We had originally planned to drive through LA to see some of the sights on our way to the RV resort in Long Beach yesterday, but, having talked about it on Saturday night, Müfit and I decided on a far more sensible plan; to rent a car for the day and drive around in that, rather than the RV!

Staying in this RV resort is not particularly quiet. It actually made me laugh when I saw on the resort map that it said “Tranquility by the sea”. It’s far from tranquil in our opinion, although the setting is nice enough, on paper. There’s a lake behind which is a wildlife management area – it’s only small, but nice to have, while to the front is a freeway. The biggest problem is Long Beach Port which is just beyond the wildlife area and clearly visible and audible from where we are. All night long, there’s a constant beeping noise which I’m guessing is from the large crane-like things that unload and load shipping containers, and I mean ALL NIGHT! After a while you kind of get used to it, but there’s an occasional train leaving the docks as well, and there’s some noise from the freeway but not as bad as some places we’ve stayed.

Anyway, so last night we booked a car online with Budget for collection at one of the hotels nearby. We were able to book a small SUV, as that’s what we wanted so that we could take the dogs with us well. Müfit and I walked a mile to the hotel to find the desk was unmanned, and waited a good 15 minutes for the guy to come back but there was already somebody waiting in front of us who took another 10 to 15 minutes. Finally it was our turn and we were done pretty quickly. We went down to the garage and got our car, a Kia Sportage, then drove back to the RV resort. The long walk, and the extra wait had all taken quite a while and then we had to get the car ready for the dogs. We didn’t want Jasper hair everywhere as we might get an extra cleaning bill, so we kitted out the boot/trunk with a tarp, dog car cover, and dog bed, and laid a towel across the paintwork when they were getting in and out so they didn’t scratch the paint. It actually worked very well and we had minimal dog hair by the end the day!

So we set off with the plan to drive through a number of areas and have a few stops. It’s surprising just how far Long Beach actually is from LA, and therefore surprising just how far LA is from the coast. Traffic was bad, again, but probably way lighter than it would have been on a week day. We approached LA from the south so that we could drive through some areas and see the skyline, then we headed for Beverly Hills and Sunset Boulevard. Having a phone with GPS and maps is so useful. I remember it wasn’t that easy back in 1989 trying to find our way around – sorry dad for stressing you out trying to find some movie star’s home 😦

We drove through Beverly Hills, hitting Willshire and Rodeo Drive where we saw all the stupidly expensive designer stores, and after a while we stopped for lunch – a place called Chipotle, which Müfit has had several times on his US business trips recently and had promised us all that we’d go to some time. It’s basically like a Mexican version of Subway!

After this we drove up into the Hollywood Hills and spent some time driving along Mulholland Drive, among others, then found a park/recreation area so that we could properly give the dogs a walk. We spent about an hour there, then back in the car. We did stop at a view point from which we could see the LA skyline and the Hollywood sign, so took a few photos there, but we were headed to the Griffiths Observatory because I knew the views were even better from there!

I’ve wanted to visit the Griffiths Observatory for many years. It wasn’t somewhere we went in 1989, so I’ve never been, but I knew that the views were great and the building is an iconic landmark. The other reason I wanted to see it is because I’m a fairly big James Dean fan, and several scenes from Rebel Without A Cause were filmed here, so it was quite cool to be somewhere that James Dean had been.

Getting to the Griffiths Observatory was far more hassle than we expected it to be though. We thought it would be busy, but it was insane, not helped by the fact that there was some some event happening that evening at the Greek Theater, which is further down the hill within Griffiths Park. We wound our way up the hill, crawling along behind many other cars, following the signs for the main car park and parking, closer to the observatory as opposed to a free parking area that was a long walk away. We should have just headed for the free parking in the first place as we were herded past the parking lot by the observatory and forced to go halfway back down the hill again, then back up the hill, having re-joined the line of cars which, by this time, had probably added several hundred more cars to the mix. It was incredibly frustrating and badly managed. Then we were forced to go down the other side of the hill toward the free parking area – as I said, we should have just done that in the first place.

Müfit offered to drive the car while me, the kids and the dogs walked back up the hill to the observatory, with the hope that he’d find a space somewhere. We had to walk a good 15 minutes uphill to get there, and then whizzed around outside as fast as we could in case Müfit ended up driving past. As it happened, he parked in the lower parking area and walked up via a trail which was much quicker than using the road, and he appeared after about half an hour.

