Expedition 2017 Part 1 end of the road!

Left Tappahannock VA on December 27, 2016 and traveled till April 24, 2017 arriving in Berkeley / San Francisco.

Traveled 8,750 miles miles in 120 days and used 625 gallons of diesel, and camped 32 days hooked up to solar power. Visited 14 national parks, a dozen state and county parks, traveled through 12 US States, stayed at 28 unique campgrounds and wrote 92 Trip Advisor reviews! Temperatures on our itinerary ranged from 26F to 90F and we lived happily together inside our own 200 square foot camper trailer accommodation!

Highlights: Fort Sumter, Key West, Dry Tortugas NP, Florida Everglades, New Orleans, San Antonio / Alamo / Spanish Missions, White Sands NP, Tucson / Saguaro NP, Greek Orthodox Monastery, Organ Pipe NP, Mexico border wall, Lake Havasu Winter Blast Fireworks, Death Valley NP, Route 66, Joshua Tree NP, Blue Angels air show, Indian Wells ATP (Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal!), Borrego Springs wild flowers and Longhorns, Palm Springs Tramway, Paul Getty villa, Reagan Presidential Library, San Luis Obispo, Pacific Coast Highway,  Morro Bay otters and elephant seals, San Simeon / Hearst Castle, Paso Robles wine country, Napa Valley and many friends along the way!

Tappahannock - Dec 27, 2016
Charleston SC Dec 27-29
Titusville /Jupiter Dec 29-Jan 4
Key West Geiger Key Jan 4 to 18
Naples Jan 18 to 21
Sarasota Jan 21
Chattahoochee Jan 22
New Orleans Jan 23 to 25
San Antonio Jan 25 to 30
In transit TX Fort Stockton Jan 30
Las Cruces Jan 31 to Feb 2
Tucson/ Picacho Feb 2 to 7
Organ Pipe NP Feb 8 to 12
Buckskin Mtn SP Feb 12
Lake Havasu Feb 13 to 20
Mojave desert Feb 20 to 22
Death Valley NP Feb 22 to Feb 27
Joshua Tree NP Feb 27 to Mar 3
Anza Borrego boondock Mar 3 to 5
Anza Borrego SP Mar 5 to 9
Palm Canyon RV Mar 9 to 16
Desert Hot Springs Mar 16 to 26
Ventura Mar 26 to Apr 1
Cachuma Lake  Apr 1 to 5
Pismo Bay - April 5-10
San Simeon SP - April 10-14
Paso Robles - April 14 to 23
Skyline Napa RV - April 23 to 24
Berkeley - April 24 to May 9

Paso Robles campground

Surrounded by wineries and wine tastings as far as the eye can see and over 70 wineries that you can't see but are nearby! Really amazing that this Paso Robles area only started viticulture in the 1980's and has become a powerhouse mainly in the red varietals due to its local climate and soil. We moved camp 30 miles from the cold and windy Pacific coast to here and were overwhelmed with the pleasant and lush surroundings in this very delightful and unassuming wine region... and Margaret watches while I taste....

Piedras Blancas light station

White stone is the translation and not because it is white rock but just a rock covered in guano! We met in a rainstorm at the abandoned Piedras Blancas motel some two miles north of the light station and were split into groups of twenty, paid the organizers (TIP: take your NPS Golden pass or equivalent for half price entry), then made a convoy of vehicles in through the normally locked gate to a car park directly in front of the light station. Gary was our guide and he was very articulate and charming and entertained and educated us for two hours! Spiraled our way around the point checking out the various wildlife forms including cormorants, falcons, pelicans and gulls. In the water we spotted sealions, elephant seals, otters and in the distance migrating whales. Every stop included some history and light keeper lifestyle changes over the past 150 years. The light has been removed from the top of the structure and the fresnel lens can be seen in nearby Cambria. There are plans to restore the light but California state regs required earthquake reinforcement be installed which could push the restoration work to $10 million! Kudos to the volunteers for their work restoring and tour guides for an outstanding job promoting Piedras Blancas light station and making Route 1 coastal route a joy to travel and visit!

Elephant seal beach!

Elephant seals on the beach along the Pacific Coastal Highway near San Simeon as far as the eye can see! In April they come ashore to molt and that takes several weeks without food and they lose over half their body weight in the process... they spend the day flipping sand over their bodies, going for a quick swim and returning to loafing on the beach and creating a strong downwind stench!

