No Campee in Yosemite...

We are on our way again, just left hidden View Campground outside Madera, CA.  We never did take The Beast to Yosemite

Mariposa Grove sequoia

for our planned  2 night stay.  We went out for a drive Sat and ended up on US 41 going in the south entrance of Yosemite.  The drive was beautiful, but the roads are steep and very curvy.  We did a short visit that day to the Mariposa Grove (Giant Sequoias) and then went on back to the campground ready to see the rest of the park on Tuesday.  We intended to drive The Beast there on 140 from Merced, through Mariposa and on to the Lower Pines campground.  We had spoken to one of the rangers at the campground who used to work there and he had advised that would be the best route, but not to expect the road would be straight.  140, although open all year, is still a  mountain road and although we are not opposed to mountain roads, we had driven many of the surrounding ones in that last week and we were not impressed with the condition of any of them.  Since The Beast is 11 years old and we would like to be able to continue to use it for many more years, we decided that we would not subject it to the bumps and swaying that would be required to get to Yosemite - yes, we are motorhome whusses.  We extended 2 nights where we were and drove the car up early Monday morning.  The drive up 140 is spectacular but we found, once we started, that it was restricted to vehicles and vehicle combinations of 45 feet.  A slide took out part of 140 and they have 2 temporary bridges and a one lane road between them that has to be traversed with one very, very sharp corner that we would not have made - so it is a good thing we didn't even try.

Bridalveil Falls

Lower Pines, Site 38

We spent a lovely day touring the park, taking pictures, had lunch at the historic Ahwahnee Lodge, got thoroughly drenched at Bridalveil Falls and then drove south from Yosemite Valley on 41through the mountains and on back to make sure all the animals were fed and watered that evening.  since we are not real hikers, we knew we would not do anything that was not marked easy, so a day trip worked out well for us.  We did go through the campground where we wold have stayed and reviewed our spot- it is one of the best in the park as you can see- with a wonderful view of Half Dome and plenty of space- but getting to it on the small roads and through the turns in the campground would have been iffy. Also, the weather had changed on Monday, with snow and low temperatures forecast for the following 2 days - again not something we would really relish with no electricity. - so we were glad we went Monday  And w, we would also have probably been without battery power.  Tuesday, when Bruce was doing pre-trip maintenance and cleaning all of the dirt and dust off the batteries, he discovered that one of the cables connecting them together was broken and they had not been charging while we were hooked to shore power.  Good thing there was abig truck repair shop behind the nearest Pilot and could make us a new cable. Then, last night, he discovered that one of the inside duals was 3 pounds low and needed air.  We have a small electric air compressor with us, so that was easily taken care of , but unfortunately this morning before we left, we found that same tire completely flat.. After an hour putting air in it, we were back to that truck stop and I am writing this while sitting at that tire repair place , getting a new valve stem installed.  Talk about a fortuitous decision to not move The Beast - we would not have been happy campers to have all of these issues sitting in Yosemite. But all's well that ends well - and we are off to an intermediate stop as we move north at a county park outside of Lathrop.  Once we get there and set up this afternoon I will upload pictures and also start my posts to bring everyone up to date on the missing time.

In the meantime - Drive Safely and Retire Early.