Today we were slugs. We woke up after 8:00, drank fortified coffee, cooked up a big breakfast and otherwise did nothing productive. It was great.
Last night it rained quite a bit and it was still going at it until about mid-day. There were no leaks in the trailer and that is always good. We have been extremely fortunate in this regard.
The day started with Peggy and me heading over Hecker Pass again and, like every other time we go, we stopped to see the sea otters in the lagoon at Moss Landing. We weren’t disappointed. These animals seem like they only have a good time.
After that we headed south to Monterey again to see if we could take a spin on a very scenic section of the coastline called the 17 Mile Drive which wanders around through the ritzy Pebble Beach golf course and through neighborhoods filled with big ass houses. Last week our efforts to take this drive were foiled by golfers, their bat slaves and watching wannabes who apparently couldn’t be bothered by slow-moving traffic a few miles away.
Today we were successful. We gave the gate troll $10 and we were in. We went in the south entrance where the first few miles of the road pass through some skinny conifers and sections with glimpses of houses obscured by big ostentatious gates to keep out the ordinary folks. Soon the road breaks out of the hilltop scroungy forest and into a vista of the entire down slope landscape and a gorgeous coastline beyond. The water between the shoreline rock formations and the beach is turquoise. The wind was blowing offshore and perfectly formed blue waves spewed spray that blew into the air and formed rainbows as it was blown over the shoulder. It was pretty spectacular.
Peggy and I took advantage of the many coastline pullouts along the drive, giving us time to photograph the sights and explore the beach. We spotted big groups of sea lions that were hauled out on the offshore rock formations. We spotted numerous otters fooling around in the seaweed clumps and floating over the swells while laying on their backs. As usual, the adolescents were roughhousing. There is a great variety of gulls, cormorants, kiwi-looking guys with long beaks that were digging around the shoreline rocks and we spotted a few hawks. Peg spotted some deer that were apparently getting fat on some of the most expensive grass in the world as they dined alongside the fairway.
The beach sections have lots of open mussel shells that are dark blue, big snail or hermit crab shells, small abalone shells and the broken bodies of some quite colorful urchins mixed in with the extraordinarily clean sand.
We drove the entire route both ways and the sights were magnificent along this section of private road. The houses near the golf courses or the coastline are massive structures that I doubt even their owners have explored. They have big towers, copper fences, acre-sized residential footprints, stainless gates, ample lot sizes and beautiful views but terrible access. There is one road in and out and the speed limit is 20 mph. The multiple golf courses surrounded by the drive are a luscious emerald color except where there are ponds, streams or sand dune hazards. This place offers truly wonderful views and we think we definitely got our $10 worth.
We departed through the north gate into the town of Pacific Grove where we clogged up the skinny streets with Charlotte’s ample volume while checking out the beautiful old houses sprinkled around. We then hopped onto CA-1 north headed back toward our campground. Below Watsonville, we pulled off the west side of 1 to shop at a fresh fruit stand. The fruit may be okay but getting back on 1 northbound late on a weekday is almost impossible since both the northbound lane and the southbound lane were filled with endless lines of traffic doing about 50. We quickly abandoned our effort to turn left across the highway and instead went south, exited east, hung a U-turn, turned right and headed north on 1. As we passed the fruit stand, we saw the car that was trying to turn north in front of us still stuck on the west side of the road.
Not too long after we got back to the Invader in Morgan Hill, the weather turned to shit and it started to rain quite hard. I’m glad Peg checked and fixed any roof defects yesterday.
For pix, click here
Today was beautiful with clear skies and warm weather. It probably would have been a good day to explore but we had some maintenance issues we wanted to resolve before it rains and the weather goons on TV say that rain is coming. A couple times in the last two months we have noted evidence of a tiny roof leak near the shower skylight when towing through heavy rain. We are not fans of leaks so we addressed them today. It was not fascinating.
We have also identified a loose trim issue on one side of the trailer and it is getting the ax today, as well. I also needed to address a nasty little piece of broken plastic in our spacious shower (about 2 square feet) which will be fixed by using my Dremel. Other than these niggling issues, the Barbarian Invader has been a remarkably good purchase with little maintenance required. Anything that has gone wrong in our two years of travel has been able to be fixed by an idiot with simple tools because I fixed them.
