March 15 to March 21, 2003

Saturday March 15:

It is 51 under the RV today, and the rain seems to be holding off in AM.  We make the pretty drive through rolling green farmlands to Napa.  There are many cattle grazing the lush green grass.

There are also, vineyards, vineyards, and more vineyards....

This one protected from crop killing frosts by a wind machine.   Napa is HEAVILY tourist oriented, and we get confused by the computer generated driving directions, and end up in the crowded down town area where there really is not room for us.  Claire does a great job finding the Copia building (www.Copia.org) she was seeking, and finds that they have a special event tomorrow featuring Martin Yan, the TV Chinese cooking expert.   Neither Copia nor Walmart will let us stay overnight; Copia finds us an RV park that wants $25 with no hookups.  Walmart says the city of Napa is towing overnight parkers.   We decide to forgo the Copia event tomorrow.  We eat dinner here and drive the 20 miles back to the Rohnert Park Walmart at dusk.  There was an RV and a city bus parked next to us at Napa's Walmart, but we'd rather not take a chance with the towing fee. The drive takes a lot longer than the distance would indicate, as the roads are narrow and winding, and traffic is heavy.  We notice BUSY California Highway Patrol cars on the trip; at first we are surprised, but this road is a main route back to population centers from Sunday wine tasting festivities; perhaps some overdo then drive?  The Walmart lot is again home to some RVs, and we join them.

Sunday March 16:

It rains again overnight, the forecast for the day is continued unstable conditions, and we are not happy with the prospect of a day stuck in the RV.  Claire decides she really would like to attend the Copia event.  We leave early and return to Napa, arriving by 9:30 in plenty of time for the 10 AM opening.  The RV parked in the Walmart lot is still there.....  I decide I would rather spend my time in the RV working the web page than listen to Martin Yan's cooking lecture.  As I work, a call comes from Randy & Chuck; they have some open time in their schedule now, and are only an hour away!  Whoopee!  Visitors 3000 miles from home!!!  Somehow they find us with only the address and name of the Copia organization.  It really is a beautiful place to greet visitors.  

These reflecting pools in front of the building are hard to forget.  We manage to invade the Copia building and find Claire.  We interrupt her Martin Yan cookbook signing for saki tasting at a local saki brewery, and convince her to take a "cousins far from home" picture.

 Randy & Chuck's  rented Cadillac provides transportation in STYLE.  We buy a bottle of "premium" saki best served cold, then return to the RV for bread, cheese, and olives (with more saki) later. Claire and Chuck volunteer as designated drivers, so we still have a bit of saki left over in the fridge. :-)   Randy and Chuck had to leave at 5:45PM for a Novato motel to meet friends coming in to tour with them.  It was too short a visit.......

Too soon it was time to say "Good bye";   but it's ALWAYS fun to meet family and friends in places far from home, and we saw wine country much better than we thought we would because Randy & Chuck were here.  We departed for the Rohnert Park Walmart before dusk, intending to proceed to San Francisco early in the AM.  When we reached Rohnert Park, we both decided we really needed a day of rest before doing the "Big City".   I was certainly in agreement, as I had lots of work on the webpage before uploading, and wanted to do it before free minutes ended at midnight. It was a LATE night tonight in this RV, but the webpage was uploaded and all emails sent.  Sleep of exhaustion came shortly after midnight tonight.

Monday March 17:

We awoke late, moved to the information center and were told of a local park that would meet our desire for a quiet relaxing day.  We drove first to the recommended shopping center, then a few miles to Sonoma County Regional Crane Creek Park.  

This was not a busy place, but was lush, green, and pretty, and ideal for the RV maintenance we needed to do. It also had an interesting new vineyard starting in the field across the road.  It looks well worth the $3 day use fee.   In several hours we epoxy glued the broken fuse holder on the fantastic fan, checked all tire pressures ( within a pound of desired 75 psi),  tightened all lug nuts (found a few that would move a bit), and performed necessary engine maintenance.  There was still time for an hour's walk on the trails of the park, a highlight being the nice light colored male harrier hawk we surprised hovering just two feet above the crest of hill as we poked over a nearby ridge 25 feet from him. No chance for a picture....  :-(   We certainly enjoyed the views from the trails here.

