Living La Vida Loca

Never let it be said that Andrew and I let grass grow under our feet. Certainly the pandemic clipped our flying wings along with millions of other people, but we managed to do some exploring over the last year through home exchanges and a smattering of COVID-safe Airbnbs. We’d been toying with the idea of a road trip for a while, and the hype of “van life” that has appealed to remote workers with nomadic tendencies peaked our interest as something to we’d consider for a short term trial – not a permanent life choice. So, we rented a campervan. For two weeks. And so began the test of living in a sardine can tricked out with a king sized bed – we may see lots of beautiful sunsets… but will our 36 year-long marriage survive???

Hitting the Road

Our home on wheels is a 22.5 foot long van that has been reconfigured to include the aforementioned substantive (and actually quite comfortable) king bed, a pint sized bathroom that doubles as a shower (don’t ask…we so far have avoided trying that out – hey, it’s only our third night), a mini kitchen set up that we are also likely to avoid using, a fridge about the size of a dorm room type, very comfortable front seats, and enough storage for our streamlined gear and Donovan’s “go bag”.  No complaints other than I have to climb over Andrew to get to bathroom in the middle of the night.  I’ll leave that right there.

We got a good walkthrough of van use from its lovely owner, Ginger, and she was sharp to insist that we video her instructions as we’d likely forget many key details and she wanted to avoid multiple calls for help.  Indeed, that video has already helped us find the extra hoses to hook up to fresh water, reminded us how to use the generator, and point out where the battery indicator is.  Ah, technology!

Our first stop was LA to see Ari and the grand-girls.  Being the gallant guy he is, Andrew elected to drive first, and I have to admit that was just fine.  I have driven U-Hauls about this size but it has never been something I look forward to.  We learned quickly that going the actual speed limit was the right pace, even as crazy drivers zipped passed us at 80+ miles an hour, the usual for Del Mar to LA trips.  I was a little disappointed that Ava, our nearly three year-old granddaughter, was completely underwhelmed to tour “Bubbe and Papa’s sleeper van” – I really had hoped she’d think it was cool.  Maybe when she’s 10…Onward!

We headed to Santa Barbara and Montecito and were treated to a lovely dinner at the home of a business associate and her husband – both of whom we hold dear.  Trust me, I have no expectation that the food on the rest of our trip will come close to the delicious home-made feast we had.  Thank you, Andrea and Richard, for your hospitality and spoiling us from the get-go!  It was made very clear by our dear friends that trying to do stealth parking overnight in Montecito was a no-go.  Bad nighttime encounters with the local police and irate neighbors were not things we look forward to so – at Richard’s excellent suggestion – we found a lovely street in the lowlands of Goleta.  We made up the bed at a gas station (lights!) and quietly pulled into the dark street we’d pick out.  Not a stir was heard, not even a mouse… and a good night’s sleep was had by all.

Day two our target was San Luis Obispo to visit with another dear friend, Jacqui, who lives in a beautiful gated community in the hills above Avila Beach.  Jacqui was the consummate host – a deluxe parking space in her driveway, her magnificent pup, Rudy, loving and accepting of Donovan as a temporary playmate, a REAL shower,  a lovely dinner at one of Jacqui’s favorite cafes, a driving tour of the beach close by, a Nespresso machine…I could go on.  But best of all was the chance to reconnect with a wonderful friend and have some uninterrupted time catching up.  Night two sleep was even better than the first.  So far, so good.

Morro Bay – we got a spot!!!

Our next stop was supposed to be Cambria, but as Andrew did his research on potential places to park and sleep it became clear that 1. Scenic spots along the water are – surprise – very popular;  2.  Local authorities have caught on – as have residents – that campervans are cool and like to act like they actually live there, and they make overnight parking in residential areas verboten; and 3. The camp sites and RV parks are pretty darned full in the summer. What to do?  We stopped in Morro Bay which happens to be a very scenic little area with a humongous natural wonder of a rock sitting out in a tranquil bay. There is a beautiful golf course there alongside a very popular campground.  Fortunately there were a couple of spots open here and the Cambria site was totally full – so here we stayed.  It turned out to not only be incredibly scenic, but the other guests, many of whom are “old hands” at this stuff, were really helpful when we had to do the dirty work of emptying “grey water” and “black water”  (sewage from the campervan), and instructing us on how to “hook up” to city water and electricity.  We took a long walk along the water, saw tons of local wild birds nesting in a preserve (it’s baby bird season), and had a very serene evening as newly-minted campervan wanderers.

