Road Trip Part 10 - The End of a Journey. One Hell of a Journey

The next morning was the start of the penultimate day. And more importantly to some; the last night in the RV (with Barney’s love/hate cycle becoming very predictable now!). The plan was to head to the final RV site in South San Francisco (a different city to San Francisco apparently…) via Napa Valley. Yet again one of the conditions for going to Napa Valley was one of the drivers not drinking. And yet again the other two valued drink over seeing places and did not want to drive to unless they could drink in Napa Valley. So I had to yet again take one for the team. Cheers guys.

The drive was pretty straightforward, and a last minute read of the guidebook meant we diverted away from downtown Napa (described as not the place to go for the true Napa Valley experience) a little further towards the village (if that’s what it can be called) of Yountville. A very VERY nice part of the world, apart from the bizarre attempt to recreate a French style village with fancy bistros and bunting everywhere. Whatever I guess! However it was a rather expensive. I mean like $30 for a main course expensive. A little out of our price ranges, especially at the end of a rather expensive 25 days. Not being in the French style of the area, but a little less expensive we settled for a meal at a burger place. Which was actually very nice, and an enjoyable lazy lunch was enjoyed by all. Wahid had to make the occasional trip away from the restaurant for a smoke, and plonking himself down on a bench he provided amusement for all by looking like the archetypal Frenchie!

Fulfilling the stereotypes...!

Soon enough it was time to set off again, with my sober self once again taking one for the team. The journey was about typical for Cali, with traffic building up in the rush hour and drivers cutting in and out of lanes at will without any hint of indication whatsoever. The result of this lunacy was a car smash as we were on the interstate, in which one car had been spun completely around in the middle lane, about three or four cars ahead of us. Obviously the cars in front of us came to a stop, and I had to stop pretty darn quick too. Which in a heavy RV with 8 in the back that is no easy feat and there was a definite heart in mouth (possibly protruding out of said mouth) moment when I thought we weren’t going to slow quick enough and go into the back of the car in front. Luckily, with everyone grabbing on for dear life at my shout of “hold on!” and luggage and clothes flying forward out of the back of the RV, we came to a stop mere inches from the bumper of the car. So so lucky. I was amazed at how my reactions took over, smacking on the hazards and trying to manoeuvre round the smash, whilst ensuring everyone else was OK (they were thank god!). a heated debate then erupted over whether to stop and help, the conclusion being no due to the numbers of us the RV, practicality of stopping mid-interstate and going back, so I just drove on with my adrenaline levels sky high. Causing me to miss the exit we needed and having to make a hell of a detour around. Typical…

From there it was one extreme to another – reaching the bridge into South San Fran and the toll to go over ($4. Not amazing but could be worse), the rush hour traffic had really built up, making it an almost hour to stop and start over about a mile. Turning up the music and winding down the windows we certainly got some funny looks from other drivers expecting us to be an older couple going for a little RV jaunt! There also some hilarious little kids waving to all the drivers around them (To no avail of course). Until we pulled up next to them of course and they could get enough of waving away at us!
 

We arrived at the South San Fran RV park (called Treasure Island, except without the treasure. Or island…) and parked up. Then looked around. The place was a full on living park – there were RVs that clearly hadn’t been moved in decades, with enough algae on them to warrant a full on biochemical inspection! Anyways, at $55 a night, with no WiFi and bathrooms that closed at 10:30 to stop the homeless people occupying them, it was certainly one of the more interesting parks we had stayed in. But hell it was the last night and we needed to be near to San Fran so it had to do. The evening was in theory when we sorted out and started cleaning the RV to give back the next day. Except everyone was drunk. So very little got done with a certain person’s attitude of “fuck that”. So mature… Anyways, I got my shit sorted (as I usually do) and joined in with the merriment, with Wahid knocking up a fantastic last meal to try and use up all the left over food. 

