San Juan Bautista to Santa Maria, California via Hwy 101

We had a short driving day.  We've driven this section of 101 many times and it's an easy drive.  Why is it that when you've had the extra cup of coffee, you can never find a rest area.  And inevitably, you finally pull off and jump in the 5-er to use the head along an easy off ramp, get back in and go about 2 more miles, to find a rest stop.  It never fails!  I'm sure there is a rest area app, but I find many of those phone apps are a challenge to read while motoring down a sometimes rough road.

Nothing of real interest to talk about.  We left Betabel at about 10:30 and arrived at the Santa Maria Pines RV Park about 1:45pm.  Easy access from 101 was nice.  Unfortunately, the office was closed and we had to call and then wait for someone to come sign us in.  The gal was a bit scatter-brained, and perhaps she had started Happy Hour at lunch, but we got checked in, and walked around to pick out our site.

This is a relatively small park just off Hwy 101, and you will hear traffic noise.  The sites are dirt/grass but are relatively level.  There are plenty of long term residents, but everyone seemed friendly.  The park is not located in the "newer part" of Santa Maria, but it was fine for an overnight.

They do have a pool, a hot tub, and a play area for kids.

We went out in search of diesel fuel, a WalMart and a US Bank.  I must say, I found this town to be very confusing in the lay out of their streets.  Lots of twists and turns.  Also, big shopping centers without adequate signage, IMHO.  We happened on a US Bank in an Albertson's store.  The teller directed us to the Walmart.  You could not see the store or a sign from the surface street.  It was in behind the Home Depot.  And I do not even want to describe how hard it was to find a gas station that had diesel.  Gas Buddy directed us to quite a few, but they were either closed or no longer carried diesel.  I think we finally found an AM/PM Mini Mart and paid $4.15 a gallon.

With errands done, we looked for a place to grab a bite to eat.  We settled on Subway.  Feeling adventurous, I tried the new Chicken Enchilada sandwich with Fritos.  It was really quite tasty and not to spicy at all.  Kim has his regular turkey, bacon and avocado.  There is something to be said about chain fast food restaurants....you know what you are getting.

I'm writing this a few days after the fact.  Kim slept fine that night.  I was bothered by the traffic noise.  And for whatever reason, I felt I had to worry about the ant hills that were plentiful around the sites.  Santa Maria Pines was not my favorite park by any means, but it was adequate for a one night stay.  If you make a reservation, make sure you they have your full name, and that you get the name of the person you talked to.

Carmel Valley and The 17 Mile Drive

We leave Betabel RV Park here in San Juan Bautista (6 miles south of Gilroy) this morning and I should be packing up, but I wanted to post about our lovely day yesterday before I forget any of the details.  Kim would tell you that is a lost cause....my not forgetting....just we shall proceed with MY story!

We had a nice relaxing morning on Sunday...well, I did...reading blogs, watching videos of my grandsons, reading, playing Candy Crush and Pet Rescue Saga, while Kim did "guy stuff" like emptying the tanks in preparation for leaving today, made adjustments to the awning, and who knows what else.

Our friends, Janet and Winston, picked us up at 1pm.  The day was a bit overcast, but the temperature was just perfect for us, probably somewhere around 70 degrees.  Our first stop was at their favorite fruit and vegetable stand.  They were on the look out for brussel sprouts.  This stand was surrounded by fields of artichokes.  And we succumbed to the call.  So we picked up some honey tangerines, a bottle of White Pine hand lotion from Stonewall Kitchens, and these:

We will be trying it out tonight!

We proceeded on through Monterey and on to the 17 Mile Drive.  I had been on this drive when I was  a young teenager.  I wasn't impressed at that time.  Things change as you get older.  What a beautiful area.  Lovely golf courses, not that I golf, but they were gorgeous.  Winston told us about the green fees, and I surmised that one really must enjoy golfing to want to pay those fees.  Yikes!  We spent time guessing prices on the homes we saw for sale.  A tad out of my price range.  We stopped to pick up a few flyers....prices ranging from $9 million to $22 million.  Even if I could afford it, I'm not sure I would want anything that big.  Maybe if I could rent a small piece of grass, pitch a tent and just spend the days looking at the views.

 This picture above is what happens when you can't really see what you are photographing because you can't wear your sunglasses and your reading glasses at the same time.  I was aiming for the mama seal and her two pups.  What I got was a big clump of kelp.  You can barely see the seals at the very top of the picture.

The 17 Mile Drive went faster than I expected, even though we stopped to look at many viewpoints and got out to look around the Pebble Beach Shopping Area and Resort.

Next stop:  Carmel Valley for wine tasting and dinner.

