Week 12- Bodie, Death Valley NP, Hoover Dam, and LAS VEGAS!!

If you missed Bub's 2nd appearance on the blog, check it out here.. 


Now to Week 12 (October 25th- November 1st)

We had a scare with bad meat that ultimately left Allen without his favorite bandana and me with only one sock, but we made it out of Yosemite National Park and headed towards Las Vegas through the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  Our good friend Tabitha Wilson was joining us for Halloween weekend in Las Vegas.  Tab and I awkwardly went out in 7th grade for about 3 weeks and have remained friends ever since.  (At 5 feet tall, she was taller than I was in 7th grade) She was due to fly in Friday night so let's brace ourselves and check out a few cool places in the meantime.  A little ways out of Yosemite, we hit a a major highway that led south towards Vegas and north towards Bodie, a ghost town.  Hey, wait a minute, a ghost town?  These places exist?  I gotta check this out.

Bodie was an old gold mining town that sprung up during the gold rush in California in the late 1800s after gold was discovered here in 1859.  We really didn't know what to expect but we left the camper at our site from the night before and took the truck to check out Bodie.  After about 8 miles on a gravel road, sure enough, we come up on an abandoned town in a valley surrounded by mountains.  The road leading in came to a parking lot that overlooked the town, revealing about 50 buildings within eyesight.  The buildings were mostly made of wood, with other random structures made of metal thrown up around the town.  You could even tell where the downtown portion of the city used to be, with multiple bars around and other larger buildings concentrated in this area.  We spotted what looked to be an old gym and the schoolhouse near the center of town and I even saw an old roulette table in one of the bars.  The park allowed people to walk through the town by the dirt roads as long as you didn't take or damage anything.  We toured Bodie by foot for at least an hour and half, even making it out to the "suburbs" of town.  

It seemed like the right thing to do

Out in the suburbs

After heading south for a few hours, we see a sign for a national monument, "The Devil's Postpile."  I remember the "Devil's Tower" in eastern Wyoming being awesome, and who knows, maybe this this is its younger cousin or something.  This looked to be about 30 minutes out the way, so I hope it's worth it.  About 10 minutes into the drive, some serious downhill roads appear, giving the whole rig a good workout.  The low gas snuck up on us and before we knew it, we were at least 10 miles out from a gas station with the low fuel light on.  Remember, the Devil's Tower is where we ran out of gas a few weeks ago.  Maybe this devil guy shouldn't be messed with, but I can't be certain, I have never heard of him.  

So we park the rig and walk about a half mile to the Devil's Postpile.  It is this strange looking rock formation basically in the middle of nowhere near a river.  It was the kind of thing you walk up to, look at, think "Hey, this is pretty cool", ask if there is anything else to see, and then leave.  Was it worth it to drive an hour out of the way?  Well If we run out of gas then hell no, but if we make it out unscathed, then it's a tossup.  At least this wasn't Bullshit, Connecticut and Dinosaur State Park.  10 miles later, after an uphill battle (literally) we arrive at a gas station.  Disaster avoided.        

I mean, pretty cool, right?

The next day led us through Death Valley National Park, home to the lowest elevation point in the United States, a solid 214 feet below sea level.  We drove from west to east through the park, just a few hours west of Las Vegas, but still in California.  This was our first legit desert experience in the United States.  The first part of the park led us through the mountains going up and down in elevation very quickly.  In the middle of the park, we came upon the sand dunes.  If you have never been on sand dunes before, they are a strange landmass.  If the wind blows hard enough, it reshapes the formation of the dunes and there is a bunch of sand in one spot where a mile away, there is no sand.  They are unusual, but from what I remember with other sand dune experiences, the dunes are fun to play on.  Two fun games to play in the sand dunes

1.  Find a downhill part in the dunes.  Take a running go and jump from the top of the dunes and see how far you can get.

2.  Find a downhill part in the dunes.  Take a running go and run as fast as you can downhill until the sand levels out or you wipe out.

This spill left me stunned and limping away from the sand dunes.  (The hill was much steeper than it looked, or least I'm claiming so.)  After recovering from one of the more unathletic moves in recent memory, we head to find the lowest point in the United States.  The road had gentle sloping hills the whole way, with a few hundred feet changes in elevation.  It is very odd to see a sign saying, "Elevaton: Sea Level", and still be going downhill.  Sure enough, a few miles later, we come to the parking lot where there is a path leading out on to the desert.  On the mountains behind the parking lot, there is a sign 200 plus feet above us that says, "Sea Level."  For some insane reason, the ground is covered in salt at the lowest point.  

