Category: 2026 Travels

After three years, Highway 1 is finally open all the way from Carmel to San Simeon. Various landslides have cut off parts of the road, and driving it makes you see why. This is a world class drive, which is significantly less scary going north than south. They’ve done a good job putting guard rails in the exciting bits, but still, when you’re hundreds of feet above the ocean, and you’re on the outside of a turn where you can’t really see where the road is going, it can be intense. It’s much easier hugging the cliffs, but it is slow and twisty for a good thirty miles. I’d say it’s roughly equivalent to the “rollercoaster” on the north side between Jenner and Elk. Allow tons of time and don’t expect any services. The gas station at Gorda was selling premium for $9.99 and that is probably only because their display didn’t have any more spaces. I mean, someone somehow got $5/gallon gas to that location, and if you find yourself needing gas during that stretch, you’re going to pay anything. I can’t fault them for charging what they charge. Just come prepared and enjoy the marvel of this engineering masterpiece.

We passed by several slide zones, not knowing exactly which was which. They have put a lot of metal “hair netting” on the cliffs, clearly to try to prevent as much damage in the future. It’ll be an ongoing battle as the weather just keeps claiming more and more of the coastline. One thing is for sure: CalTrans workers have job security if they’re working this area.

Our site was premium and by the river, but the approach into the driveway went the wrong direction for the one way loop road. This meant that the back in turn was too tight for me coming at it from the right direction. I pulled a fancy maneuver and backed into another site with good room, then pulled out going the wrong way so that I could get into ours safely. I knew I’d be pointed the wrong way on departure, but that was not a problem. I had Richard walk ahead to try to intercept anyone coming who would get stuck by me, but no one came. No problem. I will say the campground loop roads are all very narrow and bumpy. I wouldn’t want to try to get a big rig through this campground.

I was tired after the drive up the coast, so I took a little nappy. Richard never gets tired, so he went up the Manuel Peak trail as far as the viewpoint, then came back down. He saw a bobcat and brought home a tick. EW! I had to pull the little bastard’s detached head out of Richard’s thigh. He said the trail was pretty overgrown, but he didn’t seem to have gotten hit by any Poison Oak. We sure saw lots of it though. The campers next to us did a little Easter egg hunt for their kids on Sunday, and we just watched as the kids enthusiastically dug around through the Poison Oak leaves, finding eggs. I figured, at that point it was too late to warn them, and they might not get rashes if they haven’t already been exposed a few times. Why ruin their fun by telling them?

For our last full day, we went up the Pfeiffer Falls trail and down the Valley View trail. Part of this loop was closed when we came before, and it was clear they had done a lot of work putting in steps and repairing a bridge. It’s a great trail and takes up to a nice little waterfall. The viewpoint for the Valley View trail is an out and back that is definitely worth it. From the end of the trail, you can see all the way out to the ocean. There were abundant irises all along the way.

We stopped when we got back down and took advantage of the fact that the lodge sells ice cream. We thoroughly enjoyed sitting inside with our little cones, while connected to fast wifi. We thought about maybe going to check out Nepenthe restaurant or drive up to Andrew Molera state park, but felt the park would be better appreciated with a full day, and Nepenthe better appreciated when it was not Easter weekend. For my part, I was content to sit in my chair, listen to the river, and try to finish the cat box. This gave Richard full permission to go fast walk the Buzzard’s Roost trail on the other side of the valley. He saw a king snake and lots of flowers, but I conquered joined rows! I love my new hobby.

We grilled a delicious Easter dinner of ribeye steaks and panzanella salad with bread toasted on the grill. OMG that was so damn good. I indulged in a blended margarita made in my little rechargeable Ninja blender. Perfect end to a perfect week.

We got an early start the next day, with Richard doing a fast hike up and around the falls and valley view loop. It’s always a good idea to make him do that, especially before a long car drive. We both took Monday off so we could do the drive back home when it was not a holiday. I don’t think there is anything I would change about this trip. Everything worked great. We’re going to be homebound until summer, but that is intentional. Richard needs to get a medical procedure taken care of and this will give him ample time to recover before having to lift big ramps and go crazy with biking or hiking. I do wonder how in the world he’s going to be able to slow down enough to actually recover. Meanwhile, I have a box full of yarn waiting for me when we get home, along with a beautiful blooming rhododendron I planted in the fall.

