June 24, 2013--Monday--Piedras Blancas Light, Cambria, Dog Park, Coffee Cambria with Swedish

June 24 2013—Monday—167581 odometer reading

        The people we shared the camp area with last night are a church group from the Sacramento area who are riding from Watsonville to Malibu on their bikes. They do this each year to raise money for a mission in Africa, where they have built a school, and residences, and are now working on raising funds to build a bridge of the local river that swells each rainy season and cuts the village off from everything else, including the school. They were a great group…positive, fun, lots of laughter and good will toward each other and others in the camp. They offered us dinner and dessert last night, but we needed to get set up and it was foggy and late, so we declined. This morning they offered us breakfast and coffee, and Roy was there in a jiffy for that coffee! While there he brought back that one of the women had on an apron he thought I out to have. It was black with large white letters on it that read “Stressed Backward Is Desserts”. 

        Down side from last night—Roy had an angina episode. We did the nitro routine and it quit with his 2^nd nitro, so that was good.  It was not inspiring, however, it never is, and I am now on alert for him doing anything too strenuous.  However, since it all worked out, we will proceed. Plus there was no phone service in this camp…cell phone service was not to be found. If the 2^nd nitro hadn’t worked, and had to give him a 3^rd, the protocol is to call 911 at that time. I guess I would have gone over to the ranger cabins and found someone to help, but glad I didn’t have to figure that one out.

        It’s extremely damp with heavy fog this morning. Guayo is cold and

Daddy and Guayo waking up

shivering and miserable, so I got out his sweater and put it on him, put an extra blanket on the back seat, and wiped off his paws and got him all

cuddled in. He was much better then.

        While Roy showered I set up the butane stove and made breakfast sandwich for him…no eggs so used bread, swiss cheese, prosciutto, and avocado…he was delighted as it was warm, good tasting and had plenty of protein to keep him through the a.m. By the time I finished, the fog had turned in to drizzle, so dishes were washed,

area cleaned up and packed in, and everything closed down to keep all from getting wet/damp and getting stinky, and we hooked up the Teardrop in records time…we’re getting good at this!

        So we are off to the Piedras Blancas lighthouse. It resides across from Hearst Caste on a large promontory. The fresnel lens has been removed and resides in a park in a special housing in Cambria. I want to explore Cambria also…was 6pm last night when we passed through and a Sunday, so nothing was open, plus needed to get to camp and set up before dark. So we went into Cambria first and found the lens and took a couple photos.

              

           
While I was doing that, Roy called the number listed for the Piedras Blancas tour, and when I got in the car he said we had to move as the tour was at 9:45 a.m. and was approximately 7 miles up the coast. It was 9:33!  But with some fancy driving, and the fact they were running a bit late, we made it.                   We did not stay for the entire 2 hour tour, as 
just didn’t want to be out in the cold damp rain, but the BLM representative we had gave a great talk about the history of light houses and about the differences in the main marine animals of the area.

skulls left to right...otter, harbor seal, female sea lion, male sea lion, elephant seal

I’m telling you, the difference in size and teeth size between the otter and the male elephant seal is outrageous!  Wouldn’t want either of them 

biting me, that’s for sure. 

sea otter skeleton

         We also learned that President Roosevelt was the first one to standardize all the lighthouses and he put them all under the auspices of the U.S. Coast Guard at that time. Since then, due to GPS and such, many of the lighthouses have been decommissioned and the Piedras Blancas light was turned over by the Coast Guard to the Bureau of Land Management to be taken care of and preserved. The cost of the tours helps pay for continual maintenance and repair of not only the light, but of the other buildings and the grounds around them. It was very educational.

Native vegetation after ice plant remova

Jane with our asst guide Joy

 Photos of the light are not so good due to again, the heavy fog, but at least we were able to get close to this one.

        After we left, we went back into Cambria. The fog had lifted somewhat there, and we found a parking space for the truck and Teardrop, and found Coffee Cambria where we sat with a chai for me and coffee and a scone for Roy. Guayo was there with us at our outside table, and was a happy guy. He loves coffee

houses…he gets nibbles plus lots of pets and attention from all the patrons!  While there, we met a couple, the husband of the pair was originally from the UK and the wife from Sweden. They now live in Sweden, and they had their youngest son with them. We struck up a conversation with them, and had a great time discussing all manner of things with them. It was such a joy to speak to the young man, who was knowledgeable of history, politics, geography, and technology, and could carry on a conversation with aplomb. So different than most of the American high schoolers we meet…never once did I hear “Whatever” or “Dude” in our conversations. 

        I explored some of the shops, finding a quilt shop and purchasing 2 very cute patterns, and a t-shirt shop where I picked up a t-shirt on sale with Cambria on it.  We headed out of town, but at the end of town found the J & J Helling Dog Park and stopped to give Guayo a good run for his money and let him stretch his legs for awhile. He was very appreciative, and settled back in for the next leg of the journey afterward. We met another couple there with their dog Lucky, thus named as he was a rescue dog. A fine black lab who chased his ball and vaulted into the air to catch it…quite a spectacle.  
        To see all the photos taken at Cambria, go to my Shutterfly Album at                 http://www.shutterfly.com/lightbox/view.sfly?fid=d009b2a15581d2b66cbbd47cbb382743

        On our way North, we came across a group of cars on the East side of the road. There were typical golden rolling California hills with cows grazing, but among them were zebras!  It was such a silly thing to see, everyone was entranced and taking photos 

                

        
        On through Big Sur…such a beautiful area and such magnificent scenes of the ocean, but all blocked out by fog today. Summer on the coast, such as it is.

        We traveled north, checking camp grounds—state and private—along the coast with varying luck. Either no room at the campgrounds, or no room to turn around the Teardrop, or way too expensive, or what we thought we campgrounds with trailer/camping facilities were not. We were tired, it had been a long day, and the more rejection we found, the more frustration. So we decided to go to Monterey.  Again, couldn’t find the campgrounds we were told existed, did numerous u-turns and found ourselves lost yet again. Finally we got onto the right path, found a Motel 6, and went inside to check in. Motel 6 always take dogs.,  However, tonight this Motel 6 had a problem…their laundry facilities were in trouble and therefore they couldn’t rent out any rooms. Huh?  You can’t send the laundry to the laundrymat with an employee?  Or call a linen service to bring in fresh sheets, towels, and blankets?  Wouldn’t that be cheaper than not being able to rent out rooms and losing revenue?  Oh well.  SO down the street we went to Travelodge, and I was so tired and sick of wondering where we were, trying to find a place to stay, Roy being upset about directions not working, I checked in and checked in for 2 nights!  There was parking for the Teardrop, Guayo was welcome, it was not great accommodations, but better than sleeping in the car, and had wi-fi and electricity and a desk so I could work on the blog…as usual, so far behind it was ridiculous.

        We called Ditsler to let him know we were there, and made arrangements to meet in Carmel the next evening for dinner at Vesuvio, an Italian restaurant. We unpacked the Teardrop and truck for the things we needed, took showers, I set up the computers, and we went down to the attached restaurant for dinner…9:45pm!  Oh Sushi wasn’t fabulous but it was open, they were kind and served us, and it filled our tummies.  Looking forward to being able to sit and rest a couple of days, and there’s free breakfast in the mornings!