After Death Valley, it was into Nevada for the first time of the trip.  We made it into Pahrump, Nevada at a campground/casino for the night.  Because gambling is legal in Nevada, there are casinos everywhere.  Pahrump was the first town over the California/Nevada state line and for a city of under 40,000 people. there were 4 or 5 casinos.  Almost every gas station has slot machines and you can't go very far without seeing a way to gamble.  Believe it or not, the main objective in going to the casino was to eat.  Casino food is highly underrated.  Now, if you are looking to get a nice sit down meal, a casino is not the place.  If you want a solid $10 meal with actual decent food, a casino is the place to be.  


Once completing the first objective, I moved on to the second one…. trying to win a bunch of money really quickly.  I didn't want to make this a few hour ordeal because of what lie ahead for the weekend, so I threw some money in for blackjack, decided to sling it around for a few minutes and walked away with enough money to pay for the rv spot for the night.

Las Vegas, hey?  This is my first experience in Las Vegas and I truly didn't know what to expect.  This has to be one of the most unusual cities in the history of mankind because, well, it's Vegas man.  Let's go to the middle of the desert and do crazy things!  


Note:  Two nights were spent in Las Vegas, followed by a recovery day in the camper to check out the Hoover Dam, and then back to Vegas for one more night and an afternoon before Tab flew back to North Carolina.  

Before I get to Las Vegas, let's talk about the Hoover Dam.  It was built in the '30s to provide hydroelectric power to Southern California, Nevada, and Arizona.  Situated right along the Arizona and Nevada border, it dams up the Colorado river, forming Lake Mead at the top before it goes through the actual dam to provide the energy.  This massive concrete structure is over 700 feet tall and also housed Megatron until he broke free in the first Transformers movie. (See the movie if you aren't sure what I'm talking about.)  

The Hoover Dam is heavily policed because of the supposed high threat of a terrorist attack here.  We were questioned driving in and had to go through a security checkpoint.  They looked through the back of the truck to ensure we had no weapons or illegal objects on board.  After walking around and checking out plenty of the viewpoints, we looked into some of the tours they had of the dam.  We didn't pay $175 for any of the tours (slightly exaggerated), but we did pay to go into the gift shop and look at all the exhibits inside.  (I'm still a little ticked we had to pay to get into the gift shop by the way.) 

Me, Tab, and Bub

Megatron?

Tab flew in on October 28th, right in time for Halloween weekend in Vegas. and we had about a 2 hour drive to Las Vegas.  Coming from the west from Pahrump, we first spotted Las Vegas from about 30 miles away.  I don't know what route people in the movies take when they ride past the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign and then you see it over the hill, but I didn't get the memo where that is.  


Vegas is basically a random, huge city in the middle of the valley of a desert surrounded by mountains.  Other than the houses on the outskirts of the city, there is nothing else in the nearby area.  We showed up at our hotel, the Stratosphere, for a 2 night stay.  The hotel was at the end of the Las Vegas strip and consisted of two parts, the hotel and the tower.  The tower had an observation deck at the top with a few rides, and no that isn't a typo, there were rides at the top.  One was a mini roller coaster that made it seem the rider was going off the edge of a 100 story tall building.  The other ride was one that extended out over the side of the hotel and then the small cars went around and around in circles.  You could also bungee jump off the side of it.  A cord ran from close to the top of the tower all the way to the ground.  The participant was strapped in, attached to the rope, and slid all the way to the ground.  This look pretty intense, but pretty damn cool.  How do you talk yourself into walking off the side of a 100 story building?  And why are there rides on top of a 100 story building?  Oh wait a minute, this is Las Vegas.


Not only did our hotel have the big observation tower with rides, but there was a miniature shopping mall inside with plenty of places to eat.  We found a gyro place, another with hotdogs and sausages, and there was even a McDonald's inside of our hotel.  A few floors up, there is a huge cinema-like type room with all kinds of projections screens.  On Sundays during football season, every football game is on and there are even blackjack tables in the back of the room, just in case you are one to multi-task.  

The Stratasphere

The View from our room

Ride on the 100th floor

I'm really not sure how to describe Las Vegas, like I said before, this has to be the most unusual city in the United States.  Think about it, this is a city in the middle of the desert.  On the main street running through Vegas, the Las Vegas strip, there is casino, after casino, after more casinos, and well, a few more casinos.  Other than places to eat and a few tourist shops, that's about it for the main strip, no lie.  We were there on Halloween weekend, so instead of the normal run of people on the streets (if that is possible in Vegas) many people were dressed up in all sorts of costumes.  The streets were packed every night, we the higher concentration of people gathering right around the well known casinos- Cesear's Palace, MGM, the Bellagio.

