Saturday 26/04/2008 and Sunday 27/04/2008 - Back to Blightly

Home.

From Chris……

Dropped off Andy and Jaf at SF Airport.

Andy recounted their holiday this morning, sounds like they covered a lot in a mere 3 weeks almost overwhelming. Think they'll be wanting a holiday to get over this one.


Thanks for coming over, was fun exploring the area and hanging out.

Chris


Got home in once piece after another good flight with Virgin Atlantic. Saw some more movies (inlcuding ‘No country for old men’) which had scenery just like we saw in Texas / New Mexico. Jet lag wasn’t too bad despite me not managing to sleep on the plane. Still, despite all the fun, it’s good to be home - there is no place like it.

Adios Amigos.

Friday 25/04/2008 - San Fran, Muir Woods, Pacific Highway.

Mileage - ~150 miles?? (via San Francisco, Muir Woods, Pacific Highway)

Chris drove us down the crookedest street which was cool although you can only go 5mph not like in the film Bullit. He then drove us North over the Golden Gate Bridge and into Marin County.

We saw lots of Giant Redwood trees in Muir Woods that looked very Jurassic (no dinosours though). Did about a 4 mile hike there which was stunning, yet very peaceful, although it was mainly uphill. Drove to Tam Point which gave a superb view of San Francisco bay from the other side. Really nice drive there and some great scenery, some of which reminds us of home.

Chris then drove us really fast down miles of very windy roads in his 400hp Jag to a Greek Restaurant called Papa's. The food was nice and then we drove back home for a bit of packing and a few beers.

That's almost the end of our adventure, we just need to get home safely now. Thakyou all for sharing the journey with us, we hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did. Thanks to everyone we have met who have helped us on our journey. Special thanks to Krzysiek, uncle Tadek and Agnieszka for looking after us so well at the start of our trip and to Chris for making the effort to put up with us at the end of the trip. We'd also like to thank our wives for letting us go and not giving us too much grief.

Highlights - USA.

Lowlights - no significant ones apart from missing the Chevy and waking up in a different town every morning (and missing our families).

Good night, God bless America.


Andy and Jaf.

Thursday 24/04/2008 - Napa Valley, Lake Berryessa, Danville

Mileage - ~180 miles (via Napa Valley, Lake Berryessa, Danville)

We got wrecked last night in the bar with 68 beers (Jacks?). I think we drank most of them but can't remember much. We don't feel too clever today and I won't be drinking now until I'm back home (apart from tonight). We got back to the Travelodge on a tram / bus - not sure. I do remember the bus driver telling Jaf off for making fun of some mad bloke on the bus who was scribbling in a notebook. The bar had the best barman ever and we think that we met Bobby Sands (ex-IRA) and Glenn Fry from the Eagles but we're not sure. Everytime I said that we were leaving the barman brought us free drinks. In the middle of the night I was crudely woken-up by Jaf who decided that he wanted my bed as he'd kicked his sheets off his bed and didn't want to sleep on a plastic matress. I sent him back to his bed! We didn't wake up until 10.00 and we had mega hangovers (and much lighter wallets).

Good place San Francisco. It has soul, people seem a bit less 'Californian' and more into beer and just being themselves rather than 'the body beautiful'. It also has lots of mentally impared people (all ex-hippies or ex-military). I think that we fit in quite well. Jaf could make a killing here with his profession - lots of people needing rehabilitation.

We drove around the Napa Valley a bit today enjoying the views, but we didn't bother wine-tasting as we'd probably puke if we drank anything. We then spotted Lake Barryessa where we crashed-out by the water.

We drove over to see Chris in Danville where we are staying for a couple of nights before flying home. We decided to get rid of the hire-car first so we quickly emptied, washed and hoovered it before dropping it off at the airport. On the way there (following Chris) we noticed that the toll-booth had it's barrier held open, so like Chris, we sped through it. Didn't realise that he could do that because he has a special pass. Fine will no doubt follow in the post.

Chris asked us what we wanted to do first - we both said guns. Jaffa donned his Rambo jacket and off we went to this gun place. It was full of every kind of pistol, shot-gun and rifle you can imagine. After a quick explanation about which end was the dangerous end, etc. we were let loose with a Colt .45 (1911) and Chris's cowboy rifle (Winchester thing). It was mental - the look on Jaf's face after his first shot was superb. That said he was very good - I couldn't hit a thing with the pistol but it felt good to empty a clip into the target (shame I didn't have my MP3 player and NWA playing). I did much better with the rifle. Amazing experience - no doubt we'll never get the chance to do it again, but at least now we both feel confident with guns and could survive in the hood.

