Day 1 usa

Morning! Sadly we didn't get much of a chance to recover our sleep - we awoke early as Derry had been asleep for a long time on the plane and in customary fashion her stirring awoke Finn and me (Alan) as we were sharing the room. The other girls also awoke reasonably early. We made potentially the wrong choice by having the highly priced (but very large!) hotel breakfast (we subsequently discovered there was a great diner virtually next door which fed a family of 6 for the price of 2!)

Half way through, Alan had to disappear to get the shuttle to the RV hire company, across LA. We made it in record time as it was a quiet Sunday. From there, though, the process was excruciatingly slow, as the checkout procedure was highly detailed, then I had to watch the 20 minute instructional video about how to turn the key (OK, I also learnt how to empty the septic tank!). then I had to endure a walkaround the vehicle itself. I was beginning to learn the RV pace of life! Finally I was under way, and with the trusty GPS I managed to make my return to the Hilton. Meanwhile the kids and suzanne had finished their breakfast, then headed to the hotel pool which by all accounts was a bit salty but OK. Since I was taking so long, Suzanne had to checkout and pack and carry all the bags downstairs (we don't do porters!) so she was frazzled by the time I returned.

Getting out of the hotel was the final challenge - we thought we'd left something in the room, so had to get security to re-open it only to find it in one of the bags some 15 minutes later! So we avoided being towed away, then had to manoeuvre our way out of the hotel. Should be easy enough, there are buses and coaches everywhere doing it, but no, we have to find the route around the hotel which takes us through the hotel foyer valet parking drop off. This 28' thing has no turning circle, it cuts corners, while at the same time the back end swings out to catch anything in its path! So I got half way into the driveway, then 'just' reversed a little to give me more room when I happened to look behind in my mirror to see the end of the RV about 3 inches from the side of an LA yellow cab! Oops! Suitably panicked I inched my way through the traffic narrowly avoiding the valets moving the porsches, large 4wds and other posh metal around. I failed to avoid their disapproving looks!

Anyway, we were under way in the good ol' US of A and off up the freeway to Morro Bay. We needed to stop for food, but bear in mind that we've been in Spanish speaking restaurants for the last 2 months and we really didn't want to dive straight into burger king. So we looked around as we drove the smaller streets in search of something which looked vaguely nice. Ah ha there, try that, it looks different - we'd spotted a Trader Joe's, so after a few minutes agonising over how, where and how to pay for parking 28 feet of inconvenience, we popped in only to find that it was a supermarket. Not just any supermarket though. On the face of it a healthy, organic, well stocked and varied choice of excellent food - so we earmarked it and managed to eat next door at Poquito Mas - potentially a very bad combination of Spanish speaking and American junkfood - but at that point we were desperate so tacos it was. (Actually it wasn't too bad!)

Trader joes then had the benefit of our visit, and we went only slightly beserk on the first proper supermarket shop in ages. This is a cool store, and if we were to set up a supermarket back home (don't worry guys we're not about to!) it would be like this - organic, natural, healthy, varied, different, and not too expensive. So our fridge was well and truly stuffed - each of the kids had to carry a bag or two!

Anyway, finally we were under way and off along the highway 101 to Morro Bay state park. The kids adored riding in the RV, loads of space, freedom to move around (not really, officer!) and a loo too! It made the experience - a long one - much better than being cramped in a car.

We had no idea what to expect, but when we arrived at the park it all fell fairly quickly into place. After a small panic where we found out that our spot had already been allocated, but we got a new one and that was fortunate, because our new neighbour was really friendly and explained a few things to us. Of course we had expected there to be a small shop on site, but all there was was a loo/shower block.

The park was lovely - in the middle of a wooded area, split between RVs, trailers and tents; clearly some of these people are professionals, with everything setup. We are totally rank amateurs, not a clue - so when we found out we didn't have any electricity or water (which we'd been expecting) we had a few moments of panic, not knowing how long the battery would last, or how much water was in the tank - we didn't dare use the water heater - oh, and we didn't have any washing up liquid so that's our excuse! So we ran around the RV turning lights off and running the generator after the switch off hour! Hopeless. As it happened, we hadn't even scratched the surface of the battery's - or the water tank's - capacity!

Reversing into our spot was OK, with help ( no yellow cabs to interrupt it!) but we might have been better to have levelled the RV on blocks! We cooked our food, but hadn't yet got into the outdoor life, so we didn't actually leave the vehicle! Some of that was because it was actually cold! We'd expected California to be roasting, and the aircon to be fully occupied, but it was chilly and we all needed jumpers when we ventured out - our friendly neighbour explained how it was typically 20 degrees colder here than elsewhere - now they tell us!!!

The kids were quite keen to go to bed - largely because it was in a car and the bit over the cab was very attractive to them ! first day RV done, and no major disasters - I have to admit I was tired, it's highly stressful driving a big wide thing where you have to constantly be aware of everything around you.

The next day we awoke to a quiet camp site - and we wondered if the rules prevented you from any noise before midday! Generators were banned until 10 so we continued to stress about power. We did discover that the big wooden boxes outside were for storing food - locked to ensure that the bears didn't get at it! bears ?? ouch!

Finn got a baseball lesson from our new best friends next door, then after breakfast (still inside- still cold!) we took a walk up to the Morro bay museum. It was a really good interactive nature museum, and Finn managed to occupy the volunteer (locally called a docent - nice!) with questions until I dragged him away. It was good to spot the sea otters in the bay and look through the telescopes at the abundance of wildlife in the estuary. We spent an interesting couple of hours there until we had to leave to take the next stage of our journey.

And that next stage was.... the Big Sur and US Highway 1. Up the coastal road all the way to San Francisco. We weren't going all the way, but we thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Sadly Suzanne had a headache but she was determined to tough it out and enjoy the view. We're just going to have to do it again one day, when I'm not driving a truck and can spare more than a nanosecond to glimpse at the views other than the ones in my mirrors, and can wrench my real gripping hands off the wheel!

It's a lovely road, great views and the weather had cleared so it was really nice - it would have just been a bit better in a convertible!

We paused along the way in a lovely small town called Cambria, which was quaint, old fashioned and worth a longer linger - but we were pressed for time (the satnav had found out I was driving an RV and had adjusted the anticipated arrival time back by about 3 hours! Well, at 20mph around the bends it's a bit slow!)

Back on the road, and we finally arrived beyond Monterey at Marina Dunes RV park as the sunset approached. This was an altogether different park, where it appeared some people in their enormous trailer homes had literally set up house and home - carpets outside, welcome signs with their names on illuminated globes. Bizarre. And a whole different set of people. Morro bay state park was seemingly full of healthy types. Marina dunes less so (diplomacy calls!).

At least we had full electricity and water, so we quickly plugged in and managed our first barbecue next to the RV. Not too disastrous, and the kids even got to toast marshmallows ! it's also worth a mention that they had all helped lay the table and get ready for the meal and washed and dried afterwards so a big thanks again! Maybe this RV-ing has its benefits.

We raced off the catch the falling sunset over the dunes, and just about got there. But it was cold again, and we were beginning to tire of the promise of Californian sunshine (after all there were fires here and 110 degrees just a week or so ago!). after running back (even here Derry managed to find someone walking their dog!) we all packed into our beds and readied ourselves for the trip to Monterey tomorrow.