What looked to be the beginning to another epic trip just evaporated into the heat of the Southern California desert. We were turning around. Wait, let me rephrase that. We were turning around for the very first time ever. Sucked. But what comes with adventure is the ability to adapt , overcome and head on your way. We had just turned off the highway, it was hotter than the sun and i had to make a judgement call. Right then and there, i see Dixie wheezing and as i watched her ribs shrink and expand i knew something was wrong. As she threw up her breakfast from hours before i realized she was dehydrated. This was not good. You see, Dixie is like our kid and when something goes wrong we do whatever we need to make sure she's taken care of. When stuff like this happens, i could care less if the truck caught on fire from overheating. First and foremost was the pooch, secondly us, then the rig. Dixie has never missed a single trip and this wasn't going to be the first under my watch.
So we proceeded to get her cool, and cool quickly. First thing i did was find shade under an old gas station. Then we sprayed the ground with cool water from the trailer. She immediately laid into it with all four legs stretched out like a frog. She recovered quickly and her panting went away. Mean while a homeless man starred in awe. I couldn't help but pull one of the 48 waters we packed and give him one. He was just as unfortunate and i felt like i had zero complaining to do.
After all this we would have to climb up Chiracco Summit coming out of Palm Desert to keep heading easterly. I had a judgement call to make. Dixie made that part easy. She rides in the back of the Landcruiser and has her own fan. Well on this day the fan was blowing like a hair dryer. There was no way i was going to make her sit through that after what just happened. At the same time the truck seemed to be nearly overheating and i'd have to drive with the heater on to keep the engine temp down. Looking back it was a tough call, but i know i made the smart decision. We headed for home. It was simply not worth the consequences that could arise, especially traveling single vehicle into the desert.
Another stop halfway up the pass to keep the truck and Dixie cool..
About three quarters of the way home the ambient temp started falling, Dixie felt better and the air conditioning started to function again. It was only 80 in the truck, but felt like Winter to us. We had our mojo back. It was at this time Yosh and i looked at each other and said, "we have three plus days off, do you really want to just go home?" We both agreed that was not what we wanted. After all, we are the AdventureDuo, not the CouchPotatoDuo. With cooler temps rambling in my head i recommended we hit the coast. With a bit of arm twisting on my part, a bit more fuel in the cruiser tank, we headed for the Pacific coast. We had no plans, but to head that direction knowing everything was booked in the area.. but to us, we didn't care, anything was better than where we just were.
Something that is familiar with all of us in Southern California is traffic. This is one of the obstacles i was thinking about once we made the decision to head West towards Los Angeles. First off, i avoid LA with a passion. I'll drive an extra 50 miles to avoid it. However, when heading to the coast from where we were it was challenging to avoid traffic to say the least. Especially on a Friday before a holiday weekend. After going 3 miles in 40 minutes in gridlock on the 101 with no a/c and Dixie back panting again, i made a phone call to a good friend. He wasn't too far from our location and had a house full of cool air. He invited us up, only problem was.. we needed to get there. That meant the 405. A world renown freeway for traffic and slow moving hunks of steel on wheels all jammed together like sardines. It was worse than the 101.
Eventually we made it up the freeway to his mtn house just above the Santa Clarita Valley. Where Dixie would proceed to flip upside down and greet the cool air with open paws. Yosh took a shower and we made ourselves at home. This is where the trip gets a little fuzzy in my head. I think it was the Rum and the idea of forgetting all about Utah. I just remember waking up the next morning hurting really bad from a headache and a blown out sandal. Apparently i partied like a rockstar and acheived my goal about forgetting about Utah for that night. That night we were invited to a Labor Day BBQ where i proceeded to drink gatorade and hide every drink handed to me.
We decided to head home after the BBQ to sleep in our own beds for the night and skip out on the ocean madness. This is where the journey was supposed to end. However, this trip keeps rolling onward and takes yet another turn. As we are headed down the canyon towards the freeway for home during the early evening i ask Yosh, "are you still up for the Coast?". At first she looks at me like im crazy. "Your going to try this again?" "If you want to, im in" God bless her heart. I don't know what i did to deserve such a woman but im a lucky man. I mean who would put up with this nonsense if they have Drop Dead Diva or Americas Next Top Model waiting for them at home? Westerly we head.
Making it to the coast, it's freezing.. now i don't even have to use the air conditioning. Yosh and Dixie are now curled up in a blanket. Yosh even makes a comment "Dang, i think some hot chocolate would be good right now". I couldn't believe my ears. From triple digit to sixty degree fog. It was terrific and kept our spirits up. We proceed north on the 101 along the coast.
I start to yawn and we pull into the first campground we see. I didn't care what it was, if it was remote, if it was on the ocean or blocked by buildings.. i just wanted sleep. We pull off to check out famous El Capitan State Beach. A sign catches my eye on the offramp for Ocean Mesa RV park. I pull in there first. To my surprise they have a site left. One of three. I wasn't about to get greedy so i just agreed to any of them and never even looked at El Capitan which fills 6 months advance anyhow.
Yes, concrete camping at it's best. We pull in and people are watching cable TV inside their RV's. Yeah buddy.
This wasn't your typical RV park. It was a luxury campground. It had wi-fi, cable tv, non-coin operated showers, spa, heated pool, horseshoes, massage, dog runs, general store with champagne.. you get the idea. Not our type of camping, but a place to crash none the less.
After a relaxing night, we awoke to people saying "what is the Expedition this? and expedition that? whats the duo?" We literally heard them talking while we were in our tent. That and little kids doing circles around our camp on their bikes. It was nutty. We checked emails, made coffee and breakfast, showered and headed on our way. I was determined to find something better.
