Final days on the coast

I play it off that it is all about Kerri’s love of the ocean that drives me here. And while mostly true, it is also true that I too enjoy the spectacle that is the Pacific Ocean. I do not often voice my un-hatred towards anything California, but I can admit to enjoying the Pacific Coast, which is not California-exclusive I might add. I may as well get used too it though, as I will be here for many months to come.

Earlier in the week we were off scouting the area North of Point Reyes and came across Lawson’s Landing. Previously known to Kerri as to not having a cellular signal (which means we could not camp here during the work week) now proved to have a blisteringly fast cell tower in place. For the fun of it, we made the move and enjoyed a mostly-peaceful few days parked at the far tip of the campground just feet away from the Tamales Bay waters. Also only a few steps outside our door, a small beach where the dogs and I played ball numerous times each day (they were quite insistent in fact). On Thursday the weekend crowds started arriving, and with it being the opening weekend for crabbing, it was going to get crowded.

Thursday night came, and about half the spots in our loop were not taken. Two nights prior and we were the sole campers there. Luckily, we were leaving Friday morning – early – to skip the chaos. At 6:30 AM, the neighbor’s generators were already humming away giving even more reason to pack up and drive off by 7AM. We spent the rest of the work day on a roadside pullout overlooking the ocean, with an hour long drive after work to get to our final Pacific Ocean destination before heading inland to finish off the 2017 year.

We stayed at Ocean Cove Campground last year when we took the van out for a weekend after the repaint work was complete. The campground is just in such an amazing place with campsites sprinkled along a large bluff overlooking the waves crashing below. You really couldn’t find a more picturesque place to park a shiny Airstream (or somewhat shiny, in our case) to snap a photo or two. We got pretty lucky this year. With the campground having more occupants then last November we figured there was a good chance our favorite spot would be taken. But luck was on our side and we pulled right into what we consider the best spot in the campground. Check out these matching photos of the two rigs, a full year apart. Cool beans!

With the knowledge that we are only a few weeks away from moving back into the van, we chose this weekend to begin the purge of food and liquor from the trailer. What we can’t pack into the van, will sit unused for a year or more, so it was best to just use it now. Our cocktails over the weekend were a mix of anything imagined from the mostly-empty bottles of booze we had onboard. Far from saying/admitting that we did any excessive drinking, we were able to dispose of no less than seven bottles, clearing up a lot of space in the trailer. Just a few more weeks of that, and we can downsize into the van.