B*gger Me it's Cold!!

Day: 9 
States: WY 
Location: Yellowstone N.P (Fishing Bridge, Canyon, Tower)
Total Miles Travelled: 1452M

Man I hate the cold, and during the night here it get’s frosty but for once I don’t really care – we we’re in Yellowstone Park. Yeehaw! We were all anxious to explore this humungous volcano waiting to blow but as we didn’t have to rush, we stumbled out of bed at a leisurely 9am! Hold your horses though, we had to find an RV park still since we haven’t dumped anything since we left San Francisco. 3 guys in an RV for 17 hour drive meant we were pretty full but as it turns out, this wasn’t all our fault – the RV must have come part pre-filled with waste in the tanks – thanks go out to the previous renters :@

We paid our 20 bucks to checkout of the camp site and headed north through the park towards Fishing Bridge where there was apparently an RV park. The road took us round the north west edge of the massive yellowstone lake, which looked like a giant mirror as it was so still. A smell of sulphur started to fill the air which promted us to all start scanning the horizon for the source. As we turned a corner, steam peaked over the crest of a hill as steam vents started cropping up all over the lake’s edge. This was already very cool even though this is far from mud volcanos and geysers as we witnessed volcanic activity for the first times in our lives!

Miles & Miles later (Yellowstone Park covers 3742 sq miles and the grand loop drive that takes you round the park is 156 miles long!) we found our RV park, Fishing Bridge. All fingers were crossed that they had some room here and our luck obviously turned as we saw a vacancy sign marking the entrance. We parked up an registered - $28 dollars a night but no electric – no worries as we have a built in generator :D
We park up, empty waste, fill up water and leave again – we’ve got the hang of this now! Straight over to the visitor centre we go and get some advice from a local park ranger – she happily points out the best sights in the park if you only have 2 days there. Today we would be going to canyon and tower whereas tommorrow we’d hit Geyser country as we’d have longer.

Off to Canyon we went but before we got there we saw a sign saying “Mud Volcanoe”. Better have a look at that then!
Wow, what a smell!! The hydrogen sulphide was pretty concentrated up here with the smell of rotten eggs filling the air more and more as we approched the volcanoe. Pretty cool sight this was – exactly how one would imagine earth millions of years ago.

We hit the road again and all the trails on the way to get a view of the upper and lower falls as well as all the Grand canyon of the Yellowstone. First we went to upper and lower falls for the these views:

 

Next on the list was to hit Artists point and although Yellowstone is all about the thermal features it turns out this is the most photgraphed view in the park – we could see why when we were greeted with this:

Quite breathtaking the view which we started sharing with some of the local wildlife:

Right then, we still had a few hours to fill so we headed up further north beyond Canyon toward Tower-Roosevelt where we were promptly stopped by a park ranger – they were periodically closing the road as they were currently battling a massive forest fire! Obviously, being ignorant tourists we had to check it out by continuing north knowing we’d eventually have to turn back – fingers were crossed they had an area large enough to do a 3 point turn in a 27’ RV!



We travelled for a good 20 minutes before we realised what looked like a cloud before was actually the smoke from a forest fire and we had underestimated the scale of this fire (which was apparently a small one by Yellowstone standards. We turned one final corner where we could then view the fire burning across the landscape.

We stopped the RV in a nearby turnout and walked across the road towards the edge of the dug-out to see the fire and have a chat with Tracie (with an ‘I’), a NPS firefighter who was overseeing an operation where they were dumping fire retardant via aircraft to stop the fire spreading toward the road and keep the rest burning (trees here require fire in order to reproduce). Turns out Tracie had been standing on this dug out for 4/5 hours and was now pretty desperate for a restroom so was especially happy to see us turn up in an RV. We let Tracie use our our throne but also warned her that this was pretty much a blokes toilet so apologised in advance however we were pleasantly complimented on how clean it was for an RV – obviously just different standards over here!