Highlights - Jaf hasn't laughed so much since he last took LSD, lots of people who look like Jesus of Nazareth, Lake Berryessa, Napa Valley Roads and views, getting told to pull over by the po-lice (turns out that Jaf was driving too slow and they just wanted to get past us), guns.

Lowlights - Hangover, cold yesterday, $5 Footlong is just a sandwich (the advertising got me to buy one), impending fine for not paying the Bay Bridge toll.

Tomorrow - ?


Jaf and Andy.

Wednesday 23/04/2008 - San Francisco

Mileage - ~90 miles (Into San Francisco)

We got up relatively early this morning and had a decent breakfast at the motel before heading towards San Francisco (Jaf also stole 3 apples, 2 oranges and 4 eggs). We hit a lot of traffic (saw accidents for the first time - well apart from Inyokern) on the freeway and it took us ages to get there, despite not being very far away.

We managed to get an early check-in into the Travelodge in the middle of San Francisco and we made our way on foot through the city. Whilst we are only 3 miles away from Fisherman's Wharf Harbour, we forgot about the massive hills here. Walked up Russian Hill and up the 'Crookedest Street' - all straight out of Bullit and The Rock. Cool. We also walked past the labour exchange - more drunks and bums here than we've seen in a while.

We did a boat trip to the Golden Gate bridge and around Alcatraz. We just about spotted some whales but I'm not sure if it will appear on the video. We've also bought cable-car passes so we've had a go on the old trams up and down the very, very steep streets. It's a bit windy here and not exactly warm, but we're enjoying Fisherman's Wharf and the choice of 68 draft beers available in the bar we're in (Jacks?). Next for us is El Torro Black Rasperry and for Jaffa - Moylands Kilt Lifter.

Highlights - Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, Whale, Cable-cars, Fisherman's Wharf, Nob Hill (mainly for the name), Crookedest Road and all the other roads used in the Bullit car-chase, Checking into a central motel for $80, different beers.

Lowlights - Cold (Jaf got blue hands holding onto the cable-car), got tired walking 3 miles to the waterfront because of the hills, Actually paying $125 bucks for the room including parking and tax (and it's a stinking smoking room opposite a massage parlour and all of our belongings are probably being stolen as I write). Realising that tomorrow night will be our penultimate e-mail.

Tomorrow - Napa Valley. (Wine Tasting - Jaf is driving (he can pass any sobriety test no matter what)) - if the car is still there.

Jaf and Andy.

Tuesday 22/04/2008 - Yosemite, Modesto

Mileage - ~240 (via Yosemite, Modesto)

Left Volta? this morning which was just outside of Los Banos (The Toilet). Didn't drink at all yesterday and we had a cheap night in with a Taco Bell take-away box (which was like eating cardboard filled with human waste). Jaf says it's the worst food he's ever eaten (including the grits at the waffle house). He's not eaten boiled dog like me though (actually that was more tasty). This evening I had some rubbish Jack-In-the-box burger and Jaf had Fajitas which he liked. McDonalds - all is forgiven. We had a load of Mexicans in the two rooms down from us having a bit of a party last night so now we know how everyone else feels when we get back from the bar and watch TV for hours.....

We drove over through the Sierra Nevada Mountains / woods - another great view with stunning roads until we got to Yosemite National Park. OK - I got my parks mixed-up, I thought we were going to Yellowstone park (you know - Yogi Bear, volcanic activity, etc) but when I checked on the map this is over 1500 miles from here. Still, this is a great place for a holiday if you like camping, hiking, cycling. We did what we could but it's a big place and we didn't even have time to get out of the Yosemite Valley. That said we saw some fantastic white water, huge trees breathtaking cliffs and a series of waterfalls (including one above another).

We're currently in a crappy town called Modesto (Stanislaus County - apparently a car-crime centre) which doesn't seem to have much to offer. We've booked into another chain motel which is fine. We did another 240 miles today which is a lot seeing as we spent about 6 hrs in the Park and had a late start.

Highlights - Yosemite, getting wet from the waterfalls, stunning views again, snow, seeing lots of birds, deer and squirrels, seeing bear-poo (it may have been human), fun driving roads (but po-lice everywhere).

Lowlights - Lots of intense walking, only seeing a fraction of what there was to see in the park, not that warm, not seeing Yogi Bear (or any bear or wild-cat for that matter), not seeing geysers and boiling mud, not seeing any references to Yosemite Sam, car is 3000 miles over it's planned service schedule and is making squealing noises (sounds like dry wheel bearings or something).

Tomorrow - Leaving early for San Francisco and hopefully a boat/bus tour of the sights.


Jaf and Andy.