On Saturday the 6th of May we picked up our RV
for the beginning of our US adventure.
Before we were picked up we stayed at a very expensive and
particularly average hotel – Motel 6 – at Inglewood. Inglewood is an infamous
suburb of LA and although we were only perched nervously on its edge we still
saw a smattering of homeless and were approached by a drug dealer before
breakfast. Speaking of breakfast it was at Denny’s, an American Diner with
coffees and other drinks refilled for free plus pancakes, eggs, bacon etc.
Our shuttle arrived at the designated time however the
Saturday traffic had turned work day and the roads were chockers!! Still we
arrived at the RV depot, only 20 minutes later than the expected ETA. However
the process of paperwork, discussing the RV and its many features, filling
water tanks and fixing the awning all took a fair bit of time such that we left
at 3-20. Long story short we arrived at our campsite after dark but at least we
were fed [Wendys…] and had bought provisions for the first few days.
Our RV is, like many things in America, a little big. It is
less of a RV and much more of a mobile home. It does feel like I am driving a
house. The ‘vehicle’ is 30 foot long, has slide outs so it is roomier in side
when set up for each evening. It can accommodate 8 although that would be
pretty squashy and it is big enough for all to have a bed of their own except Megan
and I who are forced to share…
The first night ‘camping’, as one should have expected,
brought on the rain. Not heavy but light constant drizzle and we woke to heavy
low cloud and eucalypt stained puddles lining the camp’s roads. The park, at
Morro Bay State Park, is surprisingly surrounded by large Eucalypt trees. Large
conifers still grow throughout the park. The eucalypts are huge but sensibly
cut down occasionally and provide campers with good quality fire wood. At least
they would if it was not raining.
Our first morning was also a special day – Millie’s 10th
birthday. Cards were written, presents hastily assembled and too much money was
packed into cards. The result was one happy ten year old.
Later on our first day the rain cleared somewhat and we went
a walking. Not too long into the walk we got talking to some locals who
insisted on becoming our tour guides and drove us to a nearby lookout which
would have been impossible to navigate the RV to. They also took us for a drive a couple of miles away from our State Park
and advised that it would be a good walk back. It was!!
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| Our spontaneous local guides; Tim and Maureen |
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| Morro Rock |
The walk offered great views of Morrow Rock and surrounds;
the estuary, bay and much of the tourist part of the town. Sea Otters floated
in and around the bay as did a large bull Californian Sea Lion. Californian
Rock Squirrels had made their presence known and came out of their rock
hideouts begging for food; clearly this approach works pretty often. We got
good views of Pigeon Guillemot, Common
and Pacific Loon, Eared Grebe and a Long tailed Duck. On the way home, fortified by the obligatory
sea-side ice cream which we licked like the tourists we were, we saw some
Orioles, an aggressive Red tailed Hawk attack some Turkey Vultures plus a
cluster of vultures at a dead deer carcass. Also some obliging Nuttal’s
Woodpecker and my first Chestnut backed Chickadees for 2017. All in all we witnessed about a dozen
things, any one of which would have made it worth making a walk for.
Home for Millie’s chosen Spaghetti Bolognaise birthday dinner followed by some
Key lime Pie plus Australian red wine + Budweiser for the adults. A pretty
satisfying first day with the RV!
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| Turkey Vultures at sunset |
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