Up to Yosemite

We left Bakersfield a little before 7 am this morning and decided to go over to I-5 to head north because it looked like CA-99 had a lot of construction going on.

As we crossed over on CA-46 to I-5, we rode through the middle of orchards and fields of flowers and vegetables.

These beautiful flowering shrubs were along the highway.

As we headed north on I-5, we began to wonder if traveling on I-5 was a good decision.  For about 100 or so miles the pavement was terrible.  It was better in the passing lane, but the amount of cars on the road kept us from spending much time in that lane.  The motorhome rattled and shook as we moved along.   It must be really annoying for truckers who have to travel this portion of I-5 frequently.

We  continued to see groves and groves of fruit and nut trees.  A lot of these trees were covered with netting for some reason.  

We smelled and then passed by this huge stockyard that went on for miles.

After filling up with fuel in Ripon, we began to head west on CA-120. 

It was a windy road but a pleasant drive through the California countryside.

We next reached a lake and a river that appeared to be much lower than it had been in the past as evidenced by the water lines on the banks surrounding the lake.

Right past where CA-49 came up from the south, we began the most interesting part of our trip for the day -- 8 miles of windy, curvy, continual uphill road with a maximum speed of 25 mph.  I don't think we got over 15 mph.

I had called the campground office to ask about difficulty of the road to Yosemite Lakes RV Park before making the reservations.  The campground told us that as long as we took the newer road (which was the one we were on), we wouldn't have any problems. 

Well, Chuck and Ken drove perfectly and we didn't have any problems but that didn't mean we weren't just a little bit apprehensive going up and around all those sharp curves.  This was the first time I could actually take pictures of Ken and Bonnie coming up behind us.

The curves were so sharp, I could even take a picture of our Honda that we are towing behind our motorhome.

Needless to say, we were very glad (and thankful) when we made it to the top (or what we thought was the top.  We drove through the town of Groveland which appears to be a very cute mountain town that we will probably explore later this week.

We thought we were done with the curves and climbs but we had another 18 miles to drive before we finally reached Yosemite Lakes RV Resort. 

We could see some of the fire damage from the massive fire the Yosemite area had incurred in 2013.

After we pulled into the campground, Bonnie and I went into the office to get checked in while the guys were disconnecting the tow vehicles.  Ken and Bonnie's Honda had a dead battery but we were able to jump it off from our car and get them going again. 

While we don't have 50 amp service, we do have full hookups and side-by-side sites.  The temps are going to be so cool, we probably won't need the a/c anyways.

We don't have cell service and the only internet service is at the campground office which can be a little frustrating when you're trying to keep up a blog!  But we're looking forward to the next week of fun and exploring Yosemite!