USA 2009 – California

From ??? state of Nevada to Visalia state of California approx. 500 km

At wake-up time, ready to leave, nobody shows up, so we decide to set off without paying. Today a long transfer stage. Once we arrive at the campsite we decide to have a nice barbecue all together, everyone brings the meat they have and Giovanni will take care of cooking it on a beautiful brazier provided by the campsite; needless to say, I made a cake, but that too was supplied by the community, one had the flour, one the butter, another had the sugar, and since I had nothing else besides the jam, I garnished it with raisins and coloured sprinkles from who knows whom; anyway, as usual it was appreciated and eaten. Campsite Visalia Koa – N 36 20 57 W 119 24 22

From Visalia to Sequoia National Park state of California km. 180

Our day begins with splendid nature offering itself to our eyes. Imposing peaks, canyons, rivers, lakes and above all the forest with its ancient sequoias. Although the park entrance is a 15-minute drive away and the distance from the Giant Forest is fairly short, it nevertheless takes more than an hour to drive all the hairpin bends of the Generals Highway that leads from the valley up to the famous giant sequoias. At the entrance we are given both the map and the park newspaper. The impact is astonishing. Once inside the park the road begins to climb slowly, winding through a type of vegetation that seems anything but the kind where you'd imagine giant sequoias growing.

Within a few hundred metres, the vegetation becomes greener and darker, the forest becomes denser and less arid, a few "normal" sequoias appear and then, suddenly, on the right a sign appears reading "Giant Forest" and on the left a giant sequoia; however hard we instinctively try to see the tops of these trees from the windscreen, we can't. They're too tall to fit in the view a windscreen offers. We get out and the sight is truly gigantic, in the truest sense of the word. We touch the bark, which feels soft. We didn't expect that from a tree thousands of years old that has resisted and coexisted with extreme events and temperatures.

Once the campers are parked, on foot we reach a gigantic sequoia, it's the General Grant; all around it other sequoias no less important or small, it's a magnificent sight, some are lying on the ground, felled over time by wind or simply old age, in some you can enter the hollow of the trunk. We get back in the campers and move to another car park; from there, again along a path, we visit another leading lady of the Giant Forest, the General Sherman, an imposing specimen of giant sequoia considered one of the tallest in the world, with its 85 metres. It is certainly the largest living organism by volume. Almost 1500 cubic metres. It is thought to be between 2300 and 2700 years old. Our whole group positions itself at the foot of the General Sherman for the obligatory photo.

Having left the campers in the car park, we use the shuttle buses to visit other characteristic spots, such as the Giant Forest Museum and other no less important sites. Having picked up the campers again, we made our way to the campsite; a ridiculous thing, at the entrance the Ranger on duty demanded $20 per camper from PL every time one came in, not 280 all together but 20 each time, she probably didn't know maths. The campsite is spartan, there are no hook-ups, no problem, we're self-sufficient. Sequoia Park Campsite – N 36 44 48 W 118 58 23

From Sequoia National Park to Lodi state of California km. 320

At 5 this morning I got up, as usual, for a personal need, I look out of the window and I'm astonished: everything is white, a blanket of snow has whitened the woods and it's still coming down heavily, others have already noticed, we move with the campers and make our way to the square of the Lodgepole Visitor Center; there's a lot of disagreement among us, some would like to set off before the snow covers everything, others would like to stay put and wait for the weather to change, no.

6 sets off to scout ahead, shortly afterwards warns us by radio that the road is clear and that we can drive, I follow him and the others behind me; unfortunately the road starts to climb and the snow increases, at a certain point I find him in front of me, skidding and unable to get up, I pull over, take the wheel of his vehicle and with the help of others pushing I get the camper onto flat ground and to safety, I walk back and in the same way I bring mine up behind the first, something we can't do with all the campers. After a while a ranger vehicle passes by and advises us to stay put, we had no choice, and says they would alert the snowploughs, which would come to our rescue.

Indeed, shortly afterwards one comes into view, but rather small, and starts working, then a bigger one arrives that clears the road completely, at which point the rangers give us permission to continue our journey. It was a nasty adventure, but with a happy ending, an event to be told alongside many others that happened on this trip. We reach the last campsite, the Campground Stockton Koa in Lodi, where we stop for the night. Before falling asleep we give the camper a thorough clean in view of tomorrow's return, in agreement with the campsite warden, everything we have left over, both food and objects we bought that we can't take home, we'll leave on the tables and he'll collect it. Given the shabby behaviour of the rental company, we don't want to leave anything more on the campers than what they gave us. Campsite Stockton Lodi RV Park & Campground – N 38 03 29 W 121 16 41.

