We started off our Wednesday in King City, CA.  Never heard of it?  Me neither.  It’s a town on the 101 headed North from Paso Robles.  We couldn’t continue on CA 1 northbound from San Simeon, because it is closed at Lucia due to previously mentioned construction repairs from flooding and land slides.  So we back-tracked to Cambria, caught the 101 again in Paso Robles and headed north after our tour of the Hearst residence.  The wind is fierce in this area.  There are endless acres of farmland – some dedicated to the grape, others to lettuce, strawberries, etc.  The rare vineyard properties are lovely and inspiring only because of their stark contrast to the unremarkable landscape.  After some hours, I decided it was time to call it a day.  Mom saw a sign for an RV park called Whitehorse and they had one remaining site right next to a lovely rose garden area.  We decided it was perfect, so we raided the general store for some highly nutritious processed food, and made camp for the night.  

Earlier in our trip, just after we got gas in Lompoc, the truck started having issues – we assume related to the braking system or possibly the ABS.  I was able to resolve the issue with some profanity and fiddling with the brake release and engine so we all decided to forget about it.  Much to my chagrin, just after we topped off Wednesday morning and hit the road again, the same “issue” restarted.  The repeat offense made the issue more of a problem and we decided to keep to the main highway, instead of venturing off through the country as planned.  I do not regret this decision.

We traveled the 101 to Salinas and then headed toward Monterey to catch the PCH (CA 1).  In Monterey, we drove the 17 mile loop and saw Pebble Beach and all the extravagant homes overlooking golf courses and the pacific coast.  

We exited the loop before the very end (irritating Allita who likes to finish what she starts) and headed to Carmel.  We drove down Ocean Blvd in Carmel, always a pleasure in the RV, saw the traffic and lovely downtown Carmel area (which reminded us greatly of York, England), and then caught CA 1 northbound again.  This time, we headed for Santa Cruz.  

Allita found us a lovely CA state campground at New Brighton Beach near Capitola and Live Oak.  You’ve probably never heard of those places.  Me either.  Such is the way of CA 1.  You end up discovering all these little, funky places hanging desperately on the California coast and crammed full of residents and tourists alike.  

Tomorrow, we will continue up the (still under construction) CA 1 until we reach Santa Cruz and then we will take Highway 17 into San Jose.

I am excited to visit San Jose as it is the home of a massive Flea Market I have wanted to visit for a long time.  Allita is excited for the Winchester Mystery House also located there.  Mom is looking forward to having the Chevrolet dealership service department check out the mysterious brake issue we are having with the RV.  Should be an exciting day for all of us.  Toby is ambivalent.  He really doesn’t want to leave this campground now that he is awake and has rediscovered the joy of camping in the woods.  He has been an absolute champion traveler on this trip (so far) and I am hopeful that things with our furry guy continue to go as smoothly as they have for as long as we are on the road.  Not sure how we are going to manage him while we are having the vehicle serviced but that is a “tomorrow me” problem. 

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“Tomorrow me” here – we are at the Capitol Chevrolet service center (I am using their wifi) and Toby is napping quietly in his little carry case that looks like an RV. Allita has her various electronic devices and a power source. Mom has coffee and her book. So far, so good.

Before we vacated our camping spot this morning, Allita and I enjoyed a short hike through the trees down to China Beach. It was quite lovely and we had a lot of fun watching pelicans fish, finding interesting rocks, and strolling along the sandy shore.