We also enjoyed the wild flowers blooming profusely.

 This is the California Poppy, California state flower (contrary to former erroneous info here that it is the Bird of Paradise).  We returned in time to eat the beans Claire had prepared for dinner, and reassemble the fantastic fan before park closing at sundown.  The drive back to the Walmart was fast, and while Claire did my dishes I took some crankcase drain to Pep Boy's for recycling; apparently they accept it free in California too.  :-)  It is an early to bed night, preparing for the 5AM wakeup alarm to beat the morning rush for the drive to San Francisco tomorrow.

Tuesday March 18:

We departed at 6AM for San Francisco, and the traffic only stopped once, for an accident on Rt 101 that was cleared before we passed it.   The road was filled with cars, but they moved well.  The toll on the Golden Gate bridge was $5 for our 2 axles.  We had expected more.  The drive on Rt 101 through the city required concentration, but went without delay.

The Oakland Bay Bridge is picturesque.  

We arrived at the RV park 15 minutes early, waited on the street, then checked in a few minutes after 8AM.  We quickly occupied the campsite, hooked up water and electric, dumped, and prepared for the $10 each round trip shuttle to town leaving at 9:30AM, choosing to return at 6PM.  The shuttle quickly transported us downtown, then we are on our own.  We wandered at first through Chinatown.

 This gate is beautiful and well maintained.  After wandering the streets and shops here, we decided it might be good to go for an early Chinese lunch before heading across the city; the shuttle driver had recommended a dim sum restaurant, so we looked for it.  It turned out to be a classy place with excellent food, but with each dish you choose costing an unstated price, it became apparent we could spend a LOT for this lunch...  :-)  It turned out to cost $32 with tip, but everything else here seems sky high too..... We walked to telegraph hill,climbing up to the base of Coit tower.

The climb up here was not easy, but the view out over the city was well worth the effort.  This is a view of the Golden Gate and the harbor near Fisherman's wharf.

Here a container ship steams inbound toward it's berth, past Alcatraz island with it's old maximum security prison building (now a tourist attraction).

 We then walked the hills down to Fisherman's Wharf.  The full extent of this city's hills is hard to describe in a flat picture;  here is a try.

Note how the cars all park with their front wheels towed in to the curb; this is required by law to prevent disastrous runaways.  Needless to say, we did NOT drive the RV in this part of the city!!  We did see buses on similar pitched streets, however I'm happy I was not driving!!  Fisherman's wharf attractions seemed like many other tourist areas across the country with respect to the hard selling of useless objects, but the dock area was attractive and unique.

We even saw a large harbor seal swimming the murky water around the boats.  We then made our way to the cable car terminal, buying a day pass for $6 each that would let us ride all day.  The cable cars were interesting; one line used a turntable and man power to turn the cars around at each end of the line.

The other line had cars with dual controls, one on each end.  

The operators of these just changed position to reverse direction.  The operators really had to WORK at their job; braking took LOTS of pull on the control handle, and this guy wore appropriate gloves. We rode the cable cars a lot in the afternoon, and saw a lot of city that way.  This hill looks frightening when viewed from the passing cable car.  

On this one they park across the slope, no parallel parking at all. :-))   The cable cars are surprisingly noisy, from both cable and brake noise, and are often crowded, with the folks hanging off the side pressing firmly against the seated folks,  BUT you can "bump into" all sorts of interesting people this way!   :-)  It seems more like an amusement ride than a real form of transportation.  The operators told me that the wooden block brake pads that are forced against the rails to stop the car on the hills are replaced weekly.

