Author: kimspathway

Wed 13 June – 3697 steps
We left our carpark early and drove along coast through forests on highway 101. I am such a good navigator, I even organized roadworks for David to admire. He specially liked the tar curbing.

We took a wrong turn somewhere and found a casino which we thought Hugh could renovate.

We stopped for lunch at Crescent city in a dingy looking dive that sold delicious fish and prawn combo, with the compulsory slaw. It seems wherever you go in USA you will find an off-duty Santa.

Then we drove and drove and drove through such a variety of scenery and finally reached our desired destination, Mazama Village, just close to Crater late, which is reknown for an epic cycle route around the edge of the lake. We booked in for 2 nights.

We had to back in (reverse) for first time and I hopped out to direct, madly circling my arms and waving like an Outsurance traffic guy. However, I don’t think David could see me and managed well enough without my help.
There was an electric hookup, but no water etc, so this was closer to camping. Especially the mosquitos who nearly carried us away. There was no phone signal or wifi so we were really camping. David even read a book! I am sure it will be early lights out tonight. Although, I have to say that we have not watched TV since we got here. What a change, no SA politics to get upset about.

Chuckle of the day: My eyesight is so bad, I got excited when I saw one seal in the water, only to realize the white rocks all along the pier were actually seals.
What I learnt: I know this is not a food blog, but the size of portions here is absurd. I was so hungry, fully recovered at last, – but still could not finish.

Tuesday 12 June – 7278 steps
We left Myers Flat and travelled North through the forests and on to a village called Ferndale, which has many Victorian houses and shop fronts that have been well-preserved. It is in a farming area and there was a strong smell of manure permeating the streets. Not very appetizing. However, I have to mention again how impressive restrooms are here and flowers. In each place we have been, there have been tubs or hanging baskets filled with beautiful flowers.

It was about 3pm when we arrived and many of the shops and restaurants were closed, but we found a Mexican café and learnt a whole new vocabulary. Mine was easy – fish tacos. I can’t for the life of me remember what David’s meal was called but it was pulled pork (carnitos) in beuritos covered in tomatillo sauce. He enjoyed it.

We drove on to Eureka, where we found Walmart and bought a few things to make life easier, as well as AT&T to buy a simcard. I am tired of struggling with free wifi, which is always incredibly slow.
The RV is now very comfortable and we are getting into a routine of packing and unpacking. I cook (hence the air fryer, which I will donate to some charity) and do most of the cleaning, including laundry, also navigation and reservations. David drives, makes tea and washes dishes more than occasionally. He also has to set up the hook-ups and look after the bikes. I think it is a fair arrangement.
Today was a long day. We are learning to stop and find a campsite when we have had enough driving. There are so many RV campsites and so many RVs on the road. Tonight’s stop was at Redwoods coast cabins in Eureka, which was neat and clean, bit more like a carpark than a resort. However,  everyone minds their own business and it is too cold to sit outdoors. When you are in the RV, it is like being in a hotel room.  Behind us were 2 of the biggest rigs I have ever seen.
Then I had more IT glitches, I bought an unlimited data package so I could use my phone as hotspot, but my prepaid package won’t allow that. AAaaarrrgggghhh!
Lucky there was wine to put into our new glasses.
What I learnt: Humboldt Redwoods state park covers 52000 acres of forest of which 17000 acres are ancient coast redwoods. Growing up to 370 feet, they are the tallest trees on Earth.

Mon 11 June – 6815 steps and 1 short cycle

Still recovering, I took it easy, other than doing 2 loads of laundry. Having a huge dryer does help, no ironing!

David, wise man, escaped and went exploring. On his way out to find a trail, he met up with a French man by the name of Arthur, who cycled from France to Spain and Portugal and then back to Madrid to fly to Argentina. He cycled for 20 months through South America, through Mexico and into the USA.  He is currently on his way to Alaska. He has 8 months to go. Lucky Trump let him in.
After finding a nice trail through the redwoods, David cycled another short distance with an American father and daughter team who are cycling from the West coast to the East coast. Not something I would ever have done with Oupa Robbie.
While he was out I bought a small packet of briquettes, having always heard the stories of how he and Sabrina had a weekly braai on 6 brickettes. I figured for our 1 steak, we would only need about 4. However, times have changed and when David saw the packet, he went straight back and bought fire wood to make a huge fire.
By late afternoon I was feeling better and prompted by the craving for a baked potato, I finally got onto my bike to go up to the shop. It was a very easy cycle, having the motor definitely helps. I found 2 of the grottiest little potatoes and then overcooked them in the microwave, but they were still delicious.  David cooked a massive steak on a huge fire which lasted forever.

 

It was a very relaxing day all in all and I slept very well.
What I learnt: I will never take Imodium again, big mistake, and I was still battling with cramps as bad as labour pains. In my case these just lasted longer!

 

Sun 10 June – 6219 steps
David is back on his bicycle!
After his cycle around the neighbouring farms, we packed up and headed North.

We drove through a lot of wine lands with tasting rooms beckoning. We could have made a day of it, but guess that would not be fair on David, as I am still sure I won’t be driving here.
We drove through the Avenue of the Giants. Very ambitious for a novice RV driver, the road gets very narrow in places. I cannot begin to describe these redwoods and pictures do not do them any justice. We stopped to take a few photos at what we thought were big trees until we drove further.

