To The Coast…

Sounds simple doesn’t it? It’s really good we cannot foresee the future or some days we might not get out of bed! We had a series of unfortunate events today but we are fine and nothing is life changing. We went and picked up our trailer from storage to do the last of the packing and head out, hopefully by 11am. When we got there to hook up the battery was dead again. John just gave it a partial charge yesterday, but before that it had totally drained (not a good thing for a trailer battery).

We went directly to Interstate Battery in Clovis and they checked it. They said it tested well but needed a full charge, which would take several hours even on their quick charge. We decided to go home and put the rest of our things in the trailer and then go back, buy a NEW battery, leave the other to be charged, and be on our way. That is exactly what we did.

However, when we checked the fridge after the battery installation it would not turn on. John tried a few things but then we headed to Paul Evert’s RV to see what they could tell us. After checking multiple things they think it is this “panel” behind the fridge. No, they don’t have a replacement. The soonest they could do that would be tomorrow afternoon. We thought about our options and decided we would use the fridge as an “ice box” and be on our way. By now it is 2:15p and we will need to make good time to be over to Morro Strand before dark to set up. We stopped for ice to put in the fridge and we were on our way.

We did make it just fine, an uneventful trip, which we are thankful for. Now after setting up we discovered the 12 volt outlets are not functioning… nor is the water heater OR the heater (sigh). These things we can live without, though it is not as comfortable as we are used to. We resigned ourselves to this with a note to call Paul Evert’s RV tomorrow and verify that this mystery “panel” is really the source of these additional problems. If not, then we really don’t know what the issues are!

For now we are set up and we walked up to pay for our stay. Some months back I called to verify that they were NOT taking reservations November 1st and it was first come, first serve. I can’t remember who I contacted but it was either the park itself or Reserve America, the source for making reservations in the CA State Park system. I was assured that was the case and this was one reason we came on Wednesday to be sure we could secure sites for ourselves, Deb & Sam, along with others who are coming. So now we want to pay through our stay and we cannot do that. The camp host says we can have the site for tonight but we will need to check with the Ranger staff that comes in after 9am tomorrow morning to see if we can have the same site for tomorrow, and then check again each day after that. I tried to explain about my phone call some time ago but the camp host knew nothing about that. He didn’t even have an envelope for me to pay for tonight until he fished around and found one. Clearly he has not been trained very well. He said that he didn’t think Reserve America has anything to do with the reservations here and that Reserve America doesn’t know what it is doing. That has not been my experience but at this point I took the envelope and decided I would turn on my hotspot and check for myself. Sure enough, on the Morro Strand site it says as of October 15, 2015, reservations are accepted year round for this campground. How nice it would have been to know this before now! Anyway, checking online it appears that the site we have is not booked for the days we planned to stay. I booked Friday-Monday and tomorrow we will pay for tonight and tomorrow night. I let Deb know they needed to make a reservation and to let me know what site they want and I can secure it for tomorrow. So far I haven’t heard back from them and the sites are still available online. Complicated…

We are here safe and sound and thankful for that. It is quite comfortable in the trailer and I doubt we would even use the heater, even if it did work. One must look at the bright side in these situations!  No photos for today – who had time for that?!? Tomorrow in the daylight I will take a photo or two of our camp and the view. Morro Rock is quite prominent just south of us. 

San Simeon SP

Today I made our reservation. We will spend 3 nights there after going to Morro Strand SP with the kids. I looked on another site to see photos of most of the camp sites. I carefully chose the one I liked the most (#26) only to complete the reservation and have it tell me I will be randomly assigned a site when I arrive. We’ll see how that goes! It’s no surprise that they have a warning that the showers and flush toilets are closed. There will be vault toilets to replace the flush type. Thankfully we won’t have to worry about that in our trailer. The dump station is still open so one can get water there if necessary. We carry our own plus extra of course. I am looking forward to seeing Hearst Castle, which I have never been to.

CA State Park Camping

One has to make reservations via Reserve America for most camping in California. It is a great site, but you have to know where you want to go. It is not the greatest for research of campgrounds, locations, and more detailed information. I much prefer California Parks and Recreation for research for CA camping. You can’t make reservations from there (you must use Reserve America) but it is much nicer for gleaning information. You can download and print campground maps and brochures, along with a plethora of other information. I like that, planning is a big part of the fun to me!

Next Stop Trip - Morro Strand SB

Deb & Sam invited us to go to Morro Strand State Beach with them for a weekend the first part of November. Steven & Saira, Jeff, and Julianne are going as well. I’m not sure if Jeff has Miranda that weekend or not. Several of Sam’s family members are going, which will be nice because we have not seen them in a while. It will be a “walk up” situation so we will go earlier in the week and hope to secure a campsite for Deb & Sam as well just in case it is filling up. It should be a fun trip! We are thinking about adding a visit to Hearst’s Castle afterwards. Believe it or not we have never been there!!!  

