The RV waste water tanks are repaired, my time in San Francisco is over, and it’s time to hit the road again.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here in the city, and have made great use of the hills each day to toughen up my legs in preparation for forth-coming challenges. I have also managed to arrive at the top of Twin Peaks a couple of times now in clear conditions, and as I had expected, the view was magnificent.
The salt flats of Utah are now calling me, but I have one more promise to fulfil here in California before I leave. Susan’s neighbours, a lovely couple called Anthony and Elizabeth, have two great kids, Allesandra, age 5 and Cole, age 3, who are very entertaining.
Since I arrived the kids have been wondering what it would be like to spend a night in the RV, and I made the mistake of promising them that when it was fixed, I would take them for a night out. And since then they have been in a state of high expectation.
And so with promises to keep, we packed Susan’s little car with all my gear (packed away into my two rucsacs again), her gear (which was about the same size as mine, even though she was only going to be away for one night), the kids two car seats, and all of their gear for one night (which eclipsed both mine and Susan’s gear completely!)
They dropped me off at Mike’s RV repair centre, and when I came back from paying, I found the excited kids clambering around inside the RV. Eventually we got sorted out and headed south for 20 miles or so to the Anthony Chabot Family Reserve, hidden away in the hills above Oakland. The campsite was fantastic, set high abpove Chabot Lake, in beautiful woodland surroundings.
We set up camp and took a walk through the woods, and later that evening we made a campfire in the BBQ pit, and roasted marshmallows. We invited our RV neighbour Felicity to join us, and I discovered that she too was an RV-based writer working on her own book. More about Felicity and her project here:-
www.FelicityWright.com
This morning I was up early, and took a run down through the woods to the lake, still trying to toughen up the leg muscles a bit more. I was still and quiet, and very serene, and I gave up running and just wandered quietly. We hung around the campsite for most of the day, then Susan headed back to the city with the kids, and I settled in for a second night, and got to work cleaning the RV after it’s six month break.
Tomorrow the real travelling starts, as I head east across California, into Nevada, and eventually to Utah.