More Photos

Annie posted a few more photos on her Flickr site... check em out.

Almost There...

Mucho updates, not much time (sitting in a Kinkos in Santa Barbara, Cali, paying wayyy too much for net access)...

We're still slowly picking our way down the coast, having surfed in many places along the way (Lincoln Beach OR, Gold River OR, Santa Cruz, Cayucos Pier, Refugio Park [Santa Barbara]), and doing lots of driving in between.

The worst driving -- well, the most scenic but most hell-bent -- was the #1 along the coast of Northern California. I've never driven anything like it, especially without power steering. I got an upperbody workout, just trying to stay on the road. The road is so windy that they stop posting those "curve warning" signs along the side, probably figuring that if you need them you're screwed anyway. Doing a coastline the lenght of california at 30mph takes a long time. North of Santa Cruz, through Big Sur (gorgeous) was more of the same, though not nearly as bad. I screamed through that section, now an expert in insane driving (probably handy for Baja).

We surely did see some pretty stuff. The redwoods were purdy big, too.



We've been hanging out, off and on, with that crew from Vancouver. So fun. Walking along the boardwalk in Santa Cruz I was prettymuch ready for a mental breakdown, having driven such an exhausting highway for two days with nothing to do but lean into turns... So I sent the Vancouver kids a quick text message, asking where they were, figuring they were probably far south into SoCal by then. Sure enough they were about 300 feet away, on the same boardwalk. Fun times.
We didn't have a place to stay, and neither did they (Memorial Day weekend), so we parked in some guy's driveway (they'd met him the day before) and walked down to a nearby high schoolyard and partied the night away. Good times, indeed.

Surfing (practically) everyday has been awesome. Today we found a little vacant point break near Santa Barbara (interupted after an hour by a family of kooks). It was heavenly -- a perfect curling right. It was too tiny -- knee high rides were pretty common -- but more fun than I can describe. I'm not a big wave guy, anyway.
Unfortunately, it was shallow and somehow I busted my beloved big board -- a gaping wound along the left rail, exposing way too much foam. I'm going to start trying to glass it back together, but I have my doubts about any success. Looks like I might be shopping for a beatup longboard. No fun.
It's very possible I busted it yesterday in some very punishing beachbreak at the Cayucos pier -- it wasn't the right board for those very steep waves, anyway. I didn't have a great day out there. Neither did Annie -- she managed to run into a 16 year old hotshot who was launching aerials all over the place, owning the beach. As she apologized i slyly paddled away, pretty sure i was about to get beatup by a flock of highschoolers.

aside from today, the coolest waves we've found were in the Gold Beach (Oregon) harbour, right next to the jetty.
We'd driven to Pistol River, thinking I could try wave-sailing at this well-known windsurfing beach... a local scared me off (i guess it was an experts-only day?) but gave away the gold beach jetty secret wave arena in compensation. Not a bad deal.
It was so cool -- little A-frames breaking all over the place, with no more than a handful of locals out at any one time (and they all took the 'left' side of the A... which works for me, since i can only go 'right'!)




I eventually got up the nerve to jump off the rocks, paddle around some pilings, and catch some waves.


It was so fun that i stayed out for a few hours, and Annie came out for a bit too (by that time she didn't own the sweet little fish she's riding now). Long story short, it was awesome.


Someday I'll get around to writing up some of the adventures and cool encounters (ie., hanging out with Ralph the board-shaper), but there's not enough time right now...
Tonight we're camping somewhere out of Santa Barbara with the Vancouver kids (North shore, actually), then nipping south to San Diego tomorrow afternoon where we'll make final preparations for Baja. If all goes well, we'll be crossing the border very early in morning, two days from now (what day is today?). I hope to find a big empty beach somewhere and setup camp for a week or so.
It should be fun.

Well, this has cost over $20, which is about $20 too much, so I'm out.

Hope all is well.
bigjim

La Casita Viajera Rolls South, Again...

Not much time to update, sipping coffee in a quaint internet cafe (slow, so not many image updates today -- disclaimer, Annie took all the photos, with more here) in Lincoln City on the coast of Oregon. Waiting for some laundry to finish up -- the first act of cleanliness encountered thus far on the trip... Hoping to catch the end of the little swell rolling through town right now (you know what they say, "Never leave waves to find waves.")

Much has happened on the trip so far, and I've been having a blast, although I've been pretty chilly at times...
Right now I'm lobster-red from yesterday's rare encounter with the sun, waiting around for wind in Hood River, Oregon (windsurfing capitol of the world!)

The trip so far, in a nutshell:
- crossed into the US on Thursday, later than I'd hoped, behind schedule as always... Trying not to think about schedules, but these things happen.

- expected a long hassle at the border, driving a VW van stacked with surfboards... My border guard, an old grey-haired feller, was very excited and split his time talking about my surfboards (he surfs) and my van (he's owned 7 VW busses). He actually said, "I just want to get in the tube, man."
I was anxious to get going, so I invited him to ride along for the trip. He chuckled and let me through.

- Hung out in the Seattle area with Bob, Rob, Mark, etc. I felt a bit pathetic spending the first night of my big adventure sleeping in Bob's lovely guest room. Oh well, I knew I had many many cold uncomfortable nights ahead.

