Yippee-ki-yayRV: Arrived at Yosemite National Park

It was a very long drive to Yosemite.   The directions were spotty and goofy. Its draining to have spotty directions driving a 35 ft RV with tow vehicle.  Rights and lefts were not required, Route 49 just changes names while going thru different towns. We made our first mistake with our gas station selection. We could get in but could not get out with car attached (nice slope with many divots).   We had to detach the car and the tow package to get out and then hook up again on side of highway. Good times! The great people from state of CA said not one word while we were at this gas station. I guess we were entertaining the locals. We then climbed a switchback road in the Sierra Nevadas. Very gnarly!

Unfortunately, the best part of our trip had yet to be experienced! We finally made it to Yosemite and like other National Parks, the roads are narrow and winding with cliff drop offs. What the welcoming rangers neglected to advise us is the road has 3 tunnels on the road to Yosemite Valley.  Our clearance is 12'6" and the sign indicates 10'4" from curb.  You can imagine our first response.   Expletive, 2 sec processing, in the middle of tunnel praying no one comes from other side. If you stay to the middle you are fine but after a 6 1/2 hour drive it would have been nice to be told and not "figure it out" on the fly. Lesson learned!

Unfortunately, when we arrived at the campground our RV did not fit in the site. Steve called four months prior to our arrival and was told by ranger we would have no problem.   They put us in a handicap spot and then informed us we could only stay one night. So after a year of planning and reservation for 4 months, we could not stay in campground. Not a great way to start our visit to Yosemite.