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