On to Cambria and Big Sur

We had a most excellent night’s sleep in Morro Bay, and we got to try out the showers at the campsite. Big whoop, right?  Well, skeptic that I am – having experienced camping showers in my youth and now being much more of a “no thank you, I will wait for the spa treatment” kinda gal – it was a little bit of an internal debate for me…should I just deal with the prospect of no shower for three days or chance using a token to get some (maybe) hot water? Went for it, and inside a really primitive cell block was nice hot, hot water… not a half-bad experience at that.  I do recall thinking that “Mom would NEVER do this…” – but then I’ve done many crazy things my Mom (bless her heart) wouldn’t do. We found a great little coffee shop in downtown Morro Bay and were able with some tech fiddling do a few business calls, then headed north to Cambria and beyond.

We’d heard from family and friends how quaint Cambria is so we stopped, looked around, found no intriguing salt and pepper shakers (I collect them) in the antique mall, and moved on.  We’d been told that the prime campground in Big Sur would for sure be full, but decided to give it a shot anyway – maybe luck would strike twice.  The drive to Big Sur was as beautiful as it was winding – I really appreciated Andrew being willing to drive it. 

There are many friends who, when we told them we hadn’t made any campground reservations, rolled their eyes and said “good luuuuck!” …but Andrew and I agreed that in the worst case we’d end up in a cheap hotel and have a parking space for the van.  The foolhardy people we are, we stopped at the entrance to the Big Sur campground, looking wistfully at the ranger: “Any chance you had a cancellation?” (HOLDING OUR BREATH)…”Well, we actually have had a few!  Let me set you up for the night!”  Score!!! The entrance into the huge, meandering park ( Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park) is a canopy of redwoods and other towering evergreens.  There’s a stream running through the main part of the campgrounds and hiking trails abound.  While we were only there for a night, we were very excited not to have to worry about parking illegally on a cliff, and instead watch the sun set over the mountains that ring the park.  We did discover that Route 1 up north is truly remote and connectivity is scarce at best.  We ducked into a deli just outside the park to catch up with our kids and send a few emails, but signed off for the night sans technology. What a concept!

Heading to Sunset Beach

The drive north from Big Sur was breathtaking.  We also took the 17-mile scenic drive through Carmel. This route has been super hyped over the years – truth is that while some of the views are very beautiful and some houses along the way are gawk-worthy, it felt a bit like being on a Disneyland ride with a narrow road and really not many places to stop and take in the various vantage points. I personally would hate to live in a tourist attraction (you have to pay a fee to just drive the miles) but if you’ve never done it I suppose a once through is a three-star. We didn’t spend any time exploring Carmel proper as we’d been there in the past – it’s a lovely, super upscale town that reminds me of La Jolla Village.  Been there, done that.

We headed up the road to Monterey and since we do have work to do on this trip (really!) we spent some time at Starbucks completing business calls and getting emails done.  With wifi being spotty along the coast and in the campgrounds, Starbucks is our go-to when needed.

Quick side bar for our devout coffee lovers:  In each town we stopped in we looked for local roasters if they existed and if they had a good breakfast/bakery attached, all the better.  No on Starbucks, thanks very much.

Believe it or not, our next night stop was in Watsonville…yes, the home of Driscoll’s berries, and Lord knows how many other yummy agricultural crops.  Hidden amongst so many fields of green crops is Sunset Beach State Park and a lovely campground.   This time we actually had made a reservation to stay overnight – and this was the one time that the entry ranger was less than kind.  A jerk, to be honest.  No way he was going to tell us any more than the number of our site and point flippantly “over there”…every other park we had been to, we met the most delightful college students and long-time park folks who bent over backwards to find us a spot (without a reservation), give us good directions, and be overall helpful.  There’s always one guy….

Despite the cold welcome, Sunset Beach was a find.  Once settled, we hiked up a short hill and over a berm to the ocean proper…while walking the beach I caught the funniest sight of pipers (very small birds) scurry into the surf just until the water changed direction to return to the beach – then they scurried back en masse to beat the wave coming in!  

We chatted with a woman, Charlotte, who was camping on her own with her small dog to celebrate her 72nd birthday at her favorite beach.  This is just one of the interesting people we met on this trip.

