Solo trip from LA to San Francisco

Carmel-by-the-sea is one of the larger towns on this side of the coast and after zipping into a gas station for some grub, I headed over to the mission here. You can see the Spanish influence everywhere in the mission which is a rather charming little place in itself. By now it's 6 pm, and time to head back to my little home and set up camp. Get back to the campsite and what do I see, some dude has parked his Jeep Cherokee in that spot. Cursing my luck, I drive around hoping that the man will leave. An hour later and the vehicle is still there, so I think what the hell and just go and squeeze my car over there. I walk about 10 metres into the forest and find a pretty clear spot where I start setting up camp. It didn't go up badly at all, considering I'd never camped out before. That night I sat under the stars for a long time, listening to my engine ticking down for the night, and listening to the varied sounds of a forest in a land far away from home. Slowly the Pacific fog rolled in and switched off the lights in God's great black sky, and zipping up my tent door I went off to sleep, dreaming of hairpin bends and crashing sea.
I slept pretty OK, and was up by 4.30 the next morning. Time to head to San Francisco, a city I have longed to visit ever since I saw the movie, "What's up, Doc?" starring Barbara Streisand and shot in the roller coaster streets of 'Frisco. The drive up north reveals the varied topography of California- the cliffs and crashing seas make way to rolling sand dunes promenading along a gentle sea. On the right side of the road there are farms, and I know not what they produce, but bountiful indeed seems to be the output, going by the machinery at work on those farms. By 10.30 am I'm struggling to find parking up a long street and my car is at a crazy incline. I'm in SFO, it's the day of the world cycling Grand Prix, a cold wind is whipping in from the Bay, and the city seems ready to deliver on the promise of being America's most loved city!