Total miles from Pismo: 119.3, 16.1 mpg, 4 hours 59 min with stop in SLO Costco. Site 181 riverside, no hookups. Site backs in the wrong way so I had to do a tricky maneuver to turn around in the one way loop. Otherwise nice site. No cell service except sometimes 1 bar for Verizon. Great wifi in Lodge. Not much solar. Fine free dump. Campground loop road is narrow and very bumpy.

Our next stop on the birthday week tour was just down the road at Pismo. We took a quick detour at the Costco in San Luis Obispo to fill with the least painfully expensive gas possible. And to get a hot dog and chocolate chip cookie. Also, we didn’t want to arrive at the campground before 2 because we remembered they are sticklers for no early check ins. Nailed that one and pulled up to the kiosk at exactly 2:00.

Here we took it easy and spent a lot of time relaxing. I made, took apart, and remade a crochet box for Momo the cat. I have now learned how to do joined rows, but I’m not good at it yet. The box turned out to be harder than I thought, but it’s fun to learn a new skill with every project. When we weren’t chilling, we were walking on the beach noticing cool little creatures who appear to be “Valella Valella” or “By-the-wind sailors.” I guess these little guys often show up on the shores in April, when the winds turn and they sail onto land from deeper waters. I have never seen them before, but they are a striking blue color, with clear little dorsal fin sails on top.

It was finally good enough weather that I got to cook outside. I made panko breadcrumb topped salmon, with scallion rice and garlic green beans. The sauce was a sweet chili mixture with just the right balance of sweet and salty. On our walk, we saw someone catch a huge frog and he asked us if we knew if it was big enough to eat. We certainly did not know anything about the edibility of wild frogs.

On the next day, we rode our bikes over to the Pismo Preserve where we hiked the nearly six mile Discovery Loop. These trails are so well signed, and all color coded to keep you from getting lost. The views of the coastline are well worth the bit of climbing and there were some nice wildflowers blooming. We had considered driving out to Carrizo Plains, but pictures online seemed to indicate it was nowhere near the bloom we saw three years ago. And in that case, it’s not really worth the two hour drive each way. On our way back, we rode through town and I got a scoop of mint chocolate cookie from Cowboy Cookies & Ice Cream. It was good, but nothing super special. We caught a nice sunset and I tried to take some artistic pictures.

We did manage to get in one long bike ride up to Huasna Valley. Instead of riding all the way through Grover Beach and Arroyo Grande, we drove it and parked after it stopped being so towny. It’s a nice ride with very few cars and pretty farmland.

It was still early in the day, so we decided to grab a late lunch/early dinner at Bee House Thai. We got the drunken noodles and panang curry. Fabulous and just the right level of spicy. There was enough to take for later too. We enjoyed one last sunset and that wrapped up our second stay of the week.

We love this campground and the site I got was great because it was off to the side and away from others. It’s a very city feel place, with a huge RV park right next door. In the fall you can sometimes see the Monarch Butterflies during their migration and that is right next to the campground. There are endless places to eat, including Old West Cinnamon Rolls and Surfside Donuts. Both are good, but not top of the list kind of places. Everything is touristy there, but if you go knowing that, you can enjoy the amenities and get in a good walk on the beach.

Total miles from Montana de Oro: 28.3 with Costco stop in San Luis Obispo, 15.2 mpg, 1 hour 30 min. Site 81, excellent site. No hookups. Great dump, great solar, great cell service.

Activism Afterward

Stay tuned for endorsements for candidates running for primaries. In California, the race for governor is full of drama. Stay up to date with your local chapters so you know who is actually running by the time the vote rolls around. Here’s a link for the CA Dems endorsements page. They have not yet made endorsements for all the positions, but the field is changing fast at this point.

