After our time in Las Vegas we headed west. Flying from Vegas into San Francisco International Airport we picked up our Chevvy mini van and headed north.

This was a Monday lunchtime and I had (wrongly) anticipated little traffic as we left San Francisco over the Bay Bridge. On the eastbound lower level I was on, there must have been six solid lanes of traffic. I guess that the six lanes on the upper deck above us were eaqually full of traffic going the other way. Being in a new vehicle sitting on the wrong side of the van in heavy traffic in what seemed to be very narrow lanes it was a white knuckle, eyes rigidly glued to the car in front for me drive. Everybody else was admiring the view of the Golden Gate in the distance.

Never mind I told myself, the traffic will die down now - it did not. We drove the I80 almost to Sacramento in heavy traffic and it was not until we left the interstate and headed north that I could finally relax and feel that the driving part of the holiday was truely underway. The attraction of driving in the USA to me is the open roads. I find heavy traffic unpleasant because combined with being on the wrong side of the road, the placement of road signs is slightly
different from the UK which is no problem in light traffic but an extra hassle when you are having to concentrate on the traffic around you.

We drove north through Yuba city before stopping for the night in Oroville. This was an excellent drive. Driving through agricultural areas the land use changed from rice growing in one area to mainly fruit growing. The roads leading up to Oroville were lined with fruit growing farms with roadside stalls selling every type of fruit conceivable.

The evening meal in a local diner was notable when halfway through our meal, 3 uniformed officers came in accompanying 17 prisoners dressed in bright orange jumpsuits with 'PRISONER' stencilled accross their shoulders. They were escorted to a separate room for a meal. I understand that the prisoners had been helping with fire fighting and were 'rewarded' with the meal.