Day 5: On the Road

Miles travelled: 4224 to 4487 (total of 263 miles)
Weather: clear, except for fog near the coast around sunset.
Highlight of the day: getting on the road
We left Disa’s parents’ house at 3.40pm and made our way to David and Maria’s house (and saw a smelly skunk on the road). Maria lent us her stove, David’s stove, gloves, a flashlight, and a coffee pot and gave us our wedding present – 2 rolls of quarters and a huge wad of $20s! Both will certainly come in handy; I had been worrying about storing up quarters to do our wash! Dad met us at Kirigin bearing coffee, then we were off on our way at 3.59pm. We drove through Morgan Hill and took 101 South.

We only stopped off for one drive-by geocache along the way, the travel bug hotel at King city, then we stopped at San Luis Obispo for petrol at 7.30 pm We checked our ‘kitchen’ and confirmed what we had suspected: in the chaos of getting ready, we hadn’t packed pans! We tried one shopping centre but only found rather expensive pans at Cost Plus, so we asked directions and went to an Albertson’s where we got 2 pots, a squeegee, and window cleaner.

We took the scenic route back to 101 and headed south! As we came closer to the coast it was foggier and foggier; Pismo Beach looked grey and fluffy! We headed east on 166, and as we moved away from the coast the fog cleared and we were driving along a river valley with mustard on the hills and fog dripping down the western sides. However it was already getting dark, and soon it was difficult to see any of the scenery except the large, almost full moon. We made our way east until we found the turn off to Aliso Road, which we followed to the campground that dad had recommended. By 9.30 pm we had camped and had the new van curtains up and ready. Our menu for the evening included a Southwestern Chicken Salad with Creamy Cilantro Salad Dressing and an Asian Chicken Salad with Sesame Ginger dressing, followed by a Kirigin Cellars Pinot Noir 2001 (an exceptionally good Pinot!).

Scott’s Comments

I would like to take this opportunity to make some thank yous.

First to Disa’s family. Erik & Mary have spent large portions of the last few days preparing their van for us to use on our adventure. Mary has measured, cut and sewed to create curtains for all the van’s windows so we can have some privacy. If you were to see the size of the van and its windows you would more readily appreciate the sheer size of this task! (actually tomorrow I am going to photograph the van and its huge windows so you can see for yourselves). Meanwhile Erik has been busy removing seats and replacing them with a bed, a toilet, a chest of drawers (!) and installing the curtains. Meanwhile their son-in-law to be stood around as useless as Paris Hilton at a Mensa meeting. Then as if that wasn’t enough they insisted we take their credit card for fuel, food, hotel bills and other expenses and a case of their wine with us (you can imagine how much we protested). By the way Erik, Disa & I shared the driving and managed to stay on the correct side of the road all the way (thanks to Mary’s big red arrow?). The only slight mistake was made by yours truly when I cleaned the windscreen instead of indicating. (how’s that for sucking up?).

Second to Maria and David. Their hospitality has been fantastic. We hope to repay them in kind if we can convince them to come to Tassie. I couldn’t wish for better in-laws.

Third to Disa. As you can see above we travelled 263 miles (not kilometres but miles) today. There was a geocache approximately every 10 miles. Some were drive bys just beside the freeway and some were in nearby towns with clearly marked exits. Heroically Disa did just ONE GEOCACHE all day!!!!!! We even stopped into San Luis Obispo for fuel and supplies and she didn’t even switch on her GPSr!! Greater love for man has no woman. I am a lucky man. (I expect we will be doing 37 geocaches tomorrow).