Endorsements Look Up Tool

This was a camping outing for the record books. My birthday coincides simultaneously with good timing and bad timing. Good because it almost always lands during Spring Break. Bad because it always precedes tax season dangerously closely. This year, we pretended that taxes are not a thing and fully embraced all of the upsides. I think that is generally really good advice because we could not have had a better time. Originally, I had made reservations for Friday and Saturday at Pinnacles National Park, but then the No Kings rally got planned for that Saturday. I really want to do those if possible, and there was not going to be any rally near Pinnacles that we could have easily joined. So, I talked Richard into shifting things so that we could skip the first stop, but tag on a weekend stay at the other end of the week. It wasn’t easy, but eventually I was able to pick up a cancellation reservation for Pfeiffer Big Sur on Easter weekend and we took that Monday off. We loved having a later departure actually because it gave us Friday and Saturday to be more chill. We are rethinking our habitual practice of launching long trips on the afternoon of a work day.

It was a long and uneventful drive down 101 to arrive in blue skies and sunny weather. Having spent an unusually long time being sick over the past month, this was a most welcome sight. We were meeting friends for this stay, but arrived before they did. After getting set up, we headed out to the bluffs to get in a nice walk before dinner. After dinner, we joined up with our Alto friends Rich and Kathy around a nice campfire and got all caught up.

Monday marked my 60th birthday, and I really could not have asked for anything more. The main event was hiking the Point Buchon Trail, which is only open to the public Thurs-Mon. Richard speed walked out to the entry gate, while I drove the 2.5 miles to the parking area. This worked well and got his morning yayas out so that he could walk like a normal person with me. It’s four miles out to the end of the trail, with nothing but ocean views, seals, otters, and the occasional whale spout the whole way. We saw a snake at the start of the hike, the second snake spotted in the park. The seals were very entertaining, as they leaped out of the water together, heading fast to some seal event that required leaping.

For dinner, we met our friends in Los Osos at Wayward Baking. We’ve been there for their breakfast pastries, which are outstanding, but enjoyed their Monday Pizza even more. They only make pizzas on Mondays, so plan accordingly. And you have to order them ahead of time. And they run out. We were joined by our other Alto friend, Linda, and shared three specialty pizzas. We got a Hobb’s Pepperoni, with Calabrian Chili Honey which was really incredible. Rich and Kathy ordered two others and I can’t remember the combination of toppings. I know there was one with feta and things you wouldn’t normally expect to find on a pizza. But everything was delicious and the crust was thin and crispy and chewy. So good. For dessert, we all went back to the campground and enjoyed a spectacular selection of pies that Kathy picked up at the farmers market. She made it a real quest and went to two different bakeries in town, where she got intel on a “pie lady” who sold whole pies and slices. There was apple, a “limequat” custardy pie, and pecan; all delicious with amazing flavors and flakey crust. We shared a Rombauer around the fire and laughed until it was quiet time. What a wonderful day!

On Tuesday, Richard started his day by going up to the top of Valencia Peak, while I lounged in bed, showered, and enjoyed my new hobby: crocheting. I have now completed several “amigurumi” animals, but I am the most proud of a dragon I made for our daughter’s birthday present. His name is Java and he is super cute, with sparkly little puppy dog eyes. The scales down his back were hard, and I learned a couple of new stitches to make the points on his wings. The nice thing about this hobby is that it is very portable and well suited to camping. I just have a bag with yarn and needles and things that can go anywhere. I finished “Momo the Cat” while Richard was on his morning hike.

Later, we drove to San Luis Obispo to meet up with our friends. Our first stop was Michael’s because now I need yarn fixes. They happened to be having a big yarn sale, so this is my new joy. Following that, we went to SloDoCo, which had almost as impressive an array of doughnuts as Pinkbox in Las Vegas. We went with kind of normal flavors, lemon and chocolate cake, for comparison sake. The chocolate ranked high and Richard says it’s one of the best he’s had.

