day: 88 ownings mills to wilmington

we are "home" and it feels weird.  we are staying at kristen's parents for 2 weeks, then flying out to steamboat, colorado to go snowboarding with my parents.  we have 2 weeks scheduled, but it may end up being a month or so.

we will be around, driving as little as possible.  we want to catch up with everyone before we are off to colorado.

instead of paying to store the camper.  i think we are going to sell it on consignment at alexander's rv dealership in smyrna.  they will store it for free, detail it and then advertise.  if anyone wants to buy a road tested, quality pop-up now is the time.... hit us up before i take it to the dealership.

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day: 87 nashville to ownings mills

after a nice visit with my sister's family and the camper made right we headed out to ownings mills to visit with my best friends tim and jenne and our god daughters charlette and alex.  we had a gorgeous fish tacos with home made tortillas prepared gracefully by chef tim.  the next day we had a baby dance party

 

   

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day 85: memphis to nashville

from memphis to nashville for a 2 day visit with my sister marchell and my brother-n-law greg and his son hogan.  it was a pleasure to enjoy the company of family.  i love you o'brien family!

also while in nashville i got the electrical wiring fixed on the camper.  the rv place that caused the problem payed the bill, but they were not happy because they feel the repair was grossly over charged.  now that they have a bad taste in their mouths if may be difficult to have them reimburse me for my dead car battery.

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day 84: el reno to memphis

driving without camper lights during daylight hours only we made our way 8 hours to memphis and had to get a hotel room.  we planned on driving the 3 remaining hours to nashville and i arranged for camper electrical repair in nashville and then on to my sister's house for a visit.

well that did not work as planned... we awoke in memphis to a completely dead car battery.  the short in the camper electrical system destroyed the trailblazers battery!  i removed the car battery and we carried the it 1.5 miles to the nearest k-mart.  at the k-mart we "commandeered" a shopping cart and then we proceeded push the battery in the cart another 1/2 mile to a sears auto center.  at the sears we had the battery tested and confirmed it was dead.  we purchased a new battery and then pushed the shopping cart 2 miles back to the hotel.  people stayed out of our way, we looked and smelled like new bums.  i installed the battery and we were on our way to nashville, missing our service appointment of course.  what a freakin' day!   

watch out for mumbling, stinking homeless man!

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day 83: albuqueque to el reno

today's target was fort smith arkansas, but we had to make an emergency stop in... where the hell are we?  el reno oklahoma.  this morning along the way we had a sway bar installed on the camper, it makes it pull so much better, but the installer drilled threw the camper frame and sacrificed the electrical wiring, leaving us with no camper lights.  we did not realize until it got dark and we were 500 miles from where we had the work done.

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day 82: flagstaff to albuqueque

driving across arizona and new mexico the landscape is beautiful.  there is so many mountains and different colored rocks.  since the country is getting battered with harsh cold weather we decided not to drive 10+ hours a day.  we are keeping our travel to about 8 hours daily.   let's see how this treats us.

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day 81: pacific beach to flagstaff

so the california love affair has come to an end.  today we have packed the camper up tight and we are headed east on route 66 and staying in cheap hotels along the way.  first stop flagstaff arizona.

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day 76: oceanside to pacific beach

we have decided the three places that we are considering for relocation are: wilmington north carolina, charleston south carolina and san diego.  with that being said we are focusing a bit more time and energy in seeing san diego thoroughly.

we tried to camp in northern san diego at san elijo state beach, but the reservation process and rules for the state beaches are jacked up.  we were not able to find reasonable accommodations so we back to a place we have previously visited in pacific beach called campland on the bay.

i got in two good sessions at tourmaline surf beach before the pacific went flat. 

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day 74: morro bay to oceanside

our plan is to see as much of california as humanly possible.  in order to do that we are making stops in places we missed on the way up.  northern san diego county is now on our radar and we camped for a couple days in oceanside.

oceanside is a chilled out surf town with a fun beach area.  i got a couple good sessions in at the beach break, waist to chest and long california lines.

while in eceanside we had a great dinner.  teriyaki chicken boston lettuce wraps with sprouts and cuccumbers.  