So we all got to see the observatory and the views some more, including the Hollywood sign and downtown LA, and we took it in turns to stay with the dogs outside so that we could all see inside for a while as well. After this, we walked back down to the car and headed ‘home’.

Deciding to rent a car for the day was a really good decision. With the gas that we had to put in to fill the tank back up, it ended up being $60US, which is far less than it would have been if we’d all done a tour or something, plus we were able to have the dogs with us all day. When we got back to the resort, we unpacked the car, cleaned up a few dog hairs, and Müfit took the car back on his own. We could have returned it in the morning, but knew it would be far easier just doing it tonight.

We awoke to find two teenagers in our RV this morning! Yes, Sarah and Leland have hit the dreaded (well, dreaded for parents anyway!) teenage years 😝

Müfit and I didn’t sleep very well as our bedroom is at the back of the RV which is close to a railway line and the highway. Add the trains and road noise to the extremely loud waves and we had anything but a restful night. The kids had started the night with a window open but quickly closed it when they realised just how loud the waves were too, but at least they couldn’t hear the highway as clearly as we could. All in all, I can’t really say that staying here was worth the money we paid for it, but again, if the weather had been nicer last night and this morning, it would have helped.

Our destination today is Long Beach, and we travelled mostly on freeways after spending a while in a Walmart buying Sarah a bikini, which she had been insisting on buying the last 2 weeks!

Even though we didn’t have weekday traffic to contend with, the traffic coming into the LA area was still very heavy, as we expected, so the drive was slower than it might have been, but we didn’t have a very large distance to travel today and made it to the RV park, Golden Shore RV Park, at a sensible time. We were excited to finally have a full hook-up – so this means we are connected to water, sewer, and electric, and the kids were even more excited to have wifi!!!

The RV park is nice – there’s an outdoor pool as well as showers (if you need them), and laundry, and it’s close to the waterfront. As with all these places – from what we’ve seen in photos – everyone is somewhat on top of each other, with not much space in between pads, and there’s not much in the way of trees or privacy, but we’ve got quite a nice spot here; good thing because we’re here for 3 nights!

Being the twins’ birthday, we had planned to go out for dinner, so we got ready, left the dogs in the RV, and walked almost a mile towards an area where there are lots of restaurants near the waterfront, and across the water from the Queen Mary. We were going to try a chain restaurant that we haven’t been to before, but found the wait time could have been as much as 45 minutes. We settled for Outback instead – another chain – where they specialise in steaks and have an Aussie theme! We let the kids choose whatever they wanted, and ended up with a rather large bill by the end of the evening! Oh well, I guess they only turn 13 once!!

After leaving Morro Bay State Park, we stopped in the town for gas – finding to our advantage that Morro Bay seemed to have the cheapest gas around, and then we headed to a supermarket/grocery store to pick up some more groceries for the coming days. We have been trying to ‘eat in’ just about all of the time to save money, but we’ve also tried not to just have quick and easy stuff which tends to be junk as Al has a fairly decent kitchen inside. We have a good sized fridge with a freezer above. There is a 3-burner stovetop/hob, and a small oven with grill. Above the stovetop there’s a rather massive microwave, but the microwave will only work when we’re plugged in to ‘shore’ as they call it. The oven and fridge both work off propane from our propane tank, and of course the fridge will also work on electric when we’re hooked up too.

Anyway, today’s drive wasn’t particularly interesting. We continued down sections of the Pacific Coast Highway but the scenery wasn’t anywhere near as impressive as it was a few days ago. We did take a detour into a city called San Luis Obispo because Müfit thought it sounded cool! It turned out to be a nice place with a lively, historic-looking downtown that we squeezed through, and if we were in a smaller vehicle we would have liked to stay for a bit, park and walk around. Maybe another time!

We were all looking forward to tonight’s destination, Emma Wood State Beach, because it’s right on the ocean. It’s one of these places along what’s known as the Rincon Parkway. I would guess that some years ago you could camp here for free, or at least for cheap, but these days Emma Wood and a selection of other state parks/beaches charge a big premium for the privilege of waking up just feet from the ocean. You have to be self-contained to stay here as there are no facilities whatsoever but you still pay around $50 US, and you have to book it months in advance as it’s always full from May to October. Yes, it was nice, but if there hadn’t been a thick cloud cover it would have been much nicer. We pulled into our spot, coming in front ways so that we could get the view of the ocean through our massive windscreen, and sat (in the RV) watching and listening to the waves crashing against the shore while Müfit cooked some chili for dinner.

