Gettin’ my kicks on route i180 ... Or ... Rattlesnakes and cougars and bears, Oh my!

Day three. We check out of the hotel room, both in a kind of terrified but exhilarated silence. Today is the day we start to drive on the right hand side of the road.

We leave our luggage in the safe hands of the hotel and start the walk to National Car Rental. One giant hill later and we arrive at the back of a very angry line of people waiting to either pick up a car or complain about the one they have.

We wait patiently in line and when it is our turn, the woman serving us is already at the end of her very short rope. We try to be polite. “Good morning”, we say, “we were clever and have saved you some of your precious time by booking in advance online. All we need are the keys and for you to wish us ‘good luck’,” ...

She did not warm to our generous and positive attitude.

“Show me your papers.”

We pass them over.

“You don’t have insurance included.”

Yes we do, we say. We were diligent in Australia and made sure we selected all options. We are very sensible people. The price we were quoted was supposed to include everything ...

“It doesn’t. You aren’t insured. That’s bad.”

But please Madam, we are on a tight budget and the quote price was just right.

“No. Pay more money.”

After agreeing to pay more, we are finally in our car. It only came with a license plate at the back of the car, but we were assured that it wouldn’t be a problem.

Anyway, hopes high, freaking out quietly on the inside, we both jump in the car and start navigating through the city of San Francisco.

The drive to the hotel to pick up our luggage went a bit like this:

“Is there anyone on my right?”
“I don’t know!!”
“I can’t turn here!”
“Shit! Shit! Shit!”
“Aaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!”

We make it, pick up our luggage and head back to our favorite place in the world ... Whole Foods :) ... for some road trip supplies.

After spending way more time than necessary in Whole Foods, we grab a takeaway coffee, jump in the car and program the navigation system. “Sally” (the name we have given our overly calm sat nav) then proceeded to direct us out of the crazy city and onto a crazy interstate.

A few gray hairs and stomach cramps later, we are on our way to Yosemite Bug, our accommodation 25 miles outside of Yosemite National Park.

We drive through quickly changing landscape and stop along the way for a lunch break.

One final push, and a strange detour on a dirt road - thanks a lot Sally - and we see the giant Yosemite Bug sign on the side of the road, signaling that we have finally arrived at our destination.

Turning off the highway, we start winding up the driveway. We are greeted with a camp-like setup, featuring cabins, a mess hall and shared bathroom/laundry.

We find a park outside of the office, check in and start the walk up the track to our ‘glamping’ accommodation.

We have booked a wooden framed tent. It is on the side of a hill in front of a long line of similar tents.

The only difference between our tent and the others lined up behind - Vernal is the name of tent by the way - is that in front of ours is a giant sign warning us of all the dangers that we might encounter during our stay. Rattle snakes, cougars, bears and something called oak plants - what ever they are?

We trudge our belongings in to the tent and then wander down for dinner at the cafe. We have a delicious vegan/vegetarian dinner and take in the rustic theme of the cafe - animal heads, fire, brick, wood etc. We are excited to find out about the spa below the cafe that offers yoga classes on a Saturday and Sunday. We plan to try out the class tomorrow.

Now we get down to the nitty gritty. It’s time to get real. No time for losers. We are the champions etc ... it’s shared bathroom time.

I enjoy the outdoors as much as anyone, but not having a shower and a toilet nearby makes life hard. Makes it real.

Once this part of ‘glamping’ is over, we head back to the tent, jump into bed, shiver a lot - it is very cold - and settle in for a long night of listening for cougars and bears. My night also includes talking myself out of needing to go to the toilet. It is up a hill, in the pitch black, it has now started raining and there are rattlesnakes and cougars and bears, oh my.

Day three - goodnight.