6. Inaugural trip: Yosemite (appropriate)

On Monday morning (after physical therapy on my shoulder) we headed out for 3 nights Yosemite…in the rain. Yuk! The bad news was that I would have rather embarked on this inaugural ‘break in’ trip without having to worry about towing in the rain, but then again…you gotta play the hand you’re dealt. The good news was that if we had been in our tent trailer (which was the plan when we made the camping reservations in the first place) we would have been facing setting it up in the rain…and that is a BIGGER YUK!

Traffic was very light, and despite the rain we made pretty good time. We stopped for gas in the Galt area (negotiating a 5th wheel around a gas station is fun too!), and then stopped at a store with a deli in Copperopolis for sandwiches and sat in our 5er for our 1st ‘picnic’. THAT is a real nice feature…along with access to the bathroom!!!

From the beginning I had not been looking forward to going up Priest grade (Hwy 120 just before Groveland). It had been years since we had been up it, because normally we take 140 into the park (with the tent trailer) or we go up Old Priest Grade in the car. But we were pretty much locked into going up that long (6 mile), steep, boring, torturous and treacherous road…on our first trip with the 5er nonetheless…in the rain.

At least the rain had stopped by the time we got there so the roads were dry, but it was definitely a ‘handful’ going up that road. The truck did great. When it is set in ‘towing mode’ it seems to have a mind of its own and all I have to do is keep it on the road. But that too is a challenge since the 5er tracks inside the ‘footprint’ so on every switchback I had to make sure I was allowing enough room so it would not ‘cut the corner’. Exhausting!

Going into the Park is great these days, as I all I have to do is flash my Old Fart card (Senior Pass as it is officially called) and we get in for free! We topped off the gas tank at Crane Flat (since there is no longer gas in the Valley) and set off for the final leg of our trip…in the fog and drizzle.

From door to door it is right around 230 miles and it felt great to be driving through the Valley in our new rig. When we pulled up to the kiosk of the Lower Pines campground the lady took our name, and then sort of did a double take…because when we made the reservation we thought we were going in the tent trailer. We said we had a ‘new toy’ and she just said, “well, I hope it fits.” I knew it would because I had done some research ;-) But it was close!