Seacliff (6) & end of Spring Break

And that’s a wrap on a most excellent week. We got our fill of California coastline. Just kidding. You can never max out on that. I think I have now towed across almost all of California State Route 1, with the exception of the bits that go through L.A. And I’ll be ok if I skip that part.

Richard scored another cancellation win by getting us a full hookup site at Seacliff for our last night out. On our way back from San Simeon, we did the whole route again, northbound. This direction is a bit more relaxing since you have a cushion lane between you and some pretty serious drop offs. We had done our research and located the coordinates of the Mud Creek Slide of 2017. Indeed, it is not south of Ragged Point, but is instead about two miles south of Gorda. Images of this landslide from the USGS site will take your breath away. I remember thinking at the time that this was the end of Highway 1. It took a year to complete the reconstruction. Now that we knew what we were looking at, it was easy to see how the entire side of the mountain had shifted. There are still construction crews around that area and in fact, it seems as though there are always construction crews stationed up and down the coast. Tip of my hat to the crews out there. Your work is much appreciated!

Pulling into Seacliff, we had to yet again prove that Dory has a toilet with a black tank. We asked if there was any way they could save that information so that the camp host doesn’t have to come and inspect our plumbing every time we come. The park ranger said that would be really smart, but no. Well ok then. Later we met some Scamp owners and asked if they too had been interrogated. They had, and when they made assurances there was a full size regular toilet inside, the comment they got back was, “I’m finding that hard to imagine.” We had a good laugh about whether we were at some point going to be asked to demonstrate full functionality.

Richard got out some of his pre-nervous-breakdown-because-we’re-going-home energy by riding out to Capitola to get eclairs. You better believe I had one of those babies. And after a nice dinner and sunset, we walked up to Marianne’s for ice cream too. I accounted for all the calories and used my ‘weekly budget’ to the max. I think this was a test to see if I could vacation while living it up, but not living it quite as up as I normally do.

Seacliff showered us with multiple dolphin sightings, plus a couple of seals, and I swear I thought I saw a shark. But it was probably a dolphin. The weather was perfect and nicely sheltered from the winds we hit between Big Sur and Moss Landing. It’s amazing how deeply we sleep in a parking lot, sandwiched between huge rigs, crashing surf, and passers by who come within inches of us. I thought again about the idea of putting up a decal with a QR code that links to Safari Condo’s website. There are so many people who stop and do the ‘I’ll bet the roof goes down’ arm wave. Or I could just put out a sign that says: “Yes it does.” And one next to it: “And a toilet.”

For being out nine days, there really wasn’t that much extra prep, other than food. The food was so good. The Blue Apron recreations were: Turkey & Shawarma-Spiced Rice, Vadouvan Chicken & Mango Chutney Sauce, Romesco Chicken & Poblano Pepper, Oregano Chicken & Fresh Tomato Pan Sauce, and Mushroom Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Pear Arugula Salad. They were all delicious. In addition, we had three frozen Bertoli pan dinners, and we ate out once. We did go shopping once in San Simeon for milk, but actually ended up not needing it. Three half gallons made it for nine days’ worth of lattes, morning shakes, and breakfast cereal. We thought we were done with winter jackets and blankets, but we have now decided we’re not taking those out for the summer trip. Since our primary target destination is the Canadian Rockies, we may be spending the whole time cold.

I would do that trip again in a heartbeat. Future campgrounds to check out will be: Pfeiffer Big Sur, Kirby Creek, and possibly Plaskett Creek. But I would always be thrilled to return to Limekiln. As long as it is site 4. #premiumdonna

Total miles from San Simeon: 134.6, 17.0 mpg, 4 hours 28 min. Site 22 full hookups. Solar. Cell. Ice cream. All of it. Dumped at New Brighton despite sewer outlet. We would have needed to back up so far for our dump hose to reach it that we’d have been blocking the public walkway. Not worth it.