From Lodi to San Francisco state of California.

We leave the campsite, but not before having packed and closed our suitcases. I and a group head to San Leandro and at Moturist we'll hand over our campers, the other group will go to Dublin to El Monte to do the same. The handover of the vehicles turned out to be very long, every camper was checked meticulously, something we should have done too when picking up the vehicles; anyone who had a small mark on the windscreen was charged 100 dollars and that was there from the start; I, who picked up the camper with a tank at ¾ and returned it at the same level, was charged 130 dollars for refuelling the tank, an even more implausible detail, the fuel was charged to me at 5 dollars a gallon and not at about 3.50, the cost at the pump.

Towards midday the bus that will take us to the hotel arrives, all the luggage loaded, and off we go; reluctantly we leave our campers that transported and accommodated us across the United States. As soon as we enter the hotel we are struck by the highly elegant lobby embellished with carved wooden details and Tiffany glass artworks. After taking the suitcases to the room and freshening up, we go to a small restaurant opposite the hotel for lunch; others have already got there before us. Market Street is a very wide street, full of shops of every kind, many hotels and, what seemed very strange to us: an endless number of homeless people. We would later learn that the governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, gives a benefit to all homeless people, and once the news got out many of these poor people move to this state to get the help. But, surprise of surprises...

an old orange tram of line 19 from Milan is passing by, I remember them well, when I was a boy they used to pass in front of my house. We learn that this tram was donated by the Lombard capital and that the city council then bought other carriages; we also notice that there are other old trams, coming from San Diego and Boston and from a city in Australia whose name I don't remember. With a group of friends camped by PL we hop on one and have it take us towards the sea, we stop to visit the Piers, specifically number 39. The Piers are old docks of an important port and military garrison, now adapted for tourism with restaurants and tourist attractions. Moored at an old pier there's even a submarine, the USS Pampanito, and beside it a Second World War Liberty-class merchant ship; these vessels can be visited along a set route.

Then there are the cable cars, which go up and down the hills, pulled by an underground cable. When you saw Michael Douglas, in the TV series "The Streets of San Francisco" produced in the '70s, flying over the cambered streets with the car seemingly losing its wheels, it wasn't fantasy. We watch the cars go by and see them on the edge of the road and then suddenly disappear as if they were being swallowed up. Another important destination, for sweet-toothed people like us, is the Ghirardelli ice cream parlour; this gentleman, who came to America in search of his fortune like so many other fellow countrymen, started out first making chocolate and now it's one of the most important factories of this product, and then with ice cream; Tina and I immediately rushed to order the cable car, an enormous ice cream shaped like the characteristic tram.

We have dinner in a fish restaurant, very good and not expensive; as we come out, it's already dark, we hear grunts in the distance, or so they seemed to us, they were sea lions resting on rafts and waiting for the restaurant staff to give them the fish leftovers. Having caught the old tram again we returned to the hotel, and a well-deserved rest on a real bed is what we deserve. Hotel Whitcomb – 1231 Market Street – San Francisco, CA 94103

Hotel Whitcomb – 1231 Marker Street – San Francisco, CA 94103

At 9:00, in the hotel lobby, we meet Rosita de Luca, our guide, who will accompany us and show us the most characteristic places in the city. We start at the Civic Center. The bright marble staircase of its enormous rotunda dominates the main floor of the City Hall, completed in 1915, in French neo-Rococo style. In this city hall, the wedding of Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio was celebrated. We reach Nob Hill; in this neighborhood we find Grace Cathedral, which is the main Episcopal church in San Francisco. It looks very much like Notre Dame in Paris. Built in Gothic style, rich in marble and beautiful stained-glass windows. The rose window on the facade is made of thick faceted glass, illuminated from inside in the evening. In the square in front, elderly people with Asian features do their typical exercises, with slow but decisive movements.