Morro Strand SB

Hearst Castle

Going Home

We woke up to a bit of rain this morning but nothing that stopped us from breaking camp and getting home. It sprinkled off and on and even “rained” for a short time but the trip home was uneventful. We stopped at Casa da Fruta. I really like that place! We bought a few things, including a delicious sandwich. They have a wine and deli store and the sandwiches were really tasty. After that and walking Tony around we hit the road again. Our first stop back in Clovis was the wand type car wash as the Casita is covered with road dirt and grime. What a mess, but eventually we got it all off. It was all about the work when we got home. Laundry was immediately started, floors scrubbed, bathroom disinfected and wiped down, now things are spotless! All cleaned out and paper good restocked. Back to the storage lot and this time we used their dump station. It was really quite nice having a hose for the toilet and a bathroom right there to wash up. John always wears gloves and we use hand sanitizer afterwards but having soap and water to clean up in is a nice perk. All clean inside and out and back in storage before they lock the front gate at 7p. We are pooped! We ever so grateful for a safe journey and the privilege to enjoy another trip together.

 

New Brighton State Beach Day 2

We had a pretty exciting night last night, even if we didn’t know it! John has been eating instant oatmeal packets for breakfast (those who know me, know I only have coffee). Anyway, we are just about out of those so he opted for his favorite Honey Nut Cheerios instead and to save the rest of the oatmeal for tomorrow morning. He went to the Jeep to get the Cheerios and realized he left the windows open last night. Whoops! We had visitors! Little raccoon paws prints now adorn our vehicle, the seats, and who knows where else! They were certainly busy. It appears they greatly enjoyed his Honey Nut Cheerios along with a packet of dog food kibble we keep in the glove box. Crafty little varmints! Thankfully they didn’t decide to “do” anything else and the Jeep smells just fine inside. I’m also pleasantly surprised they didn’t scratch the paint on the outside getting in and out. Tony was livid sniffing at their aftermath! After putting everything back in the glove box and general straightening up, it was eggs for breakfast! Thankfully, we had no trouble getting this campsite again today. We spent a relaxing “last day” here. We didn’t see the sun and from the weather reports it looks safe to head home tomorrow! No more triple digit temperatures in site for the Central Valley.

Paw Prints

No More Honey Nut Cheerios!

Camping Meal Review: I try to keep a few nonperishable meals in the trailer in case of delay or refrigerator failure. We tried this one today, just to use it up as the “use before” date was approaching. The flavor was decent but since it included “beef” one would wonder “where’s the beef”? I think I will try other options before using this again. One could have canned chicken or tuna and Hamburger Helper. It would have been better and more protein as well.

New Brighten Beach State Campground

We left our pitiful little site in Half Moon Bay today about 9:30a. We decided we would try to get into New Brighton, if they were full we would try Sunset Beach, and finally we would just head home if we couldn’t secure something in either of those places. It was a lovely and uneventful drive down Hwy 1. There are so many lovely beaches. I wonder why it is not developed? Mostly what you see is farm land. Oh my, all the pumpkins in fields everywhere! We got to New Brighton about 11a. Apparently the rule is you can leave your name and license plate number, return at 2p,  if anything is available your name will be called in order and you will get a spot if there is availability. Surprisingly, they were able to accommodate the approximately 12 families waiting for a spot with a few spots to spare! As it is so often with the Eash Factor, we could barely get in the site #69 that we first chose. It was so slanted John had to put up most of our blocks to even come close to leveling the trailer. It looked dangerous to me and we tried a different approach, which was barely tolerable. About that time the camp host came by and told us this campsite was really not conducive to a trailer (no kidding!) so as nice as the rest of the site was, he called and got us set up for another site #111. So now we gather the few things we had out and head to campsite #111. It was an “okay” site but for sure we will need to leave tomorrow as it is booked for tomorrow night. If we want to move again to site #2 we have a chance of getting it for two nights. Are you kidding? Of course we have not unhitched and all it has taken is time… so off to #2. A mere 1.5 hours after checking in we are safe and secure in a site. That’s the way it goes sometimes! After the set up we decided to go into town for a hamburger. The camp host suggested Betty’s Burgers and we were not disappointed. John loved their garlic fries. Back to camp after stopping at several overlooks in Capitola and a walk on the beach again. As we drove in the campsite we saw 3 deer by the Visitor Center. It was a nice day but we are tired now.

Capitola

Deer At New Brighton