The trees are humungeous.
We were looking for the Humboldt National park camping site, but the Garmin and Google maps gave us different directions so we finally pulled into an RV campsite just off the road. The main office was already closed, but they tape envelopes to the door and you can select a vacant site, fill in the form and drop it in the box and you are sorted for the night. They had a laundry, so we decided to stay 2 nights to catch up. The camp was along the river and quiet and peaceful and not crowded.
David put my bike together, borrowing a pump from new neighbours. Many of the RV guys have bikes with them.
Chuckle of the day: A politician who advertises what he does, very transparent

What I learnt In USA, you can get chewable gummy probiotics! Also, you cannot buy anti-inflammatories or cramp meds over the counter. You need a doctor’s prescription for everything, other than pain killers.  Best advice from pharmacist: “if you have a pain, take a pain killer!”

 

Sat 9/6 – 6209 steps
I am man down.  I have travelled to at least 5 Asian countries, as well as central Africa and I am really aware and careful about not using hand rails, washing hands etc and never had any trouble. I am also so impressed by the cleanliness of American public abolutions (specially compared to south of France and anywhere in Asia), yet, and I have to do some introspection here, maybe I was too blasé. David and I ate the same meals in the same venues and I picked up a bug that kept me up all night.
We had to set off to San Leandro to fetch our the RV by 11. It should have been very exciting, but I just had nothing left inside. The concierge helped organize a cab that could take us, our bags and our bikes. The cab driver was a big Croatian man, who had filled his cab with bling and dinky cars. Very odd.

David was a star and handled everything, from check lists to instructions to paperwork. The RV is 12 foot high and 10.5 foot wide.

It took a while for David to get used to the vehicle size, luckily he had already experienced driving on the right (wrong) side of the road. Things got easier as we headed out on the highway to our pre-booked camp, just north of San Francisco in Petaluma. We drove on a lot of rumble strip, but we arrived at our campsite, incident free. We stayed at a KOA campsite, loads of facilities and loads of happy children.
David organized the hook ups. He also put his bike together. The guy in the RV next to us asked him if he did it for a living. We borrowed a foot pump from him. He was very friendly. I managed to cook a very plain savoury mince for supper, in spite of the smoke detector beeping very loudly several times when I was trying to fry onions and brown the mince.
What David learnt: How to drive and set up an RV, how to reassemble his new bike with only a multi-tool and a pair of tweezers. Oh and  that I am not a good patient.
David’s (shitty) comment of the day: “Never mind sweetie, you know some people pay lots of money for a colon cleanse, you got it for free.”

 

Friday 8/6 – 9445 steps

We took a hop on hop off bus as is our tradition to get an overall feel of the city. Very disappointing.
We went through town. The city hall looks very much like the one in Denver. I have to research that. I was hoping to get off at Haight-Ashbury, home of the flower power counterculture movement in the sixties, to absorb some lingering love vibrations, but frankly, from where I was sitting, the whole area looked quite sad. I stayed on the bus and kept my illusions intact.

Maybe my mind had been shut by the tour guide. He must have had illusions of being a stand-up comic and was extremely irritating, trying to be funny with his sexist comments. If anyone has to tell his audience to lighten up and smile, he should know to leave the stage. His accent was also difficult to comprehend. Only time constraints prevented me from getting off the bus to wait for the next one.
From there we went over the iconic Golden Gate. It was freezing. It is apparently not unusual for 60 mph winds to blow across the bridge. All David’s desire to cycle over the bridge was completely blown away – thank Heavens!

On the other side of the bridge, we opted for an additional tour through Sausalito, and this was a completely different story. Sausalito has a military base that was decommissioned and handed over to National parks, who together with a private group, took over the upkeep and now the former military buildings can now be rented as upmarket residential units and there is also a hotel. There is a small village and we stopped to share a  pizza, As our first meal of the day at 3:30, it was delicious.  Great guide and very interesting tour. Lovely sunny spot and great pizza.
When we returned, we had great fun at Madame Tussards.

Then we took a trolly bus up the hill to Chinatown. On the way, we saw the hill where Steve McQueen’s famous car chase from Bullit was filmed. It is very steep. By the time we got to Chinatown, most of the shops were closed. It was already 9pm (felt like 7, the sun was just setting). David was desparate to wee and there was no restroom in site, so we went to a restaurant we happened to be passing and ate there. Surprise, surprise, It was a Michelan recommended and the food was delicious. We then had to climb back up the hill to catch a trolley downhill.

Chuckles of the day: Donald Trump socks, with their own comb and Madame Tussards 

What I learnt:  Very little from the tour guide and if the waxworks are life size, which they claim to be, a lot of successful people are short!

Thurs 7/6  6987 steps

Once through the Rockies, about midnight we started approaching Salt Lake City. The lights in the surrounding area go on forever and I eventually fell asleep. The sun rose early and brought another day of awesome scenery –  vast expanses of barren desert, spotted with small villages.

About midmorning, you are face to face with the Sierra Nevada range. I imagine the only thing that kept the early pioneers going forward, was the thought of going back.

The track ends at Emeryville, where we transferred to a bus to take us into San Francisco.
We stayed at the Hotel Zephyr, a trendy hotel close to Fishermans Wharf, and took a stroll around pier 39. Bit of a tourist trap, but very pleasant.

Chuckle: When we got on the train, we were greeted by a big burly man, bit like “the Rock”,  who introduced himself as our sleeper car attendant. At the sight of my luggage, his immediate response was “Hell no, I ain’t lifting that, it must weigh at least 50 lbs.” True enough it did, so I managed my own luggage as one should when one travels. However, when we transferred to the bus in Emeryville, our pint-sized Chinese bus driver would not let me put my bag into the luggage compartment. He lifted each and every bag on his own, making sure it was exactly where he wanted it. What a contrast, I guess it is true that dynamite comes in small packages.
What I learnt: In 2004, inspired by Tony Bennet’s song Ï left my heart in San Francisco”, uniform heart sculptures were painted by different artists and installed at different locations throughout San Francisco, for the public to enjoy, before being auctioned. Proceeds exceeded all expectations and the tradition continues.

 

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