Our RV Adventures

This morning started out a little after 10am with with the breakfast buffet at La Brisa right up TX 146. One nice thing about their buffet, unlike a lot of others, is that all drinks are included in the $10.50 price, including coffee, milk, and OJ.

And on top of that, the food is really good too.

Getting home I finally decided to do something about my leaky tire. It’s the driver’s inside rear dual, and it’s been leaking on and off for a while. It will go for several months with no problems, and then gets where I have to add air every few days. I had pulled off the Tire Pressure Sensor and the valve extension to be sure they weren’t the problem, but it didn’t help.

It was fine when we got here almost two months ago, but in the last week or so it’s been dropping overnight so it’s time to do something about it. So after we got back from breakfast, I put in a call to Coach-Net to send someone out.

But it took two tries to get it done. I told Coach-Net that I needed someone with a air jack that could lift at least 10,000 pounds, and the gear to handle a 22.5 inch tire.

The first guy came out in a pickup truck with a 2000 pound floor jack and no way to remove the large lug nuts on the wheel. So after sending him on his way, I called Coach-Net back and told them the problem. They said the guy had told them he could handle the rig. He lied.

But the next guy had what it takes – a big dually truck with a large gas-driven air compressor, a 20,000 pound air jack, and a big impact wrench to get the lugs off.

And this guy knew what he was doing. He had the inside tire off in about 15 minutes, and found a slight leak with the valve core. But the big leak was caused by a loose nut on the valve stem itself. He replaced the valve core, and then after putting a little Loc-Tite on the valve stem threads, tighten up the nut.

After airing up the tire to 110 pounds (I normally run 100 pounds in the rear), he dabbed bubble soap all around and found no leaks. Then, before remounting the tire, he carefully checked for any nails or leaks on the tire itself.

He quickly had everything back together and ready to roll in a total of only 45 minutes. A real professional.

Coach-Net covered the service call, and all I had to pay was $65 for the labor. Not bad at all.

Later, after doing some other chores around the rig, I headed up to my client’s office to install the new computers and router. Kept finding other things to do, so I didn’t get back to the rig until after 9pm, but I did get a lot done.

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I thought I’d post the rest of our Monterey to Morro Bay Top Ten Scenic Drives in the United States trip, which also includes Hearst Castle.

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Hearst Castle and Morro Bay . . .

Originally posted on May 2, 2010

We left the rig about 9 am heading for San Simeon and Hearst Castle about 180 miles away. We stopped for lunch about noon in Paso Robles at Big Bubba’s Bad BBQ. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. The real problem is that we didn’t think their sauce was very good.

Famous Dave’s BBQ is much better, as well as Sonny’s BBQ, a restaurant chain in the Southeast. And, of course, Central Texas BBQ in Pearland, TX, and Rudy’s BBQ is Austin, and…well, I guess we just like southern BBQ better than California BBQ.

And don’t forget Big Daddy’s Northernmost Southern BBQ in Fairbanks, AK. Man, it was good! Even in Alaska, it’s still southern BBQ, so it counts. Another great place on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.

We got to Hearst Castle about 1:15 pm for our 2 pm tour. We’d made reservations on the Internet to be sure we wouldn’t have any problems getting in after that long drive.

While we waiting for our bus ride up to the Castle, I took some pictures from the Observation Deck in back of the Visitor’s Center.

This is what it looked like at 18X mag.

And this is how far it actually is from the road. That’s it at the top of the hill in the very center of the picture.

And this is what the hills look like in the area.

The driveway leading up to the Castle is 5 miles long and takes about 15 minutes. You go from about 50 feet elevation to 1700 feet at the top of the hill.

This is the entrance we saw as we got off the bus. Pretty impressive.

And looking back from the front this is what we saw. You can see part of the road here.

They even have their own cellphone tower up here. This is the first one I’ve seen where the camouflage actually seems to work. That’s it in the center with the thick trunk.

