Location: Napa Valley
Duration: 2 nights
Temperatures: 27, 25
Well after being on the road for 10 days I am pleased to report
we are having a great time in our little home on wheels however it wasn't so
rosie those first few days. For a start
the living space is very……compact. We
have everything we need but it is all packed into a very tight space. Another issue was the sleeping
arrangements. The only option for us is
to sleep above the cab because the bed that is made from the sitting area being
dismantled isn't long enough for tall folk.
Ryan being the size he is needs to sleep on the outer edge however
there is a very hard stiff board going across this part which can be felt, not conducive to a good night sleep. The
side Kiri sleeps on curves down and it
feels similar to what sleeping in a coffin would be like. Also despite the small space it seemed in
those first few days that losing things in the few places they could be
happened often. Our fridge also didn't work which we found out after doing the first grocery shop and it
seems getting through to the Cruise America customer assistance line is almost
as painful as driving an RV in peak hour traffic . Sorry no not as painful as trying via four wrong departments to get our mobile wifi working. The driving situation was better we were
off the 6 lane Freeway but we were in a process of getting use to our new
surroundings and things seemed a bit harder than when we were in our nice San
Fran hotel.
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| Where we sleep, comfy.... |
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| The treacherous freeway |
A few rudimentary errands were required first thing on Saturday morning we drove to Calistago 3 miles from the campground to do laundry and
sort fridge, wifi. That done we chose a
couple of wineries to visit and made our way for a much needed drink. We visited Silver Oak who specialise in Cab
Sav we sampled 3 lovely vintages at $20 a tasting it was steep but given the
bottles were $100 plus to buy and they gave you a wine glass to keep it wasn't too bad. Our bellies rumbling we
drove down the road to a gourmet grocery store and purchased cheeses, cured
meats, bread etc and picnicked on there outdoor tables overlooking the rows of
grapevines. V Suttui was the next stop,
much more touristy and busy with a deli market, bigger wine selection and much
more affordable. It was hot and late in
the arvo, we sipped a refreshing, fruity rose in the garden before heading back
to camp for our first RV cooked dinner and campfire. It was a lot of fun toasting marshmallows and
cosying up by the fire.
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| Silver Oak |
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| V Suttui |
It would've been nice to stay a day longer in Napa however
not consulting our itinerary meant we thought we’d made a booking at Lower
Pines in Yosemite on Sunday night. Turned
out we were wrong. No booking till
Monday however there was space at the campground next door, luckily. The friendly campground host at the Napa
campground also helped us out with the fridge.
(Just to digress a little, as I write this we are on a 8 lane Freeway
leaving LA and I’m totally fine, typing away laptop on knee, i've come a long way
in 10 days, so has Ryan’s driving). We
were on our way by 11am, but while still in the adjusting phase things could
get a little tense and heated, put it down to lack of personal space. Amid the bickering and discovery of lost
shoes and jandals, one of K’s Nikes fell out the door while getting in and out
and in a rage Ryan took off his jandals to come inside and drove off with
out them. We did our first dump ($12)
and fill and drove 4 hrs to Yosemite.
Ryan drove and the terrain was rural bypassing one big city it was windy
but very scenic driving into the park and valley. We sore deer and coyote, lakes, hills,
waterfalls, cliffs it was all very beautiful.
Continuing with the Mexican theme we had RV made tacos for dinner and an
early night.
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| A few of the sights we saw driving in to Yosemite |
