Rolling Thunder meets Yosemite... The last of our 2020 summer road trip!

Birthday boys

I had every intention of finishing the last day of our 2020 Summer Road Trip within a few days of getting home.  But, then I got back to reality.  Truth is, a lot has happened since we got back.  An American hero passed (RIP - RBG), a rock icon passed (RIP - Eddie Van Halen), civil unrest over systematic injustice continues, a small earthquake rocked L.A. and summer closed out with some great big fires causing much loss, and poor air quality up and down the West Coast.  It's sad to think that some of the areas we passed through are now massive burn zones.  

El Capitan @ Yosemite

But there there has been some good stuff that has happened since we got back, such as the Lakers winning the the NBA Finals, and of course the start of school!  Parents be like, woot woot.  Kids be like, NOOOOO!  What's crazy is I now have a high schooler living at home.  It seems like it would be really hard to start a new school, and chapter in your academic career, with distance learning.  But my daughter seems to be doing fine with it.  I will definitely circle back on this in another blog post.  Since we got back both my son and I have had birthdays.  His was spent with his pandemic bubble bros at the beach.  Mine was spent with my pandemic bubble friends at home.  I am humbled and
blessed.

So, now that we are well into Fall, I'm going to end our Summer Road Trip!  The beauty of my mind is that it feels like our last travel day was yesterday.  Ironically, I don't remember what I had for lunch yesterday... But, I guess that's how the creative part of my brain works, which would suggest that whatever I ate on the real yesterday must not have been too creative!

Yosemite to Los Angeles

I knew our last day was going to be long, so I had prepped Rolling Thunder a little bit the night before.  I got up early so we could be of the first people to enter Yosemite.  As the kids slept in, we rolled out of Yosemite Pines RV Resort, and made our way down the winding road towards the back entrance of the park.  It's yo-sem-i-tee, by the way... ;)  We had rushed to the entrance the night before to make sure they would honor our one-week pass that started that day, so it was as if I already knew every twist and turn in the road!

The first stop I wanted to make was an overlook called Half Dome Overlook.  We were in pretty early, so there was no one on the road!  We cruised through the expansive grandeur of this sacred place. You can feel the energy, and smell the earthy aroma as you drive along the road that makes it's way through the protected wooded forest.  Some trees have fallen, and you can see all of the new life that has grown on, and around these horizontal giants.  It's absolutely gorgeous with the morning sun peeking through the trees.

Keeping Daddy Safe

When we got to Half Dome Overlook, the small parking lot was empty.  Sooo, since the kids were asleep, and there was no one else there, I decided to make myself a latte.  Mind you that this would require firing up the generator.  And it was absolutely silent outside.  At this incredible vista, which included an impressive view of the fabled Half Dome mountain and the Yosemite Valley below, there was complete silence.  Even the breeze was quiet.

Everything was going well.  I had almost finished frothing the milk when the first car pulled up.  By the time I had finished frothing the milk, two more cars of families had pulled up.  Seriously?  I still needed to push out at least two shots of espresso before I could shut off the generator, which was absolutely invading the silence of this pristine place.  But I needed my coffee, so I officially became "That Guy..." for exactly one minute and 30 seconds.  I shut down the genie as soon as the last drop landed in the stainless steel cup.  But the damage, I'm sure, was done.  I waited until the first car, that pulled up, left.  I could not face them, even though they never even looked over at the RV.  I then did what any other conscious human, who may have just interrupted the experience of others for a couple minutes, would do...  I picked up Jasper, and my coffee, and headed out the door... on the opposite side of Rolling
Thunder!  Between the view, and the incredibly cute puppy that everyone wants to pet, I think I was good...!

No Generator Needed

The kids had now woken up, so I "made" them go have a look at the beauty of Yosemite.  I told them a story of when I was in my 20s, while on a road trip with a friend.  We had stopped at this very spot to take a picture.  I wanted to create an awesome Christmas card, so I told my unsuspecting friend to make sure I was in frame, and that Half Dome was in the background.  And then when no one was looking, I dropped my shorts and told him to take a picture!  The result? A perfect Christmas card with Half Dome in the background, and my bare bottom in the foreground!  The caption read: "Mom Always Said To Travel Light...!" And now, many years later, I can't believe I sent that card out.  Actually, it was pretty awesome!  I wish I still had a copy so I could post it up here. ;)

Easy to park!

