ocean – Page 8 – The MoHo and Other Traveling Tales

Florida’s Nature Coast

After being in Ocala Sunday evening through this morning we said goodbye to Bel and headed west across northern Florida. I had a hard time deciding where to stay this evening, because I had too many things planned for the time we really had to do what we want to do. I decided to let go of Indian Pass and Manatee springs and tried to get into Panama City Beach, but then decided instead to go to St Joseph State Park because it would be on the white sugar sand beach with clear water without all the people and it was closer and we could settle in by evening.

Tomorrow will be a long day trying to get to New Orleans, and we may have some weather to deal with, but we need to get a bit more west if we are going to get home as I planned on Jan 2. Mo wants to look at a new motorhome in San Antonio, and we both want to spend a couple of days in New Orleans, so we need to get moving along. Sigh. This part of Florida lends itself to lazy beach days and dark starry nights, it’s really quiet and there’s lots to see and do that is part of the nature coast, especially the springs and rivers and beaches.

I really hope that when I am retired we can come back here and spend the time it takes to really relax into this place and enjoy the water and the quietness and lack of people. I do hope that by the time we do get back here it will still have as few people as it does now. This is the Florida that I know and love that isn’t anything like the Florida that is in everyone’s mind. It is still quiet and empty with long stretches of roads through the forest that are even and straight and sometimes you see a car now and then and sometimes not. After all the hustle of living in California I just can’t get enough of these long quiet empty forested roads with no traffic. People don’t really get it when I talk about Florida this way, and sometimes I even think I am making it up, but today I was reminded that it’s real.

Quiet dark night on the beach on a narrow spit of land between the gulf and the bay, listening to the low sound of gentle waves.

Edisto Beach State Park SC

http://picasaweb.google.com/kyotesue/Dec14EdistoBeachStateParkAndTheACERiverBasin#

This day was planned to be a short one driving to Edisto Island, another part of the Low Country and not far from Charleston. Took our time packing up and wandering down the back roads to our new digs at the Beach State Park. This place turned out to be our most favorite of the trip, at least thus far. The campground is right on the beach, with our campsite just over the dunes and within ear shot of the waves.

Stopped at the grocery store to get groceries for a spaghetti and salad dinner and decided to eat the salad for lunch and the spaghetti for dinner later. Perfect plan and easy to manage in our small kitchen space. The temperatures were still warm and balmy so we set up the chairs and table outside and relaxed a bit to the sounds of the sea. Perfect. After some relaxing time we took off walking the beach hunting for shells and letting Abby swim. I even relaxed enough to read my book and enjoy a quiet supper and a little local tv.
Friday December 14
This morning I got up early enough to watch the sunrise over the beach and see the flocks of pelicans and pods of dolphins swimming south along the shore as if they were going to town to work. We skipped breakfast and went to town to talk to the local kayak shop about local kayaking areas. I can’t believe that I never thought about the tide part of estuary kayaking, but I am sure glad that someone mentioned it. We found out the tides were just right for what we wanted to do if we left quickly, so we headed for the Live Oak dock on Big Oak Creek and turned uptide towards the refuge areas. At first the ride seemed a bit boring, without much variety in the views, but as we continued, things started to become more interesting. It’s as though it takes a bit of time to settle into a new area, and feel what it has to offer. There were a lot of birds, egrets, herons of several kinds, terns, and others that I didn’t recognize. Along the waterways are big southern low country houses with boathouses as big as cabins and big sailboats moored. I bought a waterways map so had a bit of an idea of which way to go and found a place called “the Neck” which turned out to be a very exclusive neighborhood off huge homes along the waterfront. It was fun wandering around in there for a time before the tide turned and it was time to head back down. For once, the kayaking was downhill both ways instead of the usual uphill hill where we are either fighting current or wind. This time there was a bit of wind, but the tide was stronger and the paddling was fast and smooth. Both of us were getting a bit tired, though, and ready to be home when suddenly a dolphin surfaced in front of me. Talk about highlight, kayaking with dolphins is really something. They are so graceful and beautiful and very fast. Of course, there’s a bit of apprehension that accompanies the excitement because who knows if they will bump your boat or something!! One particular dolphin stayed with us a long way, surfacing and diving sometimes within 20 feet of us, but most of the time he was a few hundred feet on the right.

It was the final delight in a lovely day that was marred a few moments later by a nasty fall as Mo tried to get out of her kayak at the landing and slipped and fell on the cemented oyster shells along the rocks. She was cut in several places and bruised or broke a rib, blood falling everywhere into the water and that sick sick feeling when you don’t know how bad it is and if you need a doctor or not. We had laundry in the car so tore up a towel for bandages and managed to stop the bleeding but it was scary for a time thinking she might need some stitches. I did the classic thing that my daughters will remember clearly. Someone gets injured I get sick, really sick, to the point of throwing up. Now that’s really helpful! We managed to get to the park headquarters only to find out that the nearest emergency care was 50 miles away in Charleston. Maybe there was a doctor on the island, but who knows if we could have found her if necessary. After lots of soaking in salt water and a drive back to the campground, we found the first aid kit, cleaned it all up, and decided that butterfly bandages for the cut would be all the doctor would do anyway, and a broken rib is one of those things that you just deal with as well, so we nixed the need for a doctor.

Mo is so incredibly stoic in these kinds of situations, and just plodded along dealing with it. After I got over being sick, I did ok as well, and all turned out ok in the end, except Mo is pretty sore from the fall and banged up a bit here and there. Her finger seems to be closing up just fine, however, and I’m grateful for that.