During this trip we found that having a substantive breakfast, and a very late lunch/early dinner (we call that “linner”) worked really well versus trying to cook meals in the van. Admittedly this added to the tab for the trip but we really only had one very upscale (pricey) meal the entire time – and later evening snacks of on-board granola and yogurt was just fine.

Hightailing it through SF and on to the Spectacular Sonoma Coastline | Salt Point State Park

We had a great night’s sleep and headed for Santa Cruz for a coffee and morning full of errands.  I hate to say this but downtown Santa Cruz is nothing to write home about (but here I am writing about it – go figure).  It was sadly rife with many homeless and a few who were very much enjoying talking to themselves.  Perhaps it was just too early in the morning for the rest of humanity in the area to be awake. Talking to our neice who went to school in Santa Cruz, she said that there is a high concentration of homeless and veterans with PTSD that live in the area, so that’s likely what we were seeing. After a coffee we got our first vanload of laundry done at a laundromat. I got a little flummoxed by a misbehaving washer that ate about three dollars-worth of coins before it became apparent that the machine was broken.  First world problem, I know, but the last place I wanted to be was doing laundry!  Ah well, done with that.

The traffic going through the Bay Area was, in a word, horrid.  We routed through th East Bay trying to avoid going through San Francisco proper, but the trip through Oakland and Berkeley – especially on a Friday afternoon – was dismal.   This confirmed for us that this trip into small towns and campgrounds was what we enjoyed much more than big city life.  The stress just is too big a trade-off to be at the center of any action.  Am I sounding like a barely retired person? 

Salt Point State Park

We escaped the Bay Area and got into Sonoma county and to Salt Point State Park.  Again without a reservation, we sheepishly arrived at the park entrance and pleaded our case. The amazing Russian Ranger, Ina, found us a lovely site despite the campground being “full”. We have been finding that if we show up in the late afternoon there’s been a high likelihood that there have been a few cancellations or a couple of “buffer sites” reserved in case of something unusual happening (like the Schorrs showing up unannounced???) Happiness.

Salt Point is very wooded and it is incredible how big and meandering the park is…I’d always been to campgrounds that you pretty much could navigate and see the whole thing easily.  This one is a maze of very secluded pockets of sites and you do need a park map to find your little cubby.  Loved it.

We ended up hiking with a sweet young man, an oncology nurse, who had traveled solo across the country from Connecticut, and will end up in Tacoma Washington for a new job.  It was sad to hear how rough his last year during the pandemic was – he reinforced all we’d heard about healthcare worker burnout – and he was definitely ready to change from bedside care to working in a private clinic with different responsibilities. 

Donovan the Road Dog

No recounting of this adventure would be complete without pay homage to our trusty road dog, Donovan! Don has been on many, many trips with us – both here and abroad (he even understands a bit of Spanish from our stint – with him – in Barcelona), and he is a real “go with the flow” kinda guy. On this trip he did ask to drive occasionally but we had to decline that offer…next best was to give him our entire bed to chillax on (he did), and he was a wonderful trooper when it came to exploring beaches and forests – and he always left his “signature”!

Surprising Fort Bragg (the one in California)

As we drove into Fort Bragg, both Andrew and I were stunned at how big a city it is. Somehow we’d had the impression that it was a small town but it actually was chock full of shops, restaurants, strip malls, and loads of tourists. My suspicion is that there is an attraction there – the broken glass beach (we didn’t go) – that has attracted an inordinate number of transient visitors touring the coast. This was not an appealing option for a stroll through town so we headed to MacKerricher State Park for our evening stop. We walked a lovely boardwalk that winds through the cliffs over the rocky beachfront with a good vantage point for and seal spotting (we really didn’t see any but it was obviously a choice spot when in season).

On the boardwalk

We had a hankering for Thai food and got a recommendation for a local take out place. We took a shot and what a fun and pleasant surprise! We drove into town and I hopped out to retrieve the food at Nit’s Café. Walking in to this very tiny storefront I was greeted by two well-weathered fisherman sitting and drinking beers at one of maybe four tables…they said “Talk to the lady back there”, pointing at a passthrough window from which cooking and clanging sounds eminated. And there, dressed in what looked like traditional Thai garb and full makeup was Nit! This was a one woman show. Nit took the orders, cooked all the food, and chatted up anyone who would listen about how much she is grateful for any patronage of her small enterprise. When I realized that she only took cash, I offerred to run back out to our van and get cash fron Andrew – Nit said: “Oh, no worries!!! Take food and come back and pay me tomorrow…it’s OK, ok!”. Well, I did go out and bring back cash for her on the spot, but what an incredible slice of life. In fact, the portions she gave us were huge, and the food terrific! Never judge a book by it’s cover, right?

