AIRBUSDRIVER in the EGG BUS EXPRESS: Post 6

Crater Lake turned out to be a real adventure. We pulled the trailers around the rim that has 500 feet drop offs on a narrow winding road with no guard rails. Scared the .... out of me but Michael thought it was "awesome!" The lake is an incredible 1973' deep and the bluest blue that you can imagine. A one night stay in the Mazama CG then off to the northern coast of California. We traveled to Crescent City and entered the Mill Creek CG in the Del Norte State Park. I had a little brake light problem but resolved it after several phone calls to local smart guys. The redwoods run several hundred miles down the coast and are truly magnificent as they have been protected by the combined efforts of the US Forest and State Park systems. Our next goal was to make it down 101 to SFO and maybe get past the city and onto Hwy 1 just below the golden gate bridge. We made it to Half Moon Bay before discovering we had to do some stealth camping. (hiding out in any place available.) We found an empty office building parking lot and slipped in for a restless night always wondering if were going to get caught. Up early we hooked up and headed down the coast to San Simeon and took the tour of Hearst Castle. The winding roads past Carmel by the Sea and Big Sur really tested our recently awarded winding road merit badges. I had done theHearst tour many many years ago but it was a first for Michael and Ron. Around 4:30pm in the parking lot we discovered that with no reservations (most CG are reserved in CA 7 mos. in advance) we had no place to RON. Soooo after some consultation with my brother-in-law we set a course for Quartz Hill, CA about 4 hours away. Reluctantly leaving the beautiful but foggy Ca. coast line we headed in land to I-5 and made it to Rick's about 10 pm last night. He has plenty of room to accommodate out Casitas so we are here for a few days. We picked up Suzanne this afternoon from LAX and will do some family business. Ron plans on heading to Yosemite later this week so we say goodbye to our great companion until he and I hook up in a Casita rally in Ks. in September. More to follow.