Lone Pine - Alabama Hills State Recreation Area (BLM)

 STUNNING

That's the best single word I can use to describe it. We arrived late afternoon on April 30th at Alabama Hills State Recreation Area. It is on the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountains, due east of Mount Whitney, which is the highest summit in the contiguous United States. We were off Hwy 395 and just outside of Lone Pine CA. We are "boondocking" (sometimes called dry camping or dispersed camping) on BLM Lands, which simply means you find a suitable spot off the road and camp. We ended up here on the recommendation of a nice couple we met at El Capitan state beach.

One of the best parts of this whole deal is you can "camp" or in our case "glamp" (a mixture of glamour and camping probably coined by a shivering cold and grumpy person who spent the night sleeping on the ground) for free!

So, here we are, surrounded by spectacular scenery, with acres and acres to ourselves and its all FREE?! WHATADEAL!!

The landscape here is amazing, since the 1920's over 100 movies and television shows have been filmed here, older movies like Hopalong Cassidy, Gunga Din and TV shows like the Lone Ranger and Bonanza. More recent movies like Star Trek Generations and Ironman were shot here.

Here is our house and yard for a few days.

Just after sunrise on our first full day...both decided to wear fur to keep warm.

We went for a hike up to a rock formation known as Mobius Arch

After a long hike, it's time to put the feet up and do some serious pondering

Breakfast on our last day... pretty much your standard cowboy breakfast - eggs benedict and mochas. Yep, we're out there roughing it, just like the cowboys of the old west!

Tom and his faithful sidekick doing some advance scouting

Temecula - Pala RV Resort

From San Diego we started our journey back northward along I-15 about 50 miles to Pala RV Resort just south of Temecula.

We are here for two reasons: 1) It is on the way towards Hwy 395 and our planned drive up the back side (east side) of the Sierras and 2) It was rated #1 RV resort by Motorhome magazine (yes I read Motorhome magazine).  It also happens to be part of an Indian casino, but we aren't much in the way of gamblers, (really), so that didn't really enter into the equation. It does have the benefit of having about five different restaurants in the casino, so we have been over there several times for dinner and hunting for desserts.

The resort is top notch, so we have extended our stay here for a couple of days before continuing on. We have admittedly been very lazy during out stay here. Our days have consisted of: sleeping in, (that is until Tank insist that one of us take him for a walk), drinking coffee, putting up our awning, sitting underneath said awning, staring at the surrounding hillsides, pondering what we want to make for dinner, taking down aforementioned awning as the afternoon winds come up, blogging, fixing day/night RV blinds (that's an experience you shouldn't miss!), having an afternoon shower, going over to the casino for dinner - after our dinner planning never got anywhere, having an evening jacuzzi, and drinking a glass (maybe two) of wine. So you can see our schedule is pretty hectic, and you are probably wondering if we can keep this frenzied pace up. I, for one, think I need a nap...

To be continued...

San Diego - Mission Bay RV Resort

We head south about 86 miles and arrive at our southernmost destination, Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego. Finally, no trains (El Capitan), planes (Dockweiler), or automobiles (Sunset Vista-Pacific Coast Highway)!!!

Mission Bay RV Resort is the quietest location we've been to since New Brighton, and full hook-ups again, what a treat!    

But the real highlight of San Diego was seeing our son, Matthew. Matthew moved to San Diego over a year ago to work for the City of San Diego as a transportation engineer, so our sightings of Matthew have been few and far between. We were very happy to see him, and Tank was pretty much beside himself to see his big brother, these videos say it all:  

Another unexpected but wonderful, benefit of this trip was reconnecting with old volleyball friends. Thanks to Eddie Chan - publisher and co-owner of Volleyballmag.com (check out his site) for arranging to remind Tom of how difficult sand volleyball is (especially when you haven't played in years), to Julie Chan for taking Tom on the excursion to play Torrey Pines (a bucket list golf course for Tom),

3rd hole on Torrey Pines South Course

and to Deanna Iwasaki for the Thai food and conversation. It was a blast to see you all again! (Sorry, I'm new to this blogging/posting life, so I forget to take pictures!)

Huntington Beach - Sunset Vista RV Park

Another 'short' drive (by short, I refer to number of miles, and my amount of patience, but NOT time spent on the road) of about 37 miles puts us on the Southwest end of LaLa Land at Sunset Vista RV Park in Huntington Beach.
    Authors Note: Coincidentally, we drove past the hotel where LaLa Land was filmed while doing some site seeing with Wendy's family.

Sunset Vista RV Park is owned by the City of Huntington Beach and is pretty much a long narrow parking lot with marked spaces, water and electrical hookups. That said, as parking lots go, this one is pretty sweet (how often have you ever heard a parking lot described that way). It is on the beach side of PCH (that's the way us "locals" refer to the Pacific Coast Highway). 












