Day 35 - We Arrived at Our CG for Touring Yosemite National Park!

We were up at 5:45 and the 4 of us pulled our of Orange Grove CG at 6:50.  We knew we had about 330 miles to travel and some of it would be rather hilly and curvy.  

The beginning of the drive was easy on Interstate 5 and then on Route 99 for a short time.  We passed fruit groves and grape vineyards everywhere.  I can't imagine how many trees and vines we would have passed.

There were rose bushes along the highway.  So pretty!

Many, many grapevines!

More fruit trees are coming to life!

The old and the new!

We passed a farm where they grew long stemmed roses!

If you don't get water, this is what happens to your orchard!

It was a cooler night so maybe they were protecting the fruit!

The sad part about all of that is the water situation in California.  There are signs everywhere regarding the loss of jobs and the high cost of food because of the lack of water. I suspect some of it (or maybe a lot of it) is political.  You can see the aquaduct system at work, but amazingly, there will be beautiful thriving fruit trees and then right along the road in front of the groves all the vegetation is dead.  So, a lot of the hillsides are dry, yellow, and dusty, but the orchards are gorgeous.

Then the rolling, dry hillsides!

When we got on Route 120 and started climbing for about 20 miles to the CG, we all agreed it was by far the most winding, curving road we had ever driven our motorhomes on.  It was crazy!  Melissa was able to take photos of Ken and I climbing in Waldo from their front window and they were in front of us!

This is one winding road.  At times we wouldn't be able to see
Chuck and Melissa when they rounded a bend! 

Looking down on the valley!

.....and we are climbing!

......and climbing.....

...and still winding and climbing!

This is a narrow road too!

We also passed some areas of the forest (yes it is now green and full of trees) where they had some major fires several years ago.  Such devastation. 

We finally arrived at the CG around 2:00 and by then it had started to rain.  Ken and Chuck unhooked the cars while Melissa and I checked in.  When we returned to the "boys" they had our CRV hooked up to Chuck''s - it wouldn't start!  After a little bit of time, it started up and we were on our way to our campsites.  We are beside each other and the sites are large and stoned.  Very nice.

Here is the bad part - we have no WiFi except at the office, not cable or any TV reception, and no phone service.  What is an RVer to do??????  So, I am currently sitting in the office typing this blog and it maybe my last one for awhile, because we are here for a week.  Hopefully I will get to the office occasionally to try to keep it up to date.  Not sure how that will work out, but I will try.  Pictures may not be able to be posted.  Again, we will see!

Looking forward to grilling this evening (the rain has stopped) and then played some games.  Tomorrow we will head to Yosemite National Park (the one entrance is just 5 miles from the CG) and "survey the land" and the opportunities for the next week.