Today we went to Mono lake, which is interesting for a few of reasons.

It’s ancient lake over a million years old, and it’s 2.5 times saltier than the ocean! It also has some cool statues protruding from it, called Tufas. They look like hoodoos and are made from calcium carbonate. They were really cool.

I really wanted to swim and float on the water, but there were loads of critters swimming around in there. They were just krill, and harmless, but they creeped me out. And the water felt slimy from all the minerals. So I sent Mike in. I wanted to see if he floated!

And he did! And Mike never floats!

I still wasn’t tempted. The water was so calm and I wanted to put the kayak in. But there were signs warning about strong winds after midday, and around 1pm we noticed the wind picking up so we didn’t.

We then drove about 40 minutes to Yosetime national park. It was a stunning drive in, up a steep hill to almost 10,000 feet!

We did a short hike along some of the Pacific crest trail, and 5 minutes in I rolled my ankle on a rock. My other ankle this time. I sat and swore as it hurt like mother cluckery! But after about 10 minutes I was able to continue walking.

We walked for about an hour through trees and beside a creek, and it was more a gentle stroll.

We spent the rest of our time driving through the park admiring the polished granite cliffs, carved smooth by ancient glaciers.

We headed down off the mountain and spent the night overlooking Mono lake. We saw the sunset and the moon rise. It was pretty special.

I forgot to mention yesterday how the nice man at the garage used his military discount to get us almost $200 off of van repairs.

It was great to be on the road again. Weren’t heading south towards Vegas. We drove to Lake Tahoe but it was very busy there.

The highlight today was some free hot springs. There were lots of little natural hot tubs dotted around. I was expecting them to be really busy but there was just us and one other couple and our hot tubs were miles from each other. Mike was able to have some naked time as it’s a clothing optional area.

After our swim we headed for a ghost town, which was really cool. It was an old gold mining town that was abandoned in the early 1900s and everything was left as it is.

We couldn’t find anywhere free to camp, so we stayed at an RV park.

Another day waiting for Rodger. He was supposed to be ready by 4pm but he wasn’t. I was starting to worry a bit as if he wasn’t ready today, we’d have nowhere to stay as the hotel was booked out!

I managed to get a video finished and uploaded for Saturday so that was something.

At 6pm we finally got the call that Rodger was ready.

The first thing I noticed when Mike started him was how smooth he was running. Since we broke down on Vancouver island, he’d been idling a bit rough and a bit louder than normal. Mike also noticed he’d used more water. So it was just as well we had him checked.

The next thing Mike noticed was the steering. It was suddenly tight and not flopping all over the place. It seems like the steering had always been an issue.

And it’s good to know the shocks are done, as this was something I knew we’d need to tackle at some point.

We’re heading off again tomorrow over a winding mountain road to Lake Tahoe.

We’re still waiting on Rodger to be fixed. They’ve found a few things as well as the steering that need fixing including shocks, water pump and timing gasket. We knew these things would need attention at some point, so it was worth getting it done now. It’s costing a small fortune though!

Meanwhile, we have a nice hotel across the road. It’s a suite with microwave, fridge, dishwasher etc. it also is costing a small fortune, but oh well, not much we can do about it.

Hopefully we’ll be on the road again soon.

Today was another slow start, not leaving Walmart until lunchtime.

We stopped off at a freedom camping place, but there was no shade, so we continued driving. We will be in the Sierra mountains soon, and it should be cooler there.

As we drove into Reno, I noticed the brakes were smelling. Mike thought it was because we’d just come down a steep hill, but the smell was really strong, and didn’t disappear on the flat.

It was stinking hot and we didn’t want to stop, but I suggested we get the brakes checked before we leave town.

We pulled into a garage and the mechanic had a Quick look and said our power steering was leaking. Great! And it’s Friday afternoon and they can’t fix it until Monday.

I rang another place that works all weekend and they said to bring it in. They will look at it Saturday afternoon and hopefully fix it Sunday.

We thought about sleeping in our van outside the mechanics but it’s just too hot. So we checked into a hotel across the street, which is nice and airconditioned and we’ve booked it for two nights while we wait for Rodger to be fixed.

We keep on saying how we’re gonna drive early to avoid the heat, but we don’t end up leaving camp until lunchtime. Today was another one of those days. We also stopped in a little town to upload our latest video at the free wifi at the library. Thankfully it was fast.

We stopped at a lake in Whiskeytown which had a $1 shower, much needed!

We drove through wildfire smoke, but it wasn’t as bad as other smoke we’d driven through in Canada and Alaska.

It was mostly a driving day and super hot. We gradually climbed up to about 5000 feet and it was much cooler. all the national forest campgrounds were closed because of the fires, so we just kept on driving until we reached the town of Susan ville, where we slept the night in a Walmart carpark.

This morning the van didn’t start. The battery was completely dead. We just hoped Mike had accidentally left our isolator switch on.

Thankfully we had just bought a jump starter the other day, and it worked a treat. We drove ten minutes to Walmart to stock up on supplies and have a poo.

Thankfully Rodger started again and we think that the problem was, Mike left the isolator switch on overnight and it drained our battery.

Today we continued down the coast. Did I mention we’re now in California? The coast here is just as nice as Oregon.

We stopped at Baker beach, a charming beach a short scramble down a steep hill. It was also a clothing optional beach so Mike got a bit of naked time.

After the beach, we started heading inland towards Vegas. There is a massive wild fire burning not far off our route, apparently the 4th largest in California history. We just hope we won’t be too affected by it.

We stopped at a little national forest campground for the night at only $5 per night!

Mike thrashed me at cards, but other than that, it was a pleasant evening.

We hung around at our beach camp this morning. We got chatting to another van lifer. All the van lifers we meet are all like minded.

The coastal drive keeps getting better and better. Giant rocks jutting out from the shoreline and white sandy beaches. We’ve seen loads of sea lions lazing around on the rocks like giant slugs. The sea lions in Oregon this time of year are known as the losers who didn’t mate this year. The ones that did, got to go to California.

The weather has been amazing. We did a few hikes today and wandered along the beach.

We parked the night on a pier and watched a beautiful sunset over the ocean.

We had another lazy morning, leaving our camp around 11am. There’s no point rushing as our flight isn’t until early sept.

The Oregon coast is getting more spectacular as we head south.

We had seafood chowder for the third day in a row and this was probably our best yet. We also had fish and chips for lunch and these were yummy too.

We found a nice place to stop for the night, overlooking the ocean and beach. We watched the sun set which was incredible.

Today we woke up to a stunning day overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We mucked about a bit in the morning, doing some editing and drinking coffee. At around 10am I looked up and the view had disappeared, replaced by sea must.

We continued along the Oregon coast. The coast’s scenery is incredible. We had another clam chowder for lunch but it wasn’t as good as yesterday’s.

We couldn’t find any free spots to camp tonight, so we stopped at a small national forest campground for just $10 for the night. We took a walk over a massive sand dune to a beach, but it was really windy.

We tried to watch the meteor shower but we didn’t see any.