After chatting a little more we learned that the firefights were due for another dumping run in 15 minutes so we stuck around to see the NPS firefighters at work – I missed the moment slightly as I was chatting to Dan with Phil in the background yelling at us “Dudes. Dudes!! They’ve started!”. I still managed to get a shot though.

We said our goodbye’s to Tracie, filled up here water bottle with our spring water and then headed back to the camp site for a rest – our first propper chillout night in the entire holiday and I can tell you now that we all desperatel y needed it. We had some beers and tried to make a BBQ with coals, firelighting fluid and the tray & grill from the disposable BBQ. This thing was a b@stard to light but we got it in the end and started cooking some beef patties (aka. burgers) under the stars and moonlight of yellowstone park.

Burgers all done and it was time to eat but a nightmare followed – turns out one of Phils burgers was undercooked – a dent to the alpha male ego here as we realised how much we had failed at cooking on a BBQ. At this point Phil had already taken a bite and was getting more and more paranoid about food poisoning the more we talked about it. He disappeared into the night toward a nearby toilet to ‘let go of the problem’.  I’ll leave out any photos at this point and simply say goodnight…

Deliverance

Day: 8
States: UT, ID, WY
Location: Salt Lake City, Jackson, Snake River
Total Miles Travelled: M

Road Trip Section 3 stage 2Yosemite N.P, CA to Jackson Hole, WY via Salt Lake City, UT- 884M, 16h

Well hopefully our boat trip down a river won’t resemble the film or be accompanied by the sound of dueling banjos once we reach Jackson.

Phil’s turn to start driving on our last leg to Jackson – whatever happens we have to make it by 13:45 or we’ll miss our boat. It’s a 5 hour drive and we have 7 hours – no sweat!
We eventually arrive at Jackson and find JHWW (Jackson Hole White Water) where we are greeted by a girl who recognises the accent and tells us about how she used to live with her ex boyfriend in Guildford, UK which in turn earns us free wetsuits and ‘booties’ – bargain! And off we go – a 20 minute bus ride with a driver who can’t remember anything (this guy remembers all sorts of warnings and rules while driving that he should have told us before getting on the bus) gets us to the launching ramp where there are 3 rear frame inflatable rafts, 3 instructors and a whole load of life jackets. A little bit of adrenaline is already starting to flow now.
Our names are called out as we are assigned our boats and instructors – turns out we have a guy named Ron who has been leading boats at JHWW for 11 years and leading boats in general. This would make us feel safe however the nice girl at the JHWW HQ warned us about Ron – no doubt that us being assigned to Ron was no accident.

It was no longer than five seconds after meeting Ron that he said “Are you guys the Brits?” and assigned us as lead paddlers! Time to show ‘em what we’re made of then and be prepared to be picked on a little! Did mean we had the best seats in the boat though – for the view, getting seriously wet and the most likely to fall in.

It’s a shame I don’t have a waterproof camera otherwise we’d have some great shots/movies here but instead I’ll have to describe our journey down Snake River. This was no easy peasy river meant for tourists and designed by a company worries about health and safety – it was a proper grade 3 white water experience with real danger of being thrown out, capsized or stuck. We went through various sections of the river which went in sequence from white water to calm (but fast flowing) streams while Ron told us about the names for all the sections, pointed out wildlife, told us how high the river has gotten and the fact that they still run during these record breaking events. The calm sections provided us respite from the adrenaline fueled white water sections which were seriously lot larger than expected (a good thing!) and included some big drops as well as standing waves that measured a few feet in height. We also got a chance to swin in the crystal clear water however once in it, we soon got back out as this water comes from snow melt, and was insanely cold once it got through your suit.

A couple of hours later we made it back to the bank where our bus was ready to pick us up – just in time as our muscles by then had started to pack in. All in all it was a bunch of fun, we met some cool people and we had a great workout. Another tick in the box of things to do in my life!

