9/12/15 Northern and Central California

CCC Bridge Sims Flat Campground

Mt Shasta's Peak from Sims Flat

    9/8 Yet another state sticker is added to our RV map as we drive Route 5 South through beautiful Oregon. Definitely want to spend more time along this coast and in the mountains.  So sad to see how low Lake Shasta is after many years of severe drought. We camp in Shasta National Forest at Sims Flat on the site of an old CCC camp.  A 1933 suspension bridge, water tank from an old locomotive, and foundation of a saw mill still remain.  Being the only campers in this remote campground, we spend a peaceful evening in our birthday suits drinking wine and reading while enjoying the dry 100 degree thick forest along the rushing river.

9/9 When not climbing up and down forest covered mountains, hundreds of miles of valleys are filled with olive groves, avocado, strawberry and many other types of produce.  In a 104 degree Walmart parking lot, John changes a flat tire on the RV (#6 new tire on this Freedom Folly).  East of Sacramento we have a swim and dinner at our 49ers Village Campground with Hawaii friends Dean and Jaynine who are on their own RV escapade for a few months. During dinner we see and smell smoke coming from the direction of their campground, so they scoot through flames on the way.

9/10 Next morning we meet John's cousin, Court, at a local diner after last night's fire burned the power lines leaving his home smokey and dark.  

Cousins Court and John

 (A week later this 'Butte Fire', employs more than 3,000 firefighters, consumes over 70,000 acres, 800 homes and out buildings, and 2 lives ...so far.)  Our friends and loved ones remain safe through this tragedy.  Many miles away, traffic crawls through the coastal mountains to Monterey Bay due to another fire activity along the roadside.  We inch by in 104 degree temps and are greeted on the other side to 64 degrees along the Bay.  We stay at the lovely Monterey Pines Campground surrounded by the Naval Postgraduate School (NPG) golf course.    We have dinner with an Operations Research icon from Johns past, Wayne and wife Joan, after cocktails at their most fantastic California casual home.  The salty air and homey Asian theme has Deb ready to move right in.

Fishing Boats Monterey Bay

9/11 The Monterey peninsula's average temp is normally 60’s in the summer, making it very pleasant to say the least.  The next morning we tour historic Hotel Del Monte which is now part of the Navy Postgraduate School complex. Being 9/11 we take a moment in the chapel to pray for the souls destroyed by terrorists in 2001 and for a better humanity.  John reminisces about several visits attending conferences at NPG and Asilomar. Just think we could have lived in this fabulous place when we moved from Hawaii to Washington DC but Deb wanted to be closer to her aging family on the east coast and was afraid of earthquakes.  We walk along Monterey Bay through groves of eucalyptus and pines, find fantastic sea glass for Deb’s mirror project, see sea lions basking on the piers, and watch squid fisherman unload their catch while enjoying coffee, pastry and fresh peaches for breakfast.  These Monterey Bay piers are where Arthur Beaumont (the official artist of the United States Fleet in WWII)  painted several watercolors of fishing boats of which we have 4 in various stages of completion.  We also have two Naval paintings he did in Antarctica  and the Artic.  We have a book of Naval history describing these paintings which says while painting he lit candles under the paint to keep it from freezing.  The paintings were acquired from a close friend of John’s parents (Marie Brooks) who Arthur Beaumont taught to paint.  We also have one of Marie’s still life paintings of a vase of flowers.

Pacific Coastal Highway

Around noon we are heading south on the 90 mile drive along the Pacific Coast Highway (Route #1) heading for Point Mugu.  Glad we took this 3 hour spectacular ocean drive along sheer mountain cliffs where there may be 20 miles of straight road BUT WILL NEVER DO IT AGAIN IN AN RV!  White knuckle all the way.  Camped at Hearst San Simeon State Park.  So drought stricken here you have to bring your own water and many trees are dying among the tinder dry grass. 

Hearst Castle

9/12 William Hearst's father made his fortune in the California gold rush but in silver.  He bought over 250,000 acres in San Simeon area.  When William inherited the property, he was already a mega wealthy 

Small Section of Hearst Pool

man and built a Mediterranean style castle atop one of its many hill tops.  Objects from Europe and some from Egypt dating back 3000 years make up the walls, ceilings, fireplaces and statuary.  A magnificent museum but an abomination upon this otherwise pristine landscape.  Still it is worth a visit. The beautiful sea side, rolling hills landscape is filled with sage, clusters of trees, grazing cattle, horses and from the Hearst Zoo days, zebra who have obviously bred with horses as some are half brown and half striped.