Cowgirl Winery offered up Cowgirl Blush (2012 Rose), Cowgirl White (2011 Chardonnay),  Hacienda (2011 Red Blend) and Cowgirl Red (2010 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Then we went next door to Talbott, where we sampled 9 different wines (I think - I kinda lot count there).  We all agreed, well that is the three of us who are wine drinkers, that our favorite was the Cowgirl Chardonnay.

We figured we should probably get some dinner, and while we were waiting for Cafe Rustica to open, we dropped into The Quail and Olive shop for some sampling of olive oil and balsamic vinegars.  What fun!  I feel in love with the basil and garlic olive oil blend, and the Tuscan Melody balsamic vinegar.

Then off to dinner at Cafe Rustica - let me just say yum, yum, yum squared!

I had the marinated lamb fillets with a glass of Hahn Syrah

Kim and Janet chose the petrale sole special, with Janet having the Hahn Cab and Kim opting for a Stella Artois.

And Winston chose pizza - I think it was the Dynamite Pizza with Italian Fennel Sausage, Black Forest Ham, Pepperoni, Mozzarella and red sauce.  It looked great! He also enjoyed a glass of the Hahn Cab with his meal.

Sad to say, we were all too stuffed for dessert.  What were we thinking, having a salad before our entrees?

We had such a wonderful time during our stay here in San Juan Bautista, and are very grateful to Janet and Winston, our good friends, and travel guides.  The weather was lovely, and the RV park very nice.  It was a great visit.

Next up:  Santa Maria, CA.  

Grandbabies, Skype and FaceTime

No way could I do this travel thing without seeing my babies from time to time.  They are growing so fast!

Odin (almost 4 y/o in this picture)

Torren (1 y/o)

Trystan (honorary grandson) 13 y/o holding Torren

Zachary (1 y/o) enjoying his nutella toast

Alex (soon to be 4 y/o) helping mom make cookies

Odin and Alex are two months apart in age, and Torren and Zachary are 3 months part.  It is not quiet time when they all get together!  Boy oh boy, do we miss them!

San Juan Bautista, California and Santa Cruz

We arrived two days ago here at Betabel RV Park, but have had some busy days in between.

Before we left, our awning had torn.  We even ordered a replacement fabric, but when Kim was removing the old one, the bracket broke, so we now were discussing whether to get an electric one or not.  We are short people, and some of the non-electric awnings are a challenge to put out.  We had pretty much decided on the electric one, when it became obvious that we were going to have to have work done on the truck's cooling system.  Therefore part of the budget for that electric awning was going to have to go toward the work on the truck.  Oh well.  We ordered the awning we could afford from RV Restore and Repair in Morgan City, CA.  They were able to come out to Betabel RV Park and install it the day after we arrived.  Now we can check that off the list.

Friday we drove to Royal Oaks to visit with our long time friends, Janet and Winston.  They moved to California recently and we had a delightful time catching up.  Janet treated us to some home made butternut squash soup for lunch, and then we all headed to Santa Cruz.  Kim and I had never been there before, and we enjoyed walking down main street, just checking things out and enjoying the street musicians.  The heavenly smells from the Pacific Cookie Shop drew us in, and we all treated ourselves to a cookie of choice.  I had the cardamom sugar cookie.  I was thrilled because it tasted just like my grandma's sugar cookies, and I've never been able to figure out her secret ingredient.  I think it may have been the cardamom!

Back in the car, and a quick drive down to the pier.  We just sat on a bench and enjoyed watching the water and the kids playing on the beach.

Betsy and Janet enjoying the sunshine

I could see the boardwalk but we did not go down that way. The rides appeared not to be operating that day.  Instead we drove up to have a look see at the UC Santa Cruz Campus.  It is a very pretty campus with lots of green and plenty of hills.  Good thing most of the students are young and can handle the walk or bike ride up to the colleges.  I would have to wait for the bus.

Back to Janet and Winston's house for  homemade lasagne and fresh vegetables, good wine and brownies, and lots and lots of laughter!  The perfect ending to a wonderful day!

Good Friends, Excellent Food and Mission San Juan Bautista

It's a beautiful morning here in San Juan Bautista, CA.  Apparently, it is about 10 degrees warmer than usual for this time of year.  This is nice.  It is to be in the low to mid 70s which is just perfect for us.

We got up and moving early, electing to enjoy our coffee while we did laundry at the park laundromat.  $1.25 to wash.  $1.25 to dry in the large capacity dryer which runs for 45 minutes  or $0.75 for the small ones which run for 30 minutes.  Back to the rig for breakfast and showers.