As the merriment continued and people started passing out, a slight disagreement occurred over floor occupation, with the self confessed feminist Antonia agreeing to go on the floor (having not been keen on it at all for the whole trip – Eshe had managed to wriggle out of it), except for the slight problem of having conveniently having fallen asleep on the bed above the cab. Barney, Michael and I weren’t having any of I, and so tried to coax her down onto the floor using a number of tactics (in our drunk state this seemed a great idea at the time). First of was positive advertising (read complete lies) in describing the floor space to be waaay more luxurious than it actually was, with an en suite (the bathroom), kitchenette, safety feature (the fire extinguisher by the door) and easy access (the side door). Needless to say she wasn’t having any of it. So after a unsuccessful grab and move attempt (with numerous moving of Amy in the process) we gave up, tried to disturb Wahid and Eshe having a moment in the back by carrying Amy in midway. Thus managing to piss off Amy and her fulfilling the floor space. Not a bad result, apart from upsetting Amy (sorry mate…).

The next morning was a 6am start. Because Michael set his alarm wrong. Muppet! Rising at 7am, it was time for what should have been done the night before – sort the RV out for return to the Cruise America depot. Whilst the usual suspects disappeared for various reasons (surprise surprise) the rest of us cracked on. Few hours later (with the RV still not named sadly – she just wasn’t a Martha type really!) the RV was the cleanest and tidiest I had seen it since the beginning, and it was time for the last journey. Heading abck to the Cruise America depot in Fremont via a BART station to drop all but the three drivers and Amy. We were saying goodbye to Michael here as we was iff straight home where as the rest of us were going via San Fran. It was a weird feeling saying goodbye to him especially having spent the majority of time driving with him riding shotgun. He looked happy to be gone from the RV though!

Domestic bliss.... not.

Heading back to the depot it was time to settle with Cruise America the issues with the previous RV and being dumped in Crenshaw (LINK).  To be fair to them they sorted us out alright with 3 days free RV rental (the amount of time we had had Martha), mileage wiped off Martha (around 1000miles) and full reimbursements for taxis and hotels. Considering the millage we did on the new RV (3000+ miles – well over the included limit) we got $500 back. Not bad all things considering! Exiting the RV for the last time was an interesting feeling. On one hand I was happy that I wouldn’t have to spend any more time in such an enclosed space, side stepping everyone and making beds out of tables (Barney’s particular favourite. Not…) with serious discussions on who was sleeping where every night. But having said that it was part of our ‘gypsy’ identity for just under a month, and we had done and been through so much in it. The trip was definitely been a trip of a lifetime. No doubt about that, and despite my bitching and ranting at times I did thoroughly enjoy myself on it. Would I do it again? I would have to think about it I think, but this time round I am glad and fortunate to have had the opportunity to experience it, and with the 8 others in the RV with me. I mean when else in your life are you gonna cram 9 people into an RV, break down in a blood neighbourhood of LA, dance the night away in the desert, gamble in vegas, see some of the most beautiful places in the world, drive a 30ft beast along some hair raising roads, see some amazing animals up close and see some fantastic sunsets over different parts of the USA? And all in the space of a month with some people who at times you wanted to rip heads off, but you overall had a great time with. 

My biggest regret? Not getting to Texas. But that arguments been done to death.

The final distance reading (minus Marsha's contribution of course)

Road Trip Part 9 - "F*** me... I'm. So. Out. Of. Breath

May 2012

Leaving Lake Tahoe we headed south to one of the places I didn’t know much about, but was keen to see – Yosemite (pronounced Yo-sem-it-ee, not Yo-sem-ite as I initially thought!). It was roughly a 6 hour drive, passing back through Nevada and a stunningly picturesque lake, and rather bizarrely an agricultural inspection station. Which we pulled into (the wasn’t any way around it) only to be asked where we had come from, where we were going and then let go. Pretty useless inspection if you ask me! I drove the first stint, keen to drive, and changed driver in a small town beside the huge lake we were driving round. I then took the wheel again as it was 3pm, and therefore rum o’clock for Wahid. No comment… As it was I rather enjoyed driving the RV – it was something to do on the long journeys!

Scenery on the way to Yosemite

The drive up to Yosemite was a slow one – being all uphill and the RV particularly grumpy that day, Reaching nearly 1000ft elevation we entered the National Park (again, $20 for 7 days – bargain!) and then descended back down into the valley. It was decided to go and watch the sunset from Glacial Point, one of the high points surrounding the valley. The route up was again a slow one, but also rather hair raising with the road being rather narrow and twisty. Not fun at all in a 30ft RV! The heart-in-mouth sensation not felt since Route One oh so many years ago (or so it felt) returned in force, especially on one very tight corner with a car coming the other way causing me to have to squeeze into the inside of the curve and clipping a tree stump. Luckily a slightly bent wheel hub was the worst damage. Apart from my nerves being well and truly shaken! As it was, I managed to slowly drive the RV up the rest of the route, hogging the middle of the road when going round corners and pissing off a few drivers in the process!

