Finally East! Drive to Sequoia National Park

Friday, September 30

It was a really nice morning when we woke up in Big Sur State Park, so we took a hike. Though we were not in an official National/State Park-redwood forest, there still were some mighty big trees in that forest.

After we returned to the van, we packed up and got ready to roll. I prepped myself mentally for more wiggly, curvy road and turned south again, down the coast.

Wow – even more gorgeous coast! This is really pretty!

Our destination for the day’s drive was Sequoia National Park, which was east of us. (Can you believe it, we are FINALLY headed east, after two and a half months! J)

Looking at the map, though, it is clear that California roads are built for fast and easy travel north-south. Not so much for east-west.

I found my turn-off to travel east away from the coast and had to double check the map as I looked trepidatiously at the road I was going to take. Are you kidding me? I’m supposed to drive THIS van up THAT road?

And I thought the coastal road was wiggly!

We were headed up what felt like a sheer cliff. But not just a plain sheer cliff – this was a winding, curvy, serpentine cliff with no guardrails, headed to what felt like the blue sky above us. Oh. My. Word.

And at that point … I got a huge case of the giggles. What else was there to do? I could cry, but I just didn’t feel like that. It was too pretty a day for tears.

So I shifted the Champagne Chevy into second gear, readied the brakes and headed off up this cow path of a road. And it was along this windy, serpentine stretch that we took our last (amazingly gorgeous) view of the Pacific. Bye, bye – we have loved our time along this coast! 

About 15-20 miles into this road, we came upon the crazy secretive-looking Fort Hunter Liggett Military Reserve, where my cell phone signal was jammed – Hmmmm … what are they doing there?

We never found out, but instead kept driving. East … east … east.

We drove east and eventually hit what must be the nation’s fruit and nut basket – lots of vast, huge, flat agricultural land that is filled with orchards of all kinds. I guess that’s what you do with land that lies on a high plateau between two mountain ranges.

Odometer check – the van hit 26,000 on this trip.

After a long day of driving, we finally made it to Sequoia National Park, which is in the gorgeous Sierra Nevada mountain range. We drove to the first campsite inside the Park, found our spot and made some dinner.

Unfortunately, it was Friday night in the National Park and my fellow campground mates did not observe the quiet hours. As I opened up Harry Potter Book Seven and started to read, I tried to block out the loud, beer-drinking party happening a few campsites away.

Really – it’s midnight. Did you need to yell at the top of your lungs just now?

So much for sleeping like a log in the peace and serenity of nature …