We had planned all along to be in Las Vegas for Halloween weekend, and now the time was upon us. Her flight wasn't due in until 11 pm so we decided to check out the pool at the hotel, gather ourselves, and relax for a little bit.  I hit the tables in Las Vegas for the first time at approximately 7 pm pacific time on October 28th, 2011.  At approximately 8 pm pacific time on October 28th, 2011, I officially lost the camper to the Stratosphere Casino.  Just kidding, but that would have made for an interesting story.


Tab arrived at the Las Vegas airport right before midnight on Friday night.  She looked like a little kid on Christmas walking out to the truck to meet us, camper attached and all.  We immediately set off to bankrupt the entire city of Las Vegas.  The first two nights in Vegas, I gambled mostly at the Stratosphere, not doing anything good for my bank account.  I had myself convinced that I was going to get our room compensated for gambling enough at the casino downstairs.  I spent a few hours gambling, and after looking at the free rewards card the next day, I had compensated a whopping $5 towards our room.  


We all dressed up on Saturday night, which we figured to be the big night for Halloween, considering Halloween night fell on a Monday.  Tab dressed up as a peacock, Bub as his a patriot in his Canadian tuxedo and American flag bandana, Allen as some random guy in a sweet suit, and I dressed up as Jimmy Hoffa.  Who is Jimmy Hoffa you ask?  You have heard of him but aren't quite sure who he is? Well that was the whole point, I could claim I was someone most people had heard over, but no one quite knew who he was.  He was a mob guy/ union leader in the 60s and mysteriously disappeared in the 70s. (I had to look all of that up by the way)  I put on a suit, slicked my hair back and claimed I was Jimmy Hoffa.  It seemed to be a hit.    


We caught the SEMA car show on Sunday afternoon before heading to the Hoover Dam.  There were a bunch of awesome cars, and famous drifter Ken Block did a demonstration in the late afternoon.  Check out these rides.  

Our last night in Vegas (At the Flamingo Hotel, right in the middle of the strip) the new good luck blazer came out for the second time in the trip.  Let's just put it this way, I was in the hole for the trip, a good amount, and thought that this might be the 2nd to last chance I have to gamble.  If you remember, I went on a nice run in New York, basically went even until the Seattle area, and never recovered.  The blazer was truly a live-saver, because we hit about 5 or 6 casinos in the span of about 3 hours, and man did I do well.  I made it back to even for the entire trip, and I couldn't have done it without the amazing blazer.  This $2 blazer has done wonders for me and will go down in the hall of fame of the road trip.


We checked out of the hotel on Tuesday night, and caught the movie Moneyball before Tab caught her flight home.  Why in the world did we watch a movie in Las Vegas?  Well, because we had exhausted every other available option in Vegas, and this seemed like the right thing to do.  Tab, thanks for joining the 3 amigos for an awesome weekend, and Las Vegas, I will be back for round 2 in my attempt to bankrupt you.  Happy Holidays everyone.    

Limo Ride, in the blazer of course

Jimmy Hoffa and the Peacock

Bub and a random guy on the streets

This guy wasn't so fortunate, in handcuffs and passed out at 10 pm in Vegas

RIP JHW 3

Week 11, Northern California

Greetings to all of our readers! It looks like I (Bub) will be taking the reins from Jimmy again this week. Ten weeks of blog typing will wear about anyone out.

Opposite of popular belief my mustache has not taken control of my mind, body, and spirit and I am capable of giving my own account of Week 11 of our grand adventure.

I would like to go on a little tangent to start this post and give our readers a taste of life on the road (which would sometimes come out to 10+ hour driving days). Allen, lucky for Jimmy and I, usually took on driving duties. His explanation, “Well if I’m not driving I’m going to be bored as shit.” Fair enough. So this left Jimmy and I with a lot of free time to fill.

Most of our time in the truck was spent on one of our greatest pastimes, talking bullshit. Topics ranged from sports, movies, climate change, girls, snowboarding, Australia, booze, hiking, girls, music, alternative energy, the economy, how stupid George Bush/any politician was/is, “rabbits”, and a thousand others. Pretty much if we had an opinion on anything we strongly voiced it to each other whether or not anyone really cared. The inclusion of Mr. Jordan Vance (742!!!) for the last week revitalized our bull shitting sessions.