Watching the sunset

Glacial Peak (courtesy of Amy)

Glacier point is basically a vista point waaaaaay up one of the sides of the Yosemite valley, looking back over the valley towards the half dome. Getting up there is a (very) short walk from the carpark, and easily marked by the millions (ok, slight exaggeration-tens of thousands) of tourists flocking to the same place. As the sun set behind us it cast an amazing red effect onto the half dome in front of us. Truly spectacular. As the sun went down over the horizon, one had to indulge in the rock clambering tradition, trying to get as near a possible to the edge, with little ledges sticking out from the main rock face receiving more man points. It was however a real headfuck looking over the edge and seeing the 1000+ foot sheer drop to the valley bottom below. Even those with a head for heights (including me) were not particularly comfortable being near the edge for long! Even more astounding was getting back to the trail only to see a Dutch woman literally run and scramble up these rocks right to the edge. No dramas. Amy, Antonia and I had our mouths open for a good while after watching that feat!

Looking down the mountain

Oh so arty!

It was decided to stay up the mountain that evening, and many giggles were had at Michaels panicking about mountain lions and coyotes (one of which we had seen earlier) and almost OCD nature at ensuring the doors were locked shut every time someone went in and out. Because coyotes are renowned for their RV door unlocking skills of course!

RV shenanigans

Jon had planned a hike for the next day, so I woke early-ish to drive back down the mountain to the start point. It was a greed we would aim to leave at 11, to try and make some headway before the heat of the day. Everyone disappeared for food etc, and we set off at 12.30 with Wahid trying to be a smart arse and ask if he needed bog roll for the trip. I was surprised at the delayed start and expected as much from the other. It just annoyed me that I got ready before everyone else and they all took their sweet arse time.

Obviously starting so much later meant we were in the heat of the day (something both Jon and I were keen to avoid), and as a consequence it was pretty tough going. And that was before the trail starting getting ridiculous… Supposedly a 3.5mile trail we figured it wouldn’t take too long to get to the top, take some photos, have lunch and come back down again. Then we saw the elevation. To say it was steep would be an understatement – it was a 2700ft climb in the 3.5miles! Factor in the heat and it was a tough climb. Especially with my cardio fitness dropping over the past few months from too much eating and not enough doing. Both Barney and I really struggled as the trail progressed. 

It was a cool experience hiking in Yosemite. It seems that all hikers, whatever their nationality, have a need to say hello and comment on the weather, or how far to go (no bad thing whatsoever!). Except for the Americans who put their own spin on this lovely thing by wooping and high fiving everyone who passes. Bless. There were also some incredibly ninja kids scrambling up and down (I wish I had their energy!) and a bunch of blatantly rah English students coming the other way, all decked out in Ralph Lauren and pastel coloured polo shirts. Which caused everyone to look at each other and burst out laughing when they had passed. Except for Wahid who was lost in translation and had no idea what was going on! As we ascended the trail the view over the valley grew more and more amazing, and getting to the top was a fantastic feeling, stopping for lunch and the customary photos. It was especially amazing to look over the waterfalls as it cascaded down the valley side. Me being me had to get my feet dangling off the side, prompting a Japanese tourist to call me crazy. Better than being boring mate!

The lads

Scenes on the way

Heading back down the trail caused a separate set of muscles to start screaming in protest at the sudden activity being unleashed upon them. Jon and Wahid surged on ahead driven by the idea of a cold cocktail by the pool. Barney, Michael and I took our time, having to stop to give a hand to a lady who had fallen and hurt her ankle, and became incredibly pissed off at the endless turns in the trail making us think we were nearer to the end of trail than we actually were. Eventually arriving back at the RV with feet aching, it was time for that lovely feeling of getting the boots off, followed by the old man shuffle to the pool showers to de-sweat and de-odorise – bliss!  Chatting to the girls about the afternoon, we learnt they had spent the whole time by the pool. Who spends all their time in Yosemite by a pool?! Sounds like they had fun though so I guess that’s fair enough…

Barney took the drive out of Yosemite that evening, and with the windows down, music playing and sun setting it was a glorious drive. Except for the cheeky U-turn we had to do on the highway when we missed a turn, causing some backed up traffic, angry honking and nearly going over the road barrier to drop into the valley below. Oops! Stopping of at a random vista on the way out of the National Park we watched the sunset over the valley, with the Chilli Peppers playing out of the RV and the feeling life couldn’t get any better. Getting towards the end of the trip I realised that despite hating it at times and getting wound up with the attitudes of some others, I really did feel like I had (in part at least)become close to those on the trip with me; something that can only be bought about through spending time traveling together, and I would like to think I would stay in touch with them all after we go our separate ways.