Today started out comfortably warm with clear skies so we went exploring. We had a quick breakfast then piled into Charlotte for a drive toward the coast. The route through Hecker Pass on CA-152 to Watsonville has sort of become a favorite for us with redwood patches on the east side of the hills and expansive views on the west. We moseyed through the pass and then headed down the hill to Moss Landing where we had spotted sea otters doing otter stuff a few days ago.
We arrived and were delighted to find the otters were right about where we found them previously and they were up to their delightful otter antics. The adult otters were idly floating on their backs. We think this is the position they take when napping. The adolescent otters were engaged in furious horseplay and roughhousing and are just a delight to watch. This species seems to have a very good life. Surrounding the otter clan was big herds of sea lions mostly sleeping on the sand and a tremendous variety of birds. All this wildlife was hanging out in the lagoon for cooling water for the Moss Landing power plant. There must be an abundance of food in this lagoon because predation seems to be the activity of the day.
After scoping out the otters for a while, we started north on CA-1 toward Pacifica near Frisco. I may have used faulty reasoning to select today as an exploration day on the coast because it is the day the government has decided is the day to celebrate the birthday of some long-dead presidents and almost everyone in the central portion of California elected to go the coast. Although the weather was absolutely beautiful, the traffic was horrible. In Santa Cruz, we ran into bumper-to-bumper traffic long before we entered the town limits. This terrible traffic continued until quite a ways outside Santa Cruz but it eventually thinned out and we continued north through some truly spectacular coastline to Half Moon Bay. Here the traffic again turned to doo-doo for a while but once we left town it again cleared out allowing progress without braking. All the little dirt turnouts at the multiple state parks along this route were filled with sun worshipers enjoying the magnificent weather and stunning coastline views.
Soon we arrived in Pacifica where we wanted to take a look at the San Francisco RV Resort which ended up being very unresort-like. The RVs in the resort were parked so close to each other that only air and victims of starvation could get between them. There may have been upgraded RV spots at the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean in the past but California has had some El Nino weather this year and any clifftop spots are now cliff bottom spots, having fallen onto the beach through the pesky and inconvenient process of erosion. There are three fences installed at the brink in an attempt to keep the stupid from disappearing over the edge. From the resort parking lot I was able to get some photos of an adjacent property’s clifftop deck jutting out over the ocean unsupported by anything other than air and the deck’s ability to bend. We will not be staying here unless properly bribed.
From Pacifica we got onto I-280 south back to Morgan Hill TT, making a stop at the local Costco on the way. I think we spent more this trip to Costco than ever before maybe due to including $130 worth of booze in our grocery purchases.
Got a few pix if you click here
It is Valentine’s Day and Peggy and I celebrated in our usual fashion; we ignored the fact that this day was created by candy merchants and florists in their own interest. Instead, we started out the day with breakfast augmented by fortified coffee before progressing on to Mimosas. Peggy had cleverly acquired a magnum of champagne and some orange juice that were taking up space in the fridge and we felt compelled to clear out space for groceries or at least that is how we justified it to ourselves.
Not too long after we finished all today’s booze off, we found comfy spots in our chairs where I settled in for some movie watching and Peggy got in a quick nap. After this clearly productive activity we mostly loafed around. It was quite nice.
The Winchester Mystery Mansion in San Jose was our destination for today so we ate a quick breakfast and jumped into Charlotte for the one hour drive to San Jose from our camp spot in Morgan Hill. Traffic was pretty good all the way there as long as you were going our way. The traffic going the other way on 101 was stopped so all the rubbernecks could fully scrutinize the woe of the motorists who had wrecked while driving south.
The Garmin took us right to the attraction and we even found a parking spot in the lot. We shuffled over to the ticket office where we were relieved of $34 a head to go into the facility. We only had a 30 minute wait before our tour started so we took advantage of their restrooms during the wait. At our age, passing a working restroom is downright stupid.
Eventually, an announcement came over the public address system that our tour was starting and our height-challenged, acne-scarred tour guide would meet us at the appropriate place to start our journey. The Winchester Mansion was a continuous construction project undertaken by a widow of one off the Winchester Firearms family who believed that as long as construction continued on the house, she would continue. She was partially correct; work stopped upon her death.
