Monday August 28th

I headed off on my journey all the way up the US coast on Highway 1. This is the scenic route. If you wanted to get up north quickly you would take the inland interstate I-5, a four-lane highway. This was just one lane each way mostly, but right by the sea a lot of the time, and a beautiful drive.

I got off to an early start, trying to beat the traffic to some degree at least, and make it to my first destination, Muir Woods National Monument, a redwood forest where you had to book parking in advance, down to what time you would get there. I needed to be there about 8.30. Because I had a longer than normal vehicle, I actually had only an hour and three quarters allowed there (which was a strange amount of time!).

I would have liked to go across the Golden Gate Bridge, but it would have taken two hours to go through the city that way, and only an hour and 20 minutes going around the city, so I did that.

I took I-580, which went along the mainland east of the peninsula that central San Francisco was on, spending quite a while along the coast, and passing through the western part of Berkeley. For a while I-80 also went along the same route, so I was driving on the easternmost part of the same very long highway I would use to cross the midwest later in the trip. I crossed over the San Francisco Bay on the northernmost of the long bridges that spanned it, the Richmond Bridge, which I think was about 3km long.

Once I was on the other side I stopped near the forest, on the road, to make breakfast. The road was sloping upwards a bit, which made cooking and getting things out a bit tricky. I made a wrong turn not far from the forest, and ended up trying to do a U-turn, which I was a bit paranoid about after the episode near Yosemite! There were only small streets around, and I went down one to try and turn around. There was supposed to be a U-turn spot on that street, and I asked a man who was outside his house, who pointed me to where it was. It wasn’t particularly big, but I did make it around and back though thankfully!

I got to the forest, and there weren’t a lot of people parked there which was good. It was a beautiful place, with huge towering trees. Walking was still pretty difficult with the blisters so I didn’t go as far as I would have otherwise. Maybe it was the Lord’s way of slowing me down! They were doing some kind of works along a stream that ran through the park, with noisy machinery and pumps and things, which spoilt the effect a bit, but after getting into the forest more the noise died down.

There was one area called the Cathedral, and it was really lovely with the huge trees, and nice and quiet like a church. The sun was filtering through the trees, making sun rays in the rather misty air. There weren’t a lot of people around at that time of morning on a Monday, which made it more enjoyable. I was there a bit over an hour.

I drove back to Highway 1 which I’d turned off, and followed it as it went along the coast, then inland for a while before going back towards the coast and reaching Bodega Bay about an hour and a half later. I drove into a parking lot next to the sea, and there were a couple of seals on a pier there, making quite a bit of noise. It was just coming up to lunchtime, there was a place there that offered clam chowder, which seemed like a bit of an iconic dish in America, so I thought I would try it.

Out the front of the cafe was a kiosk where you could order without waiting in line inside. There were a couple of people ahead of me, and when I got there I found that you left your mobile phone number and they messaged you when your meal was ready. I wasn’t sure that this would work, since I had an Australian number, so I went inside. There wasn’t much of a line-up, and they served the chowder straight away. I took the option of having it in a bowl made out of bread, so you ate the whole thing!

It was a peaceful spot, and I had a chat with a couple who were also eating there. It was sunny, though with mist covering some of the nearby hills. The chowder was tasty, but didn’t have a lot of liquid in it, and I wished I’d got a drink as well. Driving out of the parking lot onto the road, I made the mistake of looking the wrong way while turning left and a car which I hadn't seen whizzed by me when I was about to go – thank you Lord, I certainly needed His protection!

The road along the coast was surprisingly windy and hilly, due to there being hills right by the sea. There were also strong gusty winds, so I had to concentrate to keep the van on the road, and was hanging on to the steering wheel grimly with both hands, which earned me a migraine later on. Along the California stretch of Highway 1 there were also many roadwork sites, with only one lane open and traffic lights. Unfortunately the places I had to stop and wait weren’t usually scenic spots!

I had Sonoma Coast State Park on my list to see, but somehow I seemed to have missed it. I saw a turn-off to Fort Ross which was further along, and headed in there to have a look. This was a Russian fort that was occupied in the 1800s, as the Russians created a settlement. I think it was a commercial rather than military operation, but I suppose they needed the fort against attacks in the area. It was eventually sold off, and they moved out. It was interesting to see the buildings and fort walls, all made of wood. Some of the buildings were open, and set up the way it would have been back then. There was a beach just below it which I walked down to.

Next stop was Salt Creek State Park. My America the Beautiful pass got me into all national parks, but there are also state parks, which aren’t covered. I bought a pass for the day, which also worked for the campground I was staying at. (Camping fees didn’t cover the actual access to the park, you still needed to pay for that as well. In some states, if you camped at a state park, the camping fee covered the entrance fee as well, and in some states, like California, it didn’t.) The rocks and sea were a bit like what we have in South Australia. Most of the coastline along the stretch I drove that day wouldn’t have been out of place here.

My final stop before the campground was Point Arena, which had a lighthouse on it. But it was after 5 and the lighthouse and road to it was closed. I got a view of it from the cliffs a little distance away. There was a portable toilet just sitting in a field next to the road, which turned out to be handy, but I was surprised to see it just in the middle of nowhere like that.

Van Damme State Park was where I was to camp. After the bustle of the Yosemite campground it seemed very quiet and almost lonely. There didn’t seem to be too many people camping there. I think school had gone back for many students. (I gather that each district sets its own date for when school goes back, but it seemed that a lot of them were back by then. After Labor Day basically everyone is back.) The park wasn’t right by the sea, it was on the other side of the road, a little drive away, so I didn’t try to walk to the beach that evening. Unlike many of the campgrounds I had been to, this one had the innovation of hot water and showers, which was welcome!

There was a big open area, with a lot of campsites either side of it. When it was busy, probably people also camped in the open area. There was forest on one side, and my campsite backed onto the forest, which made for a nice private setting.

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