Hearst Castle

Got to give credit to the state of California for maintaining and managing this treasure on the hilltop. Having a reception center just off Route 1 and transferring folks to buses in organized tour groups for the long 25 minute ride up the steep 1,600 foot hill is probably the best way currently to handle the hordes of tourists.The tour guide was very knowledgeable and let her narrative be guided by questions rather than just unloading a ton of information. Loved the evening tour which runs for about two hours and covers all the main areas of interest, gardens, villas, pools, reception, dining, bedrooms, kitchens, study, offices, and lots more. I'd recommend this evening tour if you have the time and timetable - our tour started at 6:30 and we returned to the reception center at 9 pm. The tour was punctuated by local volunteers dressed up for the part as guests in the 1930's attired for the various activities host William Randolph Hearst had scheduled for his invitees from Hollywood, politics, sports and other walks of life. If you have a boatload of money there is no end to the impressive things you can do with it and Hearst Castle is a splendid example. Be sure to check the ceilings and walls and you will see entire churches or monasteries shipped over from Italy or Spain and adapted to this beautiful mansion. Also your guide will regale you with stories of the famous visitors and some of their antics! Oh to have been a fly on the wall....

Re-enactors welcome visitors to Hearst Castle

William Randolph Hearst's office!

The bedroom ante-room

The swimming pool at Hearst Castle

One of the main towers at the entrance to the Castle

California Route 1 blocked

End of the road going north on California Route 1... earlier this year Route 1 suffered four major bridge and erosion failures between Big Sur and Ragged Point which will take a year or more to fix. Major detour inland on 101 much to Margaret's relief! Lunch at Ragged Point Inn in the garden overlooking the coast from a 400 ft elevation is quite stunning!

Seagulls!

Seagulls just love to poop on black car rooftops! Moonstone Beach st San Simeon....

Vegetarian pizza for lunch!

Lunch pizza on the grill today at San Simeon State Park! Olives, tomatoes, shallots and Parmesan... No power or other utilities, just solar, propane and back up generator! Almost real camping!

Baby otters

Frolicking in the harbor at Morro Beach there half a dozen female otters each with one young baby otter being tenderly mothered with cleaning and training! The mother lies on her back and the young one straddles her tummy and enjoys the ride! Occasional flips as both rotate in the ocean water before returning to that sunbathing pose!

SLO Farmers Market

What an unforgettable experience checking out this four block San Luis Obispo farmers market that runs Thursday evenings 6 till 9 pm. Having six years of Tappahannock experience, walking this market and visually checking all the key activities, vendor and visitor participation and interaction, and managent and security procedures was a joy to enjoy and learn. Of course they have the perfect downtown setting, an exciting bunch of hot food vendors with flaming barbecues and lined up with a hundred customers waiting for their treats, a rich fertile valley with superb market gardening produce enough to fill a whole block, and dozens of non-profits, craft, drinks, desserts, and at least a couple of small bands! It all seems to come together perfectly!

California living

The state park Pacific Ocean beach south of Pismo is open for miles and miles to OHV - off highway vehicles and other transportation devices ancient and modern!! California (more so than any other state we have visited) does a great job of meeting the full and extreme variety of activities its citizen desire by providing dedicated areas all over the state at next to no charge. I'm thinking beach chairs, umbrella, cocktails and picnic for sunset dinner one evening this week...

Very trendy Los Olivos

Imagine a small twee three block town where every other store is a wine tasting room! Now imagine a weekend invasion from LAX taking over! The beauty of full time vacation lifestyle is that you can come back Monday through Friday and enjoy the peace and quaintness of rural Californian wine country.... think Sideways the movie, Pinot Noir, Santa Barbara wine region.... the movie glorifies Pinot Noir and denigrates Merlot resulting in a loss of $400 million to Merlot vineyards in the decade following the release of the movie! Merlot sales went down 2% and Pinot Noir went up 16%. Personally I don't enjoy Pinot anything be it Noir or Grigio - give me a Chard, a Cab or a Malbec!

Santa Barbara Mission

Founded in 1786 by the Franciscan order as part of the Spanish mission to colonize the Chumash Indians. Its twin bell towers are unique and the insides are basically the same since 1820. Suffered badly with two earthquakes in 1812 and 1925 but rebuilt and improved and still functions as a parish church under the Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles. Peaceful self guided tour through gardens, cemetery, sanctuary and museum!

Santa Barbara

Must be one of the top places to live in the USA! It has a perfect Mediterranean climate, faces south on the slopes of the Santa Ynez Mountains, has very diverse flowers, plants and trees, great wine tasting venues and has a rich cultural Spanish influence and is known as the American Riviera! Just offshore you can see the pristine Channel Islands which are a National Park. Did the scenic 30 mile drive and stopped of at the Franciscan mission and Stearns Wharf. Checked out the Boathouse at Hendry's Beach for lunch!

Cachuma Lake

Camped out in Santa Barbara County Recreational area Cachuma Lake - claims to be in the rain shadow and does not have its fair share of renewed water resources.... so its at 50% and boats are using the lowest of the three ramps to launch... and the human body is not allowed to touch the water! No paddling, no swimming and no water skiing! Paranoia that a disease may transfer to the water supply system! Only in California!!