Thirdly

It’s closing in on midnight, we’re fast asleep hidden at the back of a “Day Use Only” beach car park. The crazy bright headlights and torches wake us up just before the loud knock on the van. It’s the police here for a chat, I slide open the side window sat on the edge of the bed in my pants.

He explains that the car park is day use only, I explain that we had noticed that, but we had looked for a campsite spot but it was 70 dollars and we were like “Pffffft”. He acknowledged that that was indeed quite steep, and after confirming we would be away in morning, we were granted permission to stay the night. Nice.

But it hasn’t all been like that, in fact that’s only the second time we’ve been approached with the first being at 8am when the coffee was already on. Sure thing, we’ll be gone as soooooon as the brew is ready. Just before San Francisco we had a day by a river relaxing, changing oil, painting the vans posterior and making friends with the Mexican site maintenance guy who picked some figs for us and tried in vain to teach us some Spanish which we immediately forgot. Good start…

Behold, the GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE. Screw you coastal dementor fog. 

"Viewpoint"

We proceeded to do the touristy thing, wandering around taking photos and realising how long it had been since we were in a hustle or a bustle. Looked at some old (ish…) pier, a swanky exclusive boat access only ex prison (Alcatraz) and some chilled seals.

Of course we couldn’t not go and drive the steep roads on our way out, the ones fondly remembered from Grand Theft Auto. The photos don’t do it justice, a clutch garage would do great bussiness here. Clutching at straws?

 

One last city stop, Silicone Valley where we found the red blob we’ve all been chasing.

Down the coast we found blue sky. Our whole time in the States we had been haunted by the coastal fog blowing inland, it was a relief to break free as we drove the “Big Sur” coastal road soaking up the rays and scoring ourselves another winning camp spot. Some mild gymnastics later and were watching the sunset from our balcony.

We couldn’t travel through California without stopping at GoWesty, the company that makes all things Vanagon and even runs a couple of 4WD rally vans. A few spares and a couple of stickers picked up and we went to view the local “artwork”. CowBearPaddleboarder.

The climate is certainly changing down here in Southern California, landscapes are barren and the air is hot. To avoid Los Angeles we head yet again inland, where we start to enter the desert, with every river and lake so dry it’s impossible to imagine what it would even look like with water flowing.  The days too are getting noticably shorter, due to both the year stretching on and travelling south. Day to night is also very sudden in the desert landscrape, with sunset to blackness taking just half an hour. That is until the moon rises, bringing with it enough light to wander around in the night to relieve a bladder without a torch.

 

We find ourselves a spot near a rare wet lake to spend our first day doing 0km. The wind here is weird, it’s calm in the morning and picks up around midday strong enough to blow flip flops away. This then hangs around through to midnight, where it calms down again until the next midday. We rotate the tyres, add extra spacers to the rear springs and fix up the headlight wiring to include the light bar.

And of course we find some time to write this for you lovely people. If ever you wondered what it looks like whilst this work of art is crafted, below is a picture of what it looks like tonight.

We’re getting close to crossing into Mexico, at which point the blog might switch to Spanish so you can all learn with us. We’ve decided to go see Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon which adds a few days to our English speaking travels, not that we’re delaying or anything.

Tune in next time for almost Mexico travels. Let us know what you’re enjoying and what you could do without in our ramblings. Less of the attitude? Thought so.

Same map link as last time because we are nice

Now for more, TOP TRAVELERS TIPS

• If you close the soap bottle at sea level and then open it again later that day at an elevation of 5000ft, it will dump its contents. Everywhere.
• If you don't know whether you will be locked in whilst using a day use car park for camping, check for cobwebs and dust on the locks.
• Always remember to do a mid afternoon changeover. Soda removed from the limited space fridge, beer replaces said sodas.

American Pine cone. Massive.

Second entry

Time is flying and so are the fecking mosquitoes. Actually they’re not too bad since they don’t carry malaria, dengue fever, zika virus etc. Yet. We’ve now racked up a whopping 3000kms in, around, up and down the States.

