Guten Tag

After finally making it across the desert and into California, we spent a quick overnight in Bakersfield and then headed north toward the Bay Area. We've driven this stretch several times before. These roads were very familiar. We knew what to expect.

Or, did we?

Our first stop out of Bakersfield was for fuel at a Flying J about 15 miles north of town on CA-99. I had examined the satellite images on Google Maps and knew there was one precious RV lane at this station. It looked like an easy in, quick fill and out.

Until we got there.

As we pulled up to the station, we spotted a Bounder in the lane filling up. Everything looked good for us to pull our moose into the lane and nuzzle up behind the kangaroo Fleetwood. Just before we pulled in, we spotted a couple of people in the RV lane that were pointing and waving. We stopped in the road and tried to suss things out. If the Bounder had problems and couldn't move, we weren't going to pull in. After all, with a squirrel on our butt, we can't back up this moose. As we looked carefully we realized these two motioning folks had cameras in hand. And, they didn't seem to care which way we went. And, as we broadened our view, we noticed they had lots of company. There were people swarming all over the Flying J. And, they all had cameras!

Not sure exactly what we were pulling into, we figured it was safe to pull our moose in behind the Bounder. Suddenly, the paparazzi were upon us. Snap. Snap. Snap. Many in this swarm were pointing, clicking and gawking at our moose. Yes, we were more than a bit uncomfortable.

There were busloads of them. Two, in fact. We couldn't fathom what was up. But, this was California. It could be anything!

Paul stepped out and started a conversation with the Bounder folks. With our front door open, I watched a few members of the swarm come our way. Soon one of them was at our front step. I said hello.

"Hello," said the lovely woman with a thick German accent. "Could we take a quick peek?" she asked with a hand gesture that let me know she didn't want to take too much of our time.

"Sure!" I exclaimed. "Come on in!"

With that, my friendly visitor cackled something in German that I could only interpret as "SHE SAID YES! COME OVER HERE AND SEE THIS MONSTER!"

With that, she and three friends were walking up the steps.

"Guten Tag!" said the first gentleman.

"Guten Tag!" I replied.

With our moose in travel mode, I was afraid there really wasn't much to see. But, our guests were impressed. Not sure they could understand what I was saying, I explained how the two sides pushed out and made lots of room, and how comfortable our moose could be. They motioned that they understood the physics of slide outs and had huge smiles on their faces. The tour continued through the bathroom and into our bedroom, with all the stuff we pile on the bed when we're in travel mode. Not pretty, but they got the idea.

They had huge smiles on their faces. They couldn't believe their eyes.

They all made note of our cats. "Katzen!" they exclaimed. Like I had a clue how to speak their language, I replied, "Ah, yes. Katzen!"

Again, more big smiles.

One of them explained they were Germans visiting America on a three-week trip from the Pacific to the Atlantic. They had just left San Francisco. They are on their way, eventually, to New York. She interpreted for her friend who has an RV in Germany.

"They are much smaller in Germany!" she said.

We got the idea. After all, it was obvious that this swarm of tourists had never seen a Flying J, much less a 40-foot diesel pusher with two fulltimers and their katzen towing a Jeep and getting ready to suck 45 gallons of diesel fuel out of a pump.

We are something!

With our quick tour complete, our new friends got ready to leave the moose. They stopped to marvel at our kitchen. The gentleman caught one last glimpse at our 37-inch blank flat screen.

"Fine! Fine! Fine!" they all chimed in unison.

We thanked them for visiting our country and wished them a safe journey. The English speaker in the group wished us safe travels and a good life.

With that, we filled the tank and chalked up our most memorable fuel stop ever. Without a doubt.

The rest of trip was uneventful, if you don't count the craziness of I-5, gusty winds, Bay Area traffic on a Saturday afternoon and navigating our way to an unfamiliar and tight suburban campground.

All in all, though, it was a very good day.