Seattle – San Francisco

The first part of the tour takes us from Seattle down the west coast to Phoenix. Tour manager Kay has allowed me three weeks for this stretch. The Editourmobil livery should have been carried out at the rental shop. But, as the saying goes, if you want something done, do it yourself. It took two days to get all the sponsor logos and graphics done. With infinite patience, the technician applied the film, wrinkle-free, around each flap and window frame. A well-deserved gratuity was certainly coming his way. In the two days I had more than enough opportunity to fit out the camper. It was good exercise as well. A stroll round the aisles of the local Wal Mart provided us with some missing kitchen utensils, a selection of games (especially Jenga, Uno and Yahtzee) and some decent steaks and beer for the fridge.

The RV was brand-new, we were the first to rent it. I said to the rental guy that any brand-new RV was bound to come with a leak in the water supply. "No, not with us", he responded indignantly. On the second day, needless to say, there was a little puddle underneath the RV…

Due to the two day delay in setting off, I had to make up time to get to San Francisco. Not exactly comfortable driving along the coast, then off the highway direct to San Francisco over the mountains. The road climbed up to 1500 metres and at the top, snow chaos greeted me. 25 cm of fresh snow fell and I was in the middle of it all. Maybe I should have watched the weather forecast, since it predicted a snow storm. At walking pace we crossed the mountains. Maybe it would have been quicker along the coast. Fortunately, no appointments had been planned on this stretch, so I just had to miss out on a personal appointment (a visit to the Sierra Nevada brewery).

Yours
Alexander Büchler