When the garage man arrives this morning he looks at my tire and says “This is not good”. Yeah, like that wasn’t obvious yet. But it isn’t good at all. He can’t fix the tire, so I have to get a new one. The nearest tire shop is about 45 minutes away, so what we’ll do is fill my broken tire with air and see how far I can go. Fortunately I find a mobile pump in the back of my car, so I can pump it up again on the way if I need to. I call the tire shop and they tell me they can have the right tire for me around noon. Then I can call the rental company and they have good news: they cover the costs of a new tire. That is the reason why I almost always rent with Hertz. Their service is great and I’m glad that also this time they’re here for me.
Since I still have a couple of hours to wait I drive to a restaurant next to a river and sit down to have a coffee, check my email and update my blog. Even though yesterday was beautiful, I’m a little less excited now about the pictures of Sequoia National Park. I think it’ll all come back when I got my car fixed and ready to continue on the road trip again.
About an hour before noon I drive to the next town to get a new tire. I have to stop twice to put extra air in my broken tire, but I make it without problems. The guy at the tire store tells me that I have to wait about half an hour for the tire to arrive and he shows me around the garage. There are several mechanics working on cars. After a while the tire delivery arrives and they put the new one under my car. We call the rental company and they take care of the payment. Around one o’clock in the afternoon I can hit the road again. I only have half a day delay and it costed me nothing, so I am very thankful.
It’s interesting how often only after you lost something you appreciate it much more when it’s back. So also this afternoon I really enjoy being able to drive again. I fill up my car with gas and have my freedom back to go wherever I want. In a couple of hours I arrive at Yosemite National Park. It’s very beautiful with winding roads through hills which lead to Yosemite valley. There is the famous granite wall with several waterfalls. It’s all very pretty, but somehow Yosemite National Park feels to me like a really big city park, like Central Park in New York. Of course it’s much bigger, but it probably feels like that, because there are many cars driving here and people walking everywhere. I decide not to hike today, but just enjoy the scenery from my car and make several stops to take pictures. At the end of the afternoon I start driving west again, because I want to go to Big Sur Park by the coast after this. It’s too late to make it before dark, so when I see a Mc Donalds sign, I think it’s time to stop for today. Tonight I’ll be sleeping at a familiar place again, next to the yellow M. I’m about 2,5 hours driving from Big Sur, so I hope to arrive there tomorrow in the morning.
