Day 7 and 8: Getting stuff organized for the roadtrip...so basically driving around town collecting camping gear from different people, getting a Big Sur campsite-book from the library...finding out that our limits were too low on our credit cards while attempting to rent a car  after finding out that renting would have been twice the price of the initial online suggestion (due to ludicrously high insurance costs). So an embarrassing moment later we were on the road with Dan's old car again, convincing ourselves that it was a blessing in the sky..since this roadtrip is still in the state of evolution, I won't be able to say if it will survive all the way up north.
Stayed in a seedy but spacious motel in Santa Maria on the way up to the Big Sur national park. The real American experience was complemented with a visit to Danny's, a breakfast chain where the waitresses are usually old and friendly in a granny-like-way and have a tendency of ending all their sentences with "honey" and the portions are as big as german words are long..oatmeal, bacon, overeasy eggs...what a start of the day!