Shakespeare Theater gift shop), we headed into California with the intent of heading down
to the Big Sur area and checking out some of that. I had a certain amount of trepidation as
we got into the Siskiyou Mountains, since that can get pretty treacherous this time of year.
As it turned out, it was unseasonably warm (in the 40’s and 50’s), but it made up for that
with some pretty heavy rain and wind. It turns out that that was just a reminder of what
we had left behind. As soon as we got into Redding and the valley area, the rain and wind
stopped, and we just had some high overcast for the rest of the trip.
On the way down I-5, Linda started talking about going through the Wine area. As a result, we left I-5 at Williams, and headed west on State Route 20. It looked like there was a nice campground on the south shore of Clear Lake. That was an interesting illusion. We got to Clear lake at about 5:30, so that it was just turning to dusk. We looked for quite a while before we found the campground, and it was very large. Unfortunately, it was also completely deserted. We could probably have stayed there, but it was very eerie, so we decided to find some place where we could get some food and then find a place to stay.
I have heard many Californians complain because those of us from the Northwest are unsophisticated, and that we roll up the sidewalks at an unnaturally early hour. By the time we started to look for a place to eat, it was 6:30. We found an RV park, and it had plenty of empty spots, but the office was all closed up. Most of the eating establishments we went past were also either closed or closing. We did find a pizza place that was still open, so we had some dinner, and then we found a rather down in the heels motel we could stay at. I think that the lesson that we have learned is that we will have to pretty much find a place to stay before it gets dark. It looks like after dark we are kind of out on a lurch. Tomorrow we will head out through the wine country, and maybe we can be better organized.
Saturday, February 5, 2000
After a fitful nights sleep for both of us, we woke up to a very heavy rain. After fixing a breakfast in our room, we headed the rest of the way over to U.S. 101, and then headed south. Eventually, we took California Rt. 128 through Napa Valley and some of the wine country. We stopped briefly in Calistoga, just because it was a pretty little town, then went
down to St. Helena where we visited the Beringer Brothers winery. That was an interesting
tour, and we got some samples of some very good wine. This is a point at which our limited
storage capability makes a difference, but I don’t know if it is to the good or the bad. We
probably would have bought some wine from them if we either could have just sent it home
or if we had more storage room. In any event, we did get a tip from our tour guide for a
good Mexican restaurant, and had a good lunch.
We continued down the Napa Valley in a continuous rain. By the time we got to Napa and
Vallejo, the rain had changed from continuous to showery, but by then the traffic had
picked up. We continued on into Palo Alto, and our friend from our church Dorothy. She is
turning 94 next week, and her son moved her down to the bay area so that he could take
By now it was getting on toward 4:00, and we decided that we should find a place to stay.
Since we were in a pretty large metropolitan area, we got another motel room (a much nicer
on than last night), and then drove over to the Stanford campus to look around – what an
In the late afternoon and evening, the poor sleep from the night before combined with the
tension from driving in the rain and very heavy bay area traffic to make me quite tired and
testy. Fortunately, Linda detected that and compensated for my attitude. That probably
saved a lot of stress this evening.
So far, our plans for staying two or three nights in the camper then a night at a motel have
not panned out. Thursday night at Sharon’s we stayed in the camper, but since then we have
been in motels. This is attributed in part to the weather conditions and to the urban area,
but it is also a function of the fact that we don’t know where to look for camping and RV
areas. We will continue to work on this (and maybe try to get some directories of camping
areas) as we head off tomorrow for the Big Sur area. The weather report on TV indicates
that we are at the southern edge of the current storm track, so we anticipate better
weather and a scenic day.
care of her. She still has a great sense of humor, and appears to be in good health, even if,
as she says, “There is a little man running around in my mind with a big green eraser.” She is
forgetful of some things, but still a delight to be around.
impressive campus. Then we went back to the motel room, Linda fixed a light supper from
the camper, and we called it a night.
