Road Trip 2020 - Winter Break in Pismo Beach

Chowchilla to Pismo Beach
January 11-14, 2020
Escape the cold in sunny Pismo Beach

Pismo Beach is a winter getaway for visitors from the North.

     During the winter months, Pismo Beach, California, hosts visitors from the North who seek sunny days and warmer weather. Yes, I’m talking about the monarch butterflies. 

     Butterflies west of the Rockies migrate 2,500 miles to groves in Central and Southern California. Pismo’s monarch grove happens to be adjacent to North Campground, part of Pismo Beach State Park. While the butterflies live there from October through February, we visited from January 11th to the 14th.

An intimate butterfly moment

     During our visit to the monarch grove, we listened to a nature talk by one of the volunteers. She described the life cycle of the monarch, Danaus plexippus, how the caterpillars eat only milkweed (and other monarch eggs), and how western monarchs fly to California in winter, and eastern monarchs fly to mountains in Central Mexico. She described how monarchs mate. The male flies after the female. While flying, he captures her, and they fall to the ground in ecstasy. (I added the ecstasy part.) There, they do their business. When they are finished, they fly to the top of a tree to rest and maybe do it again. 

     As if on cue, a pair of butterflies landed in the center of the circle for all of us to see. The male flapping his wings up and down. One by one, members of the audience got up close to take pictures. Roger got a good one.

Sand dunes surround North Campground
at Pismo Beach State Park.

     This is our second time visiting Pismo Beach. Last year we stayed at Pismo Coast Village RV Resort because the campground was closed because of flooding. Driving from Chowchilla to Pismo is one of my favorite rides. The land changes quite dramatically from flat in Central California to the rolling hills of Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo. I never tire looking out the window at grazing cattle, hillsides covered with grapevines, or if you’re lucky to be there in early spring, after winter rains, fields of gold — the yellow California poppies. 

The road to Pismo Beach through Paso Robles.

     Luckily for us, our visit overlapped with the time friends from Juneau were also in Pismo. They rent a condo for five weeks every January. We enjoyed walking the beach, visiting the pier, going to dinner, and wine tasting. We ate at the Cool Cat Cafe. I ordered a salad and fried calamari. Roger got a fish burger. Another night we went to a Mexican restaurant called Los Amigos. I ordered chicken fajitas (my usual), and Roger ordered something we haven’t seen before. The ingredients were similar to fajitas, but it was served in a stone bowl called a Molcajete and had a layer of cheese at the bottom of the bowl.

A walk on the Pismo Pier at sunset

     We only played one round of golf at the Pismo Beach Golf Club. A rough, little, 3-par course that reminds me of the Mendenhall Golf Course in Juneau. A sign on the wall says, “It’s Pismo Beach, not Pebble Beach.” I prefer small golf courses like this one. We walked, but other people rented carts. The golf course is next to the campground, a 10-minute walk on the trail. We love our van, but sometimes it’s nice to walk or ride our bikes.

Friends, wine, and sunshine in the Edna Valley

     We went to Wolff Vineyards with our friends. Roger and I had been there before, and we enjoyed tasting wine and listening to grape growing and winemaking stories. Tastings cost $15, but the fee is waived when you buy a bottle of wine. Each couple bought two bottles, and our friends purchased a third and shared it with us on the patio overlooking the vineyard. I had packed a small picnic of bread, cheese, salami, fruit, and chocolate. What a memorable way to catch up with friends.

Vineyards surrounding Laetitia Vineyard & Winery

     We left Pismo on the 15th and stopped at another winery on our way to Malibu. Laetitia Vineyard & Winery specializes in sparkling wine. We shared a tasting. At this winery, the purchase of three bottles waives the wine tasting fee. Although Laetitia also makes red and white wines, we chose the sparkling wine tasting option. One of the wines is made with a specialized wine press called a coquard press. This winery has two such presses, the only two in North America. We bought four bottles of wine at this winery, three sparkling, and one pinot noir.

Shorebirds gather at water's edge.

     Leaving wine country behind us, we followed the coastal California route south to Malibu, where we would meet up with family and travel on to Palm Springs for a few nights of respite from the van, including a heated pool and hot tub.

