The days events are as follows.  Dump the black and gray water.  Fill up the propane and a little gas.  Drive an hour to Cruise America and then catch a cab over to get a rental car and drive it to Cruise America and load it up with all the stuff out of Rv.  Clean out the Rv check out with Cruise America and then drive over 10 hours back home to Portland.  Then unload the car and drop it off the next morning by 9 am. 
We left Cruise America in a rental car loaded to the top at 11 am. We pulled into Portland at 9 pm … It’s good to be home …. 

We found a campground within an hour drive of where we drop off the Rv in Newark california.  Since our plans to go to Big Sur were dashed by high winds, we decided to stay 2 nights at a campground an hour from the drop off and relax and prep for the big drive ho!e.  The campground is nice and we would love to comeback sometime, but I would like to reserve the sites right on the ocean.  They have several sites which back right up to the cliff overlooking the ocean site #76 if we do go back.  It would be great to sit and watch the sunsets there for a week. 
The beach isn’t great but it is long and walkable.  So we spent a day and just relaxing (no driving) which is pretty rare for us, usually we are moving every day.  The day finally comes.  We are gonna drive home today Thursday April 28th. 

What we landed in an RV park which whole purpose is for people who are there for the car racing at the Laguna Sega racing track.  We had a great spot over looking the racing track.  There was a race coming the day after we left some they were puttong up stands and getting ready for the race.  The whole area is kind of the ultimate man cave.  Car racing track, motorcycle racing track, several golf courses and a shooting range.  It was really weird to hear gun fire in the morning.  We spent the morning working out how to get the Rv ready to drop off and where to stay the night before we drop it off in Newark california.  We picked a spot an hour drive from Newark and right on the beach.

We hit SB for coffee and donuts until Ben was available.  He came by peets coffee and we spent the day eating and drinking our way along state Street.  Lunch at a Great Italian restaurant.  Beers and fries from a table overlooking state Street for some great people watching.  Also there were some old cars traveling state Street.  It made for a Great backdrop while we caught up with Ben.  He was sporting a little more facial hair and was looking very professorial.  We finished the day at a wonderful seafood restaurant for salmon, halibut, clam chowder and lobster bisque.  Then came the sad time to say goodbye and last hugs.  Talking about seeing him next in June.  We walked back to the Rv.  Stopped for gas and started down the road.  Well it was VERY windy out.  Garmin put us on the road which is the shortcut thru the mountains.  I took one sharp turn and a strong wind began pushing us and it really felt like it was gonna blow us over. It freaked me out and we turned around and decided to park in SB for the night and hoping the wind dies down in the morning.

The idea behind this trip was to go down the coast from cape lookout to point Reyes near San Francisco.  After a day of driving the coast highway in the Rv were we looking forward to another day of back and forth on theses roads?  One of us definitely wasn’t but we didn’t really have a good alternate from there.  The roads back to 101 were just as bad as hwy 1.  So we hit the road down hwy 1.  It was a beautiful day and the ocean was gorgeous.  After 93 miles along the coast we arrived in Bodega bay and found a decent road back to101.  So we cut the “coast” trip short in exchange for the benefit of our marriage.  We got into Petaluma and found a parking lot to relax in and eat dinner.  Our next plan is to get to a rest area just north of San Francisco so we could wait til early morning and move thru the freeways during a time of little traffic.  Well we got on the freeways and they were pretty clear.  So Bunny found a rest area within easy drive of Santa Barbara for the next day and we drove til 1 am and landed in camp Roberts rest area for the night just 2 hours north of Santa Barbara.  I was dead tired.  Put it in park and was asleep in 5 minutes.

Bear River casino was a fun stop.  We spent the morning before leaving playing jacks or better poker.  It was great fun and I hit 4 dueces for 400 Nicole’s.  Not sure how much that is but Bunny told me we came out $ 10 ahead for the stop.  We left the casino toward a town famous for its Victorian style houses.  Ferndale is a Wonderful little town with many things it’s famous for besides having many many Victorian style houses.  Several movies were filmed there and the guy who does a food network show called dinning and dives ( or something like that) is from here.  We walked the town, ate at the omelette restaurant, and daydreamed about moving there. 
From there we drove thru some redwoods to Leggett.  From there we leave 101 and start the drive down the California coast on the famous hwy 1.  That’s when the trip took a turn turn turn for a change.  It would be an understatement to say the road is curvy.  My arms and shoulders got soar from the back and forth with the steering wheel. While it was tough on me driving a 25 ft Rv thru these curves, it was even tougher being the passenger watching and enduring the back and forth.  It probably was as bad as being on a rocking ship.  After 53 miles we arrived in beautiful little coastal town called Mendocino.  We were driving around the town wondering where we were gonna spend the night.  We were looking over the beautiful coast and we met the town ambassador.  Madison proceed to welcome us with fascinating stories about him and the town.  After an hour of stories he invited us to park our RV outside his house for the night.  We got back into town and found a vehicle already parked there so we stopped at the market for food and found a spot for the night behind the store.