Month: December 2016

Coastal Dunes RV

Penny went to the post office and the library while I tried to get these journals online. We did take a three mile bike ride through the park.

Coastal Dunes RV Park (CDRV), 4 mile jump

After showers and a decadent pumpkin pie, banana, and yogurt dish, we broke camp. But, we took time to go for a 30 minute ride on our bikes before packing them in the truck and departing.

We moved about 2 blocks to a new campground, this one a SLO county facility. We checked out of PSB at 11:35AM, drove to a tire shop where we had a trailer tire replaced for $75. It was a small latino shop, Figueroas. Alonzo, the owner, got us in and out in 30 minutes. He even asked me what price he quoted me on the phone! A very satisfying experience!

Once again, we showed up early to a new campground, but we were able to move in. It’s a good way to stretch our camping fees a bit. This CDRV park is a long strip of ground (.9 mile) bounded on one side by Amtrak RR tracks and on the other by HWY 1. So, we expect it to be a bit noisy especially during the “rush” hours. The train goes by six times a day; LA to SF and back. In some areas like ours, there are back-in sites, so one road with RVs backed up to each fence. In other areas, the road splits to each fence line with long pull through sites in between.

There are showers (no fee), laundry facilities and full hookups for $46. Cell phone service and internet connection are very good. I tinkered around on the computer while Penny napped. Then we traded places. That Christmas dinner and long walk yesterday must have tuckered us out!

Penny is so amazing. She made gravy out of last night’s drippings, added mushrooms, and some kind of magic to present these leftovers as a wonderful entree along with fresh broccoli, cauliflower and mashed taters. That resulted in a nice walk through half of the campground to aid our digestion. It’s going to get cold tonight; the clear skies are full of twinkling stars. A cup of cocoa each and a couple brownies for me warmed us up. NPR was playing Beethoven’s Ninth, my favorite!

Good night!

Pismo SB Christmas Day

Oh boy! Another Christmas and it seems like the Prince of Peace is needed more than ever. The sermon today at St. Patrick’s was about working for peace in our own hearts, in our families and in our communities. So many people are struggling, angry, uninformed, in need of healing. Who will do the healing? Once we can find peace in our own hearts then we can pass it on through our smile, our greeting, our welcome. our concern, our helping hands.

Penny and I took a long walk out on Pismo Beach, I’d say about three miles. Pismo Beach is the only drivable beach in California; there are all kinds of vehicles out there. Many are pulling their trailers down to the camping area. This beach is sloped gradually into the water and rarely does the water get up to the shore. The beach must have been 150’ wide as we walked along the hard packed sand. There is a 15 MPH sign posted and police do patrol there.

Returning home, we snacked on chips and sals, cheese and crackers and a beer. The Christmas music was Handel’s Messiah and The Chieftains’ Bells of Dublin. We planned our dinner and wrote postcards before getting serious in the kitchen. Dinner was marvelous: beef roast, mashed sweet/white potatoes, Brussel sprouts, tossed green salad, brownies and pumpkin pie. That was followed by heartfelt conversation and a spot of wine.

Merry Christmas!

Pismo SB Christmas Eve

After hitting the showers early this morning we drank some tea and ate breakfast to Christmas music. But, it’s not the same without snow. And, it’s hard not being with family for the festive gatherings. This is the life we chose, to be snow birds. The adventure is worth the loneliness on the holidays; just know we miss you!

We went to see the butterflies again today; we wanted to hear the docent give her presentation at 11AM. We were too late last time. It was very informative; we learned a lot.

After lunch, we did some more repairs on the Ship. I was able to pull the stair step support back into its original position by pulling on it with ropes tied around the trailer hitch on the truck and through an eyebolt I mounted on the support. It took three eyebolts; the eyes pulled apart there was so much resistance. Then the bottom of a drawer in a kitchen cabinet failed due to the weight in it bouncing up and down on the highway. We cut some C channel we took out of a dumpster way back in Grand Rapids to reinforce the bottom and glued a wooden strip in place; it should be good to go now.

More Christmas music. Penny made pumpkin pie and we lit the Christmas lights hanging on our awning. Some calls to friends and family, Penny made beet pear salad and I made quesadillas for supper. It is all good!

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Holidays!

Pismo SB

Listening to Acoustic Cafe this morning, it was shocking to hear how many singer songwriters passed on this year. The entire two hours were devoted to songs of their legacy: Leonard Cohen, Prince, Guy Clark, Sharon Jones, Glen Frey, George Martin (producer), Leon Russell, Merle Haggard, Paul Kantner, David Bowie, to name a few.

Hoping to return to see the butterflies, I wimped out because of the cloudy, rainy weather. Maybe the filtered sunlight would have made for better photos than the harsh sunlight yesterday. Anyway, we will be here for 10 more days and it’s only a mile away.

I was envisioning a day trapped inside with a book while baking brownies. Check!