"I been walkin' aroun' in the country. Ever'body's askin' that. What we comin' to? Seems to me we don't never come to nothin'. Always on the way. Always goin' and goin'. Why don't folks think about that? They's movement now. People moving. We know why, an' we know how. Movin' cause they got to. That's why folks always move. Movin' 'cause they want somepin better'n what they got. An' that's the on'y way they'll ever git it. Wantin' it an' needin' it, they'll go out an' git it. It's bein hurt that makes folks mad to fightin'. I been walkin' aroun' the country, an' hearin' folks talk like you." - The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

#pismobeach #vanlife #me2ak #ontheroad 

Road Trip 2020 - Golfing in Chowchilla, California

Sacramento to Chowchilla

January 9-10, 2020

Discovering a hidden jewel in the central valley

Teeing off in the sun! #GirlsGolf

     When Roger was a boy growing up in Visalia, Calif., he never would have believed that one day he would be vacationing in Chowchilla, Calif. It wasn’t that kind of place. Since then, Chowchilla has developed a retirement/golfing community. We discovered Chowchilla and The Lakes RV & Golf Resort last year when planning a Central California golf trip. Located two hours south of Sacramento, Chowchilla and the RV resort is a convenient place to stop for golf, drinks, food, and hot tub.

January golfing among the palm trees. No Taku winds here!

Our spot at The Lakes RV & Golf Resort.
We can walk to the golf course from here.

     Some of you who are old enough might remember a 1976 news story about three men who kidnapped a school bus full of children and the bus driver. The kidnappers hid them in a box truck buried underground. Fortunately, the driver and the children escaped. Since then, Chowchilla had been known as the place where the school bus full of children was kidnapped. I’m sure the good people of Chowchilla would like to move on from that terrible experience.

We had a 1 p.m. tee time, and the sun was just beginning to set teeing off at hole 18.

     Chowchilla is a Central California community located off CA-99 between Sacramento and Fresno. Yosemite National Park is a short distance to the east. The downtown area is neatly organized in city blocks full of locally owned businesses, such as Do It Best Hardware and Conchita’s Mexican Food, where we ate dinner on Thursday night. (Roger ordered a chile relleno and enchilada combo plate. I got chicken fajitas and a ceviche tostada appetizer. All the food was freshly prepared, delicious, and inexpensive.) Last year we got an oil change at TF Tire & Service. They had a clean shop and provided friendly customer service.

Beautiful houses of all sizes line the fairways at Pheasant Run. 

     Outside of town, on the other side of the highway, across from a large, open field, is The Lakes RV & Golf Resort, adjacent to Pheasant Run Golf Club and a gated community with houses built along the golf course. This community reminds me of The Villages in Florida. We saw big, fancy, McMansions as well as smaller, more modest-sized homes. We also saw empty house lots, already developed, just waiting for a buyer and a builder. If you’ve always wanted a home on a golf course, now is your chance.

Pheasant Run has a nice bar and restaurant with a friendly and lively clientele.

     The large open field on the other side of the development looks as if it could be the site of future development. I hope Chowchilla will resist the urge to develop another ugly shopping center full of big box stores, chain restaurants, and parking lots. The United States is losing its cultural roots to these monstrosities that line the highways of almost every community. Don’t get me wrong, we shop there too, but when is enough, enough? I hate to see the beauty of the land give way to this corporate, concrete, consumer world.

"The big towns are getting bigger and the villages smaller. The hamlet store, whether grocery, general, hardware, clothing cannot compete with the supermarket and the chain organization. Our treasured and nostalgic picture of the village general store, the cracker-barrel store where an informed yeomanry gather to express opinions and formulate the national character, is very rapidly disappearing. People who once held family fortresses against wind and weather, against scourges of frost and drought and insect enemies, now cluster against the busy breast of the big town." -- Travels With Charley by John Steinbeck

#chowchilla #vanlife #me2ak #ontheroad

Road Trip 2020 - Buying Bikes in Sacramento

Juneau > Sacramento

January 7-9, 2020

How buying bicycles restored our faith in humanity

"Looks easy, jus' settin' here till you put in your eight or maybe your ten or fourteen hours. But the road gets into a guy. He's got to do somepin. Some sings an' some whistles.... A few takes a pint along, but them kind don't stick long." -- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

     We departed Juneau on Alaska Airlines 5:10 a.m. flight. Roger checked a large, 50-pound duffel bag. I checked a 25-pound dry bag and a 35-pound box. The bags will easily fold up for storage, and we can dispose of the box once we get to the van. We each also carried on full backpacks. We had almost everything we needed for a two-month road trip. What we didn't have already, we would buy.

We arrived in foggy California.

     We arrived in Sacramento in the fog. Thankfully it was beginning to lift, and visibility was much better than what it had been a couple hours earlier, according to our Uber driver. We Ubered to Morning Star RV Storage and retrieved the van. It was in good condition. We thanked the friendly staff at Morning Star and said we'd return in a year or two.

     We had an errand to run and a friend to meet in Vacaville, so we headed west on I-80. We opted to overnight at the Vacaville Moose Lodge. (Roger is a member of Juneau lodge, and many lodges offer RV overnight spaces.) It cost $18 and included electricity and water. While there, we visited the social club for a drink with a few of the members. Unfortunately, we missed out on Taco Tuesday because of a lack of volunteer cooks.