The Winchester woman was not formally trained in architecture, instead getting her inspiration from psychics. The result is an enormous wood structure of around 4 stories with a whole bunch of little, tiny rooms constructed seemingly without purpose. The zitty guide indicated there are more than 200 rooms, 10,000 windows, more staircases (some leading only to the ceiling) than needed, a couple hundred skylights and 3 elevators. Since the design was psychic-induced, there is no coherent layout of rooms and getting from one room to an adjacent room might require a passage through many hallways, stairs, cubbyholes and substandard-sized doors. Very little of the mansion has finishes or wall coverings. The absolutely gorgeous front door, entry foyer and spectacular living room had only been used by 3 people before being closed off by the owner due to some psychic weirdness. Many kitchens can be found within the house, maybe because nobody could find their way to the outside and were obliged to eat or die.
The exterior of the structure is quite striking but the interior is a testament to madness. The place also has some gardens, a restaurant and a gift shop apparently specializing in Chinese goods for a high price. I spotted barbecue lighters shaped like miniature M-14 rifles, coasters with the word “Winchester” misspelled, a large selection of ugly branded clothing and pink thermal coffee cups. The mansion itself is pretty amazing but the tours could be much better. Our tour guide told us about a bunch of items in the house that, according to her, were the most interesting thing in the structure. None of the stuff she mentioned was all that interesting.
We left after a couple hours and headed to a Chinese restaurant called either “May Flower” or “Mayflower” depending on whether you were reading the exterior sign or the menu. Peggy got sesame chicken and I got cashew chicken and they were pretty good. The place was a bit pricey but there was nothing wrong with the food. Strangely, the sesame chicken was not delivered to the table until after Peggy and I had finished the soup, the combo rice and the cashew chicken. The waiter kept coming by the table saying “one minute – sesame chicken” but not actually delivering it until we got the check. Very inscrutable.
We left Mayflower or May Flower and drove over CA-17 to Santa Cruz. From Santa Cruz we picked up CA-1 to Watsonville (probably the only portion of CA-1 which is not scenic) before again picking up CA-152 back to our place at Morgan Hill TT.
Our efforts to complete the registration process for Charlotte the truck were unsuccessful yesterday because acquiring the tags before the end of February was not an option using the internet. Instead, we both went over to the tiny DMV office in Gilroy to get the tags immediately.
“Immediately” was probably not a good word to describe getting the tags in any DMV office in California. We strolled into the Gilroy DMV looking for a kiosk that allows you to pay for registration and get the tags quickly. The Gilroy office does not have such a machine. Our remaining option was to go to one of the subhumans working there and to attempt to get the tags by paying directly to a person. It was foolish to think we would be able to pay and go without delay. We are idiots.
We were given a number and told to have a seat. I inquired about the wait and was informed it was around 30 minutes. The waiting area has a myriad of chairs, most filled with morose, disappointed citizens awaiting the DMV employees who seem to wander around behind their bullet-proof barricades while avoiding sitting at their workstations. 60 minutes later, our number finally appeared on the static-filled display visible from the large waiting area. We popped right over to window #2 where a worker took our $400 in about 30 seconds and we were free. Seems strange that the first idiot we spoke to was unable to handle the intracasies of a simple arm’s-length transaction instead sending us to a second idiot who seemed just as incapable as the first.
The DMV made us wish we had a drink of booze so after departing the DMV we went home and had drinks.
The weather was nice when we woke up so we elected to go exploring. After a quick breakfast, we jumped into Charlotte and headed southwest on Watsonville Road which passes right by our camp spot at Morgan Hill TT. After a few miles, Watsonville Road, aka CA-152, heads into the redwood groves as it passes up the side of Hecker Pass before emerging on the coast side of the coastal mountains.
The road finally quits turning at the foothills and heads into the town of Watsonville. There is a gorgeous mansion here called the Tuttle House and it is right on CA-152. From Watsonville we picked up CA-1 toward Monterey passing through a place called Moss Landing where we pulled off the road right across the lagoon from the Moss Landing power plant. Wildlife must love the lagoon because we spotted a big sea otter presence, sea lions hauled out on sand bars, fat squirrels and lots of birds we have not seen before. I think the dirt road and parking lot are called Moss Landing State Beach.
