Raindrops on the camper’s roof, changing sights every day and scrambled eggs with baked beans. Library days, cold showers, road trip tunes and driving on the slow lane. Laundry hangouts, books, car repairs, wanderlust, highway maps and cloudy days with sunny endings. I’m on the road again!

Leaving for this trip was all about saying goodbye. Saying goodbye to newly found friends, the lovely place of Squamish and for the time being to Canada. Leaving is as much part of traveling as arriving too new places is. Meeting new people comes with the cost of saying farewell again sooner or later. Maybe traveling nomads like me are finally done when the reasons to stay somewhere outshine the lust for new adventures. When will I get there? And where might that be? …

For the time being I’m driving again and it sure feels damn good. Just two days before departing from Squamish my car broke down and I had to get a new starter again. Apparently the part I had gotten in Alaska was faulty. With a climbing rope we managed to tow the camper to a garage. Just in time to make it to the airport in Vancouver and pick up my girlfriend. The trip is obviously not only about saying goodbye after all!

Sarah will join me on a trip down the west coast of the United States. While our reunion will only last about four weeks, the Slumber Queen and I have even bigger plans ahead. In search of sunshine we will continue all the way down to Panama, crossing Mexico and all seven countries of Central America. The rough plan is to do the whole trip in six month.

After spending two days in Vancouver, we make our way across the border. The US officers are slightly friendlier then last time and after a serious looking girl with sterile gloves examines them, Sarah can even keep her bouquet of flowers. If she had suited up in one of those decontamination suits, the picture would have been perfect. The only things we can’t bring over the border this time are two mexican avocados and a bag of pakistani rice…

The first days in the US are very rainy and in Seattle I make the mistake to leave my camera in the car. While wandering around the seafront in the rain, Sarah takes a few really nice pictures of some sun loungers. So here is my advice to you folks: Never leave your camera at home because it’s raining! Take it with you because it’s raining!! Especially if you are in an area with a lot of lights, like a big city for example. Those will create really nice reflections everywhere.

Sun loungers in the rain // Photo by Sarah Schenk

Rainy days in Seattle // Photo by Sarah Schenk

After Seattle we try to make a lot of kilometers to get further south as fast as possible. We stop in Portland shortly before continuing all the way down to the Redwoods in California, flying through Washington and Oregon State. Even though we are aware that we are missing lots of nice places on our way, it is our main concern to get into dryer climates. After a few days of heavy rainfall the camper is leaking again and mold is never far away when camping in wet and cold conditions…

Walking through those huge trees in the Redwoods National Park feels really nice after all the cities and highway traveling. We feel like the Hobbits in Fangorn Forest, while exploring parts of this forest of giants. But the clock is ticking again. The weather forecast predicts some sun for the next days, so we continue to San Francisco in the night. I feel like I have been in a rush since I started my travels in Canada six month ago. How are you supposed to take good pictures when you are in a hurry all the time? For me it is not possible and I really hope to change that soon. I often look at my pictures afterwards, knowing I could have done better.

We stay only one day in San Francisco, but we both really like it. It has a very friendly feel to it, even though it is quite big. My favorite spot is definitely the view from Yerba Buena Island along the Bay Bridge towards the Downtown Skyline. It is quite tricky to get to the right spot because there are almost no parking spots on the whole island and big parts are private property, but it is definitely worth the hassle. The Bay Bridge is so gigantic and shines in a nice lightning that I had to wonder why the Golden Gate Bridge is most popular for San Francisco.

With our memory cards full of pictures we take the detour inland to visit the Yosemite National Park, where we will have some snow before finally getting the sun we are longing for further south.

Route Map 13.12.2014