Yikes! Ireland in less than a month. Can't wait but there is quite a bit to do before I leave. Packing, paper work and saying good-bye are just a few things that need to be done. Wow five and a half months, I'm so excited!! [View Full Entry]

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The morning we left San Fran we went to the airport to collect our car (which we booked very last min thanks to the crappy internet connection at the hostel). We had booked the cheapest and smallest car, which by British standards is probably a medium sized car, but on arriving at the car port there were no economy cars left, so we had to choose something else!!!! Yippee we got a bigger and nicer car (I think) a bright blue Chrysler cruiser (my choice), probably doesn’t do good mileage and yes looks like a hearse from behind but its [View Full Entry]

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21/07/09 Tuesday Day 341 We headed from Monterey to San Luis Obispo on the 1 highway which goes down the coast of California. There’s some amazing views on the way although at times we were covered in fog which seemed to take ages to burn off. There’s a couple of small areas to stop on the way down, most of the places having only 1 shop, 1 restaurant and petrol pumps. We found oil coming out of the grill from the front of the car. We stopped at a place called Gorda for a spot of lunch. On closer inspection of [View Full Entry]

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July 1st continued Left San Francisco - I hope it won't be another 39 years before I'm back! Found the freeway pretty easily and drove about 1 1/2 hours where we stopped in Gilroy the City of Garlic for some groceries among other things. We had decided to take the 101 some of the way because we would have too long a drive otherwise. Went towards the coast so we ended up around Monterey Bay and from there on we had a beautiful ride along the Pacific on Highway 1. It was a long ride because of 'The long and winding [View Full Entry]

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June 14th 2009 So near yet so far I think it's fair to say that I'm known for having an excellent sense of direction. Coupled with superb map-reading skills, it is hard for me to get lost. Except in Guildford. And, it would seem, America. Alex, I could hear you laughing at me from afar on Wednesday morning. I simply couldn't find the entrance to the freeway. I could see it on the GPS. Sat in Betty Boy I could see the cars rushing by not a few yards away. But could I join them?! No. It would appear Milpitas was [View Full Entry]

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So today was absolutely awesome!! i slept in from having a long day and night, i went out in downtown slo, a very interesting scene. i went to downtown brewing company and saw a fun reggae band at the frog and peach, and hung out with becky, a fellow san diegan. today ray and i went on a tandem bike ride around slo town had lunch and then decided to go and check out a few wineries. the slo vineyards are soo beautiful and calm. overall ive had a pretty good time so far. ive met a ton of people and [View Full Entry]

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So enjoyed Montana de Oro State Park yesterday that we went back to explore some more today. The name comes from the golden flowers that carpet the place in spring. There's a photo of a few of the early arrivals. Did a three hour hike along the Bluff Trail that follows the coast line (did we mention that we like to be close to the sea?). In that whole time we saw maybe a dozen people, it was as good as having the place to ourselves. It was cold and windy but the sun was shining, the sky was blue and [View Full Entry]

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What a difference a day makes! When we left the High Desert it was in the midst of a snowstorm and to tell the truth it was a bit scary. Most of the drivers on the road weren't making any concession to the weather conditions, any space you left between yourself and the car in front was immediately seized on as an opportunity to swoop across from lane 1 to lane 4. It's not surprising that there were a number of collisions. Once we got past the hills and down into Greater LA the skies cleared and the sun came out. [View Full Entry]

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Morro Bay, 04-11-2002, morning. Leaving my tent early in the morning the first thing I do is checking out the owl that roosts in the tree behind my tent. Yes, he's still there opening a sleepy eye while I look up at him. I'm actually quite surprised he's still around since the huge leopard frog population that has been plaquiing the campground each night since my arrival, mating and f*rnicating like there was no tomorrow, keeping me out of my well deserved sleep with their nighttime s*xual activities, was totally gone when I returned in the pitch darkness of a cal [View Full Entry]

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Avila Beach, late afternoon of the same day. I leave my new found friend behind, this old and mentally deranged old native american who claimed he belonged to the sioux nation, living in his old cr*ppy tent in Los Osos National Reserve. His raving and his old battered "peach pipe", his toothless gums and wrinkled old man's face, wrinkles that might go back several dozens of years but surely not to these times when the Sioux Nation was still great and powerful and battled general Custer successfully, with the red skinned man still being real warriors and not beaten yet by [View Full Entry]

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