A great thing about going on the road with two of your best friends is that you can enjoy each other’s company without talking. There were multiple times when we would just sit for thirty minutes to an hour without saying a word. Comfortable silences are a very underrated occurrence and they provided us all with a little time to our own thoughts. Silence also led to another common theme in our trip, music.

Our truck came with 3 months of free satellite radio and we milked it for everything it was worth. Our favorite stations included 70s on 7, ESPN Radio, Classic Vinyl, and Rawdog Comic Radio. Classic Vinyl was our favorite and we were able to listen to such classic bands as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and many many others. Dusty Street, a DJ on Classic Vinyl, became like a friend to all of us and we loved hearing her sweet voice when we entered the truck. Also because Jimmy and Allen had iPhones we were able to play anything off of the Internet through the speakers. We would sometimes listen to South Park episodes or comedy specials through Netflix. Also we had a few go to songs that we each would play but one essentially became the theme song of our entire trip. The band-Steely Dan. The song- Reelin’ in the Years. Enjoy the version we would always listen to including an introduction from a childhood hero:

Reelin' in the Years - Steely Dan

Now that everyone has a little idea of life on the road lets start week 11 of the Road trip.

Week 11 of our grand adventure brings us to beautiful northern California. Home to a forest of ancient giants, a valley of technology and industry, one of our country’s most beautiful and diverse cities, and the so-called “crowning glory” of our national park system.

Here is a quick breakdown of our week in Northern California:

• Two days in and around Red Woods National and State Parks
• Two days in San Francisco
• Four days in Yosemite National Park

I know that the days don’t add up to seven, I didn’t fail to carry a two or anything, it just makes it easier to group things together without splitting them up into different blog posts.

Well let’s just jump right into it and start with our first stop in Northern California, the Giant Coastal Redwoods.

After we left Crater Lake National Park we drove to the Oregon coast and reached the California border. Apparently California has a problem with invasive plant species so the State Agriculture Department runs checkpoints at all borders. We simply had to stop and

answer a few questions from an officer:

Do you have any produce bought from another state? No.

Are you bringing any lumber into the state? No.

Do you have any bushes or shrubs on board? No.

After answering no to all we were allowed in and continued to our campground for the night just north of Redwoods.

View of the California Coast

Once we woke up we continued down Highway 1 and entered the park. Redwoods is actually a combination of the National and California State Park systems and is just north of San Francisco. There are four parks connected by the famous California roads Highway 1 and 101. The parks hug the California coast and offer spectacular views of the tree line running right up to the cliffs and beaches.

Talk about mind-blowing!! As soon as you enter the park you are literally greeted by ancient giants. These trees are absolutely spectacular and there were multiple times when we asked each other if they were actually real.

How about some fun facts about Redwood Trees?

Giant Coastal Redwoods

• Redwoods are a type of Sequoia and are evergreen, coniferous trees.
• The Giant Redwoods can live anywhere from 1200 to 1800 years and on rare occasions they can live well past 2000 years old.
• To give you some perspective of how old some of the trees are; the United States is only 235 years old, the Roman Empire only lasted roughly 625 years, and Jesus Christ was born 2011 years ago.
• They are the tallest species of plants on earth and can reach heights of up to 379 feet, taller than the Statue of Liberty.
• The trees can have a diameter of up to 26 feet, large enough for a car to drive through!

We made several stops along the main road in the park just to gaze at the magnificent trees. Gazing to the top of the tall trees really will make you feel very small. It is absolutely insane to think about the life of the trees and how much time has passed since they were mere saplings.

The Three Amigos in a tree trunk.

A few miles down the road we came to an old-growth forest. An old-growth forest is exactly as it sounds, basically just very old trees in a secluded part of the park. Forest fires, logging, and development have knocked out a large percentage of the old redwood forest leaving few small old-growth sections scattered amongst the new growth. Luckily the state and national governments have taken steps to protect these old-growth forests and preserved some of the oldest living species on the planet. In the old-growth forest we found a nice little trail and hiked amongst the giant trees finding a few great photo opportunities, including a fallen tree and a hallowed out trunk.

After a few hours we were starting to lose daylight so we decided to head south and try and find a place to set up the rig for the night. Luckily we were still on highway 101 and were able to be right on the coast as the sun was setting. We decided to stop and walk out on the beach. Our first California sunset was spectacular and a great way to end a good day.