Last night was our best sleep of the trip so far as Morro Bay State Park proved to be extremely peaceful compared to our other stops. There was no traffic noise, no wind or rain, no crashing waves – just a nice peaceful night! This is because the state park is at the southern end of the town of Morro Bay, away from any highways, and just a short walk from The Inn at Morro Bay which I remember staying at on our family California trip in 1989. It was nice to be staying so close to somewhere we had spent the night, all those years ago.

Today was planned as another work day. Müfit had upped the data allowance on his phone – it cost more money, obviously, but gives us a bigger buffer for the night’s when we don’t have wifi to connect to.

We all got some work done, despite the kid’s – especially Sarah’s – reluctance to do much. We also had a couple of walks during the day, going to the waterfront, and onto some trails leading from the campground. We sneakily let the dogs off leash whenever we can as all of these places have strict ‘on-leash’ policies, but the boys aren’t used to being on leash all of the time and prefer to do their business without constraints!

The weather hasn’t been all that great for us so far, although it could have been a lot worse. It is definitely cooler than it should be in California at this time of year, and we’re not seeing a great deal of sun. Most days start off cloudy, then clear up for a bit, then get cloudy again, but today we were hoping for better weather as the drive was supposed to be one of the trip highlights – the section of Highway 1 from Carmel to San Simeon, through Big Sur.

We didn’t have to check out of the campground until midday which was useful as Müfit had several work calls scheduled in for the morning. After the calls were done, and after we’d filled up with some water and dumped our sewer, it was around 12:30pm before we actually left. Had we known that it was going to be a long day, we’d have tried to get out earlier than this!

We followed the road past Monterey and then saw signs for the 17-Mile Scenic Drive. I remember this well from my California trip back in 1989 but I wasn’t sure if RV’s were allowed to drive this route. We turned off the highway and got to the entrance gate where I asked if we were ok “in this” and he said yes because they get big buses through all the time. So we paid our $10.50 and promptly went the wrong way! But I had this – turning around, that is – and we were back on the right road within a few minutes!

Most of the scenic drive is through residential areas where there are some spectacular homes. Of course, we could see most of them very well as we are so high up and could see over walls, so we were treated to a great variety of architecture. After a while the road went out to the coast and we stopped right by the ocean for lunch. We had a few more stops after that, including one where the ground squirrels are very tame (something I also remember from my 1989 visit!) and then we exited into Carmel.

Carmel is a quaint town, with quaint-sized roads, so again not the best place for an RV! But we drove through, trying to find the main route out and failing. We ended up down a tight residential street with trees on both sides that hung over the road, as well as low-hanging electricity lines that I’m amazed we didn’t end up hitting and dragging along with us. I eventually had to turn out of this road to the right, and very carefully maneuver around a tree, hoping that we didn’t hit the electricity lines. We scraped the side of Al with tree branches but didn’t do any permanent damage, luckily. Next time I’m going to be more wary about driving through places like this though!

The stretch of the ocean highway after Carmel is the best. The scenery is amazing, and although it’s a single carriageway road (one lane each way), there are dozens of places to pull off the road along the way to enjoy the views, and to let other traffic past.

As we were going south we had the ocean to our right, and most of the pull-ins and view points to our right too, so this made it easier for us. At Big Sur, the road goes inland and you tightly pass by towering pine trees. I was trying to remember if we had taken this stretch of road in 1989 but I came to the conclusion that we hadn’t, a. because I couldn’t remember it and was sure I would have, and b. because I don’t think we had time then as we were travelling north from Morro Bay to San Fran, which is a long way.

Towards the southern end of this road, it became more steep and winding, with some scary drop-offs to the side of us. We had been wondering how Al would cope with the winding and mountainous roads around Sequoia and Yosemite, but his performance today showed that it probably wouldn’t be a problem – the engine temperature always stayed around the halfway mark, and the brakes showed no signs of over-heating, so that was encouraging.

