Lewis & Clark and Beyond

October 2, Day 45

We drove back north and spent the day in Monterey doing the tourist bit. We toured Fisherman’s Warf, Cannery Row, and the Maritime Museum. Will toured the Aquarium, but I chose to ‘take a pass’ on that. We are at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park again tonight. Tomorrow, we continue heading south.

October 3, Day 46

Today was a fantastic day as far as scenery and experiences. We traveled on Rte 1 through the Big Sur section of the coast. The Santa Lucia Range of mountains extends right to the Pacific with the highway carved into the side generally about a hundred feet above sea level creating some of the most impressive scenery I have seen. There were a lot of ‘turn offs’ to view the scenery and we took full advantage of them. The Big Sur stretch of the highway is protected from development, so the scenery is not spoiled. The undeveloped nature of the area does have a down side. Will forgot to fill-up her gas tank before we left, so was ‘fleeced’ at one of the few stations by having to pay $4.79 a gallon! At one of the earlier view points we took a hike under the adjacent concrete arch bridge down to the shore where there was a lot of sea kept washed ashore. They look like some kind of alien creature. Some of the stems were 10 feet long and the consistency of a rubber hose. They have a round float bladder at the top to keep the foliage on the surface and the remaining 10+ hangs in the water below. Very eerie looking! At another viewpoints after we had left the mountains, we were lucky to view a colony of elephant seals lounging on the beach. I say lucky because we stopped and because they are only there at certain months of the year. According to the volunteer docents who serves the area, the colony appeared in the 90’s with a few members and has grown in size since becoming protected. Those we observed were juveniles, but were by not means small. They will leave in November/December when the mature adults begin arriving. A short distance from this seal beach is the Hurst Castle. We took one of the tours and it was very well done. The construction of the castle and surrounding structures began in 1919 and took 18 years to complete at a cost of $10million (1919) dollars. It is built in the Mediterranean style and has a great many art objects incorporated into the structure such as columns, friezes, tapestries, woodwork, and statuary. The art work was really more impressive than the buildings which are extensive and very well done. The landscaping is extensive as well with many ornamental trees and flowering shrubs. We are parked for the night at Pismo State Beach. The park is clean and the beach is really nice being at least 100 yards wide with very fine light colored sand. We got our first pictures of a Pacific sunset.

October 4, Day 47

We got a late start today as we do not plan to travel very many miles. We had a ‘real’ breakfast, did laundry, and got fuel before hitting the road. We mostly traveled on Rte 101, but when we exited on to Rte 1 it ran right along the coast. There were many RVs parked at the first State Beach we encountered watching the surfers. We would have joined them, but there was no room. We did park a little further down the highway on the coast for lunch, but the beach was not as nice and there were no surfers. We are parked for the night at McGrath State Beach. The further south we travel, the more expensive the camping. This park is $5 more than those further north and offers the same amenities. We plan to take off very early to try to avoid the traffic through the Los Angles area. We rendezvous with Brent some time tomorrow at another State Beach close to camp Pendleton.

October 5, Day 48

We rolled out in the wee hours of the morning to make the run through Los Angles and environs before the rush of traffic. I was supposed to get up at 1:00 a.m., but I guess I didn’t set the alarm correctly because Will had to wake me. We still hit the road at 2:00 a.m. as planned. After getting turned around in Ventura, we finally got back on Rte 101 and made the trip without any more problems. I cannot imagine navigating those freeways in an RV with six lanes of traffic. It would not be so bad if you could stay in one lane and keep going, but lanes keep pealing off and adding, so there was a lot of lane changes. We stopped for gas and a short nap at San Juan Capistrano and ended up at San Onofre State Beach where we hung out for the day. I read some of the references for our Rte 66 trip leg and did some much needed cleaning. Brent got a an ‘early quit’, and met us at the beach, and escorted us to Camp Pendleton Marine Base where we will be camping for the next few days. While we have stayed at a number of State Beaches in California and Oregon, this is the first time we have actually been on the beach itself. At the other locations, we have always been a few hundred yards with some dunes separating us from the Pacific. Here, we are in the sand right on the beach, and with full hook-up! Brent took us to the commissary to pick up some supplies. Wow, are the prices great! Brent left us to get set-up only to returned after dark with Melissa and the Sam, Lilly, and Sam’s friend Josiah along with Brent’s military friend Brad. We had a camp fire and burned some steaks and veggies with the requisite ‘some-mores‘ to follow. Sam & Lilly stayed the night after moving in all of their gear and beach paraphernalia. While the rig has acidulations to sleep three kids and an adult, the ‘living space’ is a little tight. The kids were good about going to bed. I let them ‘get silly’ for a while and then called ‘lights out.

October 6, Day 49

After breakfast, the kids headed for the beach. They swam and body surfed for about three hours and it was time for peanut butter and jelly. A loaf of bread and jar of peanut butter later, Brent arrived to take the kids to a birthday party. I crashed taking a nice long afternoon nap. Brent and family returned at dinner time with ribs and corn. Before dinner, Brent and the kids went swimming. The ribs and corn were cooked on the grill and, of course, followed with another round of ‘some-mores’. The kids spent the night again.

October 7, Day 50

After a breakfast of bacon and eggs, the kids were in the water again for a couple of hours before we had a lunch. We loaded all of the gear into Will’s truck and drove to Brent & Melissa’s house where we are hanging out checking email. Sam & Lilly are reluctantly doing their homework..