Cali sunset

Our second day in Redwoods would take is from the Avenue of the Giants to a crazy tree house. We woke up from our campground and headed back down the highway towards the southern part of the park. Along the way we found a ranger station to try and ask where a good place would be for the day. Of course we would have a crazy encounter. We found a park ranger and started asking him questions. He suggested a few places to go and that we should stay on the road they call Avenue of the Giants. About halfway through our conversation, I look at Jimmy and he seems to be awestruck. It turns out we had just met the California version of James Wheeler. Talk about a small world.

We took James Wheeler’s advice and headed towards the Avenue of the Giants. It is basically a long stretch of road surrounded on both sides by some of the taller trees in the park and offered some good stops and tourist traps along the way. At one stop we found another fallen tree and were able to actually stand in its root system.

Ya that is a fallen tree trunk.

Next we were sucked into some more tourist traps that have somehow sucked us in every time we see one. This time they were pretty cool. Our first one was the Grandfather Tree, one of the oldest trees in the area. Next was The Log House, a retired traveling fair attraction that is an actual house complete with a kitchen, bathroom, and a bedroom. Jimmy and Allen were also sucked into a few purchases at the gift shop. Jimmy bought an ounce of Salmon jerky and a wooden treasure chest thing. Allen bought a slice of red wood for $5 bucks.

Each tree ring depicts a moment in time, from the birth of Jesus to the Declaration of Independence.

The Grandfather Tree

A literal log cabin.

The whole time we were in the park we had been seeing advertisements for the “Drive-through” tree. We were not leaving until we found this place and attempted to have the experience of driving through an actual tree. This proved to be a little more complicated than advertised.

It took us about an hour to actually find the place and you have to pay to see the tree. The attraction is outside of the park since it is illegal to tamper with the trees in the park. We figured $5 bucks was worth driving through a tree. As we pulled up to the admission booth we were a little worried about the truck fitting. The lady at the booth assured us that we would be fine and that she had seen Ford F-250s make it through. I don’t know what this lady had seen but there is absolutely no way an F-250 would even be able to stick its nose into the tree. Allen and I got out of the truck and pushed the mirrors in to give Jimmy as much clearance as possible. Even with the mirrors in it was a tight squeeze and the mirrors were starting to scrape the sides. The combination of a large tree, a large truck, scraping mirrors, and a pissed off Jimmy was all we needed to know it was a lost cause. We settled for a picture of the truck squeezed into the tree opening and reversed out, cursing the whole experience.

Overall the Redwoods National and State Parks were a great experience and good time. But we were anxious to get to another big city, especially San Francisco. So we decided to go ahead and make our way south towards the bay area. Instead of taking the interstate we thought it would be a good idea to keep going down 101 along the coast. Once again probably not the best decision we made during the trip.

As we continued down the coastal road it became increasingly darker and foggy. Fog and darkness does not equate to good driving conditions. Jimmy was behind the wheel and we had made it about 45 minutes down the road when all of a sudden out of nowhere we see a bright yellow sign indicating a sharp almost 90 degree turn. Who puts sharp turns on highways? Well being in a truck towing a couple thousand pounds and going over 45 mph there is not much time to slow down in time without jackknifing the rig. Luckily Jimmy had the awareness to notice that there was a small side road directly in front of us leading into a housing development. So he was able to ease on the brakes and slowdown enough to avoid any major disaster. Once our nerves had settled we decided we should just head towards the nearest interstate to try and get to San Fran as quickly and safely as possible. One problem, the nearest entrance to the interstate was 45 miles behind us. Being the road warriors that we are we decided to disregard Rosa Lee (our GPS) and head down another side road thinking it would be a short cut. Once again we were wrong and we had to traverse a mountain in the fog, adding another hour plus to a 3-hour drive. We finally found the interstate and were able to reach San Fran and some odd hour in the night. Exhausted and strung out from the road we crashed hard.

With the giants and dangers of the Redwoods behind us a little dose of society was all we needed to recharge the batteries. The next morning we decided to wake up fairly early, 10:00 AM on our schedule, so we could soak in as much as the city had to offer. We hopped in the truck and headed onto the interstate. About 15 minutes into the ride we are offered a great view of the Sand Francisco Bay and can see the city of Oakland on the other side. Then we made a sharp turn and the Golden Gate Bridge was staring us in the face.