Driving up the coast i hit five or so campgrounds. Every single one of those campgrounds were full. Driving hours we reached San Luis Obispo, fueled up and pressed on further north. Checking out three more campgrounds we find they're full too. There's not very many remote areas where you can camp along the coast. It's all regulated. At this point we are dang near Prewitt Ridge up in Big Sur where we know of a great remote camp site up on top of the mountain at 4,600 feet overlooking the ocean. So we head up the big climb up to the overlook camp.
Once arriving at our camp we find someone already has taken it. No surprise there. So we find another spot we know about just up the hill. We get out, stretch our legs and let Dixie roam. Shes happy, but there's something wrong. It's hotter than heck and there's flies everywhere. This is the first time we've been to Prewitt Ridge in the summer. To our surprise after talking to a Ranger later in the trip, this is normal. Apparently the cloud cover keeps the lower elevations on the coast cool and the higher elevations (which you would think would be cooler) get warmer. So here we were sweating again, but that wasn't so much the problem. It was the flies. Now, you're probably saying to yourself... "don't they carry spray?". And you are right. We do. We tried two different brands we had with us. They didn't work. We felt like cattle in a grazing pasture. The flies were everywhere and all over us. More irritating than anything, only escape would be in the tent and it was hot inside that thick canvas shell.
Above the clouds at Prewitt Ridge
We decided to go for a walk to a viewpoint where hangliders typically jump from and see if the flies would get the hint. This was a mistake because arriving back at camp, not only were they with us the entire walk but now we were sweaty and they liked that even more. Making another decision to leave camp was a tough one. We just had drove six to seven hours to get here and an hour of that was off road. I didn't want to leave, but i didn't want to stay and get bit the entire time. So yep, you guessed it we packed up and headed down the mountain.
Our one hour quick camp that was deployed just for the flies.
As we reached the Pacific Coast Highway for the countless time, i checked out Kirk Creek camp one last time. Still full. No surprise, but its a beautiful spot and i figured it didn't hurt to check. You never know.
Dixie showing off her dirt camo side
We proceeded south and it was getting dark and foggy real quick. The Landcruiser with its six Lightforce lights looked like a UFO coming down the road. The visibility wasn't that great, but with the overheads on we had no problem seeing the hundreds of feet ahead of us. We arrive near Sam Simeon home of Hearst Castle and its about 9pm. We agree to check out what hotels they have since i know there's no camping till at least San Luis Obispo and i was already there earlier and knew they were sold out. All the hotels have smoking only rooms for $100 plus dollars so we leave. I'd rather just sleep boondocking somewhere. I keep plugging away and driving south and hit Cambira. We were hoping at this point to grab some dinner but nothing is open. The little town is closed for the night. No worries, we head on. At this point im on my second wind and im ready to just call it. This trip is really blowing up in our face and i've drivin' way too many miles for basically nothing other than a nice ocean view. We pull into San Luis Obispo around 10pm. We grab dinner at Carls Jr and i fuel up the rig. I tell Yosh, im going to end this trip and push through to home. That would mean at least five-six hour drive home. As i approach the 101 from SLO i see this cool little hotel that looks perfect and has a Vacancy sign lit up. I give it one last shot for a non smoking room. We luck out. They have a great room for $99 with a breakfast and a nice patio view of a creek. I say screw it and go for it. Find a safe spot for the rig and head in for bed. This was really the right choice, because now we could hit up Pismo beach and whatever else we wanted the next day.
The next day i awake to find the Landcruiser and Adventure Trailer boxed in pretty dang well in the parking lot. I work at trying to get it out but there's simply not enough room without me taking someones Prius. Just before i decide to disconnect the trailer a driver comes out and moves their car. That worked out well. We proceed into Pismo where im destined to meet a bowl of Clam Chowder. The line at the Splash Cafe (best chowder) is around the building, so we pick another spot thats a little less busy.
While we are waiting for our food i try and see if can get the spoon to stay on my nose. For those wondering, i did not succeed.
Dixie falling asleep waiting for the food, its been a long haul for her.
The clam chowder shows up along with Eggs Benedict. My favorite. All is right with the world again.
At this point we have our mojo back again and feel back on track.
As we head south on the 101 we know we have to be at the office the next day. However, knowing that we struck out so many times on the way up we also knew we had a very good chance getting into a beach camp this night. Was it worth it to get up really early and drive a couple hundred miles into work the next day? To us? Yes!
We pulled into El Capitan and were pleasantly surprised that they were only half full. We immediately grabbed the best site we could with a great view of the ocean.
The view from our camp was spectacular.
After watching the sunset we prepared a nice dinner over open flame. We had some bacon leftover from previous breakfast and i thought about wrapping the chicken with it, but we didn't have any skewers to hold the bacon. Yosh pulled a trick out of her sleeve and used match sticks.. how adventurous is that? They actually worked out great!
The sunset over the Pacific Coast
Our dinner table with a great view.
The chicken came out killer and was served with a side of rice pilaf.
After enjoying the fire with a ice cold beer and burning the rest of the wood we headed for bed. We tried not to think about the wake up call in the morning for the drive into work.
Morning came all too early and i put away most of the equipment the night before so i didn't have to worry about it in the morning. Yosh popped into the campground shower while i packed up the tent. Just before hitting the road i saw Dolphins playing just off our camp. It was epic and made the trip. I smiled, fired up up the rig and headed for work. No rest for the wicked!
I always say, sometimes you have to be there for the bad ones to be there for the good ones. In my book there's no real bad ones, and a screwed up trip is always better than being home sitting on the couch thinking about it. So for that i say, here's to another great trip. Regardless of how it worked out or where we went.
PS, Look for our Utah trip coming up soon we are rescheduling it for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Don't know yet.