Rocky Goes to Alaska

Day 108, 10 September 2015

Vacaville to Pescadero, CA 112 miles

We drove through some of the most congested city traffic yet into Oakland to see Barbara, an education consultant and a friend of Charli’s with whom she worked on several projects. We had a very nice lunch and caught up with our lives and families. Then we headed to the hills between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz to see our nephew, Steve, who lives very near Alice’s Restaurant. We didn’t see the restaurant, but we did spend some time with Steve, both at the RV for dinner and exploring Pescadero. Although a little foggy, the Pescadero State Beaches were nice, as was the lighthouse – said to be one of the most photographed in the country. We camped at the Costanoa Resort just off of Rt 1, at a very nice site with a view of the sunset.

Freeways are freeways

Beautiful drive along the coast

Pescadero Lighthouse

Al, Charli & Steve

Steve brought beautiful flowers!

Hanging with our nephew

Sunset from Costanoa

Day 109, 11 September 2015

Pescadero to Pismo Beach, CA 208 miles

We started with a nice breakfast in Pescadero with Steve, followed by some provisioning from Norm’s Market and Arcangeli Bakery and Grocery. Steve introduced us to the garlic and artichoke bread, which is absolutely awesome – think of a croissant with artichokes baked in it – really good. They also had raw local honey, vegetables, and a nice selection of wines. It was great spending time with Steve – don’t see him that much, since we live on opposite sides of the continent. (Steve – Charli just loved the flowers!) We headed south along the coast on Rt 1, also called the Cabrillo Highway. Parts of the highway, especially south of Big Sur, were as interesting as the Rim Road at Crater Lake, i.e., narrow, winding, and little to no guardrail with a steep cliff on our side. The scenery was fantastic, though, with cliffs, and cool beaches. The road was busy with lots of tourists, many international. Most of the vistas were so loaded with cars that we had to pass up some nice spots, since we could not find a place to park. We saw some Elephant Seals on the beach. Years ago, they were hunted almost out of extinction, but they came back, principally from a herd off the Baja coast. Between the hairy drive and the traffic, we were glad to find that our campground had a clean, 102-degree hot tub waiting for us.

Arcangeli's Grocery - with the awesome garlic and artichoke bread

Coast near Pescadero Beach

Coast from the Cabrillo Highway

Elephant seals

Day 110, 12 September 2015

Pismo Beach to Ventura to Anaheim, CA 226 miles

Highway 101 south was a pleasant drive, through vineyards and small coastal communities. We caught Ken and Yvonne at a classic car show in Ventura. We met these great folks through the Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium (NCOIC), where companies worked on ways to insure interoperable solutions to customer networking issues. The international participation took us to some interesting places, both physically and technically. Displayed at the car show were over 250 classics, taking several blocks of Main Street and some side streets. We enjoyed lunch at Dargan’s Irish Pub, where we found Kilkenny Cream Ale on tap – yum. Driving further south, the road, rather pleasant along the coast, eventually morphed into freeways, some as many as 12 lanes wide, as we approached Los Angeles. We camped at the Anaheim Resort RV Park less than a mile from Disneyland. John, another colleague from NCOIC, and a great human being, joined us for dinner and a Manhattan, which we discovered we both really enjoyed at our first NCOIC meeting. ITSALAWNCHAIR! Our campsite was right next to the pool and spa, so we had to take advantage of that. And Disney provided the fireworks as entertainment – pretty cool.

Ventura car show

Remember Barney Rubble?

Lunch with Ken and Yvonne

Al's Kilkenny Cream Ale

ITSALAWNCHAIR with John

Disney put on fireworks for us

Day 111, 13 September 2015

Anaheim to Fallbrook, CA 73 miles

We enjoyed a great breakfast with John and Sue at the Original House of Pancakes in Anaheim. John introduced me to a baked apple thing – don’t know what it’s called - but it was enough for the two of us to share, and it was delicious. So glad we had the opportunity to meet with them on our way through California. We expected the route south to be more freeways with a continuous metro area between LA and San Diego, but there is actually barren land between the two cities. We stopped at a vista point to catch a scenic, but it was too hazy to see San Clemente Island off the coast. We did see the Pacific Ocean, squirrels, sea gulls, and a guy selling jewelry. We found our way to Fallbrook, on the outskirts of San Diego. Bill and Lori are loopers – still in progress, doing it in spurts between family happenings. We met them in Leland, Michigan the day they started the Great Loop from Charlevoix. They were part of our flotilla down the river system. Their boat is now in Savannah, Georgia, waiting for the next spurt. They have a beautiful home (that they built themselves!) on over an acre of rolling hills. We camped in their driveway, enjoyed a wonderful dinner with their friends Bobby and Anetta, and soaked in their huge hot tub.

Great breakfast with John and Sue

Beach on Hwy 101

Bill's automated leveling system

ITSALAWNCHAIR! at Lori and Bill's

Nice setting for a yummy barbeque

Day 112-113, 14-15 September 2015

Temecula, CA

Bill and Lori took us to Temecula, a cool town nearby where Bill had worked as the Public Works Director. Temecula is an Indian word that means “sun shines through the mist.” There are over 30 wineries in the Temecula valley, now known as southern California’s wine country. We visited four of them. They all had something to make them stand out, like a view, a restaurant, a wedding facility, or a motorcycle collection. Reds are prevalent in this area, but they also had a nice selection of whites. We walked around the historic district in town, stopping to sample locally crafted brews, explore some shops, admire a bridge that Bill designed, and enjoy dinner at a nice restaurant. Very nice day – felt like we were on vacation. It rained the next day – only this time no one complained about it. The area is so parched from a drought that the showers were very welcome. However, it did dispel the myth that “it never rains in California.”