Corax's cross country thread

[slosurfer]

Ha, I even worked it so that I get to keep my company cell phone, laptop, 10MP camera, and Verizon wireless card for an extra 2 weeks at least

NICE!

[corax]

had everything hooked up (or unhooked) and ready to roll by 1pm this afternoon. I'm kinda surprised we got everything to fit in the trailer, should I have to open the trailer door I think my best bet will be to unlatch it and run.
[img width=800 height=600]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk171/batardsalamano/10-08%20Cross%20Country/080931-1.jpg[/img]
made a quick stop in Solvang, about 2 miles off the 101 by Buellton. Solvang seems like a neat place, full of little shops where you can buy all kinds of Denmark themed items. I tried to get the wife to buy a traditional "Holland" style dress, but she just laughed at me. There's also plenty of wine tasting, for those interested. Solvang is also about the only place I found where you can purchase a set of wooden shoes . . .

those are the clock tower bells that play at the top of every hour

they have an open air Shakespearean type theater with live performances (but not on a Tuesday afternoon I guess )






the wife does get impatient up those long grades when the Ford V10 starts to labor pulling the RV and her car . . .


next stop Pismo for a bit of fun in the sand . . . we were going to overnight in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Arroyo Grande, which is allowed at 98% of the WalMarts in the US, but this one did not allow it. Probably due to Pismo being a tourist spot, that and I could imagine 1/2 the parking lot taken up by Toy Haulers being a problem for them.

[slosurfer]

Keith, nice pics of Solvang. Me and April plan on spending a weekend there someday without the kids.

I'll see ya tomorrow morning.

[Ric]

nice pics, keep the pics coming, and be safe.

[04 Rocko Taco]

Looks good Keith, Solvang looks like a neat place, have fun at Pismo!

[corax]

I woke up at Pismo Coast Village RV park and took a walk around to see what there was, turns out the RV park is right next to the ocean and some dunes. Found this guy fishing ~50 yards from my RV

this one was just the other way, must be tough living in squalor such as this

Chris stopped by in the morning (said he'd get to work later (I gotta think about going into business for myself) and we headed off to Pismo. I didn't air down 'cause I was feeling lazy about it. Though I did end up having to back down one or two dunes due to lack of momentum. I also found out that the sand can suck up much more horsepower and taxes the cooling system more than I remembered (my trailer pulls easier than driving through this, and the temp gauge started climbing). Many thanks to Chris (SloSurfer), a truly nice and generous guy - it was great hanging out, even if I only had a few hours before I needed to check out of the RV park and hit the road again.

before we even really got started, we found 2 brand new sandrails stuck - one had a dead battery, the other had a frozen RR brake - they were out on a shake down/suspension tune/magazine photo shoot before they were to be shipped off to Dubai. Chris tugged the stuck one a good 50 ft before we realized it had a frozen brake caliper, and I jump started the other one.

Where'd Chris go? Since I didn't air down (still had 35psi highway towing pressure) I had to stay a bit slower for fear of rattling the 'runner to death

After leaving Pismo, we headed up the Pacific Coast Highway, this is fom Point Piedro Blancas and the Elephant Seal observation point

I could have watched these guys for awhile, but we had to move on - the Pacific Coast Highway is long and we needed to finish it before dark. These guys were all just juveniles, so they were just showing off for each other. These guys got many "aww"s from my wife. It's great, they'd show off for a few seconds then just flop down and rest while. Move a few feet, then flop down and rest awhile.

Watch the guy in the 2nd half of this one scratch his hand/flipper - I don't know why I just thought that was neat, a minute before he was scratching his belly the same way I do


Above San Simeon, the Pacific Coast Highway (Rt 1) turns pretty gnarly if you're piloting a 35' class A RV with a car dolly and car on teh back. In a car or truck it would be no problem, and it really wasn't anyway, but ~95% of the time I could look in the rearview camera monitor and watch the car dolly with one tire on the white line and the other tire on the yellow line. In itself, that's not bad, now add frequent elevation changes and blind turns - I'm just glad there weren't any oncoming squids using up more than their half of the road. That's why I don't really have any pics of this part, I would like to revisit this highway someday, maybe on a Sport Touring MC.

This is pretty much the end of the really scenic part of Rt 1 heading north, on the left is the Bixby Bridge, which at one point held the world record for the longest single arch span. If you look real close, you can see some of the many sea caves at the base of the bluffs

We got to Monterey and found out that the campgounds are real expensive ($80-$90 to park an RV for one night!). So now we're basking in the luxurious glow of the Wal-Mart parking lot.

[slosurfer]

Hey Keith, glad to know you made it up there safely. I knew it would be a little hairy of a drive for you, but I didn't want you to miss it. My grandpa helped build that section of highway.

That bird is a Great Blue Heron They are very cool to watch.

It was nice hanging out and driving the dunes, sorry if you guys got out of there a little late. I ended up hanging out with those guys till around 2pm. It was cool to watch them dial in the suspension on the running one. It's amazing how many different ways they can adjust those shocks/coilovers. They gave me a ride in that thing and it was awesome!

I left before they went back up to mess with that other one. Hopefully they got it rolling.

Good luck with the rest of your trip.

Oh, and a sand buggy with a locked up rear paddle tire is really hard to pull through the sand.

[slosurfer]

Only pic I got of you at the dunes

[4runnerchevy]

Met Corax and his significant other yesterday, in Santa Cruz. Good people !

[corax]

Thursday - Monterey was expensive as hell, so we drove 1 mile to get some premium parking at the local Wal Mart - I think we'll be making more reservations with Wally World after Yellowstone. Here's the whole caravan

Here's the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. It throws me off anytime someone I never met walks up to me and already knows my name - we were trying to find parking for the caravan when some guy walked up to the RV and said "You must be Keith" Left me speechless for a sec until I saw the nametag said Kevin (4runnerchevy). Really nice guy, gave us the premium tour past closed gates and even under the boardwalk where everything happens that keeps it running. He also showed my wife key points that were used in the movie "Lost Boys" (one of her fav's).


the Looff Carousel, pride and joy of the owner. The horses were hand carved by the father of the guy who started the boardwalk near 100 years ago

this crankshaft was made 100 years ago and has never needed any repair or replacement - just maintenance. the end is attached at the center of the ride to a pinion gear which is turned by a giant ring gear (much like a diff) - all made by hand 100 years ago, with no CAD lathes or milling machines. where has workmanship like this gone?

in the fiberglass shop under the boardwalk

another icon of the boardwalk is their all wood rollercoaster

this was one bit my wife really wanted to see, the railroad trestle from Lost Boys that the main characters hang off of while a train goes by overhead

Hey Kev, did you see all the scratch marks up and down that guys arm that was in the parking lot? Think he was tweaking much?


after we left Santa Cruz we circumnavigated San Fran and shot up to Napa Valley. At one point I was wishing they could just bottle the air it was soo good (smelled of fermenting grapes and earth). Saw this on the roadside before Napa

got a spot for the RV in the county fairgrounds and called it a night - I'll post today's adventures around Napa Valley later . . .