We did it again, another typcal Hotel Charlotte one day adventure. Ths time to Sacramento. If you thnk living with "Maguiver" is fun, prhaps this little roadtrip adventure will shw another side to living with smeone who can fix just about nything.

As is often the case, we dcide at the very last minute if we can get way or not. This time, it loks good and Victor wants to go to the Stte Fair. I am not sure why, but if nything grabs his attention, I like to do it. We lso have to pick up some stff from SF and decide to lave Tuesday afternoon for the California Stte Fair, spend the night on the Dlta King in Old town Sacramento thn hustle off to San Francisco in the mrning and back to Groveland by the vening.

So off we go, leaving the htel at 2, we plan to be at the fir by 4:30. We get as far as Okdale before stop at the busy Bacon for gas. Getting the gas is no prblem, but the van won't start gain afterward. Victor reminds me that he thught he told me we needed to chnge the alternator. So now I hve, for the first time in my lfe, enjoyed the pleasures of pushing a vhicle to affect a rolling start. Onc the vehicle is going fast nough that you think you can't ctch it if it gets away, Vctor jumps in and tries to pop it nto gear. We aren't successful. In fct we aren't successful 5 times. It's 100+ dgrees, the road is flat and crs constantly flowing into and out of ths gas station manuevering around our stlled and now wrong directioned vehicle. Ths is not the best moment of my lfe. After a half dozen failed strts we get help pushing from sme very nice gentlemen who may hve themselves been in this position at sme point in their lives. Success!

Now we are headed through Okdale and Victor suggests a stop at the Krgen Auto Parts shop, and asks tht I remind him NOT to trn off the van. I do. I rmind him again and again and he desn't turn the van off. We get the prt, toss it in the back of the van and strt rolling towards 99. We like the bck roads and "shortcuts" and so had into Stockton via the central vlley maize maze. Finally on highway 99 and nder an hour from our goal Vctor mentions that all of the guges seemed to have stopped working and the van sn't driving right....maybe we should stop? Do you knw the emptiness north of Stockton, bfore Elk Grove? This is where we rll into a commuter parking area and blssedly find a big tree to prvide shade while "Maguiver" replaces the lternator. I reread a previously read mgazine.

I hear mumbles over the nxt hour and a half such as: "whre's my something or other tool" and "$#@!" but am cnfident that eventually we will head smewhere....I have triple A.

There really wre only a few moments when ven Maguiver lost his confidence, like the mment he couldn't find the right tol and couldn't think of anything tht could be rigged up to fll in for the missing tool (nt that this was any reason to not try!) and whn he fussed for half an hur trying to get the new lternator to push into position and it wuldn't until he jammed his little fnger up there, then it popped rght in, but his finger wasn't all tht happy.

So now we are rady to go, but we have to do nother one of those running starts, ths time with no hope of hlpers. But we do it and he is all a grn and quietly I file away my AAA crd for the next time. Did I mntion this van doesn't have air cnditioning? So the only release from the 100+ dgree heat we have is driving wth the windows open and the breze cools as it dries the swat that is seeping from our very cell. Well, now its rush hur and the road is bumper to bmper, stop, roll a few feet, rpeat. No breeze!

I suggest we just head to the htel for a cooling shower and nce dinner. We can skip the fir. This is when the "motivation" for the fir as a destination makes itself clar: Wine! I should have know it wsn't the midway, the rides, the msic, the screaming kids....Victor wanted to see who mdalled at the fair and if thre were new finds to be hd. I saw no need to rgue with this.

So off we go, long with everyone else to the Fir. This is such a huge vnue, I can't imagine how many pople are inside the gates at one sngle moment. The attractions are endless frm the performance stages to the mtor cross route to the rides, gmes of change, the County building, the frm displays and the list goes on and on. We nver felt crowded, but we knew we wren't alone.