We made it back to HQ where we grabbed some memorabilia before heading into Jackson for supplies and for our visit to our 1st US steakhouse. We had our 1st encounter with K-mart which looked like we could get everything there but unless you want just ready made meals you were out of luck. We grabbed what we needed (water and some fire lighting fluid for BBQ) and then went looking for a grocery store.
You’d think it wouldn’t be that hard to find a store that sells food yet you’d be surprised at how difficult it is when you can’t tell what any of the stores sell just by looking at their name – after visiting a few places, driving around a lot and shouting at the GPS we found Smith’s – finally, our version of Morrisons!

Right, so we’d stocked back up again so it was time to concentrate on steak! We found a place called Gun Barrell Steak & Game – looked awesome, smelt awesome but everyone else thought so too as the place was full! With over a 45 min wait just be seated we had to give this a miss and instead settle for some pasta in sauce in the RV – not quite what we’d hoped for but it did the job!

A little bit of bad luck but nothing too serious but then Phil started to get a few cold symptoms. An early night for Phil spelt me driving while Phil slept the journey to Yellowstone which was where we were headed next. By this stage of the holiday we were all suffering from a little sleep deprevation from the early starts, lack of good sleep and driving into the night but it was really starting to take its toll now as I drove past the Grand Teton’s through Grand Teton N.P – a great backdrop to the drive as the snow covered peaks glowed in the moonlight!

After a couple of hours we reached the edge of the south entrance to Yellowstone and tried to find an RV park. We found the first one and thought we were in luck however a lady called Lisa was stood near the registration office with a beer who came over to us to explain how the park was full and had been for the past 11 days – were we out of luck? Whether we were or not was not yet known but Lisa was part native American with strong indian belief in the powers of tobacco and using it when praying so she took a few drags on Dan’s cigarette and said a prayer for us – surely we’d be able to find a place now? Guess again! We found nothing but a car park which after 2 seconds of parking in a security guard came over and told us to scram.

We drove and drove for what seemed an age (probably only half hour!) before we found a camp site on the way – no water or sewage hookups but horay, we can sleep! We parked up for the night and got to bed just in time to pass out!

Are we there yet?

Day: 7
States: CA, NV & UT
Location: Yosemite N.P, Bonneville Salt Flats & Speedway (the great salt flat), Salt Lake City 
Total Miles Travelled: 568M

Road Trip Section 3 stage 1Yosemite N.P, CA to Jackson Hole, WY via Salt Lake City, UT- 884M, 16h
“Wait a second, how long did you say we’re gonna be driving for?!” Yep, you’ve read this correctly, it’s a long ass drive from Yosemite to Jackson, the longest stint in the whole road trip actually, but we will be trying to split it up by stopping briefly on the way and not just for fuel.

I won’t have too much to write home about the journey for this part of the trip as it does take us across a baron section of north Nevada – god only knows why the few people here actually choose to live out here – I’m guessing they must really like getting away from the hustle and bustle of a busy place… such as an empty room! We had to just get outside and marvel at the view of a black ribbon heading into the distance and the sheer silence like I’ve never heard.

As the miles past, so did the day and about an hour before sunset we entered Utah where the clocks went forward 1 hour and we started looking for somewhere to stop and have a BBQ. How about the Bonnevile Speedway on the Bonneville Salt Flats, home of all the land speed records!? Quite unbelievable how flat it is when you see it with your own eyes – like an ocean made of white salt!

We found a spot that was fairly busy with a few buggies jumping over the highway, which was pretty cool to watch whilst we got out our instant BBQ from walmart and cooked our groovy shaped burgers. Those who weren’t driving could also enjoy an ice cold Miller’s lite from our very own propane powered fridge!

Unfortunately we couldn’t hang around here tonight, much at our mutual disappointment, as we had to get a little further north of Salt Lake City to make sure we weren’t late for white-water rafting in Jackson hole tomorrow, especially as we lost an hour due to the change in clocks.

I drove as far as I could before lack of sleep got to me and I came off the interstate to search for a place to stop for the night. After searching countless side streets  I came across a massive empty car park. Seeing as we were going to be leaving at 6:30am I didn’t think anyone would moan at us so we stopped for the night.

