Epic Journey 2016-18,  USA

Visiting Northern California

Road Trip USA – Epic Journey 2016-18 Part II

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The journey can begin. It takes us about three hours to drive from Ben to Geoff. It feels like coming home. After all, we have spent quite a bit of time in Anderson Valley so far. We know quite a few of the valley's residents, its small villages, and its redwood forests.
Bei Geoff im Wald
In the woods with Geoff

In Geoff's small bungalow out in the woods little has changed. Geoff welcomes us warmly and we pick up seamlessly where we left off two years ago. We pop the cork and celebrate my birthday and our reunion with a fine barbecue, followed by a typical American dessert: S'mores (Some mores), melted marshmallows covered with chocolate, and crackers. So sugar on sugar with sugar. You can imagine it's pretty sweet.

But we don't want to linger long. Our van shall prove what it can do.

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The following weeks we cruise through Northern California, up and down, to the coast and back to the hilly backcountry. Unfortunately, we are not always lucky with the weather. And over a thousand meters above sea level, it gets sensitively cold even here in October.

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Our American car with a V8 engine keeps its promise. No road is too steep, no distance too far. Forest roads and gravel roads with holes are no problem at all. But it also guzzles gallons of fuel. Ecologically stupid, but economically affordable. At least here in America, where the liter of gasoline costs half as much as in Switzerland.

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The bed is also large and comfortable. We usually sleep pretty well. But as mentioned before, it can get cold as hell at night. One more blanket would not be bad. Despite clothes, caps and wool socks we freeze our asses off again and again in the higher altitudes.

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Our American car with a V8 engine keeps its promise. No road is too steep, no distance too far. Forest roads and gravel roads with holes are no problem at all. But it also guzzles gallons of fuel. Ecologically stupid, but economically affordable. At least here in America, where the liter of gasoline costs half as much as in Switzerland.

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But the landscapes and the nature are like in a dream. On the way to the Lava Bed National Monument at the border to Oregon, Seraina nearly misses a bear running in front of our car. Good, she reacts quickly and brakes before we roll him over. Startled, the little one disappears into the bushes.

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In Lava Bed, we get to crawl through miles of caves left by lava. Most of the time it is pitch black. I'm not too comfortable, especially when an auditorium-sized cave becomes a small crack in the rock. Fortunately, we always find our way out.

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In the evenings we either camp on official campgrounds, which are private or belong to a National Park/Forest/Monument, or find a free spot somewhere in the forest.

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Lassen National Park in northeastern California is magical. Of course, the similarities to Switzerland are immediately apparent: snowy mountains with lakes and fir forests in the foreground, waterfalls, countless hiking opportunities. As with everything in the U.S., the dimensions are quite different though. The vastness into which we gaze every day is simply incomparable.

Back at Geoff's and our other friends' places, it's time for Halloween. That means carving pumpkins, dressing up, and celebrating. Finally, we can serve the fondue we brought from Switzerland. Although Americans don't eat much bread (because it's not gluten-free and good bread is simply not available), the cheese fondue is accompanied by loud whoops and cheers! Surely the hot glow wine served with it also plays its part in the general enthusiasm.

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Excuse me, but it has to be mentioned now. A word about the elections. As I pointed out in the two-year-old text about Anderson Valley: The world could end and no one here would notice.

"Hau den Nagel!"
"Hit the nail!"

So life takes its usual course even after Election Day. Still, not everyone can hide their lukewarm mood here either. Most of all, though, I hear from Ben in Oakland about the pervasive helplessness of many citizens who don't know what's happening to them. The eerie silence on the subway, the lowered stares of people in the streets, the demonstrations in many cities.

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What started out entertaining in a way has now reached a climax last week. Geoff even apologized to us! I remember him assuring us three weeks ago that we didn't have to worry about Trump getting elected after the way he talked about women. Well, he wasn't the only one who succumbed to that misconception.