Our long time friends, Janet and Winston, came to see our rig and then we all went to visit the Old Mission San Juan Bautista.

The Mission is only about 10 minutes from the park.  The town of San Juan Bautista is very cool, very retro, and reminiscent of the 1950s or 1960s.  Lots of cool funky shops, galleries, restaurants, bars and a bakery that had some many delicious looking sweet breads that I had to force myself to leave.

The Mission itself was a delightful experience.  Adult admission is $4; admission for the seniors in our party was $3.  The mission was founded on June 24, 1797 and named in honor of Saint John The Baptist.  Lots of cool artifacts, beautiful paintings and sculptures, fascinating architecture, and lovely gardens.  Here are some pictures of the things that most impressed me.

I fell in love with this painting.  It was one of the first things I saw in the gift shop when we entered the Mission.  It is Saint Pasqual.

Here are some other pieces that caught my eye.

The chapel and the sanctuary of the church.  The tile work and the reredos (the screen/decoration behind the altar holding six statues) in the main church was done by an American sailor named Thomas Doak, who jumped ship in Monterey in 1817.  He did them in exchange for room and board.

Here is the well that serviced the mission.  At one point, 1200 people were fed here - 3 meals a day.  We peaked over as far as we could, but could not see the bottom.

Kim and Winston standing by the well

I'm not sure what these pots are.  As we stood there speculating, we decided they could be mortars (without the pestles), bowls of some sort, baptismal fonts, pots for plants or who knows what.

These choir books were handwritten by Father Tapis prior to 1825.  What dedication!  Father Tapis was once Presidente of the Missions, and when he retired from office, he came to San Juan Bautista to live and share his musical talents.

And finally some photos of the gardens

We spent about an hour here and as we were leaving we saw a number of women were entering, carrying paints and easels.  They were on a retreat locally and had come to do paintings of the mission.  I would have liked to stay and watch them, but my stomach had other ideas.

We strolled along the quaint main street of town, and I happened into a little gallery.  Out the back door was a delightful garden/patio restaurant, Jardines de San Juan.  The food and drinks were wonderful.  Janet and I each had the Shrimp Tostada with cheese and a mango margarita.  It was served in the best deep fried tortilla bowl I have ever had,  with lots of shrimp and fresh vegetables.  The boys both had beer with their meals.  Winston had a beef tostada on a corn tortilla and Kim had nachos with beans.  We were all too stuffed for dessert.  Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

We made a drive through Hollister so Kim and I could see the area.  We had a quick stop at the grocery store for strawberries, and a trip to Tru-Value Hardware for a sewer extension that I don't really want to talk about because I am still remembering the lovely lunch and those two things should not go hand in hand.

Tomorrow, Carmel and the 17 Mile Drive, maybe some wine tasting, and dinner somewhere wonderful (location to be determined).

Hiccup #2 - It Was Bound To Happen.....

I guess for anyone who owns a 5er - it will happen some time or another.  We've had a close call or two, but yesterday it happened.  We had switched to a different site so that our slides were not up in the bushes.  We moved over just one spot to #104 here at Betabel RV Park in San Juan Bautista, CA.  He jockeyed the rig around, got it in the perfect spot.  Leveled and unhooked, closed the tailgate.  We had a few items that we wanted to pick up in Gilroy, and so we hopped back in the truck.  And CLUNK.  Oh fiddlesticks (and if you think that is actually what came out of our mouths, we have some waterfront property in the desert for sale cheap).....Yep, the tail gate has a brand new look to it.   The good news is that we can still get it closed.  I've come to the conclusion that RVs are not expensive to keep - husbands are!

We Made It Through The Bay Area Yesterday!

And I'm pleased to have decent internet connections again!

Now, people say Seattle traffic is bad, and maybe it is because I grew up learning to drive through it all, and perhaps it is because we do not typically spend a lot of driving time pulling a rig through big cities, but I would avoid large cities any way I could.  Unless of course we were dealing with snow or ice....and then honestly, we probably wouldn't be driving it anyway.  But I get ahead of myself.

We had a lovely nice at the Golden Rule RV Park.  Very quiet and very peaceful.  And apparently a good night's sleep makes one view the world a little differently.  As we departed the park, the road in from Hwy 101 wasn't nearly as narrow as I thought it was the day before.  We left the park at about 9:15am.

Most of the drive down 101 was pleasant.  There are a few rough and bouncy spots in the right hand lane.  The left lane looked much nicer, but there was traffic so we did not pull over.