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day 70: san francisco to morro bay(cayucos)

we got new tires for the camper and we are headed south about 5 hours to san luis obispo county, SLO for short, to a place called morro bay just south off cayucos.  this area is cute... the towns are quaint and unpretentious and the landscape is beautiful.  morro bay gets it's name from the volcanic plug that anchors the bay, rightfully called morro rock.

morro rock from our campsite

morro rock

sunset - the wet sand of low tide made a crazy shadow

we will be here for new years eve and we decided to stay in for dinner and what better way to ring in the new year than a seafood boil right next to the pacific ocean.  the boil will consist of fingerling potatoes, boiler onions, kielbasa, clams and lobster and of course prosecco.  if we feel restless after dinner the inn at morro bay is having a latin jazz band that sounds like they are pretty hot.

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day 68: fairfield to san francisco

we spent a wonderful 11 days with weston exploring; santa cruz, the redwood forest, napa valley and sonoma county.  we ended the trip at wes's home in fairfield where we had christmas.  we made a traditional christmas eve meal of roasted chicken and stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes and green bean casserole.  Christmas day we saw the movie avatar in imax 3d and had mexican food.  Although we were not with our immediate family... our time spent with an old friend over christmas was awe inspiring.

day 68 we packed up bento box and headed for san francisco.   we got about 40 miles when we recognized we had a another shredded trailer tire, we were about at the middle of the bay bridge no less.  sunday after christmas downtown san fran with a bum tire on the camper is no place to be.  after making many calls to tire stores, rv repair places and finally hotels.  we decided to find a cheap hotel and hunker down until there were businesses open to repair our problem.

we had to order some new tires which took 24 hours so we went out and explored the city in the mean time.

cable car with an Alcatraz back.  this scene made me sing the rice-a-roni song for hours.

our hotel was on lombard and a couple of blocks away was this street, "the curviest street in the world."

per tim's suggestion we enjoyed the famous irish coffee from buena vista.

cashmere enjoyed every bit of crissy field, the park at the base of the golden gate.

the waves at the golden gate were huge and cold.  these dudes have cojones grande!

the sunset made the golden gate sparkle like a new penny.

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day 58: newport beach to santa cruz

we made the long drive up the left coast from newport beach to santa cruz to do some camping with my good buddy weston.  the drive was absolutely amazing.  driving through malabu and then north of santa barbara with the view of channel island national park was simply unreal.  in order to get a full week of weston-time before christmas we did sacrifice a lot of california, but we will be doing a u turn in san francisco and catching what we missed on the way back down.

here is our crazy campsite in cotillion gardens on the edge of the redwood forest.

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day 51: las cruces to san diego

making our way to the west coast we decided to drive straight from new mexico and acquire a hotel room in san diego since the drive was over 12 hours.  leaving las cruces the driving conditions were almost unbearable, there was a 30mpg swirling head wind and sideways rain.  we proceeded as steadily as possible and around tuscon it cleared to blue skies.  the geography along the southwestern border was surreal and around every bend was something new for our untraveled eyes.    

did not photograph well, but there were a series of brilliant rainbows around picacho mountain as we left las cruces.

first rest stop once in california, the imperial sand dunes.

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day 48: austin to las cruces, nm

we drove from austin to las cruces new mexico and met up with my parents at the beautiful home of family friends, javier and ophelia.  the drive was long, 10+ hours, but the scenic views were spectacular... we are really seeing something different now.  along this drive you skirt the border of mexico and it got a bit exciting.  on one occasion we were prompted to pull over by some random pick-up truck, we believed it to be a robbery attempt.  as well we witnessed a border patrol high speed chase!

once in las cruces we had a couple days of quality food and family time.  ophelia is a master of mexican cuisine and she showed us much love, in return i made them dinner to return the favor.  we played some highly competitive dominos and we did some sightseeing; visiting my parents old home and the giant roadrunner built from recycled materials.

it was a blessing to see you mom and simp!  thank you javier and ophelia for the wonderful hospitality.

simpson, rosemary, kristen, andrew, javier and ophelia.

the brilliant view from the backyard of javier and ophelia's home.

cheffin' up some chicken marsala, corn risotto roasted carrot ribbons and broccoli rabe, sportin' ophelia's apron.

recycled roadrunner.

