1/3 - 1/8/05 By the Shores of Pinto Lake
Ahhh, power! Tired after the trip down the mountain, through San Jose, down 101 & over CA129 to Watsonville & wet from setting up in the rain, I fired up the furnace & relished the warmth. Listening to the rain patter on the roof wasn't as depressing now.
The rain let up Monday, but it was still showery & mostly cloudy. I was only commited to Pinto Lake Park for 2 nights, so in the late afternoon Timmy & I went down to Sunset Beach to check it out as a possible alternative. We both enjoyed strolling the beach, though it was breezy & cool. As for staying there, it turns out the camping fees had just been raised to the same as I was paying at Pinto Lake and there were no hookups, so with weather still iffy, I decided to stay where we were. I guess $25 a night is the minimum now at any California state park, even for primitive sites with no hookups at all. Seems like the gubernator is trying to balance the budget by jacking up fees everywhere.
That evening Paul's sister & her guy Joseph came over to my mobile
pad for dinner & a very pleasant visit. Tuesday was uneventful with
only light showers. Wednesday afternoon I went in to the Seagate office
to work & say hello to various friends & co-workers. That evening
I visited my niece Megan, her hubby George & cute as a kitten daughter
Carina at their new (to them) house in Santa Cruz. Carina & Timmy
got on famously. Timmy thinking she was another doggie just his size &
Carina loving the game of "piggy back" although the rest of
us were a little embarassed at Timmy's manners. We got together again
the next evening when Megan's sister Emily came over. Carina was delighted
to see Timmy & play piggy back again.
It was gray & rainy nearly all week, but we got a mostly clear day Thursday. It was nice to get out and check out the park a little. The lake was quite high, swamping much of the beach area. But a number of locals came out nearly every day to fish from the little bit of strand not submerged. I was tempted to give it a try, but never quite had the chance. There also were parents with children on most days when it wasn't raining and a seemingly non-stop game of volleyball. In the fenced baseball diamond, I could let Timmy off the leash so he could run & play, much to his delight.
As the weather forecast continued to look dismal, I started looking for a stop further south that would also have power. Carpinteria State Beach sounded good, but no dogs on the beach?!? I settled on Pismo Beach with electrical and water, but no sewage hookups & made a reservation on line. Speaking of sewage, this was another item to learn about. The site at Pinto Lake had full hookups, so I got to practice. First the grey (bath) water, then the black (nasty) water. Worked like a charm. But for some reason my black tank still shows 2/3 full after it's emptied. Hmmm.
We had a fun little incident at the gas station. I went in to the office to ask the attendant if all the diesel pumps were out of order & came out to find myself locked out of eBoy. Timmy in his excitement had bounced around and pressed down the lock button with my keys still in the igntition. Thanks AAA, for bailing me out.
The promised nasty weather arrived on Friday with 40 - 60 mph winds & heavy downpours through the day & all day Saturday. Timmy & I did laundry, my first visit to a laundromat in eons. $1.75 per load? I remember it being 25 cents!
Sunday morning we packed up & headed south, on the road before 11 AM. We were again in rain most of the way, but we only had about 200 miles to cover, so I wasn't feeling any pressure to go faster than conditions allowed. Evidence of the bad weather was everywhere, brown raging creeks, the Salinas River well over its banks & drowned fields everywhere. The only bad moment we had was coming down the steep grade into San Luis Obispo, battling high winds, heavy rain and fog. Oh, and with one lane closed due to slides. But I held eBoy steady at no more than 50 by constant pumping of the brakes & made it through fine.
Nevertheless, I was glad to reach Oceano State Beach, just south of the town of Pismo Beach. A pull through site meant an easy setup. I parked as close as I could to the dunes & we settled in to wait out the rain. Oh, by the way, no broken wine glasses this time.
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