- Did a lot of driving, ended up passing through Seaside Oregon (it felt a bit touristy, and there were no waves) and on to Cannon Beach Oregon. Lovely little town, with a really cool scenic park -- Ecola State Park -- but it was rainy and cold. I finally hunkered down in a little park in town (camping in public places is legal in Oregon) for the night. It was nice.

- Was awakened around midnight by a cop, banging on my windows. I had no idea where I was or what was going on. He gave me a talking-to, rang my plates and escorted me outta town. Apparently camping in public places is legal, but some of the towns have bylaws prohibiting it. Hmm. Not too intuitive...

- I sleepily cruised around looking for a campground -- or something -- to spend the night in. Along the side of the highway I passed a VW bus camped on the side. It looked a lot like the van a guy -- Matt -- Annie and I had met at my VW mechanic's shop last week. He, too, was planning for a trip south. Anyway, I finally found a campground and passed out again.

- Woke up early and hit the town, looking for surf. There was a bit, but it was still cold and still verymuch raining. I hate rain. This trip sucks. I looked at the waves and thought, "Devon would go out..." and "Well, I'd probably go out if Sparky talked me into it..." Yes, I was missing having friends aroudn.
Instead of surfing I went to grab a coffee and head east to Hood River for some windsurfing.

- At the coffee shop I parked next to that same VW bus that was camped out on the side of the highway. It was, indeed, Matt's. He and his buddy Brian were having a coffee, their two girl friends out for a walk in the rain. Ev eryone was very excited to meet up, and we hung out for an hour.

- I finally decided it was time to head East, but checked out the waves one more time. Happy to be with friends, I decided we should go for a surf. We caravaned south, somewhere near Manzanita and surfed for a few hours. The waves were awful, as was the weather, but it felt great. I can't remember the last time I'd surfed...

- I rolled into Hood River late in the evening, just in time to catch a few windsurfers coming in at the Event Site. I couldn't find anywhere to sleep, so I bought $5 worth of groceries at Safeway and spent the night there.

- Up early -- 6am -- the next day to hit the big windsurfing swap meet (the reason for my visit to Hood River). It was very stressful, not having bought windsurfing gear in over 10 years, but I got tons of great equipment for dirt. Like, maybe $400 total for stuff better than would have cost me thousands back home. I was stoked, but exhausted. Made some friends, too.

- I hung around Hood River until last night (Weds night), trying to re-learn how to windsurf (it's surprisingly hard to just pick up). I'm making progress.



- Annie rolled into town on the Greyhound on the Sunday night (1am), so she got to sit around watching me flounder in the water for a few days. She seemed to be ok with that though. I got chased away from the Greyhound station that night by a DND guard who thought I was threatening national security in my VW van. Hmm. We slept that night in Safeway again, and then camped the next two nights in some very nice State Parks nearby. They had trains rolling through them. It was alternatively loud and very quiet. Trains are like ghosts -- they wake you, screaming for about a minute, and then they're gone as quickly as they appeared. It's eerie. I find myself lying in a cold sweat, wondering if I'd dreamed the whole thing or not.

- As the wind died yesterday (it never really rolled in...) I'd come to the realization that it will take me years to get as good at windsurfing as some of the "mediocre" guys in the Gorge, so we decided to roll back to the coast, surfing our way down through California.
Hood River was cool, though -- it felt a lot like Nelson BC. Tons of friendly, helpful people -- most of whom have either been to Baja or live there for part of the year. Every one of them assured me we'd find it very hot and windless (they see no point in going anywhere unless its windy enough to windsurf).

- As we rolled through the Oregon rainforest last night towards the coast in the rain, we both realized how badly we wanted to sleep somewhere warm and dry. Realizing that a camp site would probably cost $20 anyway, we decided to wimp-out and get a $40 motel. Why not -- with Memorial Day weekend coming up, I doubt we'll find a cheap motel again for at least another week. We slept in El Shitbox Motel. It was a dump, but it was warm and had a shower. Those who know of my two showers/day habit will be surprised to learn that this was the first time I'd had a shower -- or changed my clothes -- since I left. It felt weird.

Oregon is gorgeous, for those who don't already know. I think I could nearly say I love the place, if it ever stopped raining.

Anyway, lots of great stuff has been happening, but if I wrote it all here I'd have no stories to tell later, and I'd be broke -- this ain't a cheap net cafe.
Besides, it's a gorgeous sunny day out and the swell's still rolling through. Time for a surf, then southward -- hopefully some windsurfing at Pistol River down near Cali.

Missing everyone lots, more pictures to come, sooner or later.

Hola, suckahs.

Hola!!!

As you may or may not be aware, Annie and I are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime -- driving my banged up 1976 VW campervan down the west coast of North America from Vancouver, BC to (hopefully) the tip of Baja, Mexico.
All in, I'm expecting we'll log about 7000km, give or take.
Annie's going to miss out on the first couple days (we're going to meet up in Hood River, Oregon where I'll be windsurfing) and then flying back north so she can be at work early July.

I head for Seattle tomorrow, where I'll hang out with some friends for the evening. Then I'll be off to Seaside Oregon for a couple days of surfing, then on to Hood River to windsurf.
Annie will meet up with me in HR sometime, and then we'll start the slow limp south.

Stay tuned...