From there, we walked to the downtown area and just looked around. We met back up for dinner at a place called Gold Land BBQ. The meat was super tender and the onion rings were dark and crispy. We lost the battle of resisting the ice cream place next door – Nite Creamery. It was a tactical error, because we got intense coffee flavored ice cream which made sleeping difficult, but they do a flash freeze thing using some kind of nitrogen machine. It’s quite dramatic, so we weren’t going to pass that by. Then it was back to Dory for one more night.

I can definitely say that if one has the good fortune to turn 60, camping with friends is the way to do that. This birthday was so good, Richard is pre-jealous for his 60th birthday coming up in November. We have pretty much decided to just to an exact redo of this trip so he can have Wayward pizza on Monday. One thing I noticed for sure is that having a busy fingers hobby makes staying at campgrounds with no cell service a non issue. I used to get bored and antsy, but this seems to be the antidote for that. It keeps my brain and hands occupied and saves me from doomscrolling. I do end up with things I need to give away, but they’re pretty cute things and there appear to be infinite patterns out there for projects I can do. I now have my own little neck light, so I can point it at my hands and see stitches, plus I am now the proud owner of a yarn ball winder. I don’t know how I have made it this long without one, but now I have the ability to make super tight yarn cakes. Might even have to get a swift in case I get any hanks. You guys. This is a super fun world I have stumbled into.

Total miles: 244.3, 17.7 mpg, 5 hours 38 min. Site 38 no hookups. No cell, no dump, great solar. Wifi at the Spooner Ranch visitor center and good cell service out on the bluffs or up the trail to Valencia Peak.

Activism Afterward

Alert! The administration is in the process of effectively dismantling the US Forest Service. This will have a devastating impact on our natural lands. For extensive information on what is happening, as well as which outdoor companies are taking a stand against this, please visit the site put together by Alt National Park Service.

SAVE USFS: https://saveusfs.org

There are links on this page for how to take action and who to contact to voice your opinion.

I’m slipping into a bad habit of increasingly extending the time between camping trips and writing them up. I’m giving myself grace because the world is ending, but still, I run the risk of forgetting important ice cream or donut based information. So, this post will capture our trip to HMB from Feb 27-March 1, and I want to write up a super fun chocolate tour we did in San Francisco, even though that was technically not a camping weekend. I want to remember where we went and I’m hoping the information will prove useful to anyone wanting a fun way to spend Valentine’s Day in SF.

Our first stop on any visit to Half Moon Bay is to walk from the campground to Taqueria Tres Amigos. We don’t always have dinner there, but this time we did, and it was delightful. Really though, our primary target on the excursion is their churros. Man, they are so good. Piping hot, crispy on the outside, gooey on the inside, covered in sugar.

We often do a bike ride to Pescadero from this campground, but we changed plans because a friend of mine was pondering a free stay at the Ritz-Carlton and we wanted to check it out. It’s a gorgeous trail walk, almost completely flat, that clocks in at a little over three and a half miles each way. If you’re riding a bike, you need to be careful about this one section that goes steeply down to the beach and then climbs back up via steps carved into the dirt bank. There is a way to go around this, but we saw bikers arrive at the dip and turn back.

Along the way, we stopped for a bite to eat and spotted a pod of dolphins right off the coast! The water was a deep cleansing blue, and a heron posed for us as we went by. I sent pictures of the Ritz to my friend, but alas, her dedication to work overruled hanging out on the patio, sipping very expensive beverages, and watching the ocean.

Since the original plan had us riding through Pescadero, we decided instead to drive there for dinner. We chose Duarte’s, Tavern which I haven’t been to in a long time. This spot was a favorite for fifth grade teachers during camp week, since the outdoor camp was just up the road in Loma Mar. I’ve gone down a few times, so I knew to order the off menu “Half and Half” soup. This is a combination cream of artichoke and cream of green chile, and it’s perfection in a bowl. I paired that with onion rings and it comes with fresh crusty sourdough bread. It’s a historic business, dating back to 1894. The bar is original and the cream of artichoke soup was one of its early draws to the locals. It has survived fires and floods and hasn’t missed a beat. Well worth a trip.