There is nothing between you and the beach except a bike/walking path and the folks in the million dollar condos and at the Hyatt Regency have to look OVER you to see the beach and the sunset. Not bad for a parking lot!

You can check out some of the Google public pictures by going here: Huntington Beach Pier Area and clicking on the Google Street View guy.

The place had the added bonus of being steps away from the Huntington Beach Pier and Main Street in downtown. There was a Tuesday night farmers Market, right on Main street. We took advantage of that by getting some fresh fruit and kettle corn. We also stopped in at Kilarney's Pub and grill (not pictured to protect the innocent) to quaff a cool beverage, have a few appetizers and watch the world go by.

We spent some time meandering up and down the beach path...

and had the requisite fire on the beach.

Los Angeles - Dockweiler RV Park

A drive of about 120 miles Southeast, (from El Capitan State Beach) down 101 and then on 405 South, lands us smack into the JAWS OF THE DEVIL, otherwise known as Los Angeles traffic.

If you have never had the pleasure of driving in Los Angeles area traffic... well join the crowd! Before this writing, nobody in the history of the world has EVER even put "L.A. traffic" and "pleasure" in the same sentence. You can look that up, but it says it right HERE, and it's now on the internet, so it must be true. That said, driving a 33' RV and towing a 16' car behind it does have its redeeming qualities (well at least one redeeming quality) and that is 'engendering a little caution/fear/respect' in the other drivers. I mean think about it... when you are about to pull up along side one of these rigs, you KNOW it's being driven by some grumpy old codger with thick glasses and hearing aides that would be happy to nudge your vehicle over a lane or two. So when I decide to change lanes, most people give me a little space. I say "most" because some don't seem to understand physics and think blinkers are just a challenge. Okay, enough of that.

We finally arrive at Dockweiler RV Park, with only a little extra paint on "the Beast" donated by the aforementioned folks that didn't pay attention in school (I'm kidding, try as I might I didn't pick off any). Now that I say that, I wonder if there is a market for some little car decals, that can be stuck on the side of an RV to signify your triumphant sorties into hostile lands? Again, I digress.

Dockweiler RV park is in Playa Del Rey whose name, I believe, translates to: Thunder of the Jet! A realtor selling property there might euphemistically characterize it as being "located conveniently close to a major transportation hub." I would, however, recommend it to the following folks:

• Those on the far side of the threshold of 'hard of hearing' and medically classified as deaf
• Anyone who finds the sound of jets with engines at full throttle and the accompanying vibration, soothing
• The CEOs' of Boeing or McDonnel Douglas who only "hear" dollars and stock profits
• Anybody picking someone up at LAX, who wants to tell them to, "just grab your bags and walk on over."

Okay, I exaggerate... a LITTLE. The sun still set; the sand was still warm; the waves still rolled up on the beach. There was a nice long paved walking/biking path that ran for miles. Still, quiet and serene it wasn't.

El Capitan State Beach

Monday April 10th, we leave the Monterrey/Carmel area, head up and over to 101 and turn south to the Santa Barbara area, a trip of about 240 miles.

We arrive at El Capitan State Beach for a five day stay.

Our "Front Yard"

Tank was unimpressed

Carmel by the River

Saturday April 8th and we head just a little ways south down Hwy 1 to Carmel by the River RV park. It's located about a 15 minute drive East of Carmel up in the Carmel River Valley.

It was a nice little privately owned park with full hookups, which were nice to have. Situated a bit off the beaten path, (without much else around it) on a "mature country" road, it had the Carmel river on one side and green hills on the other.

Tom took the opportunity to get in a round of Golf at Pacific Grove Golf Links in Pacific Grove.

A quirky but fun course with a front nine that runs thru town and a back nine out next to the ocean and the omnipresent ocean breezes (aka howling winds that wreak havoc with your golf ball). The 10th and 11th holes wind around Point Pinos Lighthouse. Pictured above is the 11th hole which heads directly towards the ocean and into the teeth of the wind.

First Stop - New Brighton State Beach Capitola CA

After several weeks of cramming all of our worldly possessions into The Beast (our RV), storage, or Goodwill, our house was empty, and our nerves were frazzled... How is it that we can be retired and still feel like we need a vacation?! The saying goes "Even the longest journey starts with the first step". Our first step was New Brighton State Beach in Capitola CA. It was a good place to start. It was a relatively short drive from Sacramento, easy to get to, roomy spots, lots of green and fresh air. Although next time we go we would probably try to snag one of the premium spots, which backed up to a bluff with a direct view of the ocean.

The Beast and The Toad

This was Tank's first experience with the ocean, and he took to it like... well like a Lab to water!