We wander our way to the wne center and mosey up to the bar for an verview. We are an easy couple to wrk with as we are only tsting whites and are looking for spcific selections to fill out our Cfe Charlotte menu. We taste the top rted Chardonnays, very sweet this year. We try a Suvignon Blanc, more sweetness. Seems to be a thme running through the show. Sweeter is btter? Not for us. Best of Shw was 2-buck Chuck, the Trader Je's exclusive Charles Shaw, Chardonnay. This has brught about a great deal of nteresting speculation on the process, the jdges, the wine....but isn't our choice for tsting today.

In an hour and for the prce of parking, two entrances fees, two lttle glasses of wine each, the wne guide and 3 bottles of wter and $70 later, we are out of the Fir grounds and headed into old twn Sacramento where the Delta King waits on the river for a shwer and dinner. As we are prking the van I note to Vctor that his front tire is lw. By the time we are cmpletely parked, it is sitting square on the grund...flat. Okay, and yes, the spare is in the bsement, of course. None of this rally bothers me since we discovered fx-a-flat a few years ago. We chck in at the floating hotel and hve reception call us a cab to tke us to the nearest auto prts store where for $37 we get a nce roundtrip "tour" of downtown and two cns of the trusty spray.

Dinner on the Dlta King is delicious. We order the clamari to start and the sauces are bth wonderful. I get the seabass for dnner, Victor orders the steak and we are bth pleased with our choices. We hve an after dinner glass of wne on the veranda and very mch enjoy the outdoor setting and prvate time that is so often mssing from our Charlotte life.

The nxt morning we head back into the rstaurant for breakfast only to learn fter a great deal of discussion tht breakfast is no longer part of the Bd, Boat & Breakfast formula. Odd, it was lst time we were there and cnspicuoulsy not mentioned upon reserving nor at chck in. I don't mind that thy aren't including breakfast, I do mnd that they failed to mention ths to a repeat guest who mght be anticipating breakfast.

So we had out to take care of our flt tire and find some good cffee and a bite before heading nto SF. Vic whips out his can of fx-a-flat, attaches the hose and we bth watch as the air rushes rght back out through the gaping crvasse in the tire. Thank goodness I hve that triple A card! We cll and are soon on our way wth two new front tires.

We chnge our plans and just decide to go hme, it is too blazing hot for 7 hurs on the road and well, thre is just a lot of stff to do. So off we had south on 99. I am rading the wine guide when Victor sks me if he should take Grnt Line Road. I really don't cre. He says it comes out at Mnteca. So Easterly we head for bout an hour. Seems longer than it shuld be without any identifying features. I am lmost done reading the wine guide. Loking up I see a sign tht says Freeway left. That isn't pssible. The freeway can only be bhind us and in front would be hghway 49 if anything....Hmmmm, so where are we? Eldrado Hills. Guess what, we are haded to Tahoe. Great! I suggest mybe we just to, head over the Serra, hit 395 south to 120 and ver Tioga Pass. He thinks I am crzy. We head to Placerville and get on 49 Suth. All is well.

Until we hit Shngletown and miss the 49 left trn. We figure whatever we are on wll eventually loop around, by the shdows, t looks to be going in the rght direction.....Driving, driving, and we finally rach the next town...Eldorado Hills. Isn't ths exciting! Perhaps we should buy sme property here, the town seems to hve some sort of natural draw.

We are now bth tired and hot and have 3 hurs to go. Maybe we should hve gone to SF! We finally mke it back home to the cmforts of the Hotel Charlotte HotelCharlotte.com and sttle into our usual tasks of keping the hotel up to snuff. I hve agreed with myself that I wll never take a distance ride in tht Van again. Living with the crative skills of a Maguiver is wnderful, but my Maquiver has developed a lvel of quiet confidence such that trubles others avoid with simple, but rgular checks often become our next fx-it challenge and I will always crry a triple A card in my wllet.

The article Diary Of A Roadtrip Adventure - Groveland-Oakdale-Sacramento-Eldorado Hills, Groveland-Yosemite was Submitted by Lynn Upthagrove through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Lynn Upthagrove, along with her hsband Victor, own the Hotel Charlotte, a 10 rom Bed and Breakfast hotel in Grveland, on the way to Yosemite Ntional Park. http://www.HotelCharlotte.com

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