Santa Barbara

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Dave, Florabell, and little Nicolas who's checking the surf

The front of the parade at Refugio State Beach

She was passing out some good fourth of July Treats

The 4 of us on Refugio Point - Florabel was taking the picture

The van with all the Big RVs in the background

The maiden voyage of the Hulk had begun and Refugio State Beach was the first stop. The water was crystal clear and the beach was spotted with those signature Santa Barbara tar balls. The history placards stated that the Chumash Indians used to use them to clog holes in their canoes and in the abalone shells they would use as bowls. We can attest to the tar's stickiness because getting it off of our feet was a real chore. These campgrounds were chosen by Dave, Florabell, and little Nicolas, who spent the fourth of July there with us. On the morning of the fourth we were entertained by a parade of patriotic campers who walked all through the campgrounds waving American flags, handing out candy, and playing patriotic music about the land of the free. That day (and the days that followed) were spent not doing much of anything but eating and taking walks along the beach. For the fourth of July we grilled up some steak, some chicken and dave made some smoked salmon/chedder cheese/chedder cracker snacks that were the bomb. plus we had potatoe salad and other assortments. Tons of food :-). We spent a lot of time on the beach, checking out the rock formations and all the little details that we'd normally never give a second look. One morning, Dave made some banana pancakes that we will never forget. Banana pancakes are now a regular on our breakfast menu for this road trip. They hit the spot. After eating those and sipping mimosaa, we were ready for our first nap of the day. All in all we spent three days at Refugio and it was a great way to begin the trip on the road.

Refugios was the first place we tested out out propane cooking abilities in the van. Natty hooked it up in there. She made one of her favorite dishes. It's from Emmerril and she totally kicked it up a notch. It was this sausage cream sauce with pasta ( it's usually made with gnochi, but we improvised this time). It rocked and the van proved that it could handle cooking a big meal. It was kinda funny because there were these kids that were camped next to us and they came over to talk story with us and check out the van. We were eating dinner and one of the kids says, " what's that your eating?" So we tell them and they go "it smells good." so we asked them what they had for dinner and they go "Hot dogs". It was pretty funny at the time. We were just stoked that we can be camping and be able to cook some big dishes pretty confortably cause we got the kitchen all set up.

The next stop on the trip would be Jalama.En route to Jalama we checked out Santa Barbara city, Gaviota, and stealth camped one night in a residential area in the town of Goleta. We had no problems stealth camping but it isn't as fun as campground camping because we have to keep the curtains drawn and music down. But it's free and it's all good. We even rented a movie from a nearby Blockbuster and watched it on Steve's laptop.

On our way up we stopped at Gaviota State Park. The last time we stopped here we got a ticket for not paying at the booth, but in our defense - it was in the middle of winter and the Parking lot was empty - i mean empty and we were the only vehicle there. The ranger just must've been bored. So this time we wanted to go back and show them our state parks pass and drive in without paying. Gaviota State Beach has a point break that looked crazy during a winter swell but was flat this time around. We took a picture of the spot anyway to log it in our journal.

On Monday, July 8, we drove into Jalama County Beach, still in Santa Barbara County. Again, there was nothing but beach but here there was surf to be had and we got plenty. Our campsite was on a cliff and we could see the ocean from our cozy futon bed. We surfed at least once a day if not twice. There is a spot just in front of the campgrounds and then there's Tarantulas.....
The waves are so fast and every one of them barrelling. I picked off some of the less intimidating ones and got some of the longest shoulder rides I've ever surfed. But Steve was going for it and his surfing improved a lot while we were there. Pat and Randy and their friend Mike joined us for Steve's birthday and those guys were charging it on their longboards. Jalama is the bomb. The waves were sooo good there - especially up by Tarantulas. It was Glassy most of the time we were there and these nice clean fast lefts would come in and just real towards the beach. I had so much fun. I rode Pat-O's singe fin bronzed aussie most of the time, but when i wanted to get serious i busted out my 6'6" Al merrick - i call it the Ferarri cause it's so fast - especially in waves like that. Natty was charging it too. she was a little sketched at first but she was dropping in towards the end. She makes me so proud, i remember when she first was learning in the white wash. Now she's dropping into pitching backside head high waves. She rocks!The Backgammon and smack-talking commenced shortly thereafter. Rando is the King of smack talking Next to Big Sur