This one looks freshly replaced; many others looked black from the charring heat of braking friction. I can testify that we personally smelled burning wood (and strongly) when the cars stopped on the level cross streets of the downhill runs.  The miles of  1 3/4" cables that run under the street to pull the cars along are replaced every 6 months due to wear (unless they fail first).   We decide on dinner at Sam Wu's noodle restaurant (recommended in guidebook); this made up for our expensive lunch.  Total cost  $11 with tip, NO atmosphere, no English, but great food!  We used our remaining time wandering Chinatown some more.

The hustle and bustle of the Chinese businesses is always interesting to watch, if not wholly understandable.  Claire bought a Chinese clay cooking pot on the way back to the shuttle stop. Another store customer told us how to properly season it for use.  :-)  We were tired, but also happy to say that we've finished with our quick tour of San Francisco.  We've experienced what we came here for, and did it all in one long day with superb weather; we feel very blessed!  This frees us to move on tomorrow, and it's a good thing too, with the antiwar demonstrations intensifying daily and blocking traffic.

Wednesday March 19:

I awoke VERY late, to news of the air strike against Saddam Hussein's bunker; lots of speculation, but no hard facts on success.  We plan to depart Candlestick RV park at exactly 11AM, their checkout time. We are pleased with this park, if not it's prices.

It has lots of open spaces now, but does not expect that after Easter. It is ideal for doing what we did.  It probably allowed us to do in ONE day what would have taken two staying outside the city.  This saved us transportation costs and an extra day at a cheaper park.  While we work, we hear TV reports of antiwar demonstrations slowing traffic on the San Mateo-Hayward bridge we intend to cross.  :-(   We make sure showers are taken and dump and water fill is freshly done before we leave. We missed our first planned stop, a Flying J associate gas station in South Francisco.  We decide to press on to a similar station across the bridge.  This display looks down prominently on the bridge traffic.

Evidently not EVERYONE out here is protesting the war......  We tried for the Flying J in Hayward and could not find that one either; their published driving directions just DO NOT match the road exits on the highway, and there are NO real addresses given to use in Street Atlas.  :-(    We do need gas soon, and local San Francisco area prices we are seeing go as high as $2.49/g. We debate stopping in Walmarts without gas in several close towns for this first night, but then notice there is a REAL Flying J station in Ripon;  it would take us south on Rt 99, instead of the computer chosen I-5, but that was said to be more interesting anyway, and the route does not appear to be any longer.  Driving east we come upon signs warning RVs of dangerous gusty winds, and fields of wind generators high on the hills.  This one is a different design than we have seen before.

The blades turn on a vertical axle;  most of the generators are turning as we pass, so the design works.  :-)  When we arrive at the Flying J in Ripon, I discovered my credit card is missing when I attempt to use it for fuel; in thinking about it, I assume the clay pot merchant in Chinatown did not return it.  :-((    I cancelled the account after fueling with Claire's card, and arranged with Hugo for mailed replacements to general delivery in a town up the way 5 to 7 days away. Oh well...one more complication.  :-(   I do hope the weather is good along I-40 in New Mexico; now we MUST go there!    Dinner is Burritos, quite delicious!  We watch a lot of TV with the war unfolding, but soon it becomes repetitive; it's time for BED!

Thursday March 20:

We watched more war on TV before starting our drive. We leave our options open for the day's destination;  if we tire we will stop in Bakersfield, otherwise we'll continue to Barstow.  We drive down the central valley past countless groves of trees of many kinds; what they bear we can only guess.

Some are in spectacular bloom, while others next to them are leafed out or bare.   I am surprised at the extent of animal raising that is done here; I always thought of California as a fruit and vegetable growing area.  There are cattle in feed lots.

Also visible are open air lot dairy operations, with enclosed barns only for milking, and sheep in HUGE numbers.

Most of the sheep look freshly shorn now.  Of course the supporting grain elevators for the animal feed supply are here too....