Scambling at Yosemite

Day: 6
States: CA
Location: Yosemite N.P
Total Miles Travelled: 380M

Road Trip Section 2
San Francisco to Yosemite N.P - 188M, 3h 50m

Woke up early in San Francisco so that we could head off early to Yosemite N.P – home of Half Dome, towering waterfalls and the chance to go scrambling.

This was our first National Park visit so we grabbed a year pass at $80 which allows us into all the N.P’s in the US before heading into the park. We were greeted with spectacular views over a massive valley covered with sequoia trees.

It wasn’t long before we found our first waterfall towering many hundreds of feet in the air, although not flowing as much water as usual due to it being the dry season but enough for us to want to scramble up to the plunge pool to feel the mist, absorb the view (and the sun!) and then grab these photos.

The climb down from here was a little hairy at times but we made it to the bottom and found the lower part of the river where we could dunk our feet into to cool down – understatement of the year as this water was f-f-freezing! A Brain Freeze kind of feeling in our feet stopped us from dunking for long so we then got back to the RV to go into the heart of the park – the meadows and view of half dome.

The day was getting on now so we took a chance at going to see another waterfall but it turned out this was all dried up so we headed back to the RV once more however. It was pretty much night now so we had fun finding our way back, especially after reading signs everywhere stating that the place was bear country!

We managed to reach the RV without being eaten or getting lost and started her up. We headed out of the park to try and get beyond the N.P’s boundaries so that we could possibly have a BBQ but it was too late and way too cold by then as we were now at an elevation of over 8000 feet. Our altitude was confirmed by the fact that every sealed bottle in the RV had expanded and bulged meaning that when I opened my toothpaste lid, it amusingly proceeded to eject the contents all over the bathroom wall! We finally reached the edge of the park and parked up in a turnout along the edge of a lake under the twighlight.

Welcome to The Rock!

Day: 5
States: CA
Location: San Francisco, CA - Embarcedero, Pier 33, The Rock (Alcatraz), Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown
Total Miles Travelled: 489M

Now we’re getting a little excited – some places I’ve always wanted to visit awaits us – The Rock and the Golden Gate Bridge.

So, an early start for us as I booked the early tickets for Alcatraz to ensure that we got some space on the island as up to 5000 people occupy the island at any one time! We got ourselves all up together nice and early and got the 7:32 BART to the Embarcedero again. We quickly stomped to Pier 33 where our ferry to The Rock awaited. We all queued up and got our picture taken by a polite NPS ranger who unfortunately could have easily been replaced with a tape recording placed on repeat.

We got on our 10 minute ferry and straightaway got some refreshments (you can’t eat or drink anywhere except on the dock on Alcatraz). I got a coffee and the most dense piece of chocolate brownie ever – it lasted me nearly half a day!

We arrived at the island and after a talk from a park ranger we were allowed to roam the island freely! We took a stomp around the various parts including guardhouses, power station, water tower, lighthouse and obviously the cell block where we could check out life as a inmate of the super-max prison, including Al Capones own cell. This was all accompanied by an audio tour from 4 of the guards and 4 inmates which guided you round the cell block and took you through the various attempts at escape while guiding you through these particular areas. Quite a lot of the place already seemed familiar having seen The Rock with Nicolas Cage and Sean Connery – a nice park ranger lady was kind enough to point out where various filming spots were.

  

A fantastic experience that used up nearly 2/3rds of daylight so it was now time for a spot on lunch and off exploring again. As we were so close to pier 39 we decided to go there to grab some stereotypical San Francisco Clam Chouder in a bread bowl – lush!