We reluctantly left Moss Landing and continued south through Seaside, where old US Army Fort Ord used to be back when I was a kid wrestling mastodons. We finally pulled off CA-1 in Monterey and took the obligatory drive down Cannery Row. It looks like there are lots of upscale shops in the former cannery buildings but I didn’t see any canneries. As you drive south through Monterey, you will soon pass into the town of Pacific Grove where there is an abundance of gorgeous beachfront houses of several different architectural styles. We took too many house pictures here because we had ample supply of subjects.
We tried to turn here onto the Monterey peninsula’s famous 17 Mile Drive which passes one of the most spectacular sections of California coastline. Unfortunately, we were defeated and turned around at the entrance because there is some *!#*!!? golf event here and apparently all 17 miles need to be blocked off so portly guys wearing hideous fashions can cross the street without them or their golf bat slaves being flattened. Maybe next time.
Foiled by golf dudes, we turned north on CA-1 back to Moss Landing where we pulled off at a road to Salinas State Beach. Following the road led us to Phil’s Seafood Restaurant and Market where Peggy had a salmon sandwich and I had the snapper. It was very good. We then went north on CA-1 to Moss Landing again and pulled over for another half hour of otter watching. Most of the sea otters were peacefully sleeping but the adolescents were engaged in continuous roughhousing that sometimes ended up waking the snoozing adults as the youngsters passed right over the sleepy guys while wrestling. Their wrestling is only partially visible because some goes on underwater but the motions of their furry little bodies look like a Slinky in a sock. They make cats look positively rigid.
We regrettably departed from otter antics and got back on CA-152 and went back to Morgan Hill. It was a terrific day.
There are a few pix to see if you click here
Today we set aside to do some business regarding Charlotte, namely getting a CA smog certification and state vehicle registration. It was dull. We drove over to Gilroy (about 5 miles) and found the smog certification facility. Charlotte passed with flying colors and in about 30 minutes we were back on the road to a Home Depot store for some batteries and stainless hardware I wanted for the trailer.
We found all we wanted at the Depot and soon we were driving down the road where Peggy had spied an In-N-Out. A couple burgers and shakes later, we split and got fuel before returning to the Barbarian Invader for some napping and lounging. It was great. I like this retirement stuff; having no schedule is terrific.
We started the day with a visit to what must be the least crowded Trader Joe’s in the western hemisphere over in the town of Morgan Hill, CA. Since hardly anybody was in the store, we finished quickly and were home with our loot before 12:00 PM.
Peg and I decided that we needed to explore some so we drove back into Gilroy and picked up CA-152 eastbound. After a few miles through some very rich farmland, we arrived in San Juan Bautista where the mission scenes used in the Alfred Hitchcock classic film “Vertigo” were filmed. We paid the $4 a head admission fee and took a stroll through the mission property. There were a couple small museum sections, a refectory where the monks ate, a kitchen with a big wood hearth, some gorgeous gardens, a big old church and a small chapel, all made out of non-earthquake safe adobe. There is even a sign that says the place is made out of unreinforced mud masonry and should there be an earthquake when you are within the buildings, you should bend over and kiss your ass goodbye. We also took a short walk around the old town plaza where they have many ancient buildings, most of them closed.
After checking out the town’s main drag, we got onto CA-156 for the drive to Castroville, artichoke capital of the world. In the artichoke capital, we turned north on CA-1 for a short drive just inland from the coast until we turned back northeast on CA-152 back toward Watsonville and Gilroy. Highway 152 from Watsonville to Gilroy is a very curvy road through steep canyons lined with redwood, sycamore and oak trees and is quite spectacular. There are a few glimpses of the CA coastline north of Monterey from the highway and they are spectacular. We think we will be going down to Monterey during our stay here at Morgan Hill and we will certainly choose this road as our route.
The Morgan Hill campground seems to have some strange idiosyncrasies that we have not encountered in other TT parks. For instance, the guy camped not far from us seems to have numerous nocturnal visitors who come, stay a few minutes and leave. Could he be selling something? Also, cars with poorly attenuated exhaust noise wander around the park late at night. Perhaps the drivers are lost because they seems to arrive, make noise and then leave. Maybe nothing strange is occurring but I made my gun handy, just in case.
For a couple photos, click here