     The next morning, we stopped at McDonald's for breakfast, hoping to use the wifi to work. The wifi was too slow, and posted signs asked customers to limit their visits to 30 minutes while eating. Later in the day, we worked at a Starbucks where the wifi was reliable, and the tea was hot.

     Our goal of the day was to purchase bicycles and a bike rack. Roger already had a two-inch hitch installed on the front of the van. We want the bike rack mounted in front because we want to leave the rear door accessible and available as an emergency exit. Roger also had read that a front mount puts less stress on the hitch because it is closer to the wheelbase than a rear-mounted bike rack.

     Another consideration was the price. We didn't want to spend too much in case they were stolen or damaged on the trip. We wanted bikes to use recreationally on pavement or gravel. A couple of used hybrids in good condition would do.

     While in Vacaville, we stopped at a few places, including Ray's Cycle. Ray's has a good reputation and a long history as a bike shop; however, they only sell new bikes that are beyond our price range.

     On our way back to Sacramento, we stopped at the Green Bicycle Depot in Davis. They sell both new and used bikes. We were able to test-ride a few possibilities, but we felt even the used bikes were priced a little too high for what we wanted.

     Perhaps a cheap, new bike would work? Continuing on I-80 back to Sacramento, we stopped at Target. New bikes sold for a little over $200. There were a few options for me, but none that would fit Roger. We would keep looking but keep Target and Walmart as options.

     We arrived at Cal Expo RV Park, and after a rest and something to eat, we went to REI to look at bikes and racks. Again, too expensive for what we wanted.

     Then Roger suggested we go to a place called the Sacramento Bike Kitchen. "It's only open from six to nine at night. It's run by volunteers. They fix and sell bikes. I know it's a long shot, but we should check it out."

Fix your bike at the Sacramento Bike Kitchen.

     What a gem of a place! The Sacramento Bike Kitchen (SBK) is a community-centered bike shop. For a suggested $5 donation, a person can use the shop, its tools, and the advice from volunteer bike mechanics to work on their bikes. It's a loosely structured, non-profit organization run entirely on volunteers and donations.

A volunteer sets out bikes for us to test-ride.

     As soon as we arrived and explained what we wanted, a volunteer wheeled a few bikes out for me to try. Roger was a little harder to fit because of his size, then someone said, "How about this one? It just came in today." The bike was covered in dust and cobwebs as if it had been sitting in a garage for years. It had two flat tires.

Patrons pay a suggested $5 donation to
to use the resources of the Bike Kitchen.

     Right away, someone grabbed it and put it onto the workbench to fix the tires and tune it up, so Roger could test-ride it. In the meantime, I was test-riding three different bikes. All were good options until the DiamondBack blew a tire with a loud POP that sounded like a firecracker. I was disappointed because that DiamondBack looked sweet. Like new. Pretty blue.

     Again, before I realized it, they had a new tire on it, so I could try it again. It was the one. We walked out with my DiamondBack Vital2 and Roger's Marin Sausilito for $150 total.

     The volunteer staff at SBK impressed us with their friendly customer service and with their sense of community service. The atmosphere was social as well as productive.

     We observed that some of their patrons might be experiencing homelessness, and I picked up a brochure at the front counter about a group called Mercy Pedalers. I had never heard of them before. Mercy Pedalers are bicyclists who reach out to people experiencing homelessness in the spirit of "Works of Mercy" and "Welcoming the Stranger." Their mission is guided by the value of treating all people with dignity, respect, and love.

     One of the volunteers told us, "I hate to see perfectly good stuff go to the landfill. So many people see bikes as disposable now. They're cheaply made, and when something goes wrong, they're thrown away. I'd rather see them fixed and go to someone who could use them."

     Another volunteer said when he started volunteering, he could do a few things, such as fix a flat tire. Now he can do so many more things. Everyone helps each other. They're always learning.

     A sign on the wall states, "We'll help you fix your bike, but we won't fix it for you."

We'll be able to explore more of the world with our new bikes.

     Purchasing our bikes at the Sacramento Bike Kitchen was one of the most inspirational shopping experiences I've ever had. Every community should have a Bike Kitchen.

     Before leaving Sacramento, we made a final stop at Rack N Road and found the perfect bike rack. We experienced superb customer service and practical advice. Roger put the rack together on the sidewalk outside the store, and the shop tech came outside a few times to ask if Roger had any questions or needed help, then they made sure we secured the bikes correctly.

     Finding our bikes was a labor of love. We were both exhausted by the time we arrived in Chowchilla for the night. Now we just need some golf clubs.

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#sacramento #me2ak #vanlife #ontheroad