We crossed the California state line about 11 a.m. in the morning. The weather cleared up when we passed south of Mt. Shasta. The first stop in California (other then the agricultural inspection station) was Mt. Shasta City for fuel, lunch, and some photos in the snow.

The decision was made to stop somewhere just north of Sacramento and then drive on into the San Francisco Bay area the following day.

We continued south on I5 past Lake Shasta and on to the gently rolling terrain of the Sacramento Valley, a major agricultural region of the United States. Our drive took us past fields of ladino clover, cattle and sheep pastures, olive and nut groves, fields of rice, and grain elevators. Several national wildlife refuges are also in this area.

Our stopping point for the evening was Williams, CA in the heart of the rice growing region of California.

January 5th dawned clear and sunny. We encountered no dense fog, which is always a distinct possibility during winters in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys.

Our journey took us south on I-5 to I-505, past grape vineyards, cattle, and a variety of other agricultural products including the occasional orange grove. Traffic was relatively light until we reached I-80. Road conditions were horrendous in this area. Crumbling roadbeds, holes, grooved pavement were just a few of the problem encountered along I80, I680,I238, and I-880. Our destination was the Hampton Inn near the Oakland Coliseum and airport with a planned stay of 2 days.

The hotel shuttled us over to the BART station for a necessary trip into San Francisco. The Honduran consulate is located on Market St., near Powell, convenient to the BART station and the cable car turntable.

After taking care of some business at Bank of America at Powell St., we picked up our residency papers at the consulate. We also stopped at the El Salvadoran and Guatemalan consulates to take are of any paperwork needed for crossing though those countries on our way into Honduras.

We wanted to let Erin ride the cable cars. Unfortunately, on this trip to San Francisco, the cable cars were having mechanical problems and were not running.