We finally make it to California and the Pacific Ocean! We leave NV and make our first CA stop in the Mojave National Preserve at Hole-in-the-Wall Campground where we go for a hike and get hit with rain, high winds, and cold temperatures before moving on. We also see "highway inflation" in Fenner, CA, where we pay $7.20 per gallon for gas, but that's the only way we could make it to the next refuge stop. Needless to say, we only put in enough to make it to the next available gas station where we paid MUCH less.
Next, we made a pit-stop at Sky Valley Resort, just south of Joshua Tree, since Joshua Tree is not very dog-friendly. We stopped by La Quinta Brewing Company for lunch and a couple flights, then soaked in the hot tubs fed by mineral springs and took dips (yup, plural) in the 40-ish-degree cold plunge pool, before heading to the coast.
We stayed for a week at South Carlsbad State Beach where we got more rain and cold...until Kelly gave a blood donation. Positive karma came our way and we were able to move spots to a beach-side site and the sun came out for the remainder of our Carlsbad stay. We hiked up to Double Peak Park, checked out Carlsbad Brewing Co., and visited with friends in San Marcos during our stay. We also received our ACO LionCooler to compensate for the smaller fridge in our on-order Oliver Travel Trailer and to give us a freezer for fish in Alaska that we hope to catch. Then we were off to the border.
We spent our last few days at Tijuana River Valley Regional Park, which borders the Imperial Beach Naval Outlying Field to the north, where H-60s do a lot of training flights (appropriate for those that know us), and the border with Mexico to the south. There had been some flooding before we came, which made for an eventful drive in. We caught up on some work, listed our Airstream for sale, went to Ocean Beach for lunch at Voltaires, and picked up some brews from Russian River Brewing. Unfortunately the weather took a turn for the worse and we left the San Diego are earlier than expected to prevent being stuck when the rain overflowed the Tijuana River.
Then we started making our way back east toward our new camper in TN and stopped at Hippie Hole along the Colorado River. This was not how we had envisioned our stay in SoCal, but weather happens and we stick to our motto of Semper Gumby...Always Flexible. Sometimes this works out in our favor, which you hear more about in our next episode. See you there!