Stop 5: The Holidays

I decided to give myself plenty of time to make the 1600+ mile drive from Tucson to Seattle for Christmas. There was no particular rush plus I had yet to visit anywhere in California on my trip. The miles slowly ticked by as I flipped from (often absurd) radio talk-shows to repetitive music channels while periodically getting antsy and dashing to whatever trail system was nearby for a quick jog. The chance to see Joshua Tree and Yosemite was certainly inspiring, but perhaps the most memorable aspect of the whole trip was the mildly irritating camping I endured in California.

California had recently gone on more strict lockdowns that included a prohibition of camping at their National Parks. Normally this is no big deal as there is plenty of free BLM land in the surrounding areas, but at Joshua Tree it seemed to have pushed everyone into the same general vicinity of a desert flat 15 minutes outside the park. I pulled in my first night a little put off by the lack of privacy the desert flat provided, but none too concerned as it was free and the access to the park was hard to beat! By 8pm or so I had settled in for the night and begun reading when I started to hear this steady electro beat coming from outside my van. A little confused, I opened my door to see what was going on. About 100 yards away from me was this single RV with flashing colored LEDs going off accompanied by the heavy rhythm of a bass speaker playing a single song in loop. Not knowing if there was anything I really could do about it all I returned to the van and listened to headphones before finally trying to go to bed. But still, the music continued. By this time it was nearing midnight and there was no sign of stopping. I drifted in and out of sleep that night delirious and unaware of what hour these neighbors intended on stopping. I don't know when the music finally cut out, but it must have been somewhere between 4am and sunrise! The desert is a peculiar place indeed...

Over the next few days I continued to make my way up further north including a stop at Yosemite to see for myself perhaps the most famous climbing wall in the world, El Capitan. Stunning is an understatement. I drove on to San Francisco the next day where I was planning on staying a night only to make a snap judgement to continue onwards after finding the city to be effectively a ghost town (with an hour search for a restroom to confirm this!). I took Highway 1 from San Francisco until I found what I thought was a perfect camping spot, but was ushered along by the Park Rangers within an hour of the sun setting. Tired of driving much longer than I had planned I did some Google searching and found the perfect spot.

Marinas are typically excellent choices as they are quiet, have big parking lots with minimal traffic, and accompanied by pleasant water scenery. So when I pulled in to the marina I spotted on Google Maps around 11pm I was optimistic that this would finally be the place where I could catch some sleep for the night. Alas it was not meant to be because a little over an hour later I woke up to headlights blaring through my blinds and the screeching sound of a car doing donuts in the parking lot. They too must have come to the same conclusion about marinas! Beyond annoyed at this point I stared helplessly hoping they would drive off into the night soon. But 10 minutes turned into 30, and 30 into 45, and 45 into over an hour and they were still doing countless spinouts with an occasional driver change that would give me false hope that the onslaught was finally over. I had no idea who these people were and I didn't exactly want to find out, but I couldn't take it any longer so jumped in my front seat, turned on my headlamps, and started following them while flashing my high beams just to make sure they got my attention. They quickly pulled out of the parking lot where I stopped behind them and left the van in reverse in case I needed to make a quick getaway. Next thing I know out jumps this teenager with an incredibly apologetic expression while walking over to my van exclaiming how sorry he was and how he had no idea that anyone was around. Apparently he was giving his girlfriend 'driving lessons'. Sure, because everyone needs to learn how to spinout a rally car right in order to get their license these days. Even though this was not exactly what I was expecting I let my frustration be known and he promised he would leave me in peace. After getting only a handful of hours to rest I had learned my lesson and would make sure that my next camping spot was definitely not in California!

It was all worth it in the end, though. Spending the rest of the holidays with the siblings, catching up on my hot-shower deficit, and getting outside for some fun PNW adventures made up for all the hassle and left me re-energized for getting back on the road.

Stops: San Diego, Joshua Tree NP, Yosemite NP, San Francisco, Redwood NP.

Holiday: Seattle, Mt. Baker, Port Angeles, Bend (OR).