Day 12 - San Francisco -> Northern Cali

-JJ parked in 2400 year old giant redwood to keep the Bush administration from hacking it down

We started off the morning with a tasty breakfast at Zazie’s in San Fran and hit the road with a full stomach; even Anna enjoyed this breakfast. We drove for a while along route 1, which was at first foggy but as it curved inland it became a rolling landscape with horses and barns reminiscent of a more arid Yorkshire Dales. We hit some towns with meager populations; one whose sign even had the official population of 31 crossed out and replaced with a hand painted 32. After replacing a light in the instrument panel of JJ, we were again able to see how slow our progress was going to be at night. Next we wound into some small dirt roads in the Sonoma Valley and visited a couple wineries along the way (aren’t we cultured?). Thankfully Jono was driving as, pathetically, Anna was tipsy after a few sips. Later we pulled off at a swimming hole along route 101 in the Eel River –refreshing! On the whole, yesterday was one of the first drives where we didn’t feel rushed to get anywhere, allowing us some much needed dabbling in local towns and food joints (Yanni: we got a vanilla malted that didn’t compare to yours!). We hit some unscheduled stops including a solar farm and a bakery. From there we headed to the land of the giant redwoods and camped along the Avenue of the Giants, where we don’t have enough reception to post today’s blog. Lynn and Joan, don’t be worried. Over and out.