First things first, after my failed SPOT attempt the night before, I was out in the backyard as soon as I’d got up to do a second trial run. After reading the instructions to discover that the device should be left on for at least 20 minutes, I had more success. Greg faithfully sent out a check in message and dropped the first pin on my map. How exciting! Next was the travel blog, which as you can see, is up and running! Thanks to Kylie for the tips and inspiration, I’m looking forward to this! With all of the logistics done, it was car bonding time. I started out by fixing the bonnet latch (bit of WD40 and she’s right!), topping up the oil and washer fluid, then went to town cleaning it. I’m ashamed to say it was the first time in months. How better to start a roadtrip? Derek and Kylie left me to it in the morning to take the kids to Little Gym so it was just me and Astro prepping for the journey. I did a bit of reshuffling to organise the mess I’d made yesterday, but everything was close enough to in its place to be functional. Fridge plugged in, bike on the roof, I was ready! I set off to Mountain View to meet Vanessa for brunch and we got more than we bargained for with the Mountain View Arts and Wine Festival. Woo! Market! Our tummies were more important than the market so we enjoyed a beautiful Turkish breakfast and caught up over work and travel. Very zen (I think I’m learning Vanessa!). Feeling very satisfied from brekkie, we wandered the stalls of the market, me popping into a book store or two in search of a big map of America, but I was unsuccessful. 11am in the morning and everyone around us was getting into the wine. I swear everyone was holding a glass! The stalls were the usual wares. Vanessa and I enjoyed the wandering pace of a market and the sounds and smells. We soon discovered it went on forever so turned back, otherwise I would never get anywhere! We said our goodbyes with me instructing Vanessa to invest in a library card instead of buying books.

Now I was really off! Straight onto highway 101, I aimed for the Golden Gate bridge. By far not the fastest route, but I wanted the drama of it! It was the usual drive. Traffic, Carl (the fog) and tourists flooding the streets, but pretty all the same.

Once I was out of SF the landscape soon turned into rolling hills, then wine country. After a few hours driving I was nodding off, probably exhausted from all the recent heavy lifting, so stopped at Healdsburg. It is a beautiful little town with a river running through it. I found a nice recreation area, then discovered it was $7 to park, so used their bathrooms and buggered off to the other side of the river and set out my picnic blanket and pillow on a grassy hill overlooking the two bridges, one old, one new. I don’t think I really slept, but it was nice to lie in the shade and rest anyway. Up again, keen to make some progress, continued on through the town to discover a beer festival with live jazz music and beautiful historic architecture (think vines growing on old pubs). Only been on the road for a few hundred miles and already I’m tempted to stop! I carried on, over the county line to Mendocino where it really is wine country. The dark green colour of the vines stand out amongst the dry yellow hills. Near my target rest area, I drove through a freshly burnt area. There was a few firies around so I assume it was a planned burn, but I saw a helicopter in the sky with a water bomb – hopefully just for insurance. The bushfire smell reminded me of home.

At the first rest area just north of Longvale, there was signage stating no overnight parking or camping. Bugger! Maybe the next one 20 miles away will be different. Nope! I’d learnt from some others that you’re allowed to park at rest areas for eight hours, so figured I’d be home free. I’d obviously received wrong information! Anyway, I stopped at this one anyway, enjoyed some heated up left-overs at a picnic table with a beer, Greg and my atlas. Within minutes of opening my beer, a very kind gentleman with a multitude of holes in his singlet and a fag hanging out of his mouth asked if I would like to trade some beer for some weed. I kindly declined explaining that it was my last beer. I think he saw right through me and asked if I smoked, to which I said no, then he went on to explain that he had only the freshest stuff. Ha! It’s only day one! Off he went. Still, it is nice to have Greg around. The sun is setting now, so I’m off to find camp. I don’t think I’ll get too far down the road, with a beer in me and a whopping 200 miles under my belt, I’m ready for an early night! After the mandatory van re-shuffle to free up my bed.