Leo Carillo State Park, CA

This park is wedged into a canyon along the Pacific Coast Highway, just north of Malibu. The canyon had been used for location shots on the TV show “MASH” (remember the helicopters flying in?). The information we had from the California visitor system had great pictures and descriptions. The park actually straddles the PCH, with camping and hiking on the canyon side and beaches and surfing on the ocean side. There were lots of campsites, but no electric hookups, just water. Howard had quite a hard time backing into the space, he was still pretty stressed out with that whole thing. But we had arrived in LA, in time to pick up the computer from Paul.
We took a walk around the campground, saying hello to other campers, although there weren’t many around. We had arrived later in the afternoon, so after the walk, we made dinner and called it a night. Because there was no electric, we bundled up for the forty degree night.

Expenses on the road

Expenses on the road
We have been planning and saving for this adventure for almost twenty years. The RV idea actually came from Lei’s Uncle Jimmy in Reno, who had his RV parked on the side of the house. We visited Uncle Jimmy and Auntie Tomi in the summer of 1985, while we were driving across the country (motels, no camping). So we were able to pay cash for the RV, and shipped our truck, and that covered the major expense of being on the road.
The next biggest expense on the road is gas, which this summer has fluctuated wildly. A twenty-five gallon gas tank will get us over two hundred miles down the road, but at two dollars a gallon we tried not to go any farther in a day. Some days the truck (and the driver) were humming along, so we would fill up a second time and keep on going.
The next expense is camping fees, which vary depending on whether we stayed in state parks or private campgrounds. We have tried to stay in the state parks, the prices were lower, usually about $20, and the scenery was much nicer.
The campground in Eugene, Oregon was really nice, with full hookups, a swimming pool, three brand new bath houses, free coffee and pastries, and wireless internet in clubhouse. But the daily rate was over $35, and there was no scenery to look at out the window. You kind of get what you pay for, that is if you feel like hanging out in a $35 campground’s swimming pool, or walking the trails in a state park.
The last expense is food, and of course, beer and wine. Although Lei likes a good steak once or twice a year, for the most part we stick to fruit and vegetables for our meals. We can have a really big dinner salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, carrots, cheese, tuna, and sunflower seeds for under five dollars total. The rest of the day we munch on fruit or crackers and cheese.
Living on a budget has really cut down on our search for the ultimate spicy chicken wing. If we stay at a park for more than one night, we usually end up checking out a local brew pub for a beer, some ESPN, and chicken wings. Otherwise, we have our glass of wine at “home”, sometimes around a campfire.

Morro Bay, CA

We definitely wanted to drive south on the Pacific Coast Highway, but the road in Oregon and Northern California was too narrow and winding for us novices. Instead we headed for Morro Bay, which only required a little hill climbing to get over the San Andreas Mountains. We took mostly local roads from Allensworth park, and found a site at the state park. The campsites were pretty close to each other, but tall trees and bushes between each site gave lots of shade and privacy. It was still late March, and not camping “season” yet, so there weren’t a lot of people around anyway. We drove into town, which was just five minutes away, and found an internet café to check the email. Morro Bay is known for a large rock in the bay, it’s about 100 feet tall. We couldn’t see it from town due to afternoon fog, so we drove out to it and watched the surfers (in full wetsuits) catch waves in the shorebreak and fog. It was so quiet and peaceful in the park that we stayed for two nights, just relaxing and sightseeing.
On the second day of our stay, we drove north to take the tour of the Hearst Castle at San Simeon. It is actually a state historic site, and the grounds and tour are part of the state park system. The presentation is very slick, with a visitor center near the highway on the coast, and a ten minute bus ride up the hill to the actual mansion. There are actually three walking tours, each priced to match the length and scope of the tour. We took the basic tour, which included a film by National Geographic about Randolph Hearst, and a walk through the castle with a very well-informed guide. It is an amazing display of wealth, this “castle”, and the film showed that whatever Hearst wanted, he got.
In the afternoon we drove south to the next town, San Luis Obisbo, county seat and site of Cal Poly. In Morro Bay we had no signal on the cell phone, and wanted to call Makana to let her know we were okay. We found a beer place downtown to watch some basketball and try the spicy chicken wings. San Luis is a college town, but it had a real small town California feel to it, despite the Victoria’s Secret and Kinko’s in the restored part of old downtown.
The California state parks had done us well, in location, scenery and price. The most expensive park we had stayed in had been at Morro Bay, at eighteen dollars for the day.

Destinations

During the years we were planning this adventure, we knew we would need a computer to keep up with family and friends, and for Lei do to some writing. The features and capabilities of computers grow year by year, and prices have dropped considerably, thanks to Dell and Gateway on-line business. Lei’s brother Mike recommended a page on Dell’s site that sold “reconditioned” computers, which is systems returned by buyers for whatever reason. We finally ordered a notebook from Dell while we were in Eugene on our shakedown week, scheduling delivery on about April 1st to our friend Paul in Los Angeles. That gave us about ten days to drive from Eugene to LA, a journey of about a thousand miles. So even though the goal of the RV adventure was to not have a destination or deadline, we did want to get the computer, and the LA visit would also mean seeing Mike’s daughter, Mele.

Colonel Allensworth State Park

We stayed at Millerton Lake for two nights, the first time we stayed at a park for more than one night. We were getting closer to the kind of place we had been dreaming of while planning this adventure: someplace in the forest, quiet, with full hookups! We still had not made a campfire, although most parks had a fire ring at each campsite, and some even sold firewood for your fire. And we had not really spent time talking to other campers, meeting new people. It’s so easy to set up the trailer, plug in, move the slide out, and hide out inside.
We set out due south on the state roads, trying to avoid the speeding turbulence of the truckers. We finally found this park in the middle of nowhere. It's several miles west of the interstate, and yet the train line that runs through this major farming area is just 100 yards from the park. The original town was founded by a former slave who became a chaplain in the Union Army and was discharged as a colonel. He took several other former slaves and went to California to make a new start away from the war. The town had several general stores, a school, a large church, and a doctor.
The park is still in the process of restoration, there are several buildings completed with historical markers explaining their origin. We were there in the off season, so the museum was not open, and I think during season the town is populated with people portraying the original residents.
There were covered picnic areas with barbeque rings; one large group area with four or five tables. All the people there were Hispanics, except a guy living in his van. The large party left the park in a mess, pinata paper left wherever it fell.
No hookups except for the park host, although it looked like there had not been one last season. Clean bathrooms, large outside sink for washing dishes. Hot showers for 50 cents.
About the guy in the van, he was sitting in the sun in a lounge chair when we arrived, and we called him “sunburned guy”. I found out from him that the 50 cent showers lasted long enough to take a leisurely shower, so we showered together and had plenty. We started a fire with discarded wood we found in the construction area, and I walked over and invited sunburned guy to join us. His name was Danny, and he was a pipe fitter working construction in the area. He said living in the van beat paying for motel rooms, although he was limited to fourteen total days in the California park system. The cost for this campsite was eight dollars, a great price. The night got pretty cold, we were apprehensive to use the onboard furnace, and had no electrical hookup to use the little space heater, so we just bundled up for the night.
The park had several buildings under construction, and we found a bunch of wood to use for a campfire. No termites means the wood is dry and chemical-free, so we climbed into a dumpster and helped ourselves to the scrap pieces.

June visit with Makana