The only drawback with the road today was that it was slow-going, and ended up taking us quite a bit longer than we had expected. It was finally around 8:30pm when we reached the small town of Morro Bay, and the Morro Bay State Park where we’re staying for the next 2 nights.

Although we hadn’t focused much on work or school work up until now, this is supposed to be a ‘working holiday’. Müfit is planning to do the equivalent of a few days of work each week, and I have articles to write for a long-term client. And the kids are supposed to be keeping up with their school work on the distance learning system.

After breakfast, I took the dogs for a walk while Müfit and the kids started work. When we’re not staying in an RV resort with wifi, the idea is to use Müfit’s phone. He has a US plan on there with data, and had already upped the data to 10GB before we left home. It quickly became obvious that this wasn’t going to be anywhere near enough as Sarah’s laptop had decided to randomly update itself and eat a gig of data in no time at all. The system that the kids have to log into also seemed to be way more data-hungry than we had expected also as they have to watch short videos among other things, so we spent a few hours panicking over what we were going to do. We looked into a few alternatives, but Müfit decided in the end that the easiest thing was to upgrade his plan again and to get 40GB. We just hope that will be enough now and that wifi in the RV parks is good enough for us all to get on with things.

So, today was a working day. Müfit had a few ‘meetings’; the kids did some work, and eventually I did a bit of work too. We had a few more short walks. Müfit and the kids took the dogs down for a walk along the beach, only to have Jasper randomly attacked by another dog who was on leash, but wasn’t, if you see what I mean. Jasper began to fight back but Müfit was able to yank the other dog off by pulling him away by the back of his neck before the dog’s owner, a woman, came over and apologised profusely. Luckily Jasper wasn’t injured at all, and after a moment he continued on his happy way as if nothing had happened. Jasper certainly has turned into a chilled dog after his crazy puppy years! We’re just very happy the other dog hadn’t decided to attack Charlie instead as that would have probably ended up very differently 😦

We probably hadn’t planned this particularly well, but today is Memorial Day in the USA meaning that there are way more people on the roads and out and about than there would have been, but more on that in a minute.

We managed to get up at a better time this morning as we’d had a good, restful sleep without any wind or rain. Müfit and Leland spent some time securing the steps using tie downs we had picked up yesterday. Müfit thought he was buying the ratchet type of tie-down when in fact he hadn’t, so I wasn’t convinced they would hold with all the shaking around we’re subjected to each day on the highways.

Anyway, Sarah (that’s Orhan’s Sarah) had recommended a place to go for breakfast. We thought it was a good idea to have a filling breakfast and then just have a few snacks later on if needed so that we could travel for longer and not worry about stopping. The little diner was right by the entrance to the freeway, so we drove Al there, left the dogs inside, and enjoyed a final meal with Orhan and Sarah. It was good to see that the straps on the steps were still as tight as they had been, so we were confident that they were going to hold, so after breakfast and a few group photos, we set off again.

We travelled west towards San Francisco, with the plan to approach it from the Marin Headlands side so that we could drive across the Golden Gate Bridge. San Francisco had been one of the highlights of my trip to California in 1989 with mum, dad, Mark, nan and grandad, so I was looking forward to seeing it again. Originally we had hoped to stay in the San Fran area and do some sightseeing, but having looked into it we realised it wasn’t possible with the RV and the dogs, so we’d have to settle for driving through instead.

It was a slow journey as there was a lot of traffic – added to because it was Memorial Day. Driving across a wetland area before getting to the Headlands we ran into a very long line of traffic that moved slowly for about 20 minutes, then suddenly got going. At the point where it got going, there was a bird – some kind of hawk, I think – hovering above the side of the road. It was really cool to see but really annoying too, as we figured that it was this bird that had been holding up the traffic for so long!

Approaching the Golden Gate Bridge we were looking for the pull-in and car parking area where you can park to spend time looking at the bridge. First off, it wasn’t at all clear where you had to turn – there were no signs saying ‘viewing area’ or anything like that, but luckily we could see far enough ahead with being so high up in Al, that we knew we had to get off the highway at a certain point. And here is where the chaos began. We needed to turn left to go to the parking area but it was blocked off so nobody could turn left. This forced us to go right. If we’d been in a car we could have turned around almost immediately but in a 32′ RV, this wasn’t possible. So we had to continue down a narrow road, through a short narrow tunnel, down a still narrow road that got steeper and steeper and led us into Sausalito. Under any other circumstances we might have been happy to end up here as it looked like a lovely place, but it wasn’t the place for our huge RV.