Our adventure took a sinking turn immediately after leaving off last time. In the attempt to fulfill a longstanding* dream to drive on the sand one of us (no names need be mentioned) got the van immediately stuck up to his oily bits. Many lessons were learnt, these will be shared via bullet points:

• Don’t drive a 2wd 2300kg house on wheels slowly into soft sand.
• Whilst the embarrassment may be more pronounced on a busy beach, it’s worthwhile suffering through this as you await a Jeep to tow you out. And then a Chevy Suburban later when you get stuck again on the way off the beach.
• Our custom bumper towing eyes, shackle and tow strap WORK. Good to know, good to know.

*3 minute standing to be accurate. The time between seeing cars on the beach and being… in the beach.

The coast continues to be haunted by a cold fog drawn in off the ocean. Why suffer mild coldness when you can chase the sunshine? So we set sail towards the deepest lake in the whole world, or maybe the USA, or perhaps just Oregon how do we remember without Wikipedia? Crater Lake, something like 1100ft deep with the water surface level around 7000ft. You google it. 

Behold! Oh, smoke. Well you can see what it’s meant to look like from our lofty 8000ft vantage point.  We hiked down to the rocky shores of what turned out to be the most perfect water. Crystal clear, a deep blue hue and not a single disturbance on the surface. After a refreshing and relaxing swim, we refilled our water bottles and headed back up making friends with Alvin on the way.

Our journey cutting back to the coast took us along a picturesque river with a short drive through smoke thicker than you’d find in a 60’s bar full of extremely stressed chain smokers who had left their chip pans unattended.

We bumbled our way down a side trail and found a camping spot right on the water with plenty of time for a swim, watching fish leap for bugs before settling down the night with the usual chorus of crickets.

Next day, another huge change in scenery as we enter redwood country in Northern California. There is no doubt about it, these trees are MASSIVE, but you don’t really realise how massive until you go back to normal trees and they seem puny. There are approximately one million hikes through the redwood forests, we did half of one.

Further down the coast we spent our first night out the van in Arcata, enjoying the company of fellow Vanagon owners whom we met in episode 1 (remember? Talk about continuity). After a great evening discussing everything Vanagon and Mexico, we concluded that we really should be learning Spanish by now. Thanks again for doing our laundry!

Bored yet?

We finally found the limits of the VW engineered brakes, cooking them on our way into a funky retreat town named Shelter Cove. Descending a gorgeous mountain road, 2000ft in 4 miles, that lovely smell started to fill the cabin. The dementor fog still clinging to coast we took some photos of the big waves and black sand and took lifesaving shelter in the town’s brewery pub. Phew, that was a close one!!

With the help of the kind local gift shop runnerer we made camp in the hills, with the hammock finally making an appearance Jenjen inadvertently practiced her kung-fu/yoga/football diving skills.

California has proven much harder to find decent free camping spots, with car park style parallel spaces near the beach costing as much as 70 dollars per night we’ve had to become quite imaginative in searching out our boondocking locations. It might be partly due to the fact that every single square inch/2.54cm²  is taken up by grapes, grapes and big posh fancypants wineries. If ever you are looking at wines and you think to yourself, ohhhh the Californian one is more expensive it must be better, you’re wrong. It’s because they need more money to build even fancier gates on their mansions.

Our toughest camping search took us two hours in this area, up dusty forest roads and into seemingly promising parks to be rudely met by an attendant at a kiosk demanding hotel money for a grassy patch to park on. It did make for a nice sunset, a dusty van and an eventual winning location off the road under some of the famous redwoods.

