Iceland, 1: Arrival And First Day

After an uneventful flight from Boston, Icelandair landed us in Keflavik bright and early the morning of June 17th. The plane, a 757, was full, and, I surmised, the invasion of Iceland had begun. We had already done our passenger locator forms and registered for the sinus excavation, so everything from luggage through immigration and customs went smoothly. For the COVID test we had to proceed to another building, outside, and there we underwent the double shock of the prolonged Icelandic nose jab ("Viking up, man!" I could hear the technician thinking) and the cold, wet Icelandic dawn wind. Well, my watch said it was dawn. In eleven days we never saw darkness; nor failed to use eyeshades while trying to sleep. 

All this went so quickly we soon realized our pre-arranged shuttle to the camper rental place would not arrive for another hour and a half. We realized this standing out in the aforementioned cold, damp Icelandic wind, having been evicted from the testing site and told we could not go to any public place until they texted us negative test results. We waited the better part of three minutes before deciding to head indoors to the main terminal arrivals hall, call the camper rental place, have a hot drink, and there await the shuttle. Everyone else on our flight was doing the same thing so we figured it was morally defensible. 

The shuttle arrived after a bit, picking us and another couple up to take us to Lava car and camper rentals, one of many such firms near Keflavik. We had chosen Lava because of the floorplan of the camper, which permitted cooking and eating inside (at the expense of bed size), and the availability of the very small but affordable Nissan NV200 van. Our plan was to tour Iceland these eleven days, camping, doing the circumnavigational Ring Road, led by friend and fellow guide Rickie Stevie. Following Rick Steves' Iceland was among the best decisions of the trip, even if done anti-clockwise and therefore anti-book-wise. For the places he does, he's the best.

We completed the paperwork, threw our luggage aboard the tiny van, began to move in, and then were told the vehicle needed a new set of tires. Indeed, it did, and this required another hour of waiting, watching others check in and drive off. Our difficulties with Lava had begun. And continue. With new tires, we too eventually drove off, to a nearby shopping area for provisions to get us through the next day or so. Then we drove back to Lava to find out how to put the vehicle in reverse. (No instructions of any sort were provided, although the staff were able to demonstrate a variety of procedures). While this demonstration was underway, the driver-side front tire, brand-new, went dead flat, and occasioned another change and another wait. 

By this time, some minor (by our standards) jet-lag had begun to set it, and we resolved to find a campground and hunker down, finishing the move-in, having dinner, and crashing. The closest campground was but a few miles away at Sandgeroi, at the tip end of peninsula, and we found it with relative ease and settled in. Thus ended our first day in Iceland.

Thus attired, we had the whole row to ourselves on the
initial leg from San Jose to Chicago; not so on the
subsequent legs from Chicago to DC and DC to Boston
and Boston to Reykjavik

International departures, Logan

Our plane to Keflavik

Over the North Atlantic

On approach, over Iceland (note crater)

At first we thought OMG it's the volcano; but no,
it's only the Blue Lagoon, one of Iceland's many
national jokes; more anon, next visit

There's the volcano; we'd be visiting the lava flow next day

Our first of, count 'em, three Lava campers

I'll be writing to Trustpilot, TripAdvisor, et al., soon

Our first encampment, Sandgeroi, June 17th

Settling in to dinner

Trying to look brave

Midway Interlude

We left San Jose early the morning of June 14th and stopped in Chicago en route to Washington, DC. In DC we'd spend a day and a half in final preparations and visiting with daughter Rachel and her husband Will, before catching at Icelandair flight to Boston and then onward to Reykjavik.

The stop in Chicago was notable in that, next to our gate, in the now-sparse international terminal, was a large and very good exhibit on the Battle of Midway, June 4-6, 1942, for which the airport was named. I suspect few people know this. I suspect even fewer know of the origin of O'Hare airport's name, Lt. Commander Edward "Butch" O'Hare, who, in February, 1942, shot down five Japanese bombers before they could attack the carrier Lexington. The Midway exhibit is excellent, hits all the high points of a complex and compelling story, and features a real Douglas Dauntless dive bomber, which did the bulk of the damage at Midway, sinking all four Japanese carriers. 

Torpedo Squadron Eight, from the carrier Hornet, all fifteen planes
shot down, one survivor; the other two torpedo squadrons fared
similarly, but their sacrifice drew the Japanese defenders to low 
altitude, allowing the dive bombers to do their work; it wasn't
planned that way

Le Legion D'Honneur Et Les Jardins De Gilroy

Because of the change in plans and some pre-existing reservations, our time in Menlo Park was short. We arrived June 8th and departed June 14th, with much reorganizing, packing, planning, etc., done. Nonetheless we enjoyed a variety of outings with Rebecca and family, the Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco, a nice IMAX film in San Jose, and a day and overnight with Penelope at Gilroy Gardens.