Once the sun had disappeared behind the hills we departed from the vista, music still blaring. We stopped for the night at a huge RV park on the way back towards San Fran, which I don’t remember the name of. I do remember that there was gold panning and a lama farm. And an overly friendly cleaner who got a little too close to me trying to show me where to park the RV on the map…

Yosemite was an amazing place to stop, and I am so glad we did stop there, and actually had a proper hike; something I had been keen to do for the whole trip. At the risk of repeating myself (for the umpteenth time), I would love to go back to Yosemite, camp there and hike a bit more around the place. The amount of time we spent at places just wasn’t enough, simply because of the nature of the trip meaning we were trying to see as much as possible in the time we had. Not that I’m complaining at all because ive seen so much of the USA now and I so glad I have been able to!

Yosemite (courtesy of Amy)

 (map from Google maps)

Road Trip Part 8 - "He threatened to call the police!"

May 2012

Leaving Yellowstone, we were facing an epic 17-18 hour journey back down south to California and Lake Tahoe. To say it was a driving stint and a half is an understatement – it was bad! Split between the 3 drivers (in theory) it didn’t seem initially too bad, just the fact that we were cooped up in the RV for that amount of time was going to be grim. Barney took the first stint through Montana and down through Idaho. Stopping around 10 for dinner off the highway, we went into Denny’s (never heard of it before) which was open 24 hours a day. Ugh, to be working some of those hours…. After a massive discussion/argument over eating in or take out (have to admit that was my fault) we found out the place had run out of fries. What sort of a diner runs out of fries?!

Belly’s filled (despite a lack of fries) it was my turn to drive, Wahid having drunk alcohol during Barney’s stint and despite his protests we didn’t let him drive. We were all disappointed in his attitude, but yet again I stood in for the team and got driving through the night. With Michael riding shotgun, the radio blaring and the two of us singing along at the tops of our voices the first part passed pretty quickly. Apart from the boredom of a dead interstate. No wonder the speeds are so slow in the US… Reaching 12:30 people started to get into bed, with Antonio replacing Michael as co-driver. The interstate by this point had turned to highway, in the proper middle of nowhere – endless darkness of either side of us as be ploughed through the farmlands. Tiredness was starting to hit me, with a bit of a turning mistake which resulted in me being on the left hand side of the road after turning left out of a junction. Ooops! With an ‘oh shit’ and quick swerve I got back on the right, and luckily no one (especially cops!) was about to see it happen! I drove till 2am with Antonio falling asleep in the passenger seat – and her job was to keep me awake! – stopping in the town of Wells, NV (yeah, me neither) to crash out.

A sober Wahid drove the next stint in the morning, whilst I lay asleep on the couch for most of the morning – about time I had a lie in! Waking up and looking out of the window I was greeted by that all too common blue and white sign of Walmart. At least the sun was shining though I guess! Stocking up on the essentials, like rum, meat and chocolate we carried on, arriving into the Lake Tahoe area early afternoon. It was really interesting crossing the state line from Nevada to California (Lake Tahoe straddles the two), in an urban area that had built up around the Lake. The Nevada side of the Tahoe strip was full of casino resorts and liquor stores where as the Cali side had noticeably more expensive gas, and generally more high end establishments around. I still cant get over how much prices change when crossing the state borders, and also local alcohol licensing laws.  It really made budgeting and planning a lot harder as we couldn’t predict how much things would cost.