This trip, while I determined the driving distances and picked the parks where we would stay, Kim took over the actual route planning.  Now we've been married for 35+ years, and I should have known better.  He would pick the route that is the quickest/shortest, whereas I would pick the route that looked the easiest - especially when going through big metropolitan areas.  We knew we did not want to take Hwy 101 through San Francisco.  We had done that in the car last year and that was stressful enough.  So we had decided to go over and around the Bay Area.  Between Kim and Roundabout Rhonda (the GPS), they had some crazy route that maybe a local person would attempt, but pulling a rig and not knowing exactly where we were going, well lets just say I voiced my concern.  That plus we were getting down under a quarter tank of fuel and I knew we would have to stop somewhere.  As I mentioned in the Crescent City blog entry, its not always easy to find a place to fill up when you are not on major roads.  At any rate, Kim must have felt my stress building, and at the last minute adjusted our route.  Should I mention that I'm not always good with last minute changes?  However, I adapted and overcame and made an executive decision.  I'm much better when it is my last minute change that is taking place.

We decided to pick up Hwy 37 at Novato.  We had driven this 4 years ago on our way home so it was somewhat familiar.  Then we took I-80 to Fairfield and picked up I-680 S.  It was a little bit out of the way, but the pavement was good and the traffic not too bad for mid-morning on a Wednesday.  We found a great place to get fuel and grab some lunch.  Of course, I didn't pay attention to the exit name or number when we took it, but I think it was exit 61 - Lake Herman Road/Goodyear Road.  There was a freeway sign for diesel fuel and food signs.  It was easy on and easy off.  We used the Chevron Station, which is on the left if you are headed southbound.  There was a Jack In The Box that shared the minimart space.  My only caution is that the diesel pumps are separate, and one way.  Be sure to take the second driveway if you have a diesel truck or MH.  Also, there is not much parking for big rigs so it appears that many just leave their rigs and go in to get there food.  Patience was the word of the day here.  We paid $4.09 per gallon here.  That's the highest we've paid so far, but the easy access was worth it, and the Bacon Cheeseburger didn't hurt.  Unfortunately, all the slow driving with the inclines and declines along Hwy 101 only netted us about 8 mpg.

With both stomachs and the fuel tank filled, we continued on our way.  As we headed down through Walnut Creek, San Ramon, Pleasanton, Fremont and San Jose, let me just say - prepare for a bumpy ride.  I'm not sure what a pin-box actually is, but we got a new one before we left on this trip.  And I have noticed a smoother ride, but Good Lord In Heaven, what would this have been like with the old one?  The good news was there were at least 4 or more lanes in each direction on this section and we felt like it was okay to be in the second lane, which was just a little bit better.  It was not a comfortable ride for about 45 minutes.

I was surprised to find out that San Jose had a population larger than Seattle.  And that it is the 10th largest city in the United States.  San Jose has a population of approximately 980,000 compared to Seattle's approximate 635,000.  I will tuck that little piece of information away in case it comes up on Jeopardy some day.

I-680 came to an end and we picked up Hwy 101 again.  Slowly but surely the lanes whittled down again to two going in each direction.  We drove through Gilroy making note of the shopping districts and arrived at Betabel RV Park in San Juan Bautista at about 2:30pm.

This is a very clean and nice park.  It is only about a half mile off 101, but I cannot hear the traffic at all from inside the rig.  I imagine when we set off for our walk this morning, it will be a little more obvious, but nothing that distracting.  Mostly I am hearing morning doves.  I heard the rumble of a train go by last night about 9pm and again a little while later, but nothing after that.  And certainly no blowing of horns.  However, I may be acclimated to train noise which we hear at home, even though we are good 3 miles from the tracks, but they do have to blast their horns at intersections/cross roads. Anyway, we weren't bothered by the train noise last night.

Can I mention that we are glad to finally be experiencing some warmer weather.  As a life long resident of Western Washington (minus 6 months on the big island of Hawaii and 6 months in Mobile, AL), 70 degrees with some sunshine is darned near perfect IMHO!  There may have been some sprinkles last night because the pavement appears wet, but I see sunshine and some blue sky with scattered clouds.  Just delightful.

We are here for five days.  And my body must be thrilled because I actually slept for a good 7 hours last night.  I had been averaging between 4-6 since we left home.

Here is a photo of our lovely little site and an empty site next door:

Today we have some exploring the area to do, a trip to See Grins for a sewer extension, a refrigerator roof vent/lid (which apparently caught a low hanging branch on the drive down the back roads between I-5 and Hwy 101 on our way to Florence, and who knows what else we will find.  And then there is laundry to do.  Over the weekend we will be visiting with out dear friends in Royal Oaks.  Can't wait to see them and to see who can out-brag the other in the grand baby department!