Last day with the hippo

Monday 10 September 2012 – The last day with the hippo

Day 151 and 7 days to go

Well it is hard to believe we have finally met this point, we have the last 24 hours in the hippo and one last night in the gawd awful ironing board bed. We have one last week on the road before we are home to our fabulous family and friends who we are missing heaps and can’t wait to see and of course Yogi who will be smothered with attention though I am sure we will get the cold shoulder from him after any initial excitement.

The morning started off a little overcast that lead to us sleeping in until 9am. I woke with numb hands and remembered I had dreamt my hand had been amputated. Wonder what that means as I also dreamt earlier in the night that my foot was amputated. Weird.

We crawled out of bed and slowly got our selves sorted. I put out the breakfast things while Paul went for a shower. When he returned we started packing the last box we would be sending home. I went off for a shower soon after and when I returned Paul had the box complete and we were ready to complete the final pack up and drive off.

We left the very quiet Skyline Wilderness Park behind us and made our way through the Napa Valley and across to Sonoma Valley where more wineries abound the slopes of the rolling hills. It continued to remind us of the Swan Valley though a lot of the wineries cellar doors appear much larger.

Our intended stop was Petaluma, a 45min drive from Skyline and still in the heart of wine country. We made a stop for fuel and then it was on to the local post office to send our box. We were served by a very funny Chinese man who would could barely understand and while I thought we would have trouble sending the box he eventually worked out the computer issues. It was the state WA that had him concerned, in the end he decided we were sending it from WA Washington and not Western Australia. Hope it arrives safely like all the others.

With the 12kg sent on its way we found an ATM to get some cash and then we drove on to Dempseys Brew Pub where we stopped to have lunch and Paul could enjoy a selection of their brews. The food was good and Paul seemed to enjoy the amber stuff.

By 1pm we drove on to Lagunitas Brewery in the hope they might be open but they were not so we continued on to our final destination the Golden Gate RV Park 30min away. We followed the HWY to the door and pulled into a shabby looking place.  Real trailer trash material but with no other choice we paid up for a spot before heading off to get propane gas to fill the tank, as it needs to be full when we return the van tomorrow.

Once back at the park we set up and I began researching the next stage of the our trip in San Francisco. We sat listening to the Ipod for a while before going next door to the large liquor outlet where Paul was able to pick up a few more beers from his beer list.

When we returned to the van we began the clean up of the van and packed most of our gear away in our suitcases once again. It is now feeling quite final. It didn’t take us too long to be organised and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing cards.

By 6.30pm it was time for dinner. I was glad we had leftovers from last night so there wasn’t a lot that needed doing. We made sure we used up all the last bits remaining in the fridge.

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