At Union Square we find the heart of finance and shopping. Here are the department stores Niketown, Tiffany & Co. and other best-known brands. Further on we visit another beautiful church, the one dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. We then reach Lombard Street, the steepest and most winding street in the world. The most famous stretch is in Russian Hill, between Hyde Street and Leavenworth Street, where the roadway has eight steep hairpin turns. This stretch is 400 meters long on a red brick surface and is reserved only for downhill traffic. The permitted speed limit is eight kilometers per hour.

We visit the "Diego Rivera Gallery" where we admire the works of various painters, but mainly in order to go up to the upper terrace from which you can admire a splendid view over the bay dominated by the little island of Alcatraz (in Spanish it means pelican), whose military fort, transformed into a prison, housed famous inmates, one above all Al Capone. The island has the shape of a ship with the water tank serving as a funnel. Now the old prison has been transformed into a museum. In the distance you can glimpse San Francisco's most famous skyscraper, the Transamerica Pyramid. With its 48 floors and the spire on top that reaches a height of 260 meters, it is visible and recognizable from every point in the city. We admire the charm of Golden Gate Park, which we reach right after, is given by the combination of its components. There are ponds, gardens, groves, sports fields.

Green is the main characteristic, so much so that it is hard to imagine that the entire area was once occupied by sand dunes. And we finally arrive at the city's most famous "monument": the Golden Gate Bridge, considered one of the most thrilling views in San Francisco. 2700 meters long, it connects the city from Fort Point to Marin County. Its towers soar upward to a height of 227 meters. It nevertheless has a very light appearance. The red-orange color fits well with the surrounding environment. At this point, we have an hour for the lunch break; we split off from the group and follow the guide's advice and go to lunch at "Scomas," a restaurant whose specialty is crab; we enjoy it accompanied by a good carafe of white wine and a side of fries and grilled vegetables.

And finally we reach the Pacific Ocean; an immense beach separates us from the water; some of us want to experience the thrill of at least getting our feet wet. We arrive at Twin Peaks, one of the highest points in San Francisco, where we admire the landscape to the north as far as Marin County and to the east as far as Oakland. There is a lot of wind, but the panorama is truly magnificent. We return to the hotel intoxicated by everything we have admired; for dinner we go to the usual little restaurant, by now a haunt of the whole group.

Milford Plaza Hotel – 700 8th Avenue – New York, NY 10036.

In the morning I wander around the hotel area and then return before noon to check out of the rooms and arrange the luggage in the hotel lobby. At 1:00 p.m. a bus will transfer us to the airport for the United Airline UA014 flight departing at 4:00 p.m. Arrival at JFK airport at 00:39. During this flight we will move the hands forward three hours; we regain those lost on the outbound journey. Snack and dinner on board with the usual films we have already seen. It is late at night when we arrive at the Milford Plaza Hotel; we struggle to get our suitcases to the room. First they tell us that the bellhops would bring them; after half an hour of waiting they tell us that they want to be paid to bring the suitcases. Furious, each of us goes to get them ourselves and, as soon as possible, we go to bed very tired.

Conclusion

So much effort and so much fatigue for this trip that gave us emotions difficult to describe. Every day was unique, unmissable, extraordinary, thanks also to the commitment and determination of all our adventure companions. What do we remember most? Hard to say. Every place, in its own way, was wonderful. This trip will be memorable.

Our thoughts go, in order, to the impetuous charm of Niagara Falls; to the badlands of the Badlands; to the faces of the Presidents carved into the mountain; to the magnificent Devil's Tower, to the thrilling Old Faithful and to the whole of Yellowstone Park (even though we did not see Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo), to Monument Valley and its delicate arches and spires; to the light filtered through Antelope Canyon; to the legendary Lake Powell with the Glen Canyon Dam; to the superb, the great, the beautiful, the breathtaking Grand Canyon; to the lights, the sounds of Las Vegas; to the very hot Badwater in Death Valley; to the very old and very huge General Sherman and the unexpected snowfall at Sequoia National Park; to the wonderful Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco skyline seen from romantic Sausalito; and finally, to the great New York, its skyscrapers, Central Park, the Brooklyn Bri

dge, the Statue of Liberty (seen from afar). There would have been so many other things to tell that we did not include in this text. Others that we could have mentioned but that are found in all the tourist guides. Still others, like the most intimate sensations and emotions…that can never be described but that will remain prisoners forever within us. Now it is really all over. It is time to return home, see friends again, continue our usual life, waiting for another wonderful trip to enjoy together.