282 miles via I-5, I-505, I-80, I-680 and US 101. Cumulative distance: 6,106 miles.
GTW Hop 34: Redding CA to Morgan Hill CA
The penultimate hop on the GTW was difficult, but not for the expected reason: the weather. Against all odds and despite the prognostications of the US Weather Service (which predicted a rainy day), the clouds broke shortly before our 10am departure and we drove the entire way to San Jose (yes, we know how to get there now) in brilliant sunshine and mid-60s temperatures. It was breezy in spots, but never more than moderately so. It was a very pleasant and easy drive along interstate highways. Until we got to Morgan Hill.
For reasons still unknown to me, my Google map and the GPS both directed me off the interstate and onto local roads about 10 miles shy of our destination. I sensed trouble as I recalled that when I looked at the map, inspecting it for low bridges and tight turns, as I always do, that the RV park was no more than 4 miles from US 101. I pulled Patience over to the side of the very narrow road that we were on and got the laptop out to check on the route. No Verizon reception. But a friendly passer-by assured us that we could, indeed, get to our destination going the way we were headed.
She was right. What she didn’t mention was that we would have to travel the entire 10 miles on narrow, twisty roads with low overhanging branches and numerous scary 1-lane bridges. It was harrowing, reminiscent of Hop 1 when we encountered the low bridge and dinged the bunkhouse topper. It seemed all too likely that we were going to have bookend dings on the GTW.
But we made it.
I got Patience backed into a spacious site with only one small adjustment. We then settled down in our crippled crib. We did not put out either of the two damaged slides, which reduced our effective living space to about 100 square feet. We have no use of the living room/dining room space and have to exit the vehicle and re-enter at the rear to access the bunkhouse. I am in the bunkhouse now, writing this, bundled up against the cold because, with the slides in, we can’t use the propane heat. Nor can we watch the main television. But that really isn’t a great loss because there is no cable TV in this campground and the antenna pulls in just 5 stations: 2 Spanish, 1 Japanese and 2 English, one of which is HSN. We have a grand total of one usable TV channel. That is the worst TV reception we have gotten anywhere, including Boron, CA, in the middle of the desert.
I would consider going elsewhere, but there really aren’t a lot of options until we get access to our home base next Sunday. And I need to get Patience repaired first, so until that happens I can’t make any other arrangements.
It could be a long week.