I have seen plenty of bridges in my life but nothing compares to the Golden Gate. It takes your full attention and is the exclamation point of the cityscape in front of you. The bridge is one of the largest suspension bridges in the world and is a monument of modern engineering. The Golden Gate Bridge is absolutely the symbol of San Francisco and also one of the United States. The bridge is 692 feet above the water and almost 9,000 feet across. We did have to pay a one-way toll to cross the bridge, which was a bummer but totally worth it.

As soon as you pass over the bridge you enter the city and we decided to go close to the bay to get a good view of the bridge and also of Alcatraz. Alcatraz is probably the most famous prison in the United States and was operational until 1969. “The Rock” housed some of the most notorious criminals included Al Capone. The prison is famous for never having a successful escape, mainly due to the freezing waters in the San Francisco bay.

The Rock

After we were satisfied with our views of the bay we decided to drive around the city to get our bearings. The city of San Francisco is massive and quite astounding since most of it is built right on top of steep hills. We passed by many of the city’s famous landmarks including: China town, Fisherman’s Wharf, the financial district, and the “Pyramid” building. Finally we decided we should park and wonder about the city starting at Pier 39. Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf are some of the most visited parts of the city and are very touristy. It is basically a pier stretching out to the water with typical tourist shops, restaurants, and street entertainers. One of the docks houses a community of California sea lions and is a favorite of the tourists. We walked around for a few minutes and decided we wanted to do something not so touristy.

We really wanted to catch a boat tour to Alcatraz but unfortunately all of the tour boats were booked for the week so we were not able to tour the island. Instead we decided to hop on one of the famous cable cars towards Chinatown for a late lunch. San Francisco’s Chinatown is the oldest in North America and houses the largest Chinese population outside of Asia. As soon as you enter Chinatown you feel that you are in a completely different country. All of the signs are in Chinese letters, everyone is talking in Chinese and it has a completely different feel from the rest of the city. We found a nice local restaurant and had an amazing meal for very cheap.

Famous San Fran cable cars

Sea lion Island

Chinatown

After a few hours exploring the streets of Chinatown we decided to head towards the heart of the city and into the financial district. The city is absolutely huge and it was the largest city we had been in since Chicago. Darkness was creeping up on us and we had seen enough pirates for the day so we decided to head back towards our truck and maybe try and grab a beer and watch some of the World Series.

Another great game between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals provided a good nightcap. We found the truck and headed back towards our campground to try and get some much needed rest.

Day two of the San Francisco experience started with a quick stop at In-and-Out Burger, a west coast burger stand notorious for delicious burgers and fries. The menu is simple only offering either a single or double burger with or without cheese, fries and shakes. We each had a double cheeseburger, fries, and a drink. Although very good we all decided that Cook-Out was better.

With full bellies and happy spirits we headed back to San Fran. We explored more of the city and were able to find the famous curvy street, Lombard Street. It is a street with eight turns on a steep hill covering one block. We also drove through the Victorian house district but disappointedly were unable to find the Tanner house from the amazing television show Full House. Next we took our talents to the Monument of the Arts, a beautiful monument in the heart of the city. Once again we finished our night at a bar watching the World Series. Afterwards was a different story though because somehow we made a few wrong turns heading back to the truck and wound up in the wrong part of town. How do you know when you are in the wrong part of town? Well for one you might be if there are blood stains on the road and messed up junkies scattered about the sidewalks. Luckily we were able to make our way back to the truck safely although a little startled. Despite this last encounter the city of San Francisco was very good to us and provided us with enough city life to last us since we would be spending the next four days in the great outdoors.

Lombard Street

Monument of the Arts

Financial District

The next morning we packed up shop and got back on the road heading towards our next destination, Yosemite National Park. Yosemite is known as the “Crown Jewel” of the U.S. National Park system and is one of the most visited parks in the country. Its nickname is very fitting and ultimately became one of our favorite stops on the whole trip.

It takes about 5 hours to reach Yosemite from San Francisco and add an hour or two due to towing a trailer. So our next day pretty much was just a travel day where we partook in many of the activities mentioned earlier in the post. Along the way we found a nice small town about an hour from the park and thirty minutes from our campground for the night. We decided to stop at the local grocery store to grab some food for our trip and were delightfully surprised to find that they carried Cheerwine, a North Carolina cherry soda. A little taste of home will go a long way when you have been gone for a few months!

Spotacus

We eventually made it to our campground and as we were cooking hamburgers on our outside grill and drinking a few brews we had an unexpected houseguest. A local dog came up to our campground and quickly became friends with all of us. It might have helped that we were giving him plenty of hamburger! He looked like he was part lab and part Dalmatian so we decided to nickname him Spotacus. I guess the warmth from our trailer and the smell of good foods lured him in and he decided that he was just going to just walk right into the camper and make himself home on our couch. Spotacus ended up spending the night with us in the camper and was a great visitor.

