Pismo SB
Sunday morning is a great day to shower in super hot water when it is 44F. The shower house is very modern, 50’ from our site, so it is a pleasure! $1 gets you two tokens; each token gets you three minutes of water.
We had a second snafu trying to find a church online; we headed for St Francis of Assisi for 9:30 Mass, but that one was locked up with no one around. St. Patrick’s was in nearby Arroyo Grande, but the next Mass was at 10:30. That gave us time to find a car wash; the truck looks like a road warrior. I’ve washed it twice recently but highway driving in the rain quickly mitigates that. So, maybe this wash will last awhile!
St. Pat’s had a visiting priest; afterward, the person I asked about him did not know him either. He was a big, avuncular man who had a great sense of humor. He was advising the youngsters there to be good. He told the story of his nephew receiving an email from Santa Claus reminding him to be good or else he might get a box of batteries with a note saying, “Toys not included!” He punctuated the service with good natured humor and a sermon centered on remembering that the light of the Creator was inside each of us whether we recognize it or not. In times of trouble, this light is always there to guide us.
That afternoon, we ventured into the city of Pismo Beach to Scotty’s Sports Bar to watch Gonzaga vs Tennessee. My team is 10-0 for the first time ever having vanquished the likes of San Diego State, Arizona, Washington, Florida, and Iowa State. Luckily, there was on TV no-one was watching and I coerced the barkeep to switch to ESPN2. The refs really did their best to rally the home team, closing the lead from 18 points to 4 with 5 minutes left. Four Zags had 4 fouls making them a bit tight. In the end, the Bulldogs won by 10, moving them to a #7 ranking in the USA. Go Zags!
Later, we went for a bike ride to explore another camping loop in this campground. On a hunch, I pedaled past an “authorized vehicles only” sign to the where some of the rangers live, machinery and vehicles are stored. That area had a gate opening onto Hwy 1 and just across the road was the gate for the county campground to which we will move after Christmas. Our site was picked to be way back away from the rest of the crowd. Hopefully, we’ll get some sleep New Year’s Eve by being back there. I’ll let you know! The camp is long and thin with sites on the west backing up to Hwy 1 and on the east to a railroad track. There is a small boulevard between the two. The road isn’t that heavily travelled and at night not much at all. But, the Amtrak roars up and down SF to LA. We can hear that here; I am sure we’ll hear it there!