Flew into Eugene at the end of January 2025 to check-up on the Whale. Got to the old factory storage space only to run into the owner whose exact quote was "Great that you are here. Was just going to let you know that my lease got cancelled and you need to remove your vehicle...". Crazy...
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| Unfortunately the Snake plant and my Burbank special did not survive the winter in Eugene.... |
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| Getting everything ready at the Eugene RV park |
In any case, good timing I suppose, so instead of a local trip for a week or 2 it turned into frantically finding another storage spot, and getting out of Eugene as it was still the bad part of winter. Decided that when the going gets cold, the cold need to head south, so I found the Thousand Trails campground in Menifee where I stayed in the spring had a covered storage area where I could leave the Whale and Barbie for a few months.
After the first night at the old Eugene Kamping World RV park I set out down I5 through some stunning scenery all along the strip of volcanoes that go all the way from Washington state through to northern California. Slept over at Emigrant Lake, Ashland as my last night in Oregon. Beautiful peaceful lake basically deserted (it was middle of winter).
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| First of the snow capped Cascades volcanoes |
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| Emigrant Lake |
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| Sundowner at the lake |
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| Beautifully calm and no one in sight |
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| The weirdest rock formations on the banks of the lake |
After speeding through Oregon and northern California to get away from the impending winter storm that was predicted, I made it to the coast at Santa Cruz - one of my (many) favorite towns on the California coast and rested for a few days.
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| A totally lost payphone at a rest stop |
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| Posted without comment, but then, this is northern California |
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| Back at the sea |
Gene and I had been there in the spring of 2024 and really enjoyed it. Since then a major storm had swept through the area with extremely high surf which had caused major damage to the town pier as well as the harbor. The RV park was in the harbor area - basic, but it was all about position position position. Luckily the rv park was functioning again, but the damage was evident everywhere. Many boats that you could see had sunk in the harbor had been refloated, but were in a bad state.
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| Not too much surf... |
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| Classic home made Camper - it was here last year as well |
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| Egret catching fish from the pier - they are very skilled fishermen |
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| Looking out to the harbor mouth - with a few refloated boats on the left |
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| The fairground at Santa Cruz survived the storm, but seems the homeless encampment did not |
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| Seals have fun at the pier - a section of the pier ended up on the beach about a mile away |
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| Tough life. I never understand how they get onto the crossbars |
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| The harbor entrance |
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| Good old South African dolosse with a bit of the pier stuck in it. |
After Santa Cruz I did the mandatory stop at San Louis Obispo and Morro Bay to go pick up some more sand dollars - 2 more favorite towns. From there it was down to Faria beach and Rincon parkway to wait for Greg who was going to come up for the weekend from Burbank. Got in a few days of fun surf which was great - so much easier with Barbie to drive around in.
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| El Chorro campground near SLO |
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| SLO - San Louis Obispo - great town |
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| Have the t-shirt |
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| Morro Bay campground - misty, wet and cold |
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| The surf spot in Morro Bay |
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| Morro Bay harbor entrance |
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| Local otters |
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| Had to limit my collection... |
After Morro Bay, I headed down to the Rincon beach area. While at Faria Beach, I noticed this 65+ year old guy and his wife camped a few sites away. By 10am each day he was on his 2nd Bud lite (I know - officially not a beer) and by 5pm he was quite happy and unsteady, but having a great time. At one stage I went over to chat and the story is that they had bought their RV about a month ago - was still figuring out how everything worked, but on a whim had decided the previous Friday morning (I think this was Wednesday) that both of them were going to retire that day and so this was their first 'post-working' trip. Initially they thought they were going to still work for a few months, but plans change... Main thing he had to work out now was what to do every day, as he could not continue with his current drinking habit. Had a few good laughs and they were very excited about the new phase they were going into.
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| Faria campground - right against the sea |
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| Cannot go to sleep with a better sound than this |
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| Dining room table at Faria |
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| Best electric box of the trip at Faria campground |
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| Had a few days of great surf |
Greg came to join me for the weekend and we setup at Rincon parkway - one of the best rv campgrounds ever. Greg and I headed to Carpinteria once or twice - really nice little down down the road. This part of the coastline has a crazy amount of oil just oozing out of the ground naturally - above and below the sea - everywhere there are just blobs of it.
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| a Yacht rock enthusiast? |
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| The campground is just a set of parking spots between the beach and the road |
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| Beach art |
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| There are just breaks everywhere along this coastline |
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| Nice house on with a great surf break right infront of it |
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| One of my heroes - and a great book |
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| Had to do a selfie with Greg - the sunset was spectacular |
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| Carpinteria throw back |
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| The beach at Carpinteria - with oil platforms in the distance |
After about a week in the Rincon area, I headed to Greg and Loretta's place in Burbank to say hello to William and Reilly (the dog) and from there headed to Menifee to pack the Whale away.
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| A local coming to beg for food - would not leave until I gave him something |
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| Black crowned night heron |
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| Southern California? |
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| Back in Boston. Most beautiful city in the US |
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| with the most beautiful .... |
