Day 2 -- Santa Cruz

A quick bowl of cereal and I was off to Santa Cruz. Traffic wasn't bad, and I soon found myself at 38th street, site of a few breaks recommended by members of the surfing forum.

The waves were quite small, but every 20 minutes or so a reasonable set would come in. Actually, most of the time I had the whole break to myself -- I guess most locals felt the waves weren't worth it. But I got some great rides. I used the wetsuit but no booties or gloves, and immediately discovered that I needed more wax (booties are less slippery than bare feet). A quick trip back to the car and I was all set.

I surfed three or four hours until my arms fell off. More of a crowd appeared as soon as I left, and here are some pictures of this break (called "Pleasure Point").

[Remember, you can click on any picture for a larger version.]




Next, I checked into the campground in Capitola, and took a well-deserved nap. Note the new anti-sun hat recommended by Caroline in the ER forum (thanks, Caroline).


After that it was time to find a cafe with wi-fi. I'm posting this from Toot's coffee shop in Capitola -- it took 20 minutes to find parking here -- oof!

Day 1 -- Drive down to Bay Area

What a great sense of freedom to take off on this trip! Left the driveway with Beach Boys music blaring, and all the checklist items checked off.


First stop was the Chalet House of Omelettes for a fuel up


I realized that the trip is the kind of thing one would like to do as a teenager, but without the main objective being finding girls. I thought of this when I saw this T-shirt on one of the other breakfasters:


A quick stop at one of Duane Flatmo's famous Eureka murals, and I hit the highway.


It took about 6 hours to get down the Bay Area, including a stop for lunch. I had to stop by the my old windsurfing haunt, the Berkeley Marina (click on any picture to enlarge).

Then it was on to visit our great friends, Berit, Tom, and Sam. Please ignore my expression in this picture.

After a great dinner, beer, wine and talking into the night, I dropped into bed and slept until 5 AM the next morning.

Packing, Part 2

Well, I'd hoped to have some pictures of the car jammed with stuff, but I've got almost everything packed and there's still room for more. I sure hope the rest of this blog won't be as boring as this post.

Packing, Part 1

What would a travel blog be without pictures of the packing process? So here's a shot of one of the "staging areas."

Making a Surfboard Bag

Up here in the northern lattitudes, the sun isn't as punishing as it is will be in Southern California.




So another thing I'll need for the trip is a board bag. That is, I'll want to protect the board from the damaging UV rays of the sun. I'll also want to protect it from rocks, car parts, and small-caliber arms fire that might hit it when on the SoCal freeways.



Instead of actually paying money for a bag, I took the fleece blankets off my daughter's bed (she's away at college), and sewed the bag myself. OK, actually, I had my wife do the sewing. And she did the cutting out, and the design and all the other stuff too, but I sure saved a lot of money!

Here's the final result:





And here's my wife's description, in my own words, of how she did the sewing:

1. Lay out the fabric (2 blankets) on floor


2. Put the board on top (remove sand, seaweed, etc. first)


3. Mark with chalk around the board, adding about two inches on each side for extra room


4. Cut blankets (I cut both sides of the top and bottom pieces. Alternatively, you could fold it over the board, and cut only one side).


5. Pin the pieces together


6. Sew across the seam if you needed two blankets


7. Fold over and sew a little "tunnel" in the tail end for the drawstring


8. Sew side seams


9. Sew the tip (rounded for better fit)


10. Turn it inside out (so the sewed part of the seams are on the inside)


11. Add the drawstring


12. Tell His Highness that his board bag is ready.

That's all there is to it! The bag is a little longer than necessary, in case I ever get a longer board. The bag is easy to put on and off the board -- easier than some knitted socks that I've tried in the past.
If you don't have a family member who is away at college, you might have to buy some fabric. In that case, I'd recommend something in a light color that will reflect the sun's heat better.
Stay tuned for what the board bag looks like after a few thousand miles!

Planning & Reservations

I had envisioned a plan-as-I-go type of trip. That is, I'd camp and surf, and each day decide whether to stay where I was, or go somewhere new. But since campsites must be reserved, and campgrounds fill up months in advance, the trip needed to be a little more structured.

So on April 8, I finished making all the reservations for the southbound part of the trip.

It's looking like this:

Aug 11 Hand the keys over to the house-sitter, hop in the car and drive down the bay area. Arrive at good friends' house in Moraga California.

Aug 12 Drive to Santa Cruz/Capitola, surf there and stay at New Brighton state park.

Aug 13 Surf in the morning at Capitola area, then drive to Pismo Beach, and camp

Aug 14 Drive to Santa Barbara and stay at El Capitan State Beach for Aug 14, 15, and 16. Because the stupid reservation system reserves by specific campsites, I have to stay in a different campsite every night (and had to pay three separate reservation fees).

Aug 17 Drive to Malibu, and stay with some movie star friends. No wait, I don't have any movie star friends. Camp at Malibu Creek State Park, and surf the breaks around Malibu.

Aug 19 Drive to San Onofre and camp/surf for three days.

Aug 22 Drive to San Diego area and stay Aug 22, 23 at Motel 6 in Carlsbad. I'll do some surfing at the same beach I surfed when I was 15 (Mission Beach).

I haven't made any plans beyond that date. I may be sick of camping/surfing at that point, or may want to continue for another week or two. Hopefully, if I want to continue, I'll be able to find some first come first served campsites, or stay in motels.