 

Tune in next time for more wacky adventures poorly written from the back of an old but epic vanahome. The updated map of our travels can be found below:

Updated map link as promised above

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TTT - Top Travelling Tips

• Free wifi: we have recently become a bigger fan of McDonald's in our travels and it was not the discovery of the $1.89 "Value Pick Menu". We have spent numerous times sitting in our home on wheels researching and connecting outside of such joints. Starbucks and Walmart also goodies for free connection! 
• Dollar Stores: anyone who knows me (Jenjen!) knows I have a small fetish for stores of the dollar. Can you believe more so now? Compact necessities like laundry detergent and soaps for limited home space as well as outdated bestseller novels for a single dollar. It's as though we are MAKING money on our travels!
• Living in a Westy: it's like a secret club we have entered. Everyone in fellow Volkswagen vans gives us a friendly wave on the highway. We have made "Westy Friends" resulting in anything from small chats and van discussions to being invited to homes and staying the night with amazing company. It's unbelievable.

BEHIND THE WHEEL

And now, just as with any good British Documentary, we focus on what makes this footage possible. As you read this, it should be done in the voice of Sir David Attenborough, softly, quietly and with an air of distraction as if one is deep in thought about the majesty of it all.

This van you see before you has been through some tough times, struggling to survive on the ever changing road. The vehicle is far from its original habitat in search of new adventures despite human interference.  Some rocks have proven too big, and the vulnerable sump has been scraped and bent but continues to hold oil due to some mad skilled welding by not us.

Wild silicone gasket had found its way into the very heart of the engine, the oil filter check valve, letting precious oil seep away in the night causing quite alarming knocking sounds upon start-up and worrying amounts of metal swarf accumulating in the oil. Only time will tell how long this engine will last…

But the roads have been soaked up, mountains conquered, squirrels dodged. One hopes that humanity will learn lessons from the struggles of this poor creature and his companions, whose challenges are still in their infancy.

The Beginning

So we’re off, after all the prepping, and a tiny bit planning, we cross into the States on a sunny Tuesday afternoon to start eight months of driving south in our trusty steed, Westy Rick. Having not spent more than two consecutive nights sleeping in our van some might say “Are you sure this is sensible?”. Of course it isn’t!

The 6^th night is here, and we’ve covered 1100 leisurely Kilometers taking us to the coast west of Portland. Every night has been spent “Boondocking” somewhere remote with our only amenities those we carry. Don’t think that means we’re already living like a pair of tramps stomping round smelling of rotten fish, we’re more like well-equipped nomads who usually pee in the bushes but do wash our hands afterwards. And as you can see, capable of making a tasty dinner or taking an outdoors shower.

 Our travels have taken us up into Washington Olympic National Park where we swam in a reservoir, camped out in the trees and swam again in the morning while the coffee was brewing. Here we met some Californians with their own Vanagon who we hope to catch up with again further down the coast. 

Despite our unsociable self-contained lifestyle, we have occasionally visited civilisation to visit points of major interest such as the first ever Starbucks in Seattle. Unfortunately it proved a popular destination with an extensive queue. We tried to find alternative Starbucks (as the photo shows) within a 5 minute walk but couldn’t find quite the right one so we patiently waited our turn before heading across a massive bridge into Oregon.

Another night, another lonely camping spot. Whilst most forest roads are gated or aggressively signposted against entry, some seem to have been forgotten about so we sneak up when no-one is watching. This one just off the coast towards Portland we utilised twice, arriving in the sunshine and waking up inside the clouds.

In an effort to avoid some incoming coastal rain we headed inland, past Portland up into the Mt. Hood region. After a refreshing swim (read wash) in a lake, we tucked in beside a back road where we watched squirrels until it got boring. About 3 hours.

We stopped in Portland to grab some essentials to complete our preparadnessosity on our way back to the coast, bumping into a British family in a kitted out custom Defender doing the same trip as ourselves. Now we continue our way down the west coast, not hanging around in the States too long as we have a loooooooot to see.

This link SHOULD be to our GPS locations on our trip so.

After being overtaken for the fourth time by disgruntled Americans, it finally 

damned on us that the US 50 wasn’t the same as a Canadian 50.

Boring. Didn't go.

Cape of Disappointment. Shouldn’t have gone.