The RV site we were aiming for was near the lake edge, set in a pine forest (well the whole area is in a pine forest really!), and it reminded me hugely of Centre Parcs. Unfortunately the site we were going to stay in didn’t have hook ups –an issue as we hadn’t been in an RV park since Yellowstone and so was low on water and needed to dump the sewage rather urgently! After a debacle trying to get a refund, we found another RV site nearer to the lake edge, with full hook ups for a cheaper price –bizarre logic there! The evening was spent chilling out, with reggae playing out the iPod, the sun shining, and the BBQ going for a perfect eve with everyone getting merry. Being knackered from the late night driving, I crashed out early, missing out on the fun of Jon going skinny dipping in the lake. By himself…

It's all in prep...

Getting his grill on!

The next day was a lazy one, with a very nice but very expensive lunch right on the lake, including a very nice cocktail at $8 a pop. Ouch! The only bad point of the day was having to sort out a flat tire on the RV, which involved yet more calls to Cruise America to get someone to come and sort it out. We weren’t allowed to change the tire ourselves due to health and safety, and our safety was gonna cost us $100 for the callout, plus the cost of repairing the tire. Ugh… Thankfully a mechanic turned up within ½ hour and replaced the tire pretty quickly, finding a screw embedded in it. Once he had gone however we had the rest of the afternoon free to lounge on the beach by the lake and chill out. I decided I  wanted to go for a swim, and then quickly abandoned the idea when I felt the temperature of the water – bloody freezing! Finding a Frisbee from somewhere a game of ultimate Frisbee got going, and due to my positioning on the waters edge more often than not I had to go in and retrieve said Frisbee when some threw it too hard or missed a catch. I think I lost a fair amount of my manhood going in and out that water!

Lake Tahoe

Chillin'

Putting the big toe in. Cold run back to the beach not captured

Jon, Michael and I went for a shopping trip later in the afternoon, which isn’t really mentionable except for the fact that we got the tyre fixed for free (amazing what an accent can get you!) and Michael in his infinite wisdom (I have no idea why ) decided to empty the RV sewage in the carpark of the store. Now we had don’t this before in a Walmart car park when the sewage was overflowing (literally into the sink-eww!), but had been raining and we parked the RV directly over the sewage drain and emptied it subtly. Michael however decided to empty the sewage on this occasion in a dry car park well away from a drain, thus leading to the sewage to spread ALL over the car park and attract the attention of other shoppers. One of which threatened to call the police. So I arrived back from paying for the shopping to find Michael in an absolute panic going “we gotta go, we gotta go” and Jon laughing hysterically. Once I had realised what had gone on and called Michael a few choice words we hurriedly left the store car park, negating the need for more gas, and headed back to the RV park, with Michael convinced that the police were following us. This hilarious attitude was capitalised by everyone else well into the next day, especially when a police cruiser made a round of the RV park – brilliant!

That evening was another BBQ evening, although the noise had to be kept down due a couple of polite requests from other RV-ers around us – fair enough – though imnot sure how well we carried out these requests, especially as the merriness started. Good job we were leaving the next day I guess!

Racoooooon!

Feeding the chipmunk...

and feeding the alcoholics

I was also starting to see  dissatisfaction among others in the group towards the lack of contribution by some to general RV life, especially the shit jobs that had to be done – which pleased me no end because it meant I wasn’t the only one, apart from the fact I am probably a lot worse at holding it in than the others. Its always the same people driving for hours, hooking up the RV, putting in gas and do other shitty jobs whilst some others just sit around and manage to do as little as possible. My biggest source of complain was the ‘feminist’ nature of some of the girls, wanting everything equal (fair enough) except when it doesn’t benefit themselves. Prime example are the fact that two of the girls have yet to sleep on the floor, with one going “fuck that” when confronted about it. Sorry love, if you want to be equal then get your rights and responsibilities in order first. No one can have it all you know, especially on in an RV. This especially come to a head when one girl was up later than most drinking, and being unable to find a suitable sleeping spot for her precious head (ie a bed) she decided to push me over on the bed above the cabin and stretch out. To say I wasn’t happy is an understatement – you just don’t take someone else's bed space like that, especially when they are tired and already asleep. Get on the floor like others have had to do. 

But anyways, Lake Tahoe was a beautiful part of the world and I’m glad we managed to have a few days chilling there, and I would definitely recommend going there. Just maybe stay away from the main strip and head more into the Cali side where it’s a bit quieter and a hell of a lot more picturesque!