San Francisco's Legion of Honor Museum

What attracted us was an exhibition of artifacts from Pompeii;
some we'd seen before, some definitely not; here, foodstuffs

An old friend from the National Archaeological
Museum in Naples

Love that Roman glass

Definitely new to us: most of the "bodies" you seen from Pompeii
are really "bodies in negative," so to speak...cavities in the ash
later filled it as a mold; this woman's body never decayed, for
whatever reason, and was preserved intact 

From the larger collection, Bouguereau's The
Broken Pitcher, 1891

And Alma-Tadema's A Coign of Vantage, 1895

Views from the museum grounds

Ruins of Sutro Baths

California Beach

With Penelope at Les Jardins de Gilroy

She now definitely of the age that enjoys wild rides

She's up there somewhere; Vicki and I are not

Whizzing by; ditto

Iceland Gambit

The story goes back to August 2019, at least. By then we had resolved to sell Le Duc, our European camper (we did) and change our mode of travel to apartments and B&Bs and hotels and such. Mostly cities. The spring of 2020 was to have been London and the fall Berlin/Prague/Vienna and such. But then the plague came along, and after a couple months in southeast Asia, we got back to the States, to live in California in our American camper. By the winter of 2021, vaccines were being rolled out, we got ours, and we felt optimistic enough to book an apartment in London for the late spring/early summer. Through the first half of 2021 we kept close watch on the UK's COVID and immigration policies, hoping that Boris and company would eventually recognize the efficacy of vaccines or the progress made in the US, converting it from amber to green status. And we kept moving the rental dates on the apartment as those hopes rose and fell. The early June British announcements were disappointing, again, but by then Iceland had announced that it was open to any fully vaccinated individuals. And Britland had already granted Iceland green status. Stringing those two pearls together, we arrived at our Iceland Gambit. Get to Iceland, spend 10+ days there (getting tested on arrival but not having to quarantine), then, having gotten tested again, on departure, flying to London, getting tested once more, on arrival, and then being free to roam. Our roaming would include a trip to Edinburgh to collect personal items we had left in Le Duc, a bit more touring in the South and West, and then our long-awaited London apartment. By June 4th, the decision was taken, and Vicki had made all the flight, rental, hotel, car, testing, and other arrangements.

Spoiler: it all worked, as planned, though not without a few panic-inducing twists and turns and surprises and a good bit of stress. Plus we got to see Iceland.

Hiking on Geldingadalsgos; yes, that's lava 20 feet away

End Of Trip

We followed the shallow but scenic Umpqua river most of the way to Sutherlin and the Escapee RV park there...among the nicer ones, and especially so for being near the town. But we had other things on our minds: Le Sport had begun producing billows of black smoke under load, and, Iceland, a green country according to Boristan*, had announced it would admit anyone who had had two COVID-19 vaccinations. While I pondered the automotive issues, Vicki researched the transportation and immigration issues, coming up with what I shall call the Iceland Gambit, to be described in a subsequent post. The decisions taken at Sutherlin meant that our trip was no longer leisurely: we had to get back to Menlo ASAP, in order to attend to the automotive issues but also to reorganize and pack for a five month trip to Europe. Via Iceland. 

Timber Valley SKP RV park in Sutherlin

Our boondocking encampment

Nice place but for the clear-cuts

On down the road, at a national forest campground near Shasta;
deserted in view of the drought and heat

Outside a parts store in Corning, CA; the turbo has stopped

entirely and maintaining 60mph in the hills is a struggle; here

I am cleaning the mass air flow sensor...to little avail; we made

it to Menlo Park, sans turbo, but, in view of other priorities, 

did nothing further with Le Sport than put it in storage; the EGR,

turbo, and other matters to be dealt with in November...

53rd wedding anniversary dinner in the camper; leftovers from
a Famous Dave's lunch in Union City; we were in a hurry (note
candle, napkins, and matches from Le Petite Auberge, our 25th,
in Paris)

Fortunately, Rebecca had gotten us some nice desserts from Alexander's 

*The UK, under then-PM Boris Johnson

Reedsport Sculpture

We wanted to sample the SKP RV park in Sutherlin, so--also tiring of the foggy coastal scenes--we turned inland at Reedsport. Passing through the town we noticed chainsaw sculpture adorning the streets and decided to investigate.

Apparently they paint their sculpture here, like the
Ancients

All this led to Ellie's Sculpture Gallery

Adept at portraiture as well as other things

Siamese twin dragons?

I expect Michaelangelo's or Bernini's shops and yards looked
pretty much like this; except in marble

Maybe not

How many chainsaws can you count?

Leftovers/spare parts; something Michaelangelo never enjoyed

Piece de resistance...all sculpture...