We checked out of our San Diego hotel on the 25th and caught an early Greyhound bus. We were meant to arrive in Merced at 6pm but unfortunately our bus was older than the hills and we'd gone barely 20 miles when it collapsed, wheezing, on the side of the freeway and point blank refused to move. Apparently the brakes had failed(!), which explained the horrible burning smell. It took just four minutes for a fire truck to arrive but four hours for a replacement bus to turn up, during which time we were offered no food or drink. Once we finally got to Merced it was dark and the whole town, including the cab drivers, seemed to be asleep so we walked the 2 miles to our hotel, sweating profusely and cursing our luck.

It got worse - when we got into the room it was obvious that the sheets hadn't been cleaned since the last occupant as my pillow had several hairs on it :-( and there were curly hairs in the shower!! And it looked like there were little black things in the stained bed! I scratched myself to sleep, convinced that I was being eaten alive by bed bugs. I freaked Jak out so much that he started scratching too.

Yesterday was much better. We woke up (bite-free thankfully, obviously we both have overactive imaginations) and jumped on a YARTS bus to Yosemite National Park where we spent several hours taking in the views - including those of Yosemite Falls, the highest waterfall in North America, and the Half Dome rock face. The park is beautiful but we both preferred Yellowstone because it feels less commercialised.

Today we woke up late and headed into town. It turns out we were mistaken in thinking Merced was sleeping the other night; it's in a sodding coma. The Italian restaurant our hotel owner recommended was closed down, as were half the shops and restaurants on Main Street. The milk in the supermarket was out of date. The local bus service stops at 6pm. We went to the cinema and there were just three other people watching the film with us ('Friends with Benefits', not a bad film!) We went to the mall and immediately wished we hadn't bothered. We're now back at the hotel eating microwaved mini pizzas and watching a beetle cross our ceiling for lack of anything better to do! Bring on San Francisco tomorrow :-)