Road Trip Part 7 - "Gawd, this place is dreamy"

May 2012 

 The drive to Yellowstone was again an uneventful one. The landscape changed again from mountainous rugged to flat and green to mountainous again. The weather also became more like home; much, much colder and much wetter. So much so I had to buy another hoodie in Walmart (admittedly I did lose the one I had bought with me in Vegas…). On route we stopped off by the side of the road to stretch our legs, and commented on how like England it was. The clouds were low and grey, drizzle was in the air and everyone was shivering in the summer clothing we had been wearing for the last few weeks. The route north straddled the Wyoming/Idaho state line, and so I took great delight in announcing the entry to the state every few miles. We went through miles and miles of farmland, with signs warning of loose livestock, and endless pickups passing us bye. Due to the wild goose chase of trying to find the Great Salt Lake earlier in the day we had left SLC late, and so stopped in Jackson, Wyoming for the night. Arriving in the pissing rain me and Barney got incredibly annoyed at some of the group who refused to budge from the RV to help park it and hook it up when we arrived at the park.  The evening was pretty unremarkable – the usual good food from Wahid, some booze and debates on whatever was hot topic of the day – except it rained all night. Just adding to the illusion of being back in Britain there!

Stopping by the side of the road in the UK...sorry, Wyoming.

As we drove the rest of the way to Yellowstone the next morning the scenery became more and more stunning, with snow starting to appear on the ground as we climbed elevation, but there wasn’t any worry as the roads were clear. I took the last leg into Yellowstone National Park ($25 for 7 days like the Grand Canyon – absolute bargain!), and was told there was an expectation of 6 inches of snow that day by the ranger in the booth. Couple this with the signs everywhere suggesting using snow chains in the park made me begin to worry slightly. But then, how bad can it get? Looking at the map we were given, we aimed for the lake, slowing down to see why loads of vehicles had pulled off haphazardly to the side of the road. Pulling over (rather neatly I hasten to add!) we saw a crowd of people excitingly look towards a bear in the distance. Seeing a Grizzly Bear within ½ hour of arriving in Yellowstone was pretty damn cool you’ve gotta admit! It was rather amazing see the Grizzly within 100meters just rambling around, and hilarious seeing all these guys with stupidly huge camera lenses (something to make up for maybe?!) try and outdo each other on knowledge of Grizzlys.

Scenery on way into Yellowstone

Grizzly!

Moving onwards, with everyone keenly looking out for more wildlife, we passed the large lake (with a couple of illegal U-turns prompting angry honking and Michael leaning out of the window to tell the drivers to fuck off in his thick Glaswegian accent!) and saw the first of many of the Yellowstone hot springs. There were lots of signs all over warning people to keep off the area around the springs due to thin ground. Apparently people had fallen through and been badly burnt from the temperature or toxicity of the water. Lovely…

Driving away from the lake we headed towards Old Faithful; a spouting geyser which erupts every 78 minutes (give or take 10 mins). The weather had begun to come in at this point with it raining pretty hard. Undeterred we headed out towards the geyser, braced for the 2 mile walk the guide book indicated from the car park. Two hundred meters later we arrived. Errrmmmm, what?! We were then informed it was another 45 minutes until the next eruption. Bit too much advance planning there! The others went in search of a coffee, and I struck out alone to wander around the other hot springs around us. The whole area looked very post-apocalyptic, with steam constantly hanging in the air and not much vegetation immediately around the springs themselves. Old Faithful is the most predictable and regular empting geyser in Yellowstone (by comparison, the next frequent erupting geyser erupts between every 4-50 years, and hasn’t since 1995!). It is also the second highest, spraying water 100ft into the air.

 

 

Meeting back up with the others, we began out wait for the Old girl to begin her eruption. Entertainment was provided by this incredibly full on Yank with his camera ‘trying to get the crowd going’; his wife and kids getting more and more embarrassed with his antics. Highlight of the moment? Asking a Korean guy where he was from to the reply of ‘Oh cool. I’m from Oklahoma”. Good one buddy… Old Faithful was in a ‘playful’ mood to quote a Park Ranger, erupting 10minutes late with lots of ‘pre-play’ as the same Ranger called it (chortle!). When it did get going however it was an impressive sight, although unfortunately the column of water was hidden by all the steam being produced. Lasting about 2-3 minutes, it was a cool thing to see, and something one definitely has to do when in Yellowstone. However, it was slightly spoilt by the usual American crap of applause and wooping. Please, its nature not a performing monkey…

We got back in the RV, and after some tricky maneuvering to get some gas we continued our drive around Yellowstone with Wahid at the wheel. Our progress was hampered however by a Bison in the road, causing a rather large traffic jam behind him. To be fair to him/her/it, he/she/it was being very law abiding; on the right hand side of the road and everything! Although he did not give one shit about anyone else and took his sweet arse time. Eventually however the Bison moved off the road, and resuming normal speed he went a bit further down the road to come across a ‘fuck load’ (as Wahid put it in his best Attenborough voice) of Bison a short distance away.  

