Thirteen months in a thirteen foot trailer.
Nineteen States.
Close to 20,000 miles.
It was a grand adventure!
I spent the holidays in Southern California visiting Brother Mike and his family, and Sister Lesley. Unfortunately my Dad couldn’t make it.
Mike, along with Danny and Dave made sure I was well provisioned for 2015.
And since I picked it up in person, I will get to taste ALL the flavors, unlike my birthday gift last year.
While there I had work done on my car and got some new shoes for my trailer.
Old Shoes.
New Shoes.
These have radial tires that make a huge difference on the road.
Plus they look snazzy.
Notice anything else different?
That black stripe was not there before.
About fifty cents worth of black electrical tape. It’s been on for six months already (one long piece) with no signs of wear.
I also added an LED light to the patio fixture.
Old Light.
New Light.
It’s about 10 times as bright and uses 95% less juice.
Very nice.
Anyway, I headed north to camp in the Santa Ynez Valley, just over the hill from Santa Barbara..
The plan for this year is to visit all the state parks in California, Oregon, and Washington that I have not been to yet. Plus other Forest Service campgrounds, county parks, etc.
In fact, if you have any suggestions of campgrounds you would like to see just give us a holler at campsitephotos.com. I will do my best to visit them.
The first order of business after setting up camp was to make a fresh batch of tacos.
Which I tasted for dinner.
I also had some for breakfast, accompanied by the sound of…pouring rain.
Yep.
You can see the flooding of my site between the cooler and the chair.
After waiting out several days of rain, I journeyed to the beach to check out two campgrounds.
El Capitan is about 10 miles north of Santa Barbara on US 101.
There are 133 sites here on a small bluff overlooking the Pacific.
There is even a little beach store.
Very quaint.
A few of my favorite sites were 32, 82, and 84.
Just a few miles up the road is Refugio.
This is a smaller spot with only 66 sites, along with it’s own quaint store.
The difference here is that there is no bluff.
Sites 24 and 25 face the ocean, just a hundred feet away across a grass field.
Sites 34, 35, and 60 are parallel to the beach and closer.
But you have to pay for that view.
At both parks the winter rate is $35, going to $45 the rest of the year. At Refugio, the ocean front sites are $45 in the winter and jump to $55.
10 years ago they were all $12.
Ouch.
Let’s look at some sunsets and sunrises from last year to get our mind off that figure.
Florida.
Georgia.
South Carolina.
North Carolina.
Pennsylvania.
A pair from Maine.
New Hampshire.
Three from Adirondack Park.
Arkansas.
New Mexico.
Arizona.
Feel better? Almost?
OK, let’s finish it off with some of the critters I encountered last year.
Birds.
Reptiles.
Mammals.
Insects.
And a fish.
Then there is the “Unclassified Mutant” category.
Moss Man.
Texas Rabbit.
Wacky Virginians.
Pennsylvania Cow.
And a Georgia Feathered Bass.
But while all of these critters were relatively harmless and polite, one was downright rude.
The Maine Mocking Moose.
Right back at you, big boy.
Regards,
Greg
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