Last saturday we left San Fran to collect our RV then, following a big provisions shop at Walmart, we made our way towards Lake Tahoe. With no campsite booked our aim was to just to get as far as possible towards LT and then hopefully find somewhere to stay on the way. A couple of hundred miles later and we made the rookie mistake of trying to find somewhere in the dark. With 2 places full, and me beginning to panic, one kind and helpful campsite host told us to park in the car park and if anyone had any issues with this to send them his way. So our first night was not the most glamorous of places but it was free – every cloud and all that. After a glass of wine and a comfy bed I had the best night sleep of the trip so far.

The next day we finally got to Lake Tahoe, and what a Lake it is!! It’s absolutely enormous and the water is crystal clear. Having found a campsite with space we went for a walk…which turned out to be much longer than planned as we got lost! After a few ‘hey bear’ shout outs (remembering our anti bear training from our 2017 trip to Alaska) we finally made our way back at the campsite. I set myself up in my usual seat-the passenger one as it gives a perfect lookout out at what is going on around us (aka I can be nosey!!) Suddenly there was the continuous beeping of a car horn. I immediately thought ‘bear attack’. We were about to go and see if someone needed help when it stopped. A few minutes later, at reception, a car came up and the driver said a bear had lunged at him. He was 4 RV sites away from us!! We walked rather nervously for a bit after that.

Soon it was time to leave Lake Tahoe and head towards Boise to see friends of Alex’s. It was a pretty long drive and today was the day I was going to drive the RV for the first time!! The scenery on the way was epic. Mountains all around us; the roads completely straight for miles and miles. Before long I was behind the wheel of a 22ft long automatic, on the wrong side of the road – it was quite daunting. We stopped in the weirdest RV park in a place called Rome – but with electricity and water hook ups for only $15 we couldn’t complain. As Alex’s family said – it looked like a sad film set!

The next morning we were surrounded by lightening and very dark clouds. We therefore left early to try and beat the storm. Before long we were in the sun and made it to Boise. We treated ourselves to some new hiking socks to celebrate getting this part of the journey done! And so we then made our way to John and Andrea Kennedy who were going to be fabulous hosts for the next 46 hours. Our time in Boise is for the next post…..

Since touching down in SF on Tuesday evening we’ve been on a whirlwind tour of the city and surrounding area. Waking up at 0400 (thanks jet lag) we headed out early for a quick 5km jog to flush out the cobwebs and see a bit of the local area. A cheeky workout alongside the locals (including a visit from the SFPD) left us slightly more awake and ready for some sight seeing.

A cream cheese bagel later and we were on our way to Chinatown (via Quoit Hill), where we stopped off for some obligatory dim sum. Then it was on to Union Square where we jumped on a cable car (aka a tram) back over to Powell and Mason (tip – go the reverse of our route as you’ll have no queues). Then we wandered along the quayside and went to see the historic ships, and also bought our US national parks card – which gave us free access to this ships too (winning). Our tired legs took us home for a glass of wine and a burrito, before calling it a day.

The next morning we were up early again to hire bikes. We cycled over the Golden Gate Bridge via Fort Point and into Sausalito, then on to Tiburon (a decent 30km jaunt) which we’d definitely recommend as the scenery was very OC! We jumped on the Blue and White ferry back to SF then headed to a sports bar for a well earned beer or three. We found the Northstar bar rammed with locals watching the first game of the NFL season which meant the atmosphere was great. Judging by the amount of tequila being drunk at 1750 I think there would have been a few sore heads the next day. Home was via Dirty Burger for one of their 1/4 pounders with garlic fries ready for Alcatraz the next day.

On Friday morning we caught the bus via Union Square over to the Golden Gate Park. To be honest there wasn’t much to see unless you wanted to pay to get into the art museums so we wandered down to the Pacific Ocean before riding back home for a light bite ahead of our trip to the penitentiary. 1550 saw us jumping on a boat over to the island. We booked three days in advance and when we arrived we saw it was booked out for almost a week ahead – so we’d suggest booking online in advance. The trip itself was excellent with a very interesting audio tour and money well spent. We then treated ourselves to a scrumptious Thai dinner at Elephant Thai – highly recommended – before turning in early (after watching the US West Coast RV episode of The Grand Tour to get us in the mood for RVing the next day).

Three full days were plenty for us in SF as we pack our days full. We probably missed some of the more specialist areas but we felt ready to head off. Next stop – living like tortoises for 7 weeks!

After packing up our flat after living there for 3 years we realised we have a lot of stuff!!!! Thank you parents in Hampshire and Devon for storing it for us and thank you Jonny Roberts for helping us move out!

After a few au revoir dinners and lunches, and pats for the dogs and cats we were soon on our way to Heathrow with a mixture of excitement and apprehension for the next 9.5 months had in store for us! Alex assured me he would ‘read the guide books on the flight’. In reality this means ‘once I’m on the flight I won’t be talking to you for the next 11 hours as I will be watching every film going and certainly won’t be doing any reading!’ This does mean that I get to pick where we go and so he is really just tagging along for the trip! I hate flying so I can’t really blame Alex for wanting to ignore me!!

After hearing the couple over the aisle pipe up to the cabin crew and say they were on their honeymoon I was not about to be left out. 2 glasses of champers later each (thanks BA) and no turbulence at all we found ourselves landing in San Francisco about to start our first leg of our trip.

Let’s see what San Fran brings us.

If anyone has any recommendations for western USA please send them our way!

Hoff and Alex x

Yesterday both Hoff and I had our last days at work – for 10 and a bit months. We celebrated in style – with a Pizza Express (really pushing the boat out) and Agatha Christie’s ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ at London City Hall (well worth a watch). Whilst we’ll miss our colleagues, I certainly won’t miss the commuting scrum and nor will I miss Hoff’s work phone going off in the middle of the night!

We’re now surrounded by vacuum bags and metres of bubble wrap. Picture Joey and Chandler’s bubble wrap scene (for those Friends fans amongst you) – but significantly less fun. I never knew we had so much, well, crap, for lack of a better word. Maybe Marie Kondo is on to something as I am sure that half of the stuff we are packing we haven’t used in years (and I am definitely sure some of the things I’ve just dusted off and stashed away have never even left the cupboard we put them in when we moved in). It’s amazing how much stuff you accumulate in day to day life and I have to admit that we have realised both how much we have hoarded over the years and also how many things we just don’t need. So we’re taking the chance and doing a bit of a ‘spring clean’ at the same time. We’ve both promised to be better when we come back and consume less, as we’ve already got much of what we need for a long time!

Following on from less consumption, another of the things we are very conscious of is generating CO2 as we fly/bus/train around the world. My dad is pretty keen on doing his bit for the environment and although his timing could be better, he does also make a good point in highlighting that our trip, whilst well intended, will be adding to the issues causing climate change. We’ve made the decision to carbon offset as much as we can – starting with our flights. Having done some calculations we have worked out that we’ll need to plant c.61 trees to capture the carbon our flights will produce. Our aim is to start planting these before we leave and then continue planting them when we get back – 61 trees need a lot of space but luckily North Devon is quite big!

We’ll be exploring the more ‘environmental’ elements of our trip as we go, seeing as our aim is to visit some of the more pristine areas in South America and New Zealand that have been less impacted by humans (walking and camping where we can).

Anyway – that’s all for now as there are more boxes to be packed. I think a beer or two might make the process a bit more palatable.

Alex