Rut Roh!
We pulled out of Park of the Sierras about 9:30 am, a little later than we had planned, but no problem.
Heading south on SR 41, we cut across to Madera and up thru Merced and Modesto, then west thru Livermore to Oakland.
The one problem along the way was that both cats got car sick. Our cats had never gotten sick until NIck Russell led us from Yuma, AZ to Laughlin, NV on our way to Las Vegas on his ‘special’ scenic route. So I blame Nick.
Thanks, Nick!
Heading north along the east side of San Francisco Bay, we could see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance off to the left.
We took the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge across the upper end of the Bay, passing by San Quentin off to our left as we came off the bridge.
We did have a little trouble getting across the bridge, though. Well, not really getting across it, but getting through the toll booth. I had used the last of our cash, $40, paying the tire guy for his repair work yesterday. CoachNet covered the $100 service call charge, but I had to pay for the actual repair, and he didn’t take credit cards. Normally my GPS program alerts me when it routes me over a toll bridge, but for some reason, this time it didn’t .
So we pulled into the bridge toll booth and tried to pay the $8.25 toll with a credit card.
Rut Roh!
They don’t take credit cards, either.. We have traveled all over the US and Canada, using toll roads and toll bridges and this is the first time we’ve found one that didn’t take credit cards. So Jan and I were digging thru our pockets and purses, still coming up short. Then she remembered her laundry quarters. And after handing the toll lady a large handful of quarters, we were good to go. Leaving the bridge we joined US 101 and headed north.
Note to self: Visit an ATM soon!
We got to Wine Country RV Park in Rohnert Park, CA about 2:15 pm and things went down hill. I had called the park on Monday and made a reservation for a week starting Wednesday. Then when we had tire trouble yesterday, i called them and told them we would not be there until today. We didn’t have a real good connection, but he seemed to understand with no problems. But, to be sure I emailed him later in the afternoon, confirming that we were coming in today.
However, when we pulled in to the park, and getting in wasn’t easy, I found that we had no site waiting for us. He apparently thought we weren’t coming and was now full. And, when I asked about my email, he said he only checked email every few days.
Bummer! I could think of other words, but I better stick with Bummer!
And getting out wasn’t easy either. It’s a very tight park with some hard turns getting out.
But finally getting out, we parked right down the street and hit the Internet looking for a new park. We found a KOA park not too far away, but at $425 for a week, it was way too pricey for a park where we would spend very little time, since we’ll be spending most of our time down in the San Francisco area.
Then I remembered Nick’s Russell’s CD that covers fairground campgrounds, among others.
A check showed that the Sonoma-Marin County Fairgrounds was about 10 miles back down the road in Petaluma, and a quick phone call told us that they had an open site, so off we went.
Thanks, Nick!
The fairground’s RV park, although OK, is a big step down from our site in the Park of the Sierras we were in for the last nine days.
After getting set up, we headed out to get some supper. Driving around, we came across Pepper’s Restaurant and decided to give it try. And it was really good.
Getting back to the rig, I got the satellite dish set up and we settled in for the night.
Tomorrow we’ll take care of some shopping before heading down to San Francisco on Saturday.
More then…