I can imagine two things: Either what many fear will happen and the new president will have to be put in his place by his fellow citizens. Or he behaves quite differently than expected and proves to be a correct and progressive leader who can bring about much that is positive.

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I won't go into any more detail. Hope dies last. The future will show us what will happen to our world.

I have to go, dinner is calling. There is bear stew.

The last few weeks we were mainly living in Anderson Valley. Now and then we made short trips into the surrounding area.

For example, we met Ben at the coast near Gualala, where his parents own a vacation home. They had the right instinct umpteen years ago when they decided to buy a piece of land so close to the sea. Today these lands are priceless, especially in California.

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So we too were treated to the large, wooden villa with a fantastic view of the ocean. Of course, we didn't let the small whirlpool escape us, since we had missed visiting one of the numerous hot springs in Northern California this time. We felt like we were on a wellness weekend.

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Geoff also accepted the invitation and thus got to know Ben. After all the years of visiting both of them, they knew each other only by hearsay. It was time to introduce the two of them to each other. We had a splendid time together.

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We quickly realized how much we depended on having our own car here when we tried to make our way down to Oakland last week.

Geoff offered to drive us. But just on the day we were leaving, he got sick and couldn't possibly get in a car. The drive, which usually would have taken us about three hours, suddenly became two days long.

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First another friend took us up the hilly road out of Anderson Valley to Ukiah, from where we planned to take the direct Greyhound bus to Oakland. 

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We waited patiently at the small stop on the main road with all our heavy luggage, only to be told by the bus driver when he finally came, that he would not take us because we could only buy tickets online.

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Completely flabbergasted, we watched the bus leaving us behind.

Since it was the only bus today, our only option was to try a hitchhike.

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Two hours later, we were about to give up when someone stopped. The man lived nearby but he showed mercy and took us the fifty miles to Santa Rosa.

At least we had made half the distance. But since it was already dark, we had to look for a motel room.

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Two hours later, we were about to give up when someone stopped. The man lived nearby but he showed mercy and took us the fifty miles to Santa Rosa.

At least we had made half the distance. But since it was already dark, we had to look for a motel room.

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The next surprise was waiting for us the next day. After we had walked the 1.5 miles from the motel to the bus station with our twenty-kilo backpacks, the bus driver (this time no longer Greyhound) did not want to let us get on. They did not accept our large luggage. But when we showed him how we could put the backpacks between our legs, he was compliant. We exhaled a sigh of relief. Were we going to make it after all?

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"Where are you going?" he wanted to know. "Oh, you know what, you're going for free. Merry Christmas!" I made big eyes, thanked him incredulously, and sat down with Seraina. We were on the road again; you never know what the day will bring. A bit different than planned and a bit later we reached our destination.

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Meanwhile, even here the coming winter can be felt. It is cold and rains very often. However, it is striking that I never hear anyone complaining about the persistent rainy days. This shows me how important water is especially here, where through the whole summer, not a drop falls from the sky.

Winterliches Oakland
Winter in Oakland

But I wouldn't be me if the rain didn't get on my nerves after just two days. So we are both looking forward to the onward flight to the south, where we can stow the long clothes deep down in the backpack.

Our van is safely stored at Geoff's; after all, in half a year we want to come back and tour the States in the summer months.

Hier wartet der Van auf unsere Rückkehr
Here the van is waiting for our return

We are excited. Because soon we want to start working on our house building project. We have gathered some ideas, made plans and drawings and of course invited all our friends here to come to Colombia with us.

So ungefähr stellen wir uns unser Cabaña vor
This is roughly how we envision our cabaña

Tomorrow we will fly to Cartagena via New York. We are excited about all the new surprises that await us.After all, we know, although we are pretty good at planning, certain things just can't be predicted. And that's a good thing!

Epic Journey 2016-18

Back to Part I:

Epic Journey 2016-18

Forward to Part III:

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