Knowing that the turning circle in Al is actually pretty good considering his size, I was able to turn into a road and turn us around in just a couple of moves, but then it was back up the steep, narrow road, through the narrow tunnel, and join the end of a long line of cars.

We crawled along for some time until eventually the entrance into the parking area was in sight. At this point, Müfit and the kids got out to take a look at the car park to see if we had any chance of getting into it. They came back and reported that it’s a very small area that was jam packed, but we should try anyway. I told the three of them to go with cameras and at least spend some time enjoying the views of the bridge, water and city skyline, while I edged my way down another steep road into the parking lot, telling them not to be too long as I might need help.

It was probably a good half hour before I eventually got down into the parking area, still behind a lot of cars that were waiting for spaces to become available. I had realised before this that I really had no chance of parking (there just wasn’t enough space for anything of Al’s size), so my only hope was to turn around. Müfit and the kids came back, after spending much longer than I had wanted them to – apparently I was in Müfit’s line of sight the entire time so he wasn’t panicking; shame I didn’t know this!

I turned Al around in another tight spot (I seem to be pretty good at doing this!) and we drove back up the steep hill to the highway, and onto the Golden Gate Bridge. Well, at least we all got to drive over one of the world’s most iconic landmarks! We now have to figure out how to pay the toll because it’s not at all obvious. Müfit’s plan is to wait until he gets a bill for it whereas I’d rather look it up and pay the toll now than having a big fine to pay by not doing anything!

I was pretty sad that I didn’t have the chance to get out and enjoy the views for a few minutes at least. Müfit told me later that if I’d said, he could have stayed/driven Al and given me some time outside, but Müfit is yet to drive Al, and considering the circumstances, I didn’t think it was the best time to start.

We then drove through San Francisco, staying on the main roads so that we avoided any freakily steep streets. Unfortunately we couldn’t see too much from the main road, but the kids got a taste of San Fran at least.

We continued on, hitting the coastal road – Highway 1 – down to Santa Cruz, and found our campground (that we booked back in February) at the Brighton Beach State Park. It’s a nice park that’s set up above the beach, which is accessible via a number of steps. After a late dinner (a cooked chicken that we had bought a little earlier at Safeway), we went for a walk to the beach. The dogs were allowed there on leash, which was nice, though we always prefer to have the option of letting them off as they’re used to running free. The waves crashing on the shore were incredibly loud and powerful, and we could hear them from Al through the night.

We had tons of wind and rain overnight that kept us all awake a lot as the branches were scraping over the top of Al. The bad weather finally stopped and allowed us to sleep well, and when we eventually woke up it was close to 10am!

Müfit spent the next hour or so on the phone to CoachNet. These are the people that we have a very pricey extended warranty through for the RV, and they have a technical helpline. Having been told that someone could come out to take a look, he was then told by a different person that fixing it where we were would not be possible so the best thing we could do was to disconnect the steps from the motor and then tie the steps up so that they were not down low and in risk of scraping the road. At least this meant that we could have them down when we wanted to and the dogs could therefore use them, albeit with us holding the steps so they don’t move.

In the meantime, Orhan picked up his daughter Allie from her mother’s house close by. Allie is at college and had returned home for the weekend. When Müfit had finally finished, we went with Orhan, Allie and Sarah to the local museum, a museum of agriculture that is inside a large hanger-like building and full of tractors and farming machinery dating back to the 1800’s. Unfortunately, the dogs were not allowed in, so we took it in turns to stay with them outside.

After the museum they took us to another of their favourite restaurants, a Mexican, where we had another lovely meal and were all suitably stuffed afterwards! The dogs were allowed here in the outdoor patio area, so it was nice to have the dogs with us.

The afternoon and evening were spent walking the dogs, and sitting and chatting. It was lots of fun, hearing Orhan and Sarah’s travel stories, and sharing some of our own!

We had a relatively peaceful night, although the kids freaked out when a truck turned into the area where we had parked! There was some road noise through the night but it wasn’t enough to keep us awake.