We spent the next few hours exploring Yosemite.  As I've said before in this blog, there are some advantages traveling during Covid.  Entry to the national park is limited, so there was hardly anyone there!  That said, we did not do any hikes, nor did we ride our bikes through the park on the bike path.  We simply stopped, and stared at the magnificent beauty that was all around us.  

Yosemite Valley

After lunch it was time to hit the final leg of our two week journey.  I was a little sad, but did feel that I had given my kids a great gift, despite the fact that this was not the trip that I had originally planed for them.  The life experiences you gain through travel, whether abroad, or in your home state, are invaluable.  The kids may not realize it now, but in 20 years, these are memories they will fondly look back on.  I know this to be true, as I enjoy reminiscing with my parents about the many summer trips we took when I was a kid.

Bear cub on side of road

We made our way up the winding road from the bottom of Yosemite Valley.  As we came around one corner, I looked to the left and there was a rather large bear cub just off the side of the road!  Cars had already stopped on the other side of the road, in case this cute young creature decided to run across!  The kids really got a kick out of seeing how big a young bear is!  Now our wilderness adventure was complete!

Once you get out of this beautifully wooded forest, it's back to farms, and not much else, for the remainder of the trip on Interstate 99 back to Los Angeles.  Don't get me wrong, I love gazing out over the California farmlands, it's just hard to leave
Yosemite!  After Bakersfield, the 99 runs into the 5 freeway, and it was smooth sailing from there.  Because Covid was still in full effect, there was very little traffic as we made our way over the Sepulveda Pass, and back home to the Westside.

Happy bubble bros

A two-week vacation is a typical American holiday.  But when you go away for over a month, as we did when I was a kid, you begin to realize how much you appreciate your home.  Your community.  Your friends.  The kids got a slight taste of it, but not the effect.  Shortly after we returned from our two-week family vacation, my son's best friend returned from his 8-week family vacation.  When he saw my son, and their other bestie for the first time, you could see the pure joy that overflowed from this young boy.  And then later that night when he found out that he was going to be allowed to have a sleepover with his bros, he was so overwhelmed that he began to cry.  I mean really cry.  That my friends, is true love and appreciation for what is most important in your life.  Who is most important.  And proof that home is truly where the heart is.

My original plan was to put Rolling Thunder up for sale before the end of summer.  But rather than selling her, a couple days after we got home, I decided to put her up for rent instead.  Turns out that the RV rental market is still in full swing with a couple different rental services (Outdoorsy and RVShare) that are very much like Airbnb.  In fact, Rolling Thunder has been rented just about every weekend since we got back!  Now that she is more than paying for herself, I have decided to keep her!  In between rentals, I plan on taking the kids on some more adventures.  That is if I can talk the 14-year-old into going...  Fortunately the 12-year-old is still into it, even after being on the road for two weeks!  I'm good with 50%, so my only question is where to next?

Beauty on the road

Go see the world every opportunity you get, and take in all that this planet has to offer!  

If you want to take an RV trip, you can rent Rolling Thunder here:

Rent Rolling Thunder on Outdoorsy! (I'll even give you a 20% #Dadslife3D discount!)

If you want to see my fully mapped out trip, you can see it on this must have trip planning app:

Roadtrippers - Donaldson Family Road Trip Summer 2020

And here is a list of other must-have travel apps that I used on our trip:

JOURNEY8 - Inspirational content, for those long drives.  I like this better than podcasts because of the variety (iPhone or Google Play).

Gas Buddy - I found that there was a 20 to 60 cent per gallon difference depending on where you stopped.

The Dyrt - App for finding RV campsites (I found campsites on this app a couple of times that didn't appear on the other apps I used)

Harvest Host - App for finding farms and/or wineries that allow RV camping (Requires subscription)

All Stays - Another app for finding RV campsites (Requires app purchase - I'm on the fence about if it's worth the $9.99 price tag).

Day 11 – August 4, 2020  

Start: Yosemite Pines RV Resort   

Destination: Home

Mileage: 361 Miles

Total mileage for trip: 2171 Miles