Day Eighty Six: A Change Of Plans... 02/01/09

We woke up this morning to the sound of heavy rain pounding down on the roof of the RV, so we just rolled over and went back to sleep for another while. As I mentioned yesterday, our original plan, was to once again catch the ferry into the city, but we decided it wouldn't be worth our while on account of the weather. When we did eventually get out of bed, we instead did what we had planned to do on Saturday. One of the terms of the contract we signed as we were picking up the RV way back in October, was that it must be returned with a full tank of gas, as well as having received a full oil change etc. So some time after midday, we drove to Camping World which was about 45 minutes away, and fulfilled the obligations of our contract. As we were driving back to the RV park, we realised that the weather had turned full circle, and it was now a beautiful Californian day. We took advantage of this, and decided we'd make tracks for the Golden Gate Bridge. It was only about eight miles from where we were, and as it came into view, it was a truly awesome sight indeed. So we drove across the Golden Gate Bridge, and when we got to the other side, we pulled into a car park to see if we could find a place to take photos. We soon realised however, that this was a car park we most definitely should not have been in. When we got to the back of car park we were faced with an underpass with a clearance of only 11ft. The RV being 12ft in height, we had a problem!! The situation rapidly grew worse when we tried to reverse, and there was a seemingly never ending stream of Asian tourists making use of the pedestrian crossing immediately behind us. On top of all that, the traffic was also quickly building up... It was one of those "Sweet mother of crap, what do we do now?!" sort of moments. Thankfully it was only a matter of minutes before our rescuers arrived, in the form of, not one, not two... but three police cars!! The police soon took control of the situation.. One moving the traffic back, one keeping the tourists well clear, and the other directing us out of the tight spot we found ourselves in. Needless to say, the police, along with the tourists, had a very good laugh at our expense!! In fairness, it was bloody hilarious... The whole thing was recorded on video, so I'm sure Aidan will include it in the final video blog. At this point, we reckoned it would probably be a good idea if we just drove back to base, so as not to get ourselves in any more bother. That's exactly what we did, and we got to cross the Golden Gate Bridge for the second time in the space of 20 minutes. What we did get to see, was really too amazing for words. There is just something very special about San Francisco, and indeed California in general. It's just so nice over here... The forecast for tomorrow gives clear blue skies all day, so we'll get up early and catch the ferry back into the city. It will be the final excursion of this trip, as Sunday will be given up for packing and cleaning.