Moving backwards in time, we had a really rough February. We all got sick with the horrible virus that has been making the rounds. We were all either down for the count, or fighting it with DayQuil and Afrin for four weeks solid. I did one round of antibiotics for a sinus infection, and our daughter did a round for an ear infection. When Valentine’s weekend, a four day weekend coinciding with President’s Day, came around, we would have been challenged to keep the reservation I made in Pfeiffer Big Sur. Add to that a mostly rainy weekend forecast, and we pulled the plug.

We did have one day of no rain, and that was on Valentine’s Day. We decided to rescue the weekend by going into San Francisco to do a Self Guided Walking San Francisco Chocolate Tour. This is something I googled that pulled up a write up from 2015, but only one of the businesses listed is no longer there, or at least we couldn’t find it (Charles Chocolates). This day was an absolute blast!

We started with lunch at El Matate to have the mole. I’m writing about this over a month later and my mouth is watering just thinking of the chicken. OMG. It is so damn good.

Following that, we walked down to 24th Street, where there are all kinds of fun things to see and do. This is the Mission District, which is known for its latin culture and colorful murals. We stopped at Dynamo Donuts which has a wide selection of unique flavors. We were so impressed with the gluten free offerings, we got a Valentine’s box to bring home to our daughter.

From there, we walked around for a while, just taking in the scene. There was a giant street party going on for several blocks in an area known as Lovers Lane. I’m a native Californian and had never explored this area before. They had musicians and booths and all manner of street fair offerings. I’ll tell ya, I got choked up. With all of the horrific news and human cruelty splashed across the internet, it was deeply moving to be in a proud latin community, dancing, singing, filled with pride and joy.

We left 24th and headed back north until we arrived at Dandelion Chocolate. This place is a working factory and you can reserve tours to watch the chocolate making process unfold. We were too late to book that, but we enjoyed little bite sized tastes of all of the varieties as we waited in line to get their famous hot chocolate. I got the Mission Hot Chocolate, which is kicked up a notch using cinnamon and passilla chile. Wow, this was rich and delicious, with an extra bam! This may be the best hot chocolate ever in the history of the world. Richard said I needed to go on and on about the hot chocolate because it was that good. I agree, it was probably the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had. Or can remember. But honestly, my memory is not what is once was, so all I can say is that it was extremely good hot chocolate.

We looked at the very fancy desserts next door at Craftsman and Wolves, but were content to look, not buy. Their delicacies look too pretty to eat, but they sure are works of edible art.

Finally, heading slowly back towards the 16th and Mission BART station, we stopped at Bi-Rite Creamery for ice cream. The Bi-Rite Market is just across the street and we, just like a lot of people I guess, got confused. They seemed very used to pointing ice cream expeditioners across the street to the building aptly described as “mint chip green.” I did have the mint chip and I do remember it being very very good.

Before ending the day, we walked by the mission this whole neighborhood is named for. We were too late in the day to want to pay the entry fee, so we’ll save that for another time. It’s pretty from the outside and my feet were tired after walking nearly seven miles. Because it was so much fun, I really wanted to capture this walking tour on the blog.

One last thing by way of an update: I have taken up crochet! I’ve been looking for some kind of portable hobby for a long time. For those who may remember my declaration that I was going to be a photo scanner…. well, I’m not. But am a crocheter now, or at least I have actually completed three cute animals and am working on a fourth. This keeps me from scrolling all the horrible news and should be something I can take on the road.

That’s a big update after a long posting gap. We do have plans Spring Break and we’re excited. In the meantime, I hope anyone reading this is safe and well. Life is a lot right now. As promised, I am still going to post links below for resources that I find helpful as my way of doing whatever I can to resist and push back. Besides that, finding and celebrating joy remains imperative. I just think of how powerful that street scene in the Mission was. In spite of all of the horror, it meant a lot to be surrounded by people defiantly and conspicuously choosing joy.

Total miles: 51.6, 15.8, 2 hours 33 min (accident on freeway). Site 5 hookups. Did not use $10 dump, but it’s good. Excellent cell service, plenty of solar from any site.

