San Francisco loop.

[sunseeker]

Joined the forum only hours ago and yours is the first trip report I have read, and what a good start!
Fantastic to read and outstanding photos!

Thanks for sharing,
Tina

[UKCraig]

Welcome, Tina! Thanks for bringing this back to the top of the pile. It is one of my favourite threads on this forum and it was great to read through it again. Especially as we're planning a four week trip to this area next year. After a long tiring day zooming round the traffic infested scrum that is EC1 it has done me the world of good to suddenly remember there's more out there in this little world of ours :)

[UKCraig]

Regarding Vegas, we had a week there last year and loved it. This year my heart just wasn't in it, I can't put my finger on why but the majority of the time there I wished I was back on the road.

I felt the same way the first time I visited. We'd arrived off a flight into LAX and headed north for three or four hours before crashing for the night. The following morning we left around 4am (damn jetlag!) and hit the interesting bit of the PCH just as the sun was coming up. A long day later we ended watching (unplanned) baseball in San Fran. A day or two later we were in Yosemite then across Tioga Pass (and an amazing 100 mile off road ride) to Death Valley which we were blown away with. After all that scenery and serenity we found Vegas quite hard to accept... all people, noise, lights and commotion. Been to the city a couple of times since (once just flying in and picking up a car before heading out of town) and once visiting friends but I'm determined to go back next year and see what I've been missing.

[CalOldBlue]

Great report!

I think I can answer the "shoving the cable car" question.

The motive power for cable cars is a cable (duh) in a slot in the street. The gripman (half of the cable car crew, the conductor being the other) uses a big vise-grip kind of thing to glom onto the cable to start the car in motion, he releases it when stopping.

While the cable is gripped, the car goes about 9-10 miles an hour.

Sometimes, if he releases it in the wrong place, and doesn't have enough momentum to roll forward to a place where the cable is high enough in the slot to be captured, you have two choices:

1) Roll backward (never a good idea)
2) Everybody gets out and shoves the car over the hill

Eventually the car gets to a place where the cable can be gripped again.

[Sch0sler]

Thank you very much for this truly amazing read.

So many details I can use in my own trip this July, thank you.

[Mark Sedenquist]

2) Everybody gets out and shoves the car over the hill
Eventually the car gets to a place where the cable can be gripped again.

Don, Great explanation -- yeah, I've had to assist the gripman and others push a car up the hill a bit a couple of times -- it's never far -- but it takes a lot of muscle power!

Mark

[Southwest Dave]

Thanks Don,

The one thing that leaves me a little puzzled is why he would actually release the cable approaching the top of a steep hill as I don't recall a stop or junction at that spot, they just appeared to be stuck in the middle of the road.

Thank you very much for this truly amazing read.

So many details I can use in my own trip this July, thank you.

You are most welcome, I am glad you enjoyed it.

[CalOldBlue]

1) He goofed.

2) Perhaps safety regs require coasting through that intersection, due to blind corners, etc. Stopping one of these beasts requires doing a few things in the right order, rules may require they release the grip just in case they have to do a quick stop.

or possibly....

3) This is a spot where the cable goes over a pulley, and unless he lets loose of the cable something ugly happens (like cable gets off track or grip hits pulley or...).

or something else....

[nikna]

Great to read through your trip, and see all the photos. Especially love the 'Trail of 100 Giants', and San Francisco pics.

[Southwest Dave]

Thanks !

Yes, it's finding lesser known places such as the 'Trail of 100 Giants' that makes your own road trip feel that extra bit special. There are so many places like this between the 'major attractions' every where you go. I doubt you would ever find them by just blindly following a travel agents pre-planned tour, and certainly not by solely relying on a GPS to get from 'A' to 'B'. A little research, good maps and planning help from RTA goes a long way to making a great individual trip.

The plannings all part of the fun !