BY MOTORHOME THROUGH THE AMERICAN WEST

The Log of a 6,000 mile Journey

November 2005

Margaret and Barry Williamson

For the September Log of this journey, click here

For the October Log Part One, click here

The log can be read in conjunction with our: Travel Notes USA.

A full sequence of photographs of the journey can be seen at: Photos of USA.

This daily log gives an account of a 51-day motorhome journey through the American West by hired motorhome, leaving Los Angeles on 15 September 2005. It is our fourth visit to this beautiful country.

During our summer holiday of 1992, we cycled 3,500 miles in 46 days from Vancouver in the west  to Niagara Falls and Toronto in the east, but mainly on the American side of  the border with Canada. This is the northernmost of the 3 classic cycling routes which cross the USA. With its wide broad-shouldered roads, light traffic away from the freeways, great distances, mountains, high plains, deserts, prairies, rivers, lakes and forests, friendly people, inexpensive motels on the old and now deserted US Highways and a culture that supports feeding, watering and sheltering travellers 24/7, America is ideal for both the cyclist and the motorhomer!

In February 2001 we returned to the USA, after crossing Australia by bicycle and riding 4,500 miles up and down the full length of New Zealand. On this occasion, we rode the southernmost route: 3,500 miles from Los Angeles to Key West via San Diego, the Mexican border, the Gulf coast and down the east coast of Florida through Miami and along the Keys.

In January 2003, after a New Year in Los Angeles, we paid a brief visit to friends Dick and Audrey Valentzas (first met motorhoming in Sicily) who live in San Rafael in Marin County, a few miles north of San Francisco. We cycled a little with Dick in the Marin County hills, where the mountain bike was born, and rode across the Golden Gate Bridge to explore the hills of San Francisco with their daughter, Paget Valentzas.   

The route for this fourth visit to the USA took us inland (east) from Los Angeles to explore Arizona and its well-catalogued attractions, heading north and east to Denver, returning west to meet the Pacific Ocean north of San Francisco. The coast road south took us back to Los Angeles, having used up our motorhome allowance of 6,000 miles. Click here for a map of the journey.

We highly recommend the family firm from whom we have hired our 'RV' (Recreational Vehicle). Klaus and Gabi Hollerith run an excellent small business – Happy Travel Campers (campervan and motorhome rental and sales) - located very near Los Angeles International Airport (or LAX). They employ other German-speaking workers, who all have an excellent command of English and a very competent and friendly approach to their work. See their fleet and get a quote from www.camperusa.com.

We found them through a helpful agent, Michael Preller, who has other contacts throughout the US and Canada. Visit him at www.destinationusa.net.  

This log of what actually happened on our journey should be read in conjunction with Travel Notes USA, which gives a lot of background information on travelling and motorhoming in this glorious country, as well as details of the motorhome we used.

The distance driven is given in miles, along with the cost in US $ of a powered site for 2 adults at the named Campground, RV Park or State Park, taking account of any available discount.

Exchange rate at the time of travel is $1.7 to the pound sterling, the US $ having decreased in value since our last visit when it was $1.4.

November 01      166 miles     BIG SUR Campground & Cabins     $29.00

Over the Bridge to San Francisco and down the Pacific coast

It was just 13 miles into San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge ($5 per vehicle). The City on the Bay shone in the sunshine, traffic along the waterfront was surprisingly light and we easily found free parking near Fort Point, below the end of the Bridge (which is being strengthened against potential earthquakes). We walked around, took photos of the Bay with Alcatraz Prison (now a museum) on its island, remembered cycling up and down the many hills in 2003 with Paget Valentzas.

We left the city on US.1, through the General Douglas Macarthur Tunnel to Daly City, then turned west to Pacifica (population 40,400), to meet the Ocean, 14 miles from San Francisco. The road dropped from 500 ft to sea level and mist blanketed the coastline, as the warm moist air rose against the hillside. We had lunch by the marina at Half Moon Bay (pop 12,250), 15 miles down the coast, watching pelicans, gulls and herons as well as surfers. This was not a 'lost wilderness' coast, comprising built-up zones with farm crops in between. We passed a Pumpkin Patch selling off the surplus from Halloween (yesterday) and pick-your-own strawberries (in November!)

Pigeon Point lighthouse and youth hostel loomed out of the sea-mist, 23 miles after Half Moon Bay. At the city of Santa Cruz, 30 miles further on, Highway 1 became a busy freewayaHH for 14 miles to Watsonville, after which it was a 2-lane road again, across 12 miles of vast open fields (artichokes, lettuces and greens). At 140 ft, it was cool and damp. The coastal fogs, brought in on onshore breezes to the warm valleys, lengthen the growing season in this Californian Salad Bowl.

We saw more pelicans in the big marina at Moss Landing State Beach, then turned off into Monterey, a former sardine-canning town turned elegant tourist venue, 41 miles after Santa Cruz, at the northern end of the scenic Big Sur coastline. See www.montereyinfo.org for more on Monterey County, which grew rich on fishing (everything from sardines to grey whales).

Camping was possible in the centre of Monterey in the Veterans Park for $20 (no electricity) but we continued 30 miles down the coast to Big Sur Village, for a choice of 3 campgrounds on the banks of Big Sur river. We passed the 110-year-old Point Sur Lightstation, poised atop a volcanic rock outcrop at 361 ft. It can be reached by a one-mile walk up the hill, ending in 65 steps (with guided tours at weekends), but we needed to make the 'village' before dark. In addition to camping and cabins set among giant redwoods, there are a couple of restaurants and an overpriced petrol station, which we needed.