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day 42-47 texas at large

day 42: new orleans to galveston, texas.  i-10 through baton rouge was hell, it took a hour to travel 3 miles.  then finally once in galveston the rain came.  i lived close to galveston when i was young and getting into town brought back a flood of memories.  galveston looked a bit worse for wear after being devastated with storms last year.  ironically we really did not get to explore much since it rained for 48 hours straight.

galveston island state park campground under water.

stopped through the old familiar home town of my family.

day 44:  galveston to port aransas.  getting tired of the being wet, we pushed on to port aransas down the coast from galveston.  in port aransas the rain stopped, but then it got cold the temperature dropped 15 degrees.  port-a is a cool town... the beach is hard packed and the municipality considers the beach a roadway and also you can have a campfire anywhere and camp on the beach for free.  we drove 20 miles of the beach down to padre island.

 

the surf was flat and the "men in grey suits" were gigantic.

day 46:  port aransas to austin.  this is the unfortunate day that we have left the coastline to cross the country.  we arrived late to austin, got a cheap hotel room and headed out on the town.  we got some good food and some hot music at lambert's, an unscale bbq joint in downtown austin.  in the morning i ended up in bad shape, either some food poisoning or i was dosed by someone at the bar.... i spend the next 10 hours with my head in the toilet.  we had to stay an extra night just so i could recover properly.

checked out a set by "brownout!" a blazin' hot latin funk band... they dudes kicked ass.  they serve as the back up band for prince.  

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day 37: pensacola to new orleans

drove through 4 states today into the devilish arm's of the big easy.  picked up stephanie from the louis armstrong international airport and then the debauchery began.

thanksgiving we spent at a wonderful champagne brunch at restaurant 5 fifty 5 in the marriott hotel on canal streat, boasting a beautiful spread with everything from andouille corn stuffing, brussells sprouts with bacon, to a boat load of fresh oysters, roast duck, pork, prime rib, smothered chicken, of course turkey and bottomless flutes of champagne.  we gorged ourselves like royalty, setting the tone for the following several days of equally extravagant food and drink.  needless to say... it was a delightful holiday spend with a good friend.

i have to admit the last several days have been a bit of a blur, usually i post a handful of pictures, but somehow i captured beau coup evidence of the cajun conundrum.  i am compiling a audio/video montage to showcase our drunken splendor: including thanksgiving, hurricanes, the house of blues, coyote ugly, metallic street performers, dancing in jackson square and the annual market jazz tribute to tuba fats.

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day 35: grayton beach to pensacola

moving westward and unsatisfied with the time spent on the emerald coast, we decided to stop again in florida.  almost as west florida as you can get, pensacola.  if things go as planned, thanksgiving will be spent in new orleans with our good friend stephanie.

kristen driving the livesaver boat at the gulfararium

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day 33: clearwater to grayton beach

we pulled heavy ass, bento box, 8 hours to grayton beach on the panhandle of florida.  comically this area is called the red neck riviera, but in all actuality it is gorgeous.  sugar white beaches and emerald green water.  we will be taking a couple days to get familiarize our selves with our new home and relax from the stress of the last stop. 

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day 30: key largo to clearwater

in route to clearwater for more function than pleasure.  the camper lift system is broken and we have an appointment with great escapes rv's to get it fixed.  we will be staying in the hojo's down the street while the lunch box gets looked at.  first time sleeping "inside" in a month!  the idea of the bathroom next to the bed is uncanny.

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day 29: key west to key largo

so our westward leg has officially began.  we tried to go stay at bahia honda state park and snorkel looe key, but bhsp takes reservations 11 months in advance and we did not have one.  so we are going to john (cougar) pennekamp coral reef state park instead in key largo.

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