We were real impressed by this entrance until we found out this is the entrance to one of the three guest houses. Wow!

And here’s two of the four bedrooms in this guest house.

And here’s another view down the mountain from the guest house. Our tour guide said “it’s one thing to have a great view. It’s another thing to OWN the view.”

At one time William Randolph Hearst owned 50 miles of coastline along here. Now they only own 19 miles. Bummer!

There are gardens and fruit trees everywhere.

Next we saw the Outdoor Pool, one of two on the estate. This was really incredible!

You can rent this pool for a pool party for you and 49 friends for two hours for the small sum of $2500.00

Walking toward the entrance to the main house we saw this Egyptian statue. It’s the oldest piece of artwork on the estate. It’s from the 18th dynasty, or about 3500 years old. That’s older than King Tut, or older than Moses.

This is the beautiful front of the “Casa Grande” or Great House, along with another beauty.

And here are the towers on top. The place is so big it’s hard to get it all in one picture.

Here’s the living room.

Here’s a close up of the wooden panels in the in living room ceiling. They’re from a Italian castle and are over 600 year old.

Next was the dining room. Looks like something out of King Arthur.

The main house has over 12,000 sq.ft of… closets. There is a total of 73,000 sq.ft. of usable space in the house. This is the parlor.

The last stop on our tour was the indoor pool.

And yes, that’s 22 kt gold fused into every tile, on the walls, the ceiling, and the bottom of the pool.

Leaving the indoor pool area, we boarded our bus and headed back down the hill. On the way we couldn’t help but compare the Hearst Castle with the Biltmore in Asheville, NC that we visited last year.

To me, the biggest difference was that at the Biltmore, we were not allowed to take any photos at all, of any kind. So we really have no record of our visit, except for the outside of the house. At Hearst Castle, as long as we didn’t use flash, there was no problem.

After we got back down the hill to the Visitor’s Center, we watched a 40 minute movie about the design and construction of Hearst Castle. One surprising fact was that the entire place was designed by a woman, Julia Morgan, who also supervised the construction.

Leaving the movie theater we headed over to the gift shop for a quick walk-thru. On the way there we passed the sales booth for Hearst Ranch Beef. The Hearst family still runs one of the largest beef ranches in California, and sells their beef around the world.

Leaving Hearst Castle we traveled about 5 miles north to the Elephant Seal viewing area. Parking and walking over to the fence and looking down, we saw this.

And we’re thinking “Neat. Elephant Seals”

Then we turn our heads and look north a little further up the beach and it’s “OMG! It’s wall-to-wall elephant seals as far as the eye can see. They look like they’re dead, but they’re just heavy sleepers.

These guys are big, and surprisingly fast. And they bite too!

Also, flying overhead, was a flight of pelicans, one of Jan’s favorite animals.

Leaving the seals, we drove 30 miles south to Morro Bay to spend the night. We checked into the Pacific Shores Inn and then went to dinner right on the bay at The Galley Seafood Restaurant. Jan said it was probably the best fried shrimp she had ever had. And I had a salad that was delicious.

This is the view from the restaurant.

And this is Morro Rock that rests right out in the middle of the bay. It’s 581 feet tall and was first charted by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542. It’s actually a volcanic plug that was formed when lava hardened in the vent of an ancient volcano about 20 million years ago.

After dinner we stopped next door at Crills II for cinnamon buns for breakfast. Nick Russell had recommended them and we had to give them a try.

Then it was back to the motel for the night. Tomorrow we’re going to drive down the coast a little further, maybe as far as Santa Barbara, before heading back home.

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Thought for the Day:

You live and learn. Or you don’t live long.

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Jan and I left the rig about 11 this morning to meet Brandi, Lowell,and Landon at the Texas Tea Room for lunch. Landon was his usual lovable self and we had a great meal.

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Landon with his daddy. Look at those beautiful blue eyes.