November 02      125 miles     PISMO SANDS RV Park    $29.70 – Good Sam

Along Big Sur coast and past a colony of Elephant Seals

For the next 90 miles, the scenic Big Sur road ran between national forest on the slopes of the Santa Lucia Range, and the ocean 300 ft below. We paused often, to photograph the seascape and seabirds, and heard seals barking from the offshore rocks.

After 25 miles, Lucia Lodge has cabins with a magnificent view. Los Padres National Forest, 2 miles further, has a simple unpowered campground 140 ft above the ocean and a picnic ground from which we walked down to the shore. There was another campground before reaching Gorda, 38 miles from Big Sur village, with food, petrol and accommodation. Mist began to drift up from the coast at 11.30 am, just as it had yesterday. Ragged Point Inn, 11 miles after Gorda, was busy with meals and rooms. By the next motel/RV park/petrol, 8 miles on, the road had dropped to sea level with a backdrop of fields rather than mountains.

A big surprise, 3 miles along at Point Piedras Blancas, was a colony of 1,700 Northern Elephant Seals, many of them snoozing on the beach right below the footpath and viewing platform! The large car park and information boards showed what an attraction they had become since first appearing here in 1990. They come ashore for several months a year, to breed and raise the pups, and had just arrived. They were snoring, shuffling, showering sand over themselves with their flippers, jostling for places – hundreds of them! The males are much bigger, with a short 'trunk'. One or two pairs were playing in the water, perhaps the initial courtship ritual? Colonies usually breed on inaccessible islands and no-one knows why this group has chosen an exposed stretch of beach, once the haunt of windsurfers (now banished).

Just along the road is the turning for Hearst Castle (belonging to the newspaper family), a stately home with entrance fee. The coast now became busier, with a few motels and camping at San Simeon, 8 miles past the Seals, closely followed by shops at Cambria (pop 6,444), a seaside resort at Cayucos and more motels at Morro Bay (pop 10,500).

We stopped to shop and refuel in Vons (94 miles from Big Sur village), drove through the busy city of San Luis Obispo 12 miles later, and finally turned off the highway for Pismo Beach (pop 8,294). The excellent Big Sam campground has many long-term residents, down from the frozen north, and free wi-fi internet access of which we made good use. A friendly Canadian, keen to preserve wildlife, gave us a pair of ultrasonic deer-warning whistles to fit to the front of our motorhome! (You meet all kinds in the laundry.)

November 03      203 miles     LOS ANGELES, Dockweiler RV Park     $24.00

Back to Los Angeles, our tour completed

A dedicated drive back to Los Angeles, to collect the suitcases left with Happy Valley Campers (deadline 4 pm), and on to spend our last night on the RV Park by LA Airport.

Freeway 101 took us south-west, past Santa Maria, with a landscape of vineyards and fruit pickers at a maximum height of 935 ft. We lunched in a crowded rest area after dropping to the coast at Gaviota, after 61 miles. The 101 then ran alongside the railway by the ocean and through Santa Barbara, a fine-looking city of 87,000 people (and 8 exits from the freeway!), 36 miles further on.

The freeway follows the route of the 'Camino Real' (Royal Road) all the way to LA. Along the coast between Carpinteria and Ventura were long lines of RV's 'boon-docking' (free-camping) – the first we'd seen. It was now very built-up - Ventura is a city of 10,000 souls, 119 miles from Pismo Beach. We stopped at Thousand Oaks, 27 miles further on, for fuel, then continued west on US.101 and south on US.405 through Beverley Hills towards the warm fog of central Los Angeles (nearly 70 degrees F).

After calling at Happy Valley Campers and arranging to return the motorhome by 2 pm tomorrow, we returned to the RV Park which lies between LAX and the Pacific Ocean. Taking a back-row place (they have a 3-tier price plan), we still had a good view of the sunset. The price had dropped $4 since our earlier stay, as it's now low season.

All we had to do was to pack up and clean the motorhome, confirm our flights and sell our Walmart bikes (now christened 'Jeromes' after their assembler)! Margaret opened successful negotiations with the staff in Reception and by next morning they had a new, Spanish-speaking home!

November 04/05     VIRGIN ATLANTIC FLIGHT VS008

Round the World completed:  return to London Heathrow

Our check-out time from Dockweiler RV Park was extended from 11 am to 1 pm by the grateful new owners of our bikes (!), so we packed at leisure. It was sad to notice that a worn-out jacket and sandals which we put in a trash-bin were soon found by a woman whose clothes were even more threadbare.

We returned the motorhome to Happy Valley after lunch, and were given a lift to the airport in time to check in 3 hours before our 5.15 pm departure. LAX is surprisingly small, with very few eating or shopping outlets. We couldn't even buy a stamp there.

The 10-hour overnight flight went smoothly, with a good dinner and breakfast, fitful dozing and a wide range of films ('Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' was Margaret's choice – she likes Johnny Depp's big brown eyes!) The weather was fine and clear as we overflew the Thames, London Eye and Buckingham Palace to land at Heathrow in the early afternoon on Bonfire Night. (A celebration of terrorism?)

THE END!