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website.history

breathe....

established OCT. 1996

California,
well off the beaten path

California Road Trip Ideas

This Total Escape web site was started on a 33k modem back in 1996, in a small apartment near the beach. Now, nearly two decades later, DanaMite has relocated deep in the mountains of the north Sierra Nevada - and finally back on high speed internet (via satellite), but still with limited bandwidth.

Remember the days when no one had a smart phone, nor a digital camera and 56k dial-up was a big deal? Before the time of high speed connections, GPS & online marketing, Total Escape was there carving out a spot for real California travel. This site was well established before the National Parks had a web presence, the National Forests sites or even the California State Park system.

Best California places... the stuff you yearn for.

Secluded alpine lakes with your SUV nearby, a campfire right next to the lake & a bitchin sunset. Yep, those scenic destinations really do exist in the golden state. But you gotta know where to look, what to bring & respect these sacred spaces at all times. Fly fishing, rustic cabins, perfect weekends, all here on this very site. Maps, GPS & our information can get you out there - to the Wilderness. We narrow that vacation search for you, specifically to California & Baja, Total Escape concentrates on the local level, the outdoors & all the awesome recreation each community has to offer.

Founder of the site, DanaMite, has been traveling the state searching out great back roads & local destinations for over 30 years, taking a zillion photos, reworking the map shop every few years, building this web site w/ updates every month - for over two decades. Way back... when LED head lamps were unheard of. Before the economic meltdown, before all-wheel-drive got marketed as 4WD, before email was a chore, Total Escape had a place on the world wide web.

This unique California travel web site only exist because of your support. Total Escape has been a web affiliate, making money online, even before SEO (search engine optimization) was a catchy phrase. We survive solely on your clicks, modest business listings, commissions from purchases and of course, your donations.



California Experts

California Girls Outdoors

Total Escape
online 27 years

eat outside

Total Escape is still here, hanging on, through the thick and thin of it. And while travel habits of Americans are changing and gasoline prices continue to fluctuate, the need for vacations does not. Cheap California road trips is this site's specialty, focusing mainly on the great outdoors. The primal craving for real nature, outside - is within us all.

This awesome web site survives from your repeat visits. Thanks to all the clicking. Help build this independent California travel site by reserving a lodge, grabbing a map, getting some new outdoor gear or shopping with our affiliates. Thanks for the support over the decades!!



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Total Escape has been an AmazonAssociate for 20 years!
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