OK. I know, I know. I promised to update you on the trip around the San Francisco Bay area, which I was more or less dreading. OK. So, I didn't have a wi-fi connection last night, so sue me.
After consulting Google Maps, Mapquest and the guys on the RV forum, we decided to avoid SF and head up the east side of the bay on I880, through Oakland and across the Richmond bridge. It was a good choice.
We left Paso Robles, where we thoroughly enjoyed our stay and the lovely RV Ranch park, and headed up the 101 (do you like my use of SoCal freeway lingo?). At San Jose, we stopped for fuel around 11:30 AM. Then we got back on the 101 and found that the very next exit was for the 880. I have to say that driving this route was pretty much a non-event. The traffic moved along at a steady clip on pavement that must be 75% better than the 680.
Well, as is always the case, nothing is free. We arrived at the Richmond toll bridge after a lovely cruise up the east bay shore, paid our toll and headed across the estuary to Marin County. I remarked to Jill as we were crossing the bridge, "OK. We made it through the bay area unscathed."
And then we got to the other end of the bridge, where we discovered that virtually every inch of the freeway in Marin County is under construction. The traffic was awful, and finally we decided to get off and have some lunch; a reasonable idea, right?
WRONG
We saw a sign for Jack in the Box and Burger King. I exited the freeway and turned LEFT. No, you dummy, not left. After winding around and driving through Denny's parking lot, we got headed the other way. We found Jack in the Box...no parking. We found Burger King...no access to the driveway on the left side of the street. In my inimitable, only-Tom-could-be-this-patient style, I got back on the freeway. Gerty announced, "Continue on US 101 for 89 miles." I replied, "I'm tempted to do just that."
I was brought back to reality by Jill's quietly saying, "No. I have to have something to eat." We continued on to Santa Rosa. The helpful motorist information sign before the exit indicated "food, lodging, fuel." OK, I thought, we are home free.
WRONG
We wandered through the Tattoo parlor district, the adult book/video district, the auto row district. Finally, just as I was about to get back on the freeway, Jill cried, "McDonald's!" There they were, the golden arches, just off the NEXT freeway exit and very accessible with a driveway on my right and plenty of parking.
We were elated. We got in line behind a young man who was waiting patiently for the lady ahead of him to complete her order. I don't think I am exaggerating by saying she took 15 minutes to place her order. For some reason, although there were three cash registers, only one person was taking orders for the lunch crowd.
At long last we placed our order, found a table and proceeded to rectify our sagging blood sugar. Ah! That's better. We can both be civil again!
We headed back up the 101, and things settled into a nice pace. A couple of hours later, we arrived at the Golden Rule RV Park in (well actually about 7 miles before) Willits. We turned off the highway. We crossed a cattle guard. We drove down a steep, winding road. At least the lanes were really narrow! Finally we crossed another cattle guard and arrived at the park. It is a lovely, well-maintained park with a residential section filled with nicely maintained manufactured homes, and pretty little RV section at the bottom of the canyon.
The park is nicely treed. The spaces are reasonably level and covered with gravel. There is a swimming pool and a nice restroom/shower facility. We got Topper set up and went for a little walk around the park. As we headed up the hill to stroll through the residential section, we encountered a huge congregation of yellow jackets flying madly about. We quickly changed our plan and strolled around the pool instead.
Today's drive was spectacular. We fueled up in Willits and then headed into the famed Redwood Forest. There was very little traffic, the sun was out, the trees were big, the road was winding and fun to drive. Eventually we arrived at Eureka on the North California coast. We stopped for some supplies and then continued on up the coast, through more redwoods, and finally arrived at Brookings, OR, where we are parked with our rear windows about 20 yards from the beach.
Today was a good day.
No comments:
Post a Comment