Now off to major sight 2 – the Golden Gate Bridge. We thought about going to see this via bike (an electric bike to be precise) but as it cost the same to hire one of these as hiring the Mustang we decided to give that a miss. Now we would discover the nighmare of getting around San Francisco by bus and the difficulty in finding the bus stops in some places. We took a walk to find the nearest bus stop that would take us across the Golden Gate which took an age in itself. When we found one the map seemed to indicate that 28, 29 and GG buses all went across the bridge so we hopped on the next 28 that came along. Roughly 10 mins later we could see our goal approaching and the anticipation rose! We arrived at the toll boothes of the Golden Gate Bridge where we thought we’d be crossing the bridge however the bus turned around here – FAIL!!

The next stop on the bus was about 1 mile to the south west of the bridge – damn it! We decided to stomp towards the bridge rather than get another bus – we didn’t have the change anyway and although it only costs $2 for any bus ride in San Francisco, they don’t give any change in order to keep up efficiency. Turns out it didn’t matter as if we hadn’t had come this way we would have missed out on this awesome vantage point!

So, both sights out of the way left us with our last evening in SF so we headed off on the bus back towards the BART line and we got off just after Chinatown. Chinatown had already closed shop pretty much completely so we headed towards the BART line towards all the lights and found a few nice places to eat. We stopped at the one that looked the nicest and did some decent food – I had a seafood Quesildella which was insanely hot due to the massive amounts of chilli in it – I had to chicken out and take some of these out as it was burning my face off to the enjoyment of my so called friends!

It was time to hit the BART again and get back to the RV for our final night sleep in San Francisco.

Are you going to San Francisco?

Day: 4
States: CA
Locations: San Francisco  (Treasure Island RV Park, Embarcedero, Pier 39, Lombard Street, Fisherman’s Wharf)
Total Miles Travelled: 380M

At some point today, yes we would be but we still had to get out of this rest stop and back on the road - Phils turn to drive!! ;-) I've driven a 31 footer before so it wasn't too nerveracking for me but I think Phil had more than a few butterflies this morning being at the wheel of a 27 foot lorry!

All went smoothly with us heading north to San Francisco through various wind farms and small cities and a lot of heat! Daaaaayyaaaamm it gets hot on the California mainland! Air Con to max please!

Finally the landscape started to change to something more resembling civilisation and the temperature dropped as we approached the coast again. We hit a tunnel and before you know it we were on the bay bridge! A mighty fine view here as you can see - glad I was a passenger at this point!

Across the bay bridge we went into San Francisco and heading south in search of our first RV park. Our first attempt was an RV park in Pacifica - a nice lady there advised us that there is a local metro system called thed BART. It turned out that another RV park was walking distance to one of these stations so we scooted over to check it out. This is to be our home away from home for 2 nights while we visit SF so we parked up and the owner came over. Apparently we disturbed him while he was munching his cookie - he didn't charge us for the inconvenience.

Right then, off to San Francisco except that before we had a chance to plug the RV in and leave we had a visitor. A Californian named Monty from Bakersfield who works as a nurse in SF and had just returned from the burning man festival (apparently the best one in a few years). He offered us a beer, some tequila and pointed out a few places to visit in SF - cheers to you! We then proceeded to fill up all the water in the RV and realised that all along we could have used the toilet, had a shower etc! Doh!

Finally we managed to get back on track (but not on schedule) and headed to the local BART to catch a ride into SF. Finding your way around on the BART was much like taking the London Underground for the first time - you stare at the map until you take a chance on a line.

This stop (Embarcedero) pretty much took us to the heart of SF where we were in range of most of the sights with the Port of San Francisco in front of us. We took a strole down the Embarcedero past all the piers including famous and huge Pier 39. Here we could see the seals gathering on the boardwalks and basking in the sun, live street entertainment and also visit the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant.

 

From here it was off through Fishermans wharf (an absolute tourist trap, but we already knews this) and up some of the steepest roads we've ever walked to reach lombard street - known as the crookedest street due to the density of bends.

As well as the novelty of lombard street we admired the views that the residents see on their balconies every day including the steep city streets such as nob hill  and Alcatraz in the distance.