We take Rt 58 from Bakersfield to Barstow, over the mountains.  It is good limited access road, and we soon pass a sign for the Tehachapi loop. I recognize the name from recent Internet conversations, and we turn off to see what it is about. The road is hilly, narrow and very winding, but it's paved; we press on.  We run close to a train as we climb the mountain, sometimes it goes faster, sometimes we do. We arrive at a plaque with a pull off, and park, with several other cars.  We look down on what appears to be a toy sized train emerging from a tunnel on one side of a circle, going around the circle and climbing to cross the mountain.

 This single track loop was completed in 1876, and is still being heavily used. Trains were waiting on both sides of the loop for their turn to pass through.   The long train above goes around a 4000 foot circumference circle, with the rear cars passing  through a tunnel 77 feet under the front of the train passing above it. Here is a closer view of the locomotive, with it's train still entering the circle below.

This is a most interesting place that attracts railroad buffs from around the world.  We had a bit of difficulty finding a place to turn around on the narrow road, but finally found a friendly driveway several miles down the road, and return the way we came in.  Further along on Rt 58, we find huge numbers of wind generators perched on the ridges lining the roadway.

 We found a pull off and stopped under a very dense group of wind generators;  I had heard they have an audible low frequency sound, but we were unable to hear ANYTHING!  They just turn....and make electricity.  :-)  We passed the Flight Test Center at the surprisingly large airport in the small town of Mojave.  

There are MANY planes visible on the ground. I'm not sure if they are just stored in the dry desert environment, or here for other reasons; there are sure a LOT of them!  We arrived at the Barstow Walmart to the sight of numerous RVs parked, and joined them.  Dinner is left over lentil soup; we eat too much, but do not want it left over AGAIN!  :-)  We had watched the war in Iraq unfold on TV at every stop along the way.   I watched 5 hours more this evening, long after Claire was in bed.  The battery was certainly well charged and up to the task from the day's driving. I'm not at all sure of this driver's "state of charge" after losing the sleep however....  :-)

Friday March 21:

It is not cold this morning, but we are 350 miles further south and inland away from the cool water.  I watched way too much TV last night, and was LATE getting up.  Claire announced as she got up that she had broken her glasses; a quick look confirmed the temple would need replacement.  We checked in Walmart; they had no vision center here in Barstow.  We considered going on to our next stop, Bullhead City AZ, which is a larger town and has a SUPER WALMART with vision center.  A quick check revealed it was under 170 miles away.  We decided to fill fuel and propane at Flying J in Barstow, then proceed.   We found Flying J would accept our Discover card, nicely filling the gap while we wait for our new Mastercard.  We departed Flying J by 10:30 AM, and were in Bullhead City by 1:40; ooops, 2:40 MST.  We've crossed back into Arizona!  Walmart did not carry parts for frames, but sent us to another eyeglass shop in town that might.  This shop ground its own lenses there, and looked for a long time for a temple that would fit.  They did not have one, and could not find a new frame that would fit the lenses either.  They suggested Walmart for a frame.  :-)  We returned to Walmart and they quickly found a plastic frame that would fit for $18; Claire immediately said "OK".  The only casualty was one lens chipped when the lenses were transferred; Claire says it is unnoticeable in her field of vision.  We replenished our supplies in the food section of the Super Walmart, happy to be back in the familiar stores.  We asked if we could stay overnight; we were told "no, there is a city ordnance against it".  When we asked WHERE we could stay, the lady finally said "just do it; nobody here will take action for just one night".  OK, we are pretty tired and do NOT want another 15 mile drive to Katherine's Landing campground in the National Park today.  The cellphone signal is also quite strong here, and we do not know what it will be like there; tomorrow is INTERNET time.  We stay, watch more TV, and try to get the webpage in shape to upload tomorrow AM.  It's going to be a late night tonight......

PLANS: We will spend two days at Katherine's Landing campground on Lake Mojave in the National Park, then move on to overnight at Winslow AZ before proceeding to Albuquerque. We do not want to leave Albuquerque before Wednesday, so we can pick up our new credit card on the way out.  Beyond that, we will take I-40 east as long as the weather remains suitable.  If it turns too cold or snowy, we will run south to I-20 and continue on east there.  We plan to get home by April 15.