM60]

sadly, what that would likely get you is people breaking in armed to steal the weapons they now know you have, and bringing poison meat for your dogs.

That's my approach.
Keep it low key and then when you need it you catch them by surprise.
No point in advertising the goods.

 

[slomatt]

What part of Richmond? There's a big difference between the flats and the hills.

 

[JINO]

What part of Richmond? There's a big difference between the flats and the hills.

We haven't picked out the exact place yet. It doesn't have to be in Richmond, that's just where her school is. She's willing to drive 30-45 min.

 

[zouch]

that's good to hear!

i think you should maybe think about doing a week in a B&B around the area somewhere. i'll bet you a <insert beverage of choice> you wind up somewhere other than Richmond (unless maybe it's Point Richmond).

frankly, you have much better options within that 30-45 min radius.

We haven't picked out the exact place yet. It doesn't have to be in Richmond, that's just where her school is. She's willing to drive 30-45 min.

 

[SlickRickMotoADV]

Check out El Sobrante. I've lived all over the bay area and moved here about 2 years ago. It's been my favorite place, and is super close to Richmond

 

[Jeepless]

TLDR at bottom haha

Welcome to the east bay! It's rough and if you leave anything in sight, there's always a chance of an opportunistic criminal or as5hat going for it. You'll see lots of cars with windows just rolled down or signs saying, there is nothing in here of value, please don't break my windows, or something along those lines. My windows are blacked out and I do see hand prints often on the glass- of where they were obviously looking in. I only had my cars broken into twice in last 10 years in Oakland. Both were "my fault." A backpack that was empty on passenger floor in Oakland, on a quiet, dark street, friday night. And once I loaded the car with gear the night before a trip, because I lived on the 16th floor of an apartment and planned to leave super earlier and didn't want to make 15 trips down. It was a secured- security and key card private garage, but I think it was someone that lived there watching me. Which sucks since it was a nice(r) area and $300/month for parking on top of $3000/month one bedroom apartment. But nothing was taken due to alarm, backed into the spot super close to the wall, and thankfully, security response. Still sucked replacing the windows. But otherwise if I plan to be out late or during popular criminal hours in the area, I uber and leave the car somewhere safe(r). No real problems. I do carry my gun- CCW- in case anyone tries to approach me in the car.

I suggest a tazer and pin code to start it, and you should be fine. Also, get a lift kit, some 37-40's with beadlocks, and locking lugs. Nobody carries a jack high enough to get the wheels off the ground, they're too heavy to just grab, and too big to go unnoticed or fit in their car haha. So modify it crazy and justify it as anti theft measures.

To your question: Hollister is fun to go play around at and have some fun. I do a yearly camping get together there and usually have a blast and meet cool people. Rubicon is close and everyone should do it at some point, if they are capable and ok with using their jeep. Fordyce is up there too but I think harder than the Rubicon. Shaver lake is awesome, also, those are all about 3 hours from you though. Then some fun but easy dirt roads, and scenic trips are plentiful but again, all about 3 hours in any direction. The lost coast trail is worth the easy scenic and fun drive with tons of surrounding things to do. And one of my all time favorite spots is Lake Bowman in tahoe. Don't camp at the official campsites with bear boxes: right before there or after there is tons of more secluded and larger sites. It's busy during summer and it's first come first serve but if you head up on a wednesday or earlier thursday, you'll find an awesome spot. Or sundays later in the day when people leave. It's an easy dirt to smaller rock road but the drive and the views and being on the lake is always an awesome time. Theres plenty of youtube videos to look at and what not.

TLDR: criminals suck and will break in if stuff is in sight for easy grabbing. Hide things of value and cross your fingers. All the best trails are 3 hours in any direction but they are worth the drive and experience. DO THE RUBICON and get your badge of honor. Enjoy

 

[Jeepless]

We haven't picked out the exact place yet. It doesn't have to be in Richmond, that's just where her school is. She's willing to drive 30-45 min.

Sorry, read the rest of the posts: I saw you don't love crawling but I still suggest the Rubicon one time with a cool group. It's a bucket list, nationwide famous trail. Metalcloak and Stellarbuilt put on some cool things every now and then so check them out.

Ya, not a lot in a close distance tbh. Everyone says: "the bay area has everything!" I disagree. It is close to everything. 3 hours for snowboarding. 2 hours to a good beach- sure there's beaches, but not good ones. Nothing is in the bay area besides amazing food and weather and culture. There's great hiking trails but not much for offroading.

 

[CloakedWillys]

You have a bunch of stuff within a couple hours heading east or north. Some trails and good camping for sure. OHV's up here are great for day trips but BLM and forest land is better for weekend trips.

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