Morro Bay - Avila Beach - Buellton - Solvang

We left a foggy Morro Bay this morning - reminded us of home!  We cruised round to Avila Bay where we stayed 3 years ago and loved the place the first time.  It was just as good this time and we watched the seals frolicking off the pier, pelicans flying overhead and enjoyed an ice cream.   After an hour or so we headed off to our destination in Buellton where we found a great RV park, caught up on washing and then cycled to Solvang, a Danish town we had also visited last trip.  Solvang was 4 miles away and felt like a lot more - we were a bit sore to day the least.  Great little town to poke around in and we will head back there in the morning before we leave for LA.  Finished the night with a spa & kababs on the BBQ.

Santa Cruz-Carmel-Big Sur-Morro Bay

We left Santa Cruz for a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway (SH1) we had heard so much about Carmel by the Sea, a very upmarket town, but not very RV friendly, they cater for tourist buses OK but try and find a park for a RV!!!! But we did have a good look around,upmarket shopping price tags to suit.

Once we got on the coast road, which is cross between the Rimutakas & Pukerua coast road...but longer heaps more corners and hills....but fantastic views, we stopped at the Big Sur for a dip in the river, well we dipped our toes anyway, another great little spot. The trip took a little longer than we expected and were hoping to get to Pismo beach, but ended up at Morro bay, on the beach, the RV park wasn't anything flash, we went shopping and got a couple of Lobster Tails for $4.95 each and 1/2 lb of prawns for around $4.85.

Still in Santa Cruz

We went shopping today, just for normal supplies at Walmart, which have everything in store, ended up spending $560 !!!!!!.But included a couple of bikes for us and a bike rack, the bike rack ended up costing more than the bikes...the bikes cost $88 for mine & $57 for Brenda's, the bike rack cost $150 ha ha. the bikes have shocks front & rear 18 speed, so of course we went riding on the way home, a place called Moss Landing, a fishing village, we had lunch at the fish markets restaurant..clam chowder & seafood sliders. We also brought replacement curtains for the front of the RV, so looking good now.

BBQ tonite...ham steak in the pics below, also went for another swim.

 

Santa Cruz

We left Pleasanton this morning and drove over the the West Coast, south of San Fransisco, staying at Santa Cruz, a very nice RV park, went for a swim this afternoon, and a walk along the beach, we'll stay for a couple of days  to relax.

Pleasanton Goodguys Hot Rod Nationals

We have spent the last 4 days at Pleasanton attending the Goodguys Hot Rod Nationals, over 3000 cars in attendance, with more than 100 Kiwis coming over as well, so we felt very much at home.
While in Pleasanton we were invited to John Della Mura's 60th birthday party, (Johns from Auckland) but thought it would be a great idea to have his party in the USA. As you may have gathered, there were plenty of Kiwis there.

We stayed at the Fairgrounds where the Nationals were held, only problems was the early starts, you see, the guys with the cars entered like to power park (park in there preferred place) so they start queueing up at 4am gates open at 6am., as the RV park is close to the entrance to the fairgrounds and most stay at the RV parks.......no sleep ins.

We both helped Duane on his California Roadsters Company stand for the 3 days, very interesting and we meet some interesting people, plus as we were in the main hall, it was a meeting point for the Kiwis.

We also went out one nite with Duane, Steve Curle, JR & Flick, Craig R, Bruce Carter, Ian Taylor, Phil and a few other Kiwis......., put it this way, we all suffered the next morning. attached are a few pics from the weekend.

 

 

Yosemite National Park

Left Patterson this morning & headed for Yosemite National Park, another hot day for cruising. We Stopped at Old Town Mariposa, an old gold mining town.

Well Yosemite was pretty amazing, we actually climbed to over 7500ft, as you can imagine we had some wonderful veiws. Finished the day off with a Gin or two in the sun.

In the USA

Well we finally made it, the temperature was a 100 degrees f when we arrived at Bakersfield (5pm at night) so we were hit by the heat.
The RV needed some TLC, a bit more than we expected, we replaced all the blinds, the roll up blind on the side door, curtain for the bedroom, plus plenty of cleaning, curtains walls & floors, we were able to buy new blinds from Lowe's & they cut them to size for us.
We also had to buy a Toaster & Jug, only $8 & $12 each Walmart, plus a few plastic containers and camp chairs.

We have opened a bank account with Wells Fargo and now have EFTPOS cards, but they call them Debit cards, they work at all the supermarkets & gas stations etc, saves caring cash.

Also have a USA phone number 661 444 5123, joined the AAA (AA equivalent) which helped us change the ownership of the RV into our names, otherwise we would have to wait at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) all day, but had to get a smog check before this could be done, that was another 2 hour exercise. We also had to register the RV for California as it had Florida plates, so this with changing ownership and tax on the sale cost us just over $800.

We had to learn how the RV works, power leads, generator, LPG hot water & Fridge & air con, plus using the dump station & getting fresh water, (grey water, black water & fresh water) so a lot of studying and asking question. Remembering Gas over here is petrol, LPG is propane... so gassed up $170 for a tank !!!!but we finally got there after 4 days of sorting.

At Duane's a couple of other Kiwis stayed a couple of nights Chris Hornblow & Larry, so we had a couple of BBQs & refreshments...... on a balmy night the beers go down really well.

Anyway on Tuesday we hit the road, drove up the I-5 towards Pleasanton (Goodguys Nationals start Thursday) we'll head to Yosemite national park tomorrow for a look around.