After a fun lunch with Landon et al, Jan and I headed over to Texas Art Supply so she could find a large set of crayons. Then it was on to Brandi’s to pick up our mail.

Then on the way home, we stopped off at Monterey’s Little Mexico again for more Chicken Tortilla Soup to eat with the leftover Beef Fajita Nachos we didn’t eat last night.

Getting home, the day was so nice that we spent some time outside. Jan fed the birds and then set out in the sun for a spell while I worked on a few things. First off I cleaned the battery terminals on the truck, and then plugged in my new power window unit just to be sure it worked before installing it sometime next week.

Next I worked on tracing the door lock wiring on my truck so I can fix the problem with the alarm not turning off when I unlock the door.

Later we came inside and caught up on some TV that we had recorded on our DVR. We were down to about 20% so it was about due.

All in all, a very nice day.

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Here’s another one of our trips on the Top Ten Scenic Drives in the United States.

 

Monterey and Carmel . . .

Originally posted on May 8, 2010

We left the rig about 9 am and headed south to Monterey and Carmel, about 160 miles away.

About 40 minutes later we were crossing the Golden Gate Bridge and heading into San Francisco itself. We stayed on SR 1 thru town and on out the south side and along the ocean.

Around Half Moon Bay we pulled over to get some shots of the rocky, but beautiful Pacific coast.

There’s all sorts of vegetation clinging to the cliff sides.

A little further down the road we stopped off at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse to take a look. There’s also a hostel here.

A little while later Nick Russell called with a computer question so I pulled over a handy turnout so I could talk safely. Jan immediately notice a vendor selling fresh cherries at the other end, so she grabbed my wallet and took off.

And they were delicious. I think this was the first time I’ve ever eaten fresh cherries. Except for maraschino cherries, I’ve never been a big fan, but these are really something. Later on we passed some cherry tree orchards along the coast.

About 30 minutes later we came into Moss Landing where we planned to have lunch. Somewhere along the line, I made a note of Phil’s Fish Market as a good place to eat, so we were going to give it a try.

When we found it I knew immediately that it was going to be good. There were absolutely no signs on the highway advertising the place. It was way off the beaten path. You had to know where it was to get there. And when we got there, it was very difficult to find a parking place.

Phil’s is located in working waterfront area, with docks, boat yards, and warehouses, and people were parked along the side of the road, in little nooks and crannies, and in the parking lots of closed on the weekend businesses.

And the food was great. You order at the counter and then try to find a open table. Although there was a long line, it moved quickly and it wasn’t long after we sat down that a waitress showed up with our food.

Jan had the Fried Shrimp and Oysters and I had the Fried Fish and Shrimp, and they were both great. Well worth the stop.

Leaving the restaurant and walking back to the truck, we passed a somewhat rundown house with a fantastic flower bed, with a little bit of everything.

Leaving Moss Landing we headed about 20 miles further south to Monterey and took a drive around the Bay. Everywhere we looked we had a great view!

This seal didn’t look too happy to have his picture taken.

Following the coast around the point we passed thru Carmel. Actually it’s really Carmel-By-The-Sea, but everyone abbreviates it. The coastal drive was maybe even more beautiful than Monterey Bay.

After Carmel we turned north and headed back home, taking the more direct Interstate route. One of the towns we passed thru was Morgan Hill, recently in the news because the Assistant Principal sent home a number of students for wearing red, white, and blue clothing on Cinco de Mayo. After it all blew up in their faces, the school quickly backed down and apologized.

Coming back into the fairgrounds where we are staying, we found a field full of large geese grazing in the grass.

Where we’re staying is really kind of primitive. It’s just a scraggy open field with about 6 hookups. We’re the only ones here except for the caretaker.

It really doesn’t compare with where we were at Park of the Sierras. But it is quiet and the power is good.

Tomorrow is going to be a stay-at-home Mother’s Day.

More then . . .

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Thought for the Day:

"May we always be happy and our enemies know it."

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