The Magnificent Avenue of the Giants to Trinidad

The real highlight for me in far Northern California was the drive and some hiking in the Avenue of the Giants. The redwood forests along this very special winding road that parallels Highway 101 is awe-inspiring. Many of the trees are hundreds of years old, and it’s hard to estimate how very tall and majestic they are. We were able to do one of the better-known hikes in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park through one of the groves that was serene and magnificent. it was incredible to see that felled trees become home to many species of ferns, smaller trees, and some forest animals. A true ecosystem that hopefully will never be disturbed.

We needed a break from changing location every night so we decided to stay in a privatelyowned RV park for two nights (Emerald Forest). We met some very nice neighbors – one was a musician who gave us a copyof his CD ; another was a Marine parked next door to us with his wife and four young girls. We were impressed by the amount of work it took from him to set up camp with a car plus camper plus keeping the kids occupied…bless his heart!

The first morning we went into the small town of Trinidad to a very popular cafe called The Beachcomber. It had loads of vegetarian and vegan options so it clearly attracted the health-conscious crowd. I could not keep from rolling my eyes (in private) at a woman in front of us who reminded me of the first episode of “Portlandia” (go watch it and you will understand). She went on with the order-taker: “I’d like a dirty chai…spicy chai not sweet chai…do you have whole milk, not skim?…Does the milk come from organic cows?…I’d also like the vegan bowl…what kind of beans are they? Organic I hope…” And on and on…I know, patience is virtue, but really?

Despite not being able to secure a spot at the State Beach at Patrick’s Point, we visited the beachfront there twice because it was so incredibly scenic. It’s very rocky just off the coast, with big surf smashing and foaming all along. We hiked along the cliffs and the first night grabbed some pizza and sat at sunset on a lone bench watching the local birds and changing colors in the sky over the big rocks that rise out of the water off-shore.

The second night we decided to treat ourselves to what turned out to be a very gourmet meal at Larrupin Cafe – the one really upscale eatery in the area. We sat in their stunning back garden away from all the other patrons (we needed a reservation, and an early one at that) – and the service and food was truly “five star” quality. We were surrounded by beautiful greenery and visiting hummingbirds – the best.

Crossed the Border to Oregon – Our Turnaround in Brookings

Crossing into Oregon included a significant amount of road construction and delays. The highway at that point runs right above the coastline, and while the view is lovely, there had been landslides that closed the road last year and repairs are now ongoing. Since we were really avoiding going inland due to the fire season, this was a delay we had to weather both going up and going down the coast here. Nonetheless, we did make it over the border to Brookings, Oregon, and stayed in a very nice private RV park. We even introduced Donovan to our two next door dog neighbors!

Before sunset we headed into the local state park’s day use area and wandered the lovely beach chock full of driftwood.

It was feeding time for the local pelicans and we did catch them doing nosedives to catch their dinner.

The next morning, we wandered down to the river that run behind the RV park we were staying in – one of the most tranquil spots of the entire trip. There, as Andrew was getting his early morning mellowness in gear, he spotted a family of deer swimming in the river! Neither of us had ever seen this – nor did we know that deer knew how to swim. So it was a real treat.

This was our turnaround point for the trip – it was VERY important to Andrew (goal-oriented guy that he is) that we at least crossed the border into Oregon, so with that accomplished we headed back across the border to California – and right into the same terrible traffic going the other direction through the construction zone.

Pepperwood – Near Humbolt State Park

We had booked ahead (for once) so we went exploring along the way to our next rest stop. I was driving this go-around and somehow ended up on very winding road deep into the redwoods…at dusk…and we were basically alone. It was incredibly gorgeous – but I insisted we get out before dark…that was not a road that would have been fun using a flashlight!

