Our battery was at 72% charge this morning. We are learning what we can and can’t do but—is not using the computers a good or bad thing? I’m way behind on posting my blogs. I wonder how many people even noticed?
Our neighbors turned on their generator about 8:30 a.m.–way before the 10 a.m. allowed time. We resisted the temptation to join them.
Another change we’ve made is only turning on the hot water heating when we are planning to use hot water rather than keeping it hot all the time. When Dave’s parents lived in Baltimore they did that. There was a switch at the top of their basement stairs. I like to take my showers in the morning. The idea of going downstairs to turn on the switch then waiting for the water to heat did not appeal to me. But here, the switch is on the way to the bathroom and by the time I brush my teeth, wash using water in the bucket, and turn on the water to rinse it is hot. So, I think I can do this. As long as I remember to turn on the switch on my way to the bathroom.
I put on a short sleeve shirt this morning. It’s been awhile since I did that. But we are headed south and we get so much sunshine through the windshield I think it will be OK. Besides, my favorite long sleeve shirts are all in the dirty clothes.
At overlooks where camping is not allowed they have signs with tents with the circle and slash indicating tents not allowed. Apparently, that’s no longer enough. Now they have added motorhome-circle-slash signs. Us Americans will do whatever we are not told not to do—and some of those things, too.
We crossed from Sonoma County to Marin County and immediately the road deteriorated. I wonder if that’s to discourage us tourist from going there?
We saw lots of some type of marine animal swimming north in the water between Highway 1 and Point Reyes. Since we could only see their noses and the v shape of the water, we don’t know if they were seals or sea lions or what. Just that they were large.
We followed some bikes for awhile. There was one tandem and two single bicycles. Going down hills they traveled faster than we do so we stayed back and watched until we came to a very long uphill. Then we passed them. In the next town we stopped for gas and they passed us. We never caught up to them again.
The gas station had a sign saying, “25 cents ain’t bad, to make your bladder gladder,” Under that it said there was a key available to current customers. The woman who came out while we were there looked glad.
We ate another roadside lunch today. Homemade sandwiches taste really good when you are hungry and there are no restaurants around.
There was a dip in the pavement so deep our hitch drug the ground. This was on the highway!
Going down a long grade there was a bicyclist catching up to us so we pulled over so he could pass. I wonder how many drivers do that? The signs say, “Share the Road,” and we’ve ridden bicycles enough ourselves to know some of the hazards of doing so. I sure wouldn’t want to ride in these hills!
We arrived in San Francisco about 2 p.m. and followed a Marin AirPorter bus most of the way through town. He helped us know when we should change lanes. It only took us a half hour to get through town. It helped that, after we’d lost the bus, when we needed to move right four lanes to go from Highway 101 back to Highway 1, people slowed down to let us move over. Nice drivers here.
In Pacifica, California, the weather was nice enough for us to open our windows!
We bought propane in Moss Bay, California. Running the generator to help recharge our batteries in the morning takes a fair amount of fuel.
We camped in site 22 at Francis Beach campground at Half Moon Bay State Beach. We paid $25 to boondock on the ocean here but our site was so good, I couldn’t see the bubble in the level because it was perfectly centered.
Our batteries were only 98% charged on arrival. Apparently, we didn’t find the right balance of generator-solar-alternator today. I don’t know how we are supposed to know how much solar-alternator we are going to get in a day, though. Oh, well, 98% will certainly get us through the night.
TTYL,
Linda