The next day we made our way into Yosemite National Park. As you are driving in, the surrounding mountains block off all views until you pass through a long tunnel. As soon as you exit the tunnel Yosemite Valley is directly in front of you in all of its glory. We headed right to the heart of the valley where all of the main attractions are centrally located.

We knew that we wanted to do some backcountry camping so it was a good idea to head to the backcountry park office. Here we talked to a park ranger about what we were interested in and where available sites were. I had always wanted to hike the famous Half-Dome trail. This trail takes you to the base or to the top of one of the most famous landmarks in Yosemite, Half-dome. It is an 8-mile hike to the top from the parking lot so we decided we should just hike up about 5 miles and base camp. 

Unfortunately all of the campsites were booked for that night so we reserved a site for the following night. However we were given a free camping permit to the local backpackers campground at the base of the trail.

We had some more daylight so we explored the area surrounding the main village. Yosemite Falls was only a mile away from the village so we decided to go check it out. Scaling 2,425 feet Yosemite Falls is the tallest waterfall in North America and the sixth highest in the world. It is a spectacular sight and one that will remain with all of us forever. Since we were almost in the winter months the water flow from the falls had slowed due to no runoff from snowmelt. Peak times for viewing the falls are in late spring when all of the snowmelt causes strong water flow. After a few more viewpoints of the falls we decided to go set up camp and prepare for the long hike ahead of us.

The next two days would live in infamy! We started our day early and after a nice conversation with an older lady we made our way to the now infamous John Muir Trail. (Two months since we have got back Jimmy, Allen, and I still cuss John Muir and anytime we do anything straining or brutal we ask each other if John Muir is around.) This trail is basically straight up a mountain and with 40-50 extra pounds in our backs it was obviously not the easiest thing we had ever done. The hike to our base camp was approximately 5.1 miles away with an elevation change of about 4000 feet, a.k.a. awful. Luckily on the way up the trail offers stunning views of multiple waterfalls and viewpoints of Yosemite Valley. After it seemed like a million switchbacks we finally made it to our base camp and each of us fell to the ground with exhaustion.

View of Half-dome from the bottom of the trail

Nevada Falls

Half-Dome to the left and Liberty cap to the right

Throughout the day we had been debating whether or not we wanted to set up camp and hike up the remaining three miles to the base of half dome or settle down for the night and hike it the next morning and then head back down. Either way we were going to have to hike 11 miles in one day it was just a matter of which day we wanted to do it. Ultimately we decided to rest up and have a “good and solid” meal before we attempt the trek.

The base camp was nice with two community fires surrounded by about 10-15 campsites. There were a few other people also camping so we made friends and decided to all meet at the campfire later in the night.

Keep the next paragraph in mind because it will have a major role in the following days events.

We had decided that we would cook spaghetti for dinner so we packed in noodles, sauce, and ground beef. Three hours, five miles, and warm temperatures don’t offer a good environment for raw beef so when we pulled it out it smelled a little funky. I did not want to have anything to do with it and suggested that we just through it in the fire. Jimmy and Allen had other ideas and one of them convinced the other that if they just “cooked the hell out of it” everything would be ok. So we cooked our meal and I ate noodles with sauce while they ate the tainted meat.

Later on in the night we made a campfire and met our newly acquainted friends. There was a younger couple that was traveling around the state and they were also hiking to half-dome the next day. A couple in there thirties also accompanied us, the man was a dentist and the woman was an assistant director for the television show The Office. It was interesting hearing her stories about the cast and working in show business. Also there was a creepy man we called the “Map Man” that wondered from campfire to campfire showing off his map skills. After a few more swapped stories everyone called it a night.

Temperatures shot down to the twenties during the night, which made sleep a little harder. But we made it through the night and were up around eight to start our eventful day.

We started our hike towards half-dome each a little tight and sore from the long hike from the day before. Things would not get any easier since we had a three mile hike up to half dome, a three mile hike back down to base camp and finally another five mile hike back down to the parking lot.