All worn out from this stomping it was time for a recharge – this involved a stomp back through fishermans wharf where we scoped out the various restaurants including some where they had live blues playing etc but as we were in the SF bay area it seemed there was only one type of restaurant we should be looking at - seafood.

Being in San Francisco we weren’t expecting anything to be cheap but being away for 3 weeks we were still attempting to watch the pennies so we looked at a few places that looked nice but looked as though we could afford – this strategie soon seemed backward once we found that the most sensibly priced restaurant was Neptune – a posh looking restaurant at the very top and edge of Pier 39 with views of the entire bay. It was a tad busy so we had a 30 minute wait so we had some beers and Dan had a whiskey. At first we thought he’d been ripped off by spending nearly $15 on just a shot of whiskey – when a quadrouple measure was delivered to the table we soon took that back!

Simply put, both the view and food could be described with one word - Awesome! I’ve never paid so little for so much quality seafood in my life and it was all cooked to perfection as well as accompanied by great service, including a bib!

After the meal and a few beers we were already ready for bed so the mission was to get back to the RV. What we hadn't realised about SF was how cold and windy it gets later in the day so the 35 min walk back to the BART started to seem daunting especially as I didn’t bring a coat - we hopped in a cab back to Embarcedero (driven by a dude from London - cheers for the discount! The trip seemed to take forever with 25 mins on the metro plus having to walk round the massive costco building in between the station and Rv park but we got there in the end and got some needed sleep as we were zombified, as demonstrated very well by Phil on the BART:

Official start of the road trip!

Day: 3
States: CA
Locations: Los Angeles (Hawthorne, Santa Monica, I5 Rest Area (middle of nowhere))
Total Miles Travelled: 0

What a PITA that was! If somebody had told us that today's highlights included filling in forms, standing in line and racing against time through rush hour traffic we may have given up on the old road trip... well perhaps not but we would have gotten our collective arses out of bed a little earlier!

Finally we were in possesion of our main mode of transportation and living for this holiday - a 27 foot Jamboree Sport with dual slide out and here's what she looked like:

After a crash course in RV'ing and an extra 90 dollars for the hire car we got out on to the road - it was time to get supplies. Getting suplies sounds easy but this is the USA where we'd have to battle through all the junk food in order to find something capable of sustaining life. We ended up needing to visit both walmart and target in order to get everything before realising that the RV company had forgotten our sleeping bags and towels etc. Doh, FAIL! We went back and picked these up before getting out on the road.

Road Trip Section 1
Los Angeles to San Francisco - 380M, 10h

Right then, what time is it? That time already?! The trip from LA to San Francisco started a tad late and in rush hour too which meant we didn't make it today and are instead staying in a rest stop next to a load of loud truckers sharing the place with us - this isn't gonna help Phil's jet lag! Another problem we had here is that the RV seemed to come without any water etc so toilet, shower etc was out of use! We’d have to rough it :P

See you in San Fran.

Wow! That's a big house you have there!

Damn those rich celebs! Exactly what we were all thinking whilst we cruised through Beverly Hills past all these celebs homes!

The start of the day gave us our first taste of driving in the US and our first taste of the sun (yes we are all sunburnt!). Serves us right for driving with the top down in this:

Yup, that's our Red Mustang convertible sat on a lookout on Mulholland Drive.

Today started with us looking for a charger for the sat nav when we realised we'd left it in the hotel - not happy when we found out you really can't buy a cheap USB cable here -£10 for a simple cable!

Next we cruised on down to Hollywood Blvd to check out the walk of fame etc as well as stop for lunch at an a famous American restauant - HOOTERS :) It was also Phil's first time at the wheel - well done Phil for keeping us alive!

By this time we were all sunburnt so it was of to the pharmacy to get suncream before heading out on the road up Mulholland drive (after argueing with my sat nav!!) which took us along the massive hills with views of the LA skyline, but also through Beverly Hills - all we can say is WOW! Serious money up here with palm tree ridden streets and millions of dollars worth of property every 20 yards!