Penny was able to spend some time again with her friend, Katheryn. Then, she penned some personal notes to friends and family. The rain picked up in intensity as the afternoon progressed and now there is water everywhere, lakes, not puddles!! We stayed dry inside and enjoyed smoked salmon (from the Quileutes) with cheese and crackers for a lunch snack and had shrimp, rice and veggies for dinner. The brownies were great!

Pismo SB

This day was another like yesterday except most of the activity was around the Companion Ship. We had a list of things to do, mostly little tweaks to the trailer itself such as greasing the stabilizing jacks, adjusting the H2O heater pilot, straightening the stair step support, backing up the computer, etc. Penny matted and framed her pencil drawing of the grand daughters and constructed a mailing box for it. Off to the post office we went, then stopped at the north park to dump our waste water, and stopped to see the Monarch Butterfly clusters in another section of PSB.

Believe It or not these butterflies travel from as far away a Canada flying 100-200 miles per day at 10,000 foot altitudes to winter over in the eucalyptus and cypress trees of this area. Not all groves, select ones are repeatedly chosen for their winter homes. These monarchs have not been here before; they are four generations removed from the previous visitors. The spring and summer generations may live 2 to 6 weeks; the migrating generation can live up to 8 months. Remember, they start as eggs, become larva, then pupa before becoming an adult. And, they do not travel in a mass migration! Whoever coded that DNA was a genius!

It is phenomenal to see thousands of them clustered together in groups; they could be easily mistaken for leaves. A closer look reveals them and they form a mosaic of color quite extraordinary; the underside of their wings are white. Another phantasmagorically wonderful creation threatened by extinction; recent counts show a 90% drop from counts done 25 years ago! Sad!

Penny went for a walk with a woman we met when we first arrived, Katheryn. She is from Illinois, not far from where I grew up. She is traveling alone but has six pet rabbits with her in her RV. They went for a long walk on the beach and watched the sunset. Katheryn will be moving to another campground tomorrow, but this marks one of the few times we have met folks on the road and exchanged contact information. This is good, to reach out to our fellow travelers. Mike and Eileen, who we met last year in Mississippi still communicate with us.

Pismo SB

A day for the mundane tasks of life: groceries, propane, diesel, craft store, and laundry. It’s easy to be frustrated and impatient with such “drudgery”, but one must consider how lucky they are to simply be alive, to afford such things and to be given the opportunity to explore this wonderful world. On the unfamiliar road everything is is a puzzle to solve. We are really blessed; everyday is an adventure!

Pismo SB

Penny worked on sketches of her grand daughters and I finally caught up on this writing. Then I took a shower and got a haircut. All right, all right, all right! Penny does it just right.

There was a International Space Station flyover at 5:37PM, so we bundled up and hiked over the darkening dunes to get a good look on a cloudless night. This was unusual in that it was moving SSE. Looking out at the Pacific, it appeared forward of our right, came right over our heads and disappeared to our left and a bit behind us. Our vantage from the top of the beachside dune was excellent and lasted about seven minutes. The orbit was just after sundown so the ISS was illuminated longer before it entered the earth’s shadow. We enjoy watching that little speck streak across the sky considering it a monument to human achievement and cooperation.

The flashlight was a monument to our forethought; it would have been very difficult to navigate the trail without it. Hot cocoa and the furnace were just the ticket. These rituals we enjoy continue to strengthen our bond. Friday 6AM Acoustic Cafe from WYCE in Grand Rapids is another treasured ritual.

Pismo SB

Waking up with big plans to accomplish a lot this day quickly disintegrated into frustration. Both of us had that feeling. There is no dump station here, so we had to lift our portable waste tank up into the back of the truck to haul it to a campground about a mile away. Normally, I could tow it behind the truck, but I have to go very slow, too slow for Hwy 1. It turned out not so bad; the two of us managed to hoist it off the ground. If we had waited another day, no way. We would have to dump one holding tank, drive, dump, then the other, drive dump. We will do every other day for the rest of this week.

And, the reason we chose this park is that Penny’s family had a reunion here about ten years ago and she did not recognize this south part of the park. So, she hoped that the north park would look familiar to her. We drove through the campground and she vaguely recognized one part. Vegetation can change a lot in ten years.

Arriving back at the Ship, I made the unfortunate choice to work on camping reservations in the first of the year. Hoping to find national campgrounds where we could pay less for a few days, I found only first come, first serve or parks operated by the counties at the going rate, i.e., not accepting our senior pass giving us 50% off. Didn’t really accomplish much.

After lunch, we took a bike ride through the small community of shops and residences near the park entrance. We found a state park kiosk where our road meets the beach. Passes and permits for vehicle entry are sold there. I am not taking my two wheel drive out there!

We then unfurled our awning, first time in along time. I dug out the Christmas lights and strung them along the awning reel. Soon, we had “The Bells of Dublin” by the Chieftains cranked on the Sony, and our spirits lifted!