Let's go

Enjoy the comfort of the hotel once again, walk along the beach in SF once again, and stroll along the pier once again.

Because the camper van needs to be picked up at 1:00. With the vintage streetcar from the 60s and the ultra-modern BART train, we traveled partly under the sea and through Oakland to San Leandro. Oakland is a port and industrial city. Accordingly, the appearance is also different. It is a strong contrast to the hip San Francisco. You can even see real slums along the railway line.

Konstantin has already collected some dollars and gives them to those in need whenever possible.

San Leandro itself seems to be quite tidy again. Once again, we walked a good kilometer with our full luggage to RoadBear where our camper van is to be picked up. There are huge ones there, as big as coaches, next to our not-so-small vehicle, which looks like a dwarf in comparison.

Signing the contract, getting an introduction, storing our things, taking a short break - after 2 hours, we are ready to go. And we are entering the busy highway during rush hour. Jumping right into the deep end, as they say. The camper van drives well. Automatic and 'only' consumes 17 liters per 100 km. On average, a motorhome consumes 30 liters, and the fuel is not much cheaper than in our country.

However, it is very unusual that in the USA, overtaking on the right is allowed. And considerate driving is not as pronounced as in SF 😉.

But we managed well and finally arrived at Half Moon Bay, after a big shopping tour - we took the California 1, which runs along the entire Pacific coast from north to south. Although the spectacular parts of the route are still ahead of us (or rather further north), the first view is already impressive. The children had to go to the (rough) ocean right away.

Since it was already evening, and we will spend the first two nights in a place called Boulder Creek in a national park in the mountains full of redwoods, we had to speed up to arrive there before dark. Somehow, we managed to find a very adventurous route again, with very narrow, steep, and partially paved roads.

Tomorrow it's time to relax, swim in the pool, maybe do a little hiking.