June 23 2013--Sunday--Cambria, Cayucas, Elephant Seal Point, PIedras Blancas Light and San Simeon State Park camping

June 23, 2013, Sunday—167429 odometer reading

        Left San Luis Obispo this morning after helping Diane with a load of laundry and assuring her we would stop back by on our way home at the end of the trip. It was good to see her, but not good that she was feeling so poorly. Her back was a little better this morning, but her massage therapist was coming over to work on her to see if she couldn’t give her some relief. We found out later in the day that the massage had actually aggravated it more, and the therapist thought she might have dislocated a rib, so she was going to see her chiropractor on Monday.

        Heading north and thinking probably might be a Walmart parking lot for camping tonight to make up for the $$ spent at the motel last night. But it was very nice to lay back and watch some TV.  Would have been better had I not been upset all night trying to back track to where I had last used my missing wallet. But alas, when I got up in the morning and got dressed, I went out to the car and found it under the front seat where I had put it. So I was upset all night for nothing. Oh well, got things reorganized in the Teardrop and back seat a bit!

        Driving up Hwy 1 was so beautiful. It’s an entirely different California than Highway 101 at this

point. Often the two of them come together, but in this stretch, we are going through farm lands and small towns that are amazing.  Acres and acres of grapes, cabbages, celery,

strawberries, all different shades of green .This is the land that feeds California. The people are warm and friendly, but the radio stations are pitiful. The beautiful landscape and old barns along the route make up for it though.

        My Canon EOS is messed up—need help to rest it as can’t get theflash menu to turn off autoflash, plus doesn’t seem to be focusing correctly.  Went through all the menus and found nothing, although I tried changing things along the way. Need someone to reset it to all pre-set automatic factory settings at this point so I can try again, but alas, no camera shops to be found. Will have to rely on the Canon Power Shot til I get to Santa Cruz.

         We went through Pismo Beach, Oceano—where there was the greatest  old fashioned diner 

 with 2 cars hooked together (a 

                   

definite 

stop for Guy Fiero for Diners, Drive ins and Dives); Guadalupe with a cool mural map showing

cities and how far they were in miles; 

and Santa Maria, 

where we gassed up and had so many people looking at the Teardrop and smiling and asking questions. They all thought it was cool, young and old, and one oldster knew exactly what it was and when they were first made. It’s always fun when people stop to ask about it.

        At Shell Beach in Cayucos we stopped and for

the first time I had to put on my fleece jacket. We took Guayo down to the sea to play and run and 

Guayo running on beach with his ball

chase his ball and he was so  very appreciative. He’s such a sweet guy and  sure puts up with us keeping him in the car for hours on end on this trip.    

very cool house going to beach

tide pool with anemones

         








       Afterward, we went uptown and walked around…great little town. On the way out, we stopped at the Seaside Café and Bakery on Shell Beach Blvd. Great place—good coffee, friendly people, dog friendly…if it had been earlier and warmer, probably would have sat outside and kicked back for awhile. But need to head out and find a camp ground.

 
 


                              

        Down the road we go, and on the way we see a sign "Seal Viewing Today".  Seal Point, where elephant seals congregate with their strange noses,

rude noises, and unbelievable smell. The parking lot was full of on-lookers. Guayo didn't know quite what to make of these creatures, nor of their smell. There was a lot of air sniffing for sure--on his part. I tried my best not to breathe while I was

downwind.  There were mainly cows and adolescents, no big male elephant seals, but you could see by the antics of the adolescent males where they would be in a few more years of adding height  and blubber. Outrageous animals to be sure...and strong in more than smell.

      And we found our place to sit for the night...San Simeon Creek State Park.  Fees were $10 for sites without showers and with chemical toilets, or                                  $17.50 for sites with hot running showers and flush toilets...Roy made the decision without blinking for showers and flushing.  As we drove in, unhitched the Teardrop and pushed it into place, one of the ladies from a large group of campers across the road came running over seeing if we needed help. She was quite astounded with the ease in which we rolled it back into place and secured it with our brick…we’re getting good at this!!!

        The coast fog is already in and the marine layer much more dense and dark than in prior days, so everything is damp. But we were able to set up the Teardrop, set up the butane stove and make some Thai Curry Rice and warm up Jaipur Vegetables w/Paneer and Cashews for Roy and I had rice noodles with spring onions. We made hot coffee for him and a hot tea for me, and then proceeded to get everything washed and put away in order to keep the dampness from taking over.  I went to take my shower, and met a man, Floyd, who was biking down the coast. He had used up all the power in his charger and his phone was dead, so we let him plug into our inverter. Jason had brought up that we might just need one, so we had purchased one just 2 days before and this was the first test. It worked great, and in a couple hours he came back to pick it up. By that time we were inside the Teardrop for the night—we had put it into a

Guayo snuggled in for the night

zip bag on the table for him, and when he came back and gave us a holler we let him know. He then proceeded to look in through the windows to tell us how cozy we looked—it was okay as I was propped up reading with the lights on. So if I had any doubt that with the lights on people can see in, that question has been answered.