Activism Afterward

Here are a couple of writers who are keeping me…. well, not sane I guess. They are keeping me informed, and doing so in a way that does not paralyze me with fear. I appreciate them, so I’m sharing links.

Amanda Nelson, Amanda’s Mild Takes: https://amandasmildtakes.substack.com/

Rich Laguna, Ohh That’s Rich: https://substack.com/@ohhthatsrich

Jay Kuo, The Status Kuo: https://statuskuo.substack.com/

It’s taking me longer and longer to write these posts because it’s hard to write about the mundane in times of terror. I understand not allowing the horrors of the world take away one’s joy, but when my own government is taking innocent lives, traumatizing children, pushing us to the brink every single day, well, maintaining a camping blog feels … surreal.

Nevertheless, small bursts of positivity do not lose their importance in the face of great evil. And to be sure, these are times of monsters and great evil. Right now, I’m going to use this blog in two ways. First, in recapping what was a very joyful long weekend in a beautiful part of California, I’m going to try to calm my nervous system a little. Maybe this little virtual walk in wine country will be of some use to you, maybe it won’t. That’s ok.

Second, I’m going to post some resources at the bottom, like links to organizations that help people resist. In reading content providers who talk about how to manage political anxiety, the first thing they say is to get involved in some way. It doesn’t have to be big, but it needs to be something. Something doable, something you can commit to, and something that is sustainable. I have my own personal commitments for ways I can push back against the regime. I can’t just pretend that everything is normal, and maybe some of these resources will be useful to you. Maybe they won’t. That’s ok too.

But here we go on the happy weekend part. This was a nice three day weekend to honor the memory and work of Martin Luther King Jr. Now is a good time to be reminded of his message, and this weekend gifted us with nice weather so we could really enjoy it. We have learned over the years that the correct thing to do in Napa Valley is to reserve a tour and wine tasting somewhere. This time, we chose Beringer Vineyards. But that was not until the afternoon, so we had time Saturday to get on our bikes and ride the Vine Trail.

The trail runs all the way from St. Helena to Calistoga and is paved most of the way. It takes you through vineyards and keeps you off Highway 29, which is a safer and more pleasant way to ride Napa. There are wineries along the way where you can get tastings. Sadly, gone are the days of free tastings. I understand that was not financially sustainable, but it sure was fun back in the day! Most places offer tastings of three or four wines at varying price points, and many welcome walk ins.

We grabbed lunch at the open market in Calistoga. There were a couple of options and we went with the wood fire pizza oven on a trailer, and that was delicious. Only $15 for a hot 8″ pizza made to order. The market also had tamales for sale, and down the road was a popular BBQ place. I was happy with our choices, and we turned around and rode the trail back to St. Helena.

As we got into town, there was a lone protester holding up an ICE OUT sign, eliciting a lot of supportive honks. I love you, lone protester guy. There is power in the big crowds, but sometimes seeing one person out there, speaking out, makes just as much of an impact. Never underestimate your power to make an impact.

We walked around a little and got gelato at a new place: Roman Holiday. It seems to be themed on the the 1953 movie of the same name, starring Audrey Hepburn. We had the 70% dark chocolate and it was delish.

We arrived at Beringer with enough time to stroll the gardens and peek inside the Rhine House. This majestic estate was built in 1884 and is adorned with stained glass windows and detailed wooden moulding all throughout. It is a beautiful house, surrounded by manicured gardens and an outdoor seating area where you can order wines by the glass.

We took the 30 minute tour through the limestone caves where they have fermented their wine in oak barrels for over a century. They still use the original gravity system to move wine through the fermentation stages. Our tour guide was animated and delivered a fun experience. He invited us, well me, since Richard doesn’t drink, to look for undertones of pear, cherry, cranberry, etc., with each different wine. I swear, I can never actually taste those things really. If you say there’s a blackberry finish, I’ll say sure. But I tried to guess what fruit he was going to say ahead of time and never got it. I think it’s just as well I don’t have refined pallet though. I mostly drink really cheap stuff and am perfectly happy doing so. Better not to be aware of the subtleties of taste too much, I figure.Having had a delightful experience, we rode away with one of us being happily tipsy. Good to be on a bike, and no, I did not crash into anybody. We got back to Dory and enjoyed a tasty Blue Apron dinner, followed by a movie on the projector. Perfect day.