As we made our way up to the base of Half-dome I started to notice that Allen had significantly slowed his pace. We asked if everything was ok and he assured us everything was and that we should keep pushing on. We finally made it a point where we could see the base of Half-dome but there was a large mountain we had to basically climb in order to reach it. There were steps going up in switchbacks but they were extremely steep and you had to use all four limbs in order to stabilize yourself. About half way up Allen said we had to stop and take a break or he wasn’t going to make it. He was completely green in his face and was sweating profusely. About two minutes into our break he tears off the bandana from his head and starts tearing away small strips of fabric. Then he told us to hike up out of view and he had to take care of some business. Eventually he made it back and claimed he was literally hanging on to the side of a mountain by limbs trying not to ruin his pants. He did say that was the most beautiful place he had ever relieved himself.

A load lighter we trekked on and reached the base of Half-dome. Here you have an amazing panoramic view of Yosemite Valley and can see for miles. You also have the option to climb to the peak of Half-dome. To get to the peak you have to climb a 45-degree angle straight up the side of the mountain. Usually the trail has elevated hand chains and wooden foot places but since we were in the offseason everything was taken down leaving only a free hanging steel cable. As much as we wanted to go to the top we all decided it wasn’t worth risking our lives just for the same view and besides Allen was in no shape to climb a mountain.

The peak of Half-dome

Mission Accomplished

We took in the view for about an hour and rested. Then we decided we should try and head back down in order to reach our camper in the daylight. Normally when we are hiking Allen and I lead the pack, setting the pace, while Jimmy takes his time and goes at a slower pace. About a mile down the trail Allen and I were a few hundred yards a head of Jimmy when all of a sudden we see him sprinting around the corner away from the trail towards the woods. A few minutes later we hear a muffled “IT BURNS!!!!” By this point I was on the ground rolling with laughter. It only got better cause as soon as he made it back to us we noticed he was only wearing one sock! Sometimes you have to make sacrifices for the greater good and Jimmy had to finish the last 10 miles with only one sock. I'm really glad I had meatless spaghetti the night before! We made it back to base camp and packed up our gear. A few hours later and equipped with a great new story we made it back to the camper just as darkness overtook the valley.

There's not much to say.

Completely and utterly “wrecked” we decided to drive over to the local village to the buffet to recharge our batteries and watch the World Series. We found the buffet and literally sprinted to the food. I remember multiple times seeing Allen with a mouthful of food just put his head down on the table and eat/sleep. A good meal after a long day always seems to drain any energy left in your system. We couldn’t even drive out of the park to a campground so we just slept in the parking lot in the camper.

We slept until around one o’clock the next day and although that limited our daylight for activities I’m pretty sure we all needed a good nights sleep to recoup from the past two days, especially Jimmy and Allen. We visited a few more viewpoints and hiked a short trail to the base of El Capitan, the tallest cliff in the U.S. and a famous rock-climbing face. It takes about three days to scale the cliff and the climbers actually have to camp in little hammocks connected to the side of the mountain. After El Cap we decided to head out of the park to get some much needed electricity and a hot shower. We found a nice campground about twenty minutes away and settled in for the night.

El Capitan

A rock climber scaling Cap

The next day we decided to check out a new section of the park and went on a scenic drive towards Tuolumne Meadows. This side of the park was completely different and just as beautiful. Instead of large cliff faces and domes there are vast open meadows with large mountains in the background. We continued down the scenic drive encountering more mountainous views and eventually made it out of the park. Earlier in the day we had talked to a park ranger around our age and he recommended that we should take some back highways down through the Sierra mountain range. He also suggested that we should check out a small ghost town about an hour outside of the park. We took his advice and headed that way.

All in all week 11 was one of my favorite weeks of the entire trip. From seeing some of the oldest living creatures on the planet, to the Golden Gate Bridge and the beautiful city of San Francisco, Jimmy and Allen having some gastrointestinal issues, and by far my favorite National Park we had a great time in Northern California. I am very blessed to have had the opportunity to have such an amazing experience. Jimmy has told me multiple times that you can travel and have all the money in the world but if you don’t have someone to enjoy it with what’s the point. So I would like to thank Jimmy for being so gracious and generous to both Allen and I. We would not have been able to do something like this on our own and we will always be in his debt. Also thanks to all of my friends and family, especially Sarah, for being so supportive and encouraging.

As most of you know I will be moving across the pond to Australia in February for the next two years. I will be studying Protected Area Management at James Cook University in Townsville. I am scared and excited but I am hopeful that it will provide me with the opportunity to follow my dream of working in conservation efforts in some of our world’s most precious environments. I plan on being Jimmy’s Australian correspondent and hopefully will be posting a monthly column about my studies and adventures down under. Until then good luck to all!

RIP-JHW3