Day Fifteen - Like Steve McQueen

It was freezing this morning when we woke up at Half Moon Bay, but thankfully the showers were nice and warm. Cleaned and packed up, we began our journey up the coast and into the city.

We had had a variety of things on our to-do list for San Francisco, but as the day wore on we slowly knocked them off one by one. First, we had wanted to do a tour of Alcatraz, but due to the weather and the difficulty of getting tickets, we decided to save that for a potential future trip.

Next, we wanted to take a ride on the famous San Francisco Cable cars; however, we did not realize how difficult it would be to find parking. After several failed attempts to find a suitable parking garage (ie one that was tall enough for our truck and camper – seriously, one we saw had a height of 5’ 8”, meaning me and Carl couldn’t even stand up in it!), and some other mishaps, we called it quits and headed away from the city.

Out of the center of town, we took time to run some of the hilly streets. Carl had a great time retracing some of the chase scene from “Bullitt,” and we even found the apartment building where Steve McQueen’s character lived in the film. We also kept our eyes peeled for the “Full House” house, but to no avail. Apparently you can find the park from the opening credits, but the actual house either does not exist or its location is carefully hidden.

We also took time to go down by the bay. There we at least had a view of Alcatraz. We also got plenty of pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge from both the bay side and while we drove across it.

After crossing the bridge, we made our way out of San Francisco. We made a pit stop a little ways outside of Sacramento to have our oil changed. We also ate at the “original” Mel’s. Mel’s was the diner from American Graffiti, and there is now a franchise around this area which bears its name and 50s/60s décor.

Heading out of California on I-80, we soon began to notice a change in our surroundings and a constant incline in the road. Next thing we knew we were in the mountains. During our mountain passage we went from 0 to 7,000 feet and caught some beautiful views of the mountains, some with snow still on them, the river, and some old train tracks. Judging by the names of local places, it appears that we were around the region where the infamous Donner party met their end. After passing by Donner pass, Donner lake and so forth, we made our decline into Nevada, and have found our way to Reno to camp.

Tomorrow we will continue our trek east. We’re taking a northern route this time, so hopefully we will see plenty of new and interesting things.