The day was now getting on with the sun starting to set so it was time to go to Griffith Park to see the observatory and views from there however half way up there we see a sign telling us the observatory is closed! :( Big FAIL there but we went up as far as we could to have a look and found that the place was hired out for a privated function. We could here screaming crowds and what sounded like Linkin Park playing - turns out it was Linkin Park playing live for the MTV Video Music Awards! If only we'd known!

It was now time for dinner and some drinks, so we set off to the sunset strip near hollywood known as a lively spot where we managed to find a decent bar to chat, eat and drink until we couldn't stay awake no more.

Can't Sleep...

After waking up at 2am, 3am, 3:30am and 6am Phil and I have both decided to give up! Dan however is still snoring away as I type!! Ah well, we should be at least half way toward defeating the jet lag now and should get a good night sleep from now on. In the meantime I think we'll grab some breakfast before we have our first taste of the road by going to pick up our hire car: A Mustang Convertible :D

Next on the list is Wilsure Blvd from Santa Monica through downtown and Mullholland Drive to Griffith Park.

Laterz!

Touchdown!!!!

That's right folks, the trio have finally landed after 11 hours trying to get comfortable on a plane (and failing!).  We've got to our hotel in LA, where unfortunately the sun is not shining but it's certainly not cold!

We all now have the mission of staying awake here as although it's 1:30am in UK, it's still only 17:30 here and we need to make sure we don't suffer much jet lag!

Now if we can just get Google to find us a good place to get something to eat we'll have a fighting chance!

zZzZzZzZz zZzZzZzZz zZzZzZzZz zZzZzZzZz zZzZzZzZz zZzZzZzZz 

Final route, finally decided!

Well what a mission this has been! After a few weeks of moving some lines around google maps we've come up with something that should fill the 3 weeks to the max!

We had to cut a destination or two out in the end to ensure we were not spending 6 or 7 hours every day driving (although we do have a marathon of driving to accomplish!) but as you can see from the map we are set to visit some of the best South West USA has to offer!

• Los Angeles - Hired a mustang, cruise down Wilshire Blvd from Santa Monica all the way to downtown, Mulholland Dr to Griffith Park Observatory, Hollywood & Walk of fame, Sunset Blvd
• Pacific Highway 1 - Path to San Fran, awesome coastline drive through Big Sur
• San Francisco - Get locked up in Alcatraz Island, walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, Take a cable car through china town, nob hill and past the curviest street in the world - Lombard Street
• Yosemite - Mountain Biking through and chillaxing under the stars in this famous national park
• The Great Salt Lake/Flats & Salt Lake City - bit of exploring to break up the loooong journey to Yellowstone.
• Grand Teton N.P & Jackson - White water rafting through this dramatic entrance to Yellowstone park.
• Yellowstone N.P - Geiser & Bear spotting in this volcanic park before setting off for another looong drive.
• Aspen - Apparently Sept-Oct the Aspen landscape really comes alive - some scenic sights and the experience of nightlife at a resort frequented by celebs.
• Mesa Verde & Four Corners - Possible visit to the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde and a stop at the only place in the US where 4 states intersect at 1 location. May miss this out and go via Arches N.P instead.
• Monument Valley - Drive down the famous road through the buttes at Monument Valley - real cowboy land!
• Lake Powell - Hopefully some Jet Skiing at this massive man made lake surrounded by red canyon walls
• Antelope Canyon - One of the most photographed canyons in the world. Wait for some of mine!
• Grand Canyon - A day hike down one of the seven wonders of the world.
• Hoover Dam - Quick visit on way to Las Vegas - famous scene in films such as Transformers
• 'Viva' Las Vegas - 3 nights on the strip with day activities such as firing automatic weapons - Rambo style
• Death Valley - Cut through this barron dessert on the way back to LA - a place where not even bacteria lives!
• Los Angeles - Drop back the RV and get off to Universal Studios and some night time action to finish off what should be an awesome trip!!