On Sunday, we had the whole day, or so we thought, to do a hike up to Coyote Peak. There is a lovely trail that follows Ritchey Creek up the valley, and then cuts uphill to the high point at Coyote Peak. There are a couple of ways you can make a loop out of it, but the river crossing on the outer loop was a little too exciting for our blood. California is now officially out of drought and the creek is running strong. With a little less water, I’m sure it would be easy to get across. No worries though. Richard is getting good at invoking Multiple Plans Marvin so he can be flexible with unexpected things. The climb up from the valley is sustained and steep in places, but it’s a nice trail. Up close to the peak, it gets narrow and there is a short section where the trail goes along exposed rough rock. It’s short and returns to dirt after maybe twenty feet. The views are largely obscured by trees, but you can make out the valley below and see all the way to the Silverado Trail on the other side.

We sat for a while at the top, trying to peer through the trees and identify wineries, when I got a call from the state park. That was weird, so I answered. The ranger was politely inquiring as to our pack up plans, since check out time had just passed. I was confused. We had another night reserved so we could go home Monday. I vaguely remembered that there were two consecutive reservations, and I thought maybe that was the hiccup. But the ranger said someone else had the site reserved for Sunday night. Hmm. I checked my email to find the confirmations. I was confused again and had to check what the date was. Ah. I saw what happened there. I must have made the first reservation for Friday and Saturday, as usual. Then later, when I realized it was a three day weekend, I must have gone back to pick up the third night. But instead of reserving Sunday, I had the date of Monday on my brain and reserved that by mistake. The ranger was ever so kind and said there was an open site she could move us into. I explained we were at the top of Coyote Peak and it would take us a while to get back down and pack up, but she said that was no problem at all. So we started down the trail.

Now normally, something unexpected like this could have really thrown us. This was definitely not the plan. But really, it was no big deal and we were able to pack up and move sites in less than thirty minutes. Richard did a great job rolling with it, and I did a great job not feeling bad or defensive about my error. We both did a great job not taking on any imagined anger on the part of the people waiting for us to get out. They could have taken the open site, and really, we were out of there just a half hour past check in time anyway. So we were able to enjoy the whole hike, and relax the rest of the afternoon.

Getting home is easy peasy from Napa and only around a two hour drive. There is no dump in this park, so we always just wait to dump at home. There are endless wineries to choose from for tastings or tours. So far, Castello di Amoroso stands out as the most unique tour experience. But the limestone caves and beautiful Rhine House of Beringer are well worth the price of the tour. You can’t go wrong in Napa.

See below, following the picture gallery, for resources and links of organizations where you can get involved and fight to save our democracy.

Total miles: 63, 2 hours 17 min, 17.6 mpg. Site 20, then 12. No hookups, no dump. Better cell service than I remember. Could get 1-2 bars of 5g from either site. Site 20 has some solar, but 12 is in deep shade.

With daily atrocities being committed by the US government, it is no longer a matter of “talking politics” to say that we are at a pivotal moment in our history. If you follow Heather Cox Richardson, which you should, she has made the call that yes, we have officially arrived at fascism in the United States. The powers of the state are being used against the people to terrorize us into submitting to the will of a lawless dictator. That dictator also happens to be mentally unstable. Many guardrails have failed to protect us from this moment. The damage done is being felt worldwide, but within our borders, our people are being murdered. The time for neutrality has passed. I have made no secret of where I stand. What I will do from now on is include some link, or article, or content provider, to highlight and link with each post. You may well already be aware of these resources, but at least I won’t feel like I’m ignoring the shitstorm all around me by saying nothing.

