Tuesday, May 13, 2014

WHAT A WEEK

May 27, 2014

Well, today we left southern Ca. desert for the first leg of our summer trip.  We were on our way to Bakersfield, Ca for one night but we were late getting started.  We had low air in one of our cargo trailer tires.  Turns out it wasn't low air but a bad valve stem.  Anyhoo Joel has to change the tire, we always carry a spare.  We are now on Ca 395, lots of construction, huge bumps and our tv cabinet in the bedroom, frame and tv falls off.  Tv is toast, coax broke off at the pc  board.  We finally get to Orange Grove rv park and spend the night.  Very long pull through.  In the morning we head to Pismo Beach after going over some very hairy mountain roads on hway 166.  We get into Pismo Sands rv Park on the 28th.  Great long pull thru spot and the owner lets Joel park the corvette in his private space.  We are in Oceano, Ca, about 2 miles from Pismo.  We are starving so we go to a lovely restaurant on the beach called Steamers.  We start off with a lb of little neck steamed clams made with white wine and shallots.  Then we share a fishermans fried platter of fish, shrimp, mussels, etc.  It is wonderful.  We hang around a while and I make a reservation to see a theater show in a little old fashioned theater, just half a mile from our park.  It is "Around the world in 80 Days", it is a hoot.  We have such a good time.  5 actors portray 39 parts.  We sit on padded pews.  We then go back to the park and order a pizza for dinner.  The next day we have to replenish groceries so we head to Walmart, buy a new tv and have lunch at in and out burgers.  We also eat out at a nice Chinese buffet and Baja Fresh, one of our favorite places in Florida, and also at the "Splash Café" right over at Pismo Beach, famous for their clam chowder and it was delicious.  We hook up our new tv and decide to leave it on top of our dresser, easier to see from the bed.  Dave and Teresa stop by and Dave and Joel put the frame back on the cabinet and we are now using it for storage.  All in all we spend 10 days in Pismo Beach. 

Well, it is now May 9th, and we are on the way to the "Vines rv resort in Paso Robles," about an hour up the road.  It is a new park, stamped concrete pads and gorgeous landscaping.  They have a beer and wine lounge which we go to on our first night there.  All the drinks are made with wine.  I have a wine margarita and Joel has a wine tequila and a bottle of Heineken.  We make some friends.  Jerry and Paula and their friends Carol and her husband.  We get along great.  They all came up for Mothers Day Weekend for wine tasting. 

Oh, I forgot to tell you.  This morning before leaving I dumped our black tank and flushed it out.  Apparently I forgot to turn off the flush.  When Joel flushed the toilet, it looked like old faithful erupted.  Oh my, lots of towels to wash.  I do it all at the new laundry here.  We eat lunch at the truckstop homestyle café across the road.  It is Saturday Morning and we are on our way to the "Warbirds Museum" car show.  We were originally supposed to be in it, but emails got lost so we just went and walked through the museum and saw all the old planes and cars.  Enjoy the pics.  We then tootle around the town of Templeton and stop at an old pioneer museum and get a free wine tasting card from then to the winery next door.  I found out that I don't care for wine and neither does Joel, unless its chocolate wine.  Back at the rig I make shrimp scampi for dinner over rice.  Nice day all in all.

Well, it is mothers day and Paula next door comes over with an invitation to me to enjoy a mimosa to celebrate our day.  It is wonderful.  Later her husband Jerry makes us all tootsie roll floats, orange soda and vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup.   Yum, we all indulge.  We sit around the afternoon with them.  Jerry is an electrician and fixes our broken generator switch and our key fob fuse.  I am sorry to see them go home.  Tonight we will go out to dinner at "Cool Hand Lukes" for mothers day.  It is a western steakhouse.  Only a ten minute wait and we both have bacon wrapped filet mignons.  We are back at the rig now.  Tomorrow is a busy day, "Hearst Castle".

We are on the road at 10 am to San Simeon, about an hour away to see "Hearst Castle".  We had a very nice tour.  William Randolph Hearst was a famous newspaper publisher.  His home is on 250,000 acres of beautiful cattle ranch.  He had his own zoo, winery, very impressive.  We end the tour and I make my way to the restroom.  Oh. my, later, when we get home, over an hour later, I realize I left my cellphone in the bathroom.  I panicked.  I called the place and was relieved to find out that they had it and were holding it for me.  So we took another night at this park and went back to the Castle today to retrieve my phone.  I was so happy.  Then we took a ride 4 miles north of San Simeon to the elephant seals rookery, I have pics and video for you.  Unbelievable.  The smell was horrible, but the thousands of seals made for real Kodak moments.  We eat at a beachfront café on Moonstone Beach, and then take a walk down to the tidepools and meet some more nice people.  Had a wonderful time, so glad we had to stay another day, it was truly meant to be.  Tomorrow on the way to Gilroy.


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