Ended another day with a long walk on the beach after eggs and potatoes for an early supper. All in all, a good day, in spite of the moment of scariness. It did make me think of how scary it can be to deal with that kind of thing sometimes, especially if it’s really bad. I’m so glad it wasn’t.

St James Island SC

After our lovely stay in Asheville we got up this morning and headed south on I-26 into South Carolina. The trip was uneventful, except for the drop in elevation from the North Carolina landscape into the low flat world of South Carolina. One really nice thing about SC are the Visitor Centers. The first one we encountered as we entered the state had impressive digital displays and really kind helpful people who made phone calls to be sure that our RV park had a place for us and gave us a ton of free maps and information.

Through the midsection of the state, I was unimpressed, except for the warm temperatures, things seemed fairly boring. There was a lot of pollution around Columbia, but we still enjoyed stopping for lunch at a rest area and eating outside in the warm sunshine.

We had a free camping night given to us by Mo’s family friend, Millie, so drove into Savannah looking for the Saint James Island County Park. After some circling around the bridges and rivers we finally found it. It was currently hosting one of the major attractions in the area, the Holiday Christmas Show. It was early enough in the afternoon that after we set up we drove down to Folly Beach and walked the Atlantic Ocean for the first time on the trip. There were a lot of vacation rentals on Folly beach, but we found a place to park with a parking meter for a buck and took the dog out to the water.

http://www.charlestoninsidersguide.com/festival-lights.php

When we drove back home, the Holiday Light Festival had begun so we got in free because we were camped there and drove slowly through the display with all the other locals. It was “magical” as Mo kept saying, lots of creativity and color and animation. The only bad part was the number of people driving diesel pickups very very slowly. Yuk, what a nasty smell.

The dog park was already closed because of the show so we planned that one for the next day. Dinner was something simple at home that I don’t remember now, as we usually eat cheese and crackers or something like that if we have a good lunch.

Thanksgiving trip to California

Just a quick note to anyone following my blog, I am not sure if this post will show up in all your blog rolls or not. I am backtracking here a bit, and decided to put some old journals and photos into the blog so that Mo and I could have our travel history all in one place. More times than once lately, we have wondered when we did something and gone to the blog only to realize it happened “pre-blog”. So any of you reading, if this pops us with a date of 2005 or even earlier, don’t worry, you aren’t time traveling and it isn’t a mistake. My actual hope is that it won’t show up at all. Guess I will find out if anyone starts commenting! You might notice a different “MoHo” and a different dog. Molly left us in 2006 and we didn’t pick up the new “MoHo” until December of 2007 on our cross country winter travels that year. I still lived in Klamath Falls and was working full time and Mo lived in Rocky Point. We started traveling together back in 2003, so eventually I hope to all our trips right here.

My kids are scattered around the country, and this year we decided that everyone didn’t need to make the long trek to Klamath Falls for Thanksgiving and Mo and I could go on little MoHo trip. I took off work early on Wednesday and Mo picked me up in Klamath. The MoHo was rolling along toward California by 3pm. It was our first attempt at boondocking at a Wal-Mart. We wanted to get far enough into California on Thursday to find a nice restaurant for dinner. It was dark when we arrived and we didn’t see any signs saying we couldn’t park, so settled in, turned on the lights and within an hour an employee security person was knocking on our door saying we couldn’t stay there. Redding evidently has some laws about store parking that we didn’t know about. He was nice to us, however, and told us that we could simply move to the east of the official parking lot into the dirt and safely park there. We put up the TV antenna, hoping for some diversion, but for some reason nothing worked. We walked Molly around the parking lot before going to sleep.

It was a bit of a restless night, but not bad, and by 8:30 on Thursday morning we were coffee’d up and ready to hit the road. We decided to travel west to the coast via Highway 299 through Whiskeytown and then along the beautiful Trinity River. The day was cloudy but a balmy 55 degrees, which felt warm after the cold Klamath fall air. Whiskeytown and French Gulch were pretty little towns we visited along the way, then crossed the mountains to Highway 3, to Highway 36 and finally to Highway 101 on the coast. At the top of one of the passes we saw a large cat-like black animal streaking across the road and up the hill beside us. Later I searched the internet and finally figured out that we had seen a fisher, a rather rare animal in this part of the world. I glad we both saw it.

The roads were narrow, winding and long. It was raining hard when we reached Fortuna on 101 and we decided to eat our Thanksgiving dinner at Peppers. It was a nice turkey dinner with all the trimmings and certainly not expensive. We even had leftovers to take with us, which of course are necessary for a Thanksgiving dinner.

Even in the rain, the town of Ferndale was interesting to visit. Most of the stores were closed because of the holiday and it was a bit drab in the rain, but I would love to go back there someday and shop. Later we took the road to “Centerville” which turned out to be nothing more than an empty beach. We followed a very narrow winding road up the steep hills south of the beach for a distance before deciding to turn around after talking with a local who said the road eventually came to a dead end with nothing to see.

Returning to Highway 101 we traveled south toward Humboldt Bay, looking for a place to camp in the Redwoods. the Burlington Campground showed up just after dark, and there was a space for us. We tucked the MoHo into the small spaces between huge redwood stumps and settled in for the evening. Some of the stumps were actually as big as the MoHo! It was a surrealistic place, and in the dark even more so. I went to camp headquarters to pay and managed to lose the MoHo and myself for a time before finding my way back.

We slept great in the deep dark forest, with the sound of the pouring