First, I highly recommend finding your local Indivisible chapter if you haven’t done so already. This organization operates nationally to direct people to events, campaigns, and resources. The local chapters drive the grassroots activities. So many people are out there doing the hard work every single day. There are teams of people protecting our immigrant neighbors with food delivery, legal help, medical services, and more. And there are the people who go out multiple times a week on Visibility Brigades, to hold signs on overpasses. There are writers composing letters to the editor, social media and website authors, and there are in person protests happening multiple days every single week. It is not only about networking to hook up with your local chapter; it is also incredibly comforting to be in community with people who are just as upset about what is happening as I am. There is every kind of opportunity to get involved through the Indivisible website. From there, you can get to protests organized by 50501 or postcarding or phone banking campaigns organized by Commit To Democracy. Links below. Check em out if you haven’t already!

Indivisible: https://www.mobilize.us/indivisible/

Commit To Democracy: https://www.commit2democracy.com/

50501: https://www.fiftyfifty.one/

The trip home went from a three day jump to two, so that we could avoid as much weather as possible. When you’re talking about covering 500+ miles, you have to look at weather reports for multiple places if you are trying to game things. What we were seeing across the board was a break from the storms on Friday. I knew I wanted to position us so that we could get over the Tehachapi pass on that day. So Barstow, here we come on Thursday.

We woke to heavy rain and it wasn’t looking like it was going to let up for a while. Since the trek to Barstow would only take 3-4 hours, we could wait out the deluge for a while. As long as the roads didn’t close on us, it would be best to let the strongest part of the system move through. So we hung out until around 11, watching old episodes of “thirtysomething” on the iPad to pass the time. By the way, that was a really good show. We used to watch it in our twenties, but I can appreciate it more now. Very well written stuff.

We emerged from Dory to hitch up when it was only a light drizzle, as did all the other campers in the campground. I wanted to take surface streets rather than the interstate, for as long as possible because I really hate driving highways in weather. Except for a five mile stint on 10, I mostly got my wish. There was a period of dense fog and low visibility up through Morongo Valley on highway 62, but it paled in comparison to the fog on 247 all the way to Lucerne Valley. The only thing that kept me from panicking was that everyone collectively agreed to go super slow. I was very grateful for that. I just kept tail lights of the RV ahead of me in sight, and the person following me kept their headlights just in view. I don’t know what the visibility distance was there, but it was dangerous.

Thankfully, the fog finally lifted and we made it all the way to Barstow before sunset. We definitely ruled out the idea of staying in Sawtooth Canyon. It is all unpaved out there and would have been muddy at best. No, for times like these, KOAs are great. There are hookups and the sites are level enough usually that you don’t need to unhitch. This would offer us an easy morning departure. I didn’t want to commit to driving the whole 400 miles back home the next day, but that would mean I could take advantage of the Friday break in weather and be free from rain or wind driving the whole way. Appealing.

There’s not much to do in the way of exercise around the KOA, so Richard just walked to the ghost town and back. That got him a good six miles and he also got to witness a very nice sunset on the way. We walked together to Penny’s Diner for dinner, and that was great.

We were rolling around 8am the next morning, and would have left earlier except it was foggy. It burned off more or less by 8 and wasn’t too bad leaving Barstow. By the time we hit the pass, there were blue skies overhead. Challenge #1 accomplished. The more I drove, the more I wanted to push through because it was so much nicer not driving in weather. We passed by Harris Ranch and kept going. Then we passed San Luis Reservoir. At that point, we were committed to getting home.

It was around seven and a half hours and over 400 miles in the car that day. That’s not my favorite way to travel, but we earned two weekend days to relax at home before going back to work, and we got to bask in being inside and not towing while the rain came down all weekend. We were happy to see the cat too.

Great winter break. We got to do some familiar stuff, try some new stuff, and catch up with a very dear friend. We learned things along the way which should serve us well in the future. Meanwhile, the west coast got a good dousing. That is good news for the reservoirs and bodes well for a super bloom in the spring. It was not so great for all the people who got flooded, or impacted by mudslides. Extreme weather is the new normal, but we’re thankful for all we got to do and see.

Total miles from Lake Cahuilla: 144.7, 3 hours 58 min, 15.9 mpg. Site 66 hookups. Good cell. Walking distance to Penny’s. Level enough to not unhitch.