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It's been awhile – yeah, I know, more than awhile. Like, six months. I actually left you hanging with us in California in the dead of winter. We found an RV park about twenty minutes north of Paco and Allison's house at candlestick Park,In South San Francisco. This is a Google Earth view of the stadium, RV Park, and Candlestick Point State Recreation Area.

The rate was very steep at $89.00 a night, AND they didn't allow bus conversions! We arrived late in the evening and the night manager said we could stay for one night and talk to the General Manager in the morning to determine if we could stay longer. Fortunately, the GM was very nice – we could stay, and if we paid for a month it would only be $1200.00, a “savings” of $1470.00. In other words, we could stay for four weeks for less than the price of the two weeks we had planned. The weather was great in San Francisco and brutal in Michigan, we were with our grandkids every day, and we were retired – tough choice!

The RV park was at Candlestick Park – the stadium! Candlestick Park is, actually was, the home of the San Francisco Giants MLB team from 1960 to 2000. It then became the home of the 49ers NFL team until the end of the 2013 season. It will be demolished later in 2014 or early 2015.The RV park is located across the street from the main stadium parking lot. 

Candlestick Point is a spit that juts out into South San Francisco Bay. It is a lovely natural retreat with walking paths and a fishing pier. It's also adjacent to the RV park and we would walk out into the bay to enjoy the breeze and smell of the ocean, talk with the fishermen and enjoy a little piece of nature in the middle of the city.  We spent almost a month in San Francisco / San Mateo - mostly hanging out with the grandkids. 

We went to the Star Wars exhibit at the 
San Jose Tech Museum.

Maddie in her Luke Skywalker Halloween costume.

And Point Reyes National Seashore.

We reluctantly decided to head home the end of January. Big mistake. It was in the low to mid 70's and sunny the whole month. We knew it was cold back in Michigan, but didn't expect it to keep up. We had John and Nicki checking on the house (when they could get up the 800' driveway), and we had the new automatic generator, but felt we couldn't extend another month. Should've called them. They would've talked us into staying in California. We left on January 27th to climb over the Sierras - from 9' above sea level at Candlestick Park, down to 73' below sea level crossing the valley then up to Truckee River RV Park - 190 miles and 6000'. It was a long slow pull with the bus doing 27 mph max. at times (top speed in second gear). I'd put the four-ways on an follow the heavy trucks in the right-hand lane.

The next day we headed out of California and across Nevada. There were a few short climbs along the way, but basically uneventful. We stopped in West Wendover, NV for the night - just short of the Utah State Line. This is the view of the casinos from the campground. The casinos offered free shuttle service to and from the campground. We passed and went to bed early. 

Next state - Utah

Next morning, within minutes of crossing the Utah state line, the terrain becomes flat and brilliant white in all directions. Miles and miles of salt flats. No trees, dry scrawny shrubs, and little more. The only other "scenery" was hundreds of names and messages written on the salt by arranging stones. This one says "PARKER" and "TANNER".What are you going to do for entertainment under these conditions? Of course! Get out of your air conditioned vehicle and collect stones to arrange in the blazing sun. Salt flats stoners.

PARKER and TANNER

Welcome to the salt flats

On the east side of Utah was another mountain range to climb - The Wasatch Range - from Salt Lake City up into Wyoming. 

Once in Wyoming the winds began to intensify. I mean INTENSIFY. The digital speed limit signs read 25mph! The speed limit on an Interstate is 25?? Yup. The winds were 50 mph with gusts to 70. Empty trailer loads were ordered off the Interstate. I thought we'd tough it out for awhile, but then the wind blew a semi trailer we were following from the right lane to the left in a split second - in the wink of an eye - fast as greased lightning - a speeding bullet - a rabbit - a trailer in a high wind. So, we took the next exit and parked it for the remainder. The oil rig guys next door left their trailer and got a motel room for the night. Wimps! We just hunkered down and rode'er out. That's whutcha do when yer in Wyoming.

The next day was a long haul - 455 miles to Sidney Nebraska, home of the original Cabella's. They have a campground there, so we parked the bus for the night. Next morning I really felt wiped out, so we decided to spend another day in Sidney before moving on. This was not the high season for camping in Nebraska. We were back in the grips of winter and really desperate just to get home. So, it was a two day sprint across the remainder of Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and finally into Michigan. Teri had called ahead to get our 800' driveway plowed prior to arrival. We pulled in late, around 10:00 pm. We could unload the bus in the morning. It was time for a good night's sleep in our home sweet home.