Bison! Bison everywhere!

The weather was starting to come in as we left the ‘fuck loads’ of Bison and began to look for a site to stay the night in. Finding an RV site, we trawled around looking for a flattish spot to hole up in for the night, with the snow starting to come down thick. This gave us a particular worry as we weren’t sure what the deal would be on clearing the roads in the park, or even if we could get the RV out of the park with the strong possibility of ice, which would affect our ability to get out of the RV site and onto the main Yellowstone road. After finding an ideal spot, on flat ground, not many hills to get out of and a toilet block metres away we were set. Until someone came along and asked us to move as they had reserved the spot. Bloody wanker… With a bit of an issue getting out of the spot (it was a tight one) we then found another one, slightly raised off the road but about as good as we were going to get considering the weather at that point. Settling down in the RV wrapping up tight (at least as best as possible as uncharacteristically for me I didn’t bring much warm gear – I thought we would be in the desert the whole time!), with the windows and curtains closed to conserve heat. Except this went to shit when the smokers wanted a fag without going outside. But there you go. I would love to say the night passed uneventfully as the snow fell around us, but it didn’t. The bloody carbon monoxide alarm kept going off, much to our alarm (especially in a snowy Yellowstone with no signal), and eventually turning off the propane fully and opening air vents seemed to do the trick. We hoped at least!

Keeping warm!

Discussing what to do as the storm came in. Note the shorts!

The next morning Jon and I woke early in a bid to get going and make the most of Yellowstone for the short amount of time we had there. Getting out of the RV, the place was stunning. Snow everywhere, with that sort of silence that only fallen snow can produce. I got a few funny looks going to the bathroom in my shorts and two hoodies, meeting a couple of guys camping near us decked out in all the North Face clobber (show offs!). Getting the RV out of the spot wasn’t as hard as I feared – not icy enough to send us slipping down the slop in the next RV and kissing our $1000 excess goodbye thank god! And to my immense relief the roads were cleared.

Scenes the next morning

Yellowstone is a beautiful place, but in the snow it was absolutely stunning. It really was a struggle to keep my eyes on the road and not at the scenery around us. Pulling over a number of times to take pictures we came across a bison enjoying a hot spring, a cyote, some deer, and to top the day off already, another grizzly bear. Causing Jon to jump out of the RV as I slammed on the brakes. It was amazing to see it so close – we were within about 20ft - way closer than the park information said we should be! Jon went closer for a better photo and I hung back by the RV. Just in case it decided to change its mind and become bothered by the increasing numbers of vehicles around it. It also roused the others who sleepily had a look and went back to bed. Who sleeps when youre in Yellowstone in the snow?!

 We stopped for breakfast in Mammoth Hot Springs, with a wander around the springs there seeing the yellow stone that gives the place its name (obviously!), and then after the obligatory snowball fight drove around the scenic loop, stopping for photos at various points and playing Sigor Ros on the Ipod to add to the serenity of the place – magical! However, we couldn’t go all the way around the loop, as the road was closed at Tower, meaning we had to go all the way back around the loop (being only one road) adding roughly 2 hours to the journey time. Not including being stuck behind another Bison, causing Wahid to get road rage and everyone else giggle uncontrollably in the back. Having a late lunch by Yellowstone lake (not that much could be seen on account of the weather!) it was time to head south again to California.

Scenes from Yellowstone in the snow

Snowball Fight!

Yellowstone was stunning, even more so in the snow, and definitely a highlight of the trip. Whilst I was initially skeptical we would get there (and that fact we wouldn’t be able to afford to in terms of gas cost and mileage) I am so glad we did. I am gutted it was for such a short amount of time, and I will most definitely aim to visit Yellowstone again in the future. 

(map from Google maps)
(additional photos from Amy, Eshe and Kimberly)