Grey Nomads in USA: They are almost here!!

We are in San Francisco! To think that we were here about 8 months ago, looking for an RV with no idea what the future would hold ...!

Now we are back to pick up Kim, Mace and Finlay when they fly into San Francisco for a 3 week holiday.

It has been a plan long in the making; like most plans it is coming together nicely.

We arrived this afternoon at the Treasure Island RV Park in South San Francisco on El Camino Real.
Kim and Finlay are booked into a hotel just across the street from us; Mace will stay with us in the motorhome.
They fly in at about 12.30pm on 5 April and we will be there waiting for them. It is going to be so good!

We left San Diego on 25 March. Our plan was to head north to San Francisco, but - do we want to drive through Los Angeles? Not if we can help it! We had 10 days before we were due into the RV Park in San Francisco. Rather than go north on I-5 we head east on I-8, back to El Centro and then directly north on Hwy 86. We make a big circle around greater Los Angeles.

It is good to be back on the road again.

Essentially we retrace the route we took into California from Yuma, Arizona, 3 weeks ago. Over mountain ranges to a summit of 4,140 feet then descending to the flats around Ocotillo. We are playing Gordon Lightfoot on the iPod. It is 81F. The Ocotillo cactus (Desert Coral) are flowering; what a transformation!

At El Centro we buy gas; $4.07 which is 10 cents cheaper than the gas station across the road. We think that is a good buy until we see it even cheaper as we drive Main Street - 5-25cents cheaper!! I must download an App for cheap gas - the free App I did download isn't working.

El Centro is a large spreading town which lies entirely below sea level (-50ft). Driving north we pass cultivated land on each side of the highway as far as the eye can see.

As we continue north on Hwy 86 there is a place we should have visited; a detour to Niland to visit Salvation Mountain, a 100ft-high hill covered in adobe, straw and thousands of gallons of paint. Created by local resident Leonard Knight it is an objet d'art which includes numerous murals, Christian messages and Bible verses. It has become one of the great works of American folk art and has even been recognised as a national treasure.

We drive beside the Salton Sea, California's largest lake in the middle of its biggest desert. Salton Sea was created in 1905 by accident when the Colorado River flooded and flowed into a newly dug irrigation canal leading to the Imperial Valley. By the time the flow was stemmed 2 years later, a 35 mile inland sea had formed in the Salton Sink.

There is a lot of agriculture and farming the length of the Salton Sea including dates, citrus and palms. In some places the vegetation looks lush and tropical; in others it reverts to the desert.

We drive through the junction of highways 86, 111 and 195 at Mecca - appropriately named - a fertile valley surrounded by mountains - then merge with I-10.

We have stunning views all around us; Kiri Te Kanawa is playing on the
ipod and her magnificent voice does justice to our surroundings.
We stop at Caliente Springs RV Resort at Desert Edge on Dillon Road east of Desert Hot Springs - we will stay for a few days.

This is a Passport America RV Park. We are members and get a 50% discount - $25 a night. The RV sites are very unlevel - we have a job getting the levellers to create their magic and have to use blocks to even things out.

Setting up after a long day of driving is sometimes stressful!! We both get a bit testy ... I direct with hand signals (not always polite)! I accept that I get a bit precious - a foot either way doesn't really matter I suppose.

The resort is a very nice; it has a 9 hole golf course and many permanent villas. I think most residents are regulars for the better part of the year. There are also mineral pools which attract many residents for their beneficial properties.

We spend several lazy and peaceful days here, with warm to hot weather and strong winds a lot of the time. The bikes come off; Trevor swims and I walk.

The mornings are not as windy. I find a road for my walks. It heads straight out to the mountains, eventually turning into a dirt road. The desert stretches out to the mountains; there is still snow on the higher mountains. This place reminds me of the movie Forrest Gump - the part where he is walking across America - an open, empty road, wide open spaces and utter silence. Heaven!!

There is little we can do about the Easter weekend coming up. We don't have a rental car and are too far from Desert Hot Springs ( even on the bikes) for shopping. We haven't seen any hot cross buns - perhaps they don't have them in the US?? As for Easter eggs ......??

Good Friday appears to be like any other day. I walk in the early morning for about an hour. It is just beautiful. We don't miss the shops or the bustle of preparation which often accompanies our Easter weekend at home.
Mid morning we go for a long bike ride. Uphill for about 5 miles before it levels out. The day is warming up quickly. This is our Easter gift ... to be in such a beautiful location; canyons cut into high, jagged hills and mountains. The downhill ride back to the RV Park is sublime!

About 5.30pm we ride to a small cafe attached to a neighbouring RV Park for dinner. We have a vegetable omelette.

On Easter Saturday we speak to the kids. It is Easter Sunday morning at home. Easter egg hunts seem to be the order of the day over there! I want an Easter egg! We spend the morning doing the laundry and getting ready to move on. Trevor puts the bikes back on the RV and drops the tanks. We will leave early tomorrow morning.

On Sunday 31 March - Easter Sunday - we leave Caliente Springs RV Resort. It is also our son Todd's 41st birthday. How did he get so old?

Although we set off early - at 7am - it is already windy. We are soon in wind farm country headed for the San Gorgonio Pass which cuts between the San Bernadino Mountains to the north and the San Jacinto Mountains to the south. It carries I-10 and the Union Pacific Railroad between the Los Angeles Basin and the Coachella Valley. Created by the San Andreas Fault, it is one of the deepest passes in the US with mountains rising to almost 9000 feet on each side.

Nobody told us but the San Gorgonio Pass is one of the windiest places in Southern California and makes for tricky driving at the best of times! We can feel the RV getting pushed around. There is very little talking - not a good sign. It means we are worried!

The most famous sight on the San Gorgonio Pass is the Wind Farm on its eastern slopes, one of the 3 primary regions for windpower output in California.

San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm

It is spectacular country with rugged mountain ranges on each side.
Already we are into Interstate traffic with 4 lanes in each direction.
It's a bit like taking off on a bolting horse (not that I have ever done that). We want to say "Whoa".

Once we are through the pass, the wind dies down and we have great driving conditions. A stop for breakfast at Starbucks in Redlands - a must. How long has it been?? A week? Seems much longer!

We will have a big driving day today to get as close to San Francisco as possible. We are scheduled into the Treasure Island RV Park in South San Francisco on Wednesday.

The traffic gets heavier around San Bernadino. A 6 lane highway. It's Sunday ... Easter Sunday. Where has everyone come from and where can they possibly be going? Now we have the San Gabriel Mountains out to the north of us. High elevations up to 10,000 ft. We travel behind another RV for a number of miles. It is nice to have company.

We are following another RV

At Pasadena we turn off I-10 onto I-210; we stop at a Walmart in Santa Clarita to stock up after our stay in the desert. Yes - it is open on Easter Sunday. Then we are on I-5 headed north; up to the Tejon Pass 4,183 ft.

It is raining and misty. The traffic has lightened off. The country side is now so different to that we left this morning. Although we are driving through mountains, the hills and mountains have vegetation on them and look green.

We had thought to stop at Lost Hills but there is no answer when I ring ahead for a site so we are now going to go a further 65 miles to Paso Robles.

A steep descent - 6% grade

Then we are on the plains at the south end of the San Joaquin Valley - a sea of green with citrus trees and grape vines as far as the eye can see as well as crops of every kind at varying stages of growth.

And then, in the midst of vast market gardens and agriculture production we come across an oil field crammed with pumps working away busily. We are struck by the incongruity as we have just driven miles and miles of fertile land! Amazing!!