We did meet some really interesting people on this trip. At this night’s campground we chatted with a guy who had sold his large home and purchased one of the biggest RV’s we’d ever seen. Masked and distanced, we accepted his invitation to take a peek at his “rig”… He had a full bedroom, full bathroom, full kitchen, living room area complete with lounge chairs and recliner, the full meal deal. Artwork on the walls too. He’d traveled for a few weeks with some of his grandkids and it sounded like a heck of road party! Next door to us in a much smaller camper was a lovely single woman traveling with her grown daughter – and her daughter has cerebral palsy. The camper had a lift built in and the daughter functions primarily in a wheel chair that her Mom takes her on long walks in. Devotion at its best.

The next morning we stopped for breakfast in Garberville – and found a great vegan breakfast place, The Woodrose Cafe. We ate – literally – on the sidewalk as that’s where the seating was, and the food was scrumptuous. Sadly, that’s about all I can say to recommend Garberville – it’s a pretty scrummy-looking town with it’s fair share of what look like druggies and vagrants. Let’s move on…

Visit with Dear Friends in Richmond – Rabbi Jill and Ely

We managed to sidestep major traffic in the Bay area this time and headed to see our dear friends, Jill and Ely Zimmerman, whom we have known since Seattle days. They moved from Seattle a number of years ago to southern California and just recently settled in a new house close to one of their sons. The house nearly backs up to an amazing public park that is both forested and has lovely hiking trails running through it. It was truly a grand reunion!

We were particularly struck by the stark difference in Richmond from some of the other areas we’d traveled through in very northern California. EVERYONE we saw in Richmond was masked. Not so in other parts of the state. Of course the pandemic – the politics, the divisiveness, the fatigue all came up – but we spent most of the time catching each other up on family and friends adventures and that was a delight.

The one hard lesson we learned parked in front of our friends’ house (which is on a hill) was just how uncomfortable sleeping in a slant (even a small on) can be. We’d heard many times that best is to find campsites and street on flat ground – this was why! Andrew and I moved 90-degrees during the night in order to try to rectify the feeling of rolling off the bed. Sigh…

Paso Robles

Our next stop as we neared the end of our trip was in Paso Robles, which is significantly inland from where we had been for most of the journey. And boy, was it hot! We tried to cool the van with the A/C on board but it wasn’t really that helpful. So we headed into town for food…

The downtown of Paso Robles is lovely. It’s got a beautiful park that is the nexus of many restaurants and shops that ring it, and judging by the number of people milling around in high heat, it seems to be a popular stop for tourists going up and down the state. In diametric opposition to our experience in Richmond, very (VERY) few people were masked in town. This was disturbing to us and we changed plans to sit and eat even on the patio of a recommended restaurant as the servers and hostess were not consistently masked. We got our food “to go” and sat in the park for a picnic. I did get my dander up and write a negative review of the restaurant calling out the lack of care for the public. I won’t go into the details of the exchange with the owner but she was sympathetic – to a point – citing her inability to mandate anything that the county would not. I didn’t buy that argument…owners can turn away patrons without shoes and shirts….And so us two masked marauders continued on.

The Pursuit of the Famous Blue Corn (Gluten Free) Waffles

Ruthie (our ever-wise culinary advisor) told us that we MUST stop in Cayucos for blue corn waffles. We’d never heard of Cayucos (have you?) but blue corn anything sounded pretty tasty so we had to cut back to coast on a very winding country road to get there. Cayucos turns out to be a very popular surfing town and looks like a throwback to the 60’s. Not a big town, but it has a long pier and it has The Hidden Kitchen. Worth it.

The (Almost) End of the Road: LA and Family Stop

We got to LA in the early afternoon and stopped in to see our eldest, Ari, his wife, Lauren, and our two awesome granddaughters – Ava and Eliana. Ava got to walk Donovan and I got to cuddle little Eliana – what joy!

As evening arrived we headed up the hill to our Uncle Elliott and Aunt Maddie’s house. They were out of town but they granted us permission to park in their long and flat driveway. Living in a very nice part of Encino, they had to call their ADT armed guard to tell him not to shoot us on his rounds! The night was very very hot so we took the chance and slept with the back doors open. I was less worried about a thief coming into the van than a four-legged creature jumping in to find food. The night went by without incident.

Home Again

Andrew and I agreed that this was a very worthwhile, relaxing trip, and we learned a lot about whether we’d do it again. The answer is YES – with a few minor tweaks…a bigger bathroom, better A/C, and at least two nights in each place we stop. Beyond that, we loved the time together, the change in scenery, and the time to commune a bit with nature amidst this very tumultuous time in the world. We just keep smiling.