In the morning we tried a few things to see if we could get the power steps working again, such as disconnecting and reconnecting the engine battery, disconnecting some of the cables to the steps, but nothing worked. Mufit went online and found an RV place right in the little town just down the road from where we were staying, so we headed there. It was manned by just one guy but he was as helpful as he could be, telling us that if the light was on under the step (which it was), that we were basically screwed! This meant there was power going to the steps but something wrong with the motor.

Mufit came back to the RV to tell us, and as he opened the door, the steps came down (most of the way) but the motor made a horrible noise. We didn’t know whether this was going to continue to make the noise, but work, or whether it was going to be intermittent. It turned out to be intermittent, with the steps sometimes deciding they wanted to come down, and other times doing nothing at all. At least the steps were most of the way up now, making it safe to drive, so we continued on our way, later than we had planned.

Today we didn’t have a long way to go, travelling down to Davis which is a university and farming town to the west of Sacramento. We had arranged to park on the driveway of Müfit’s (second, or is it third?!) cousin, Orhan, and his wife Sarah.

As we arrived, Sarah merrily greeted us at the end of the driveway. It was more like a small lane that led to their house and two others, and was the perfect spot to park for a couple of nights, close enough to their house that we were able to plug in the power.

Neither Müfit or I had met Sarah (Orhan’s second wife) before, and Müfit realised that the two nights we were going to spend with Orhan would probably amount to more time than they’d ever spent together before!

They took us to a local Chinese restaurant and we had a lovely meal while we left the dogs back in the RV, hoping that Charlie wasn’t going to be howling all the time we weren’t there!

We had another very long day of driving ahead of us, so tried to set off early again but didn’t quite manage. It was about the same time as yesterday when we did get going. The saving grace was that we knew today and yesterday were going to be the longest days of the trip, so it was nice to get them out of the way early on.

As I mentioned yesterday, driving Al is not the most comfortable or pleasurable experience. It’s made worse by the condition of the roads, which are horrendously bumpy, and when driving a 32′ RV you sure know about all the bumps; everything rattles and squeaks and bangs and clunks. Even the interstates, which you would expect to be in pretty decent shape, are really bad at times (well, a lot of the time in reality). Then add in the road noise – the engine (a V10) is pretty loud in itself, but the road noise seems to be amplified in Al, plus of course if you’ve ever been in a vehicle with Müfit you will know that he can’t drive 2 minutes down the road without having music on. So with the squeaking, rattles, clunks and bangs, road noise, engine noise, and music, I have no chance of hearing what the kids are saying from behind me; in fact, Müfit, who is about 3 feet away from me, frequently has to shout to get me to hear him. [Mum – I don’t think you’d have liked all the noise if you had come with us!]

Anyway, we continued south on the I5, driving into, and all the way through Oregon. The further south we got, the scenery became more interesting and hilly – more like what we’re used to at home. Of course, when you live in such an amazing place as we do, it’s difficult to be impressed by the scenery anywhere, but we do like northern California.

We had several stops along the way during the day, and then one final stop at a rest area before getting to our intended destination. We stopped Al as usual, and opened the door, only to find that the power steps – that are supposed to open when you open the door – didn’t come down. The steps are needed because Al is so high off the ground but for us humans it’s not too difficult to jump; for our old doggos it is quite difficult. Jasper is now 12 and is definitely getting less mobile and cannot jump as easily as he used to. Charlie is 9 so he’s also a senior dog, but his problem is that he’s that much smaller so can’t jump too high.

There wasn’t much we could do so we helped the dogs in and out – luckily Al is not that high off the ground when you’re not parked up with the stabilizing jacks down, so it wasn’t a major problem.

Our destination was the Mount Shasta area. We’d already cased the area on Google streetview and found several places on a road within the national forest where we believed we would be able to park overnight for free. We started along the road and came across an area very quickly where we could just pull off the road. There were no signs telling us that we couldn’t park, so we got ourselves set up and hoped we didn’t have a knock on the door in the middle of the night!

Unfortunately, getting the dogs in and out of Al was difficult. With the jacks down, Al is really quite high so I got a large plastic box and put it at the bottom of the steps that are fitted to the inside of Al, but Jasper still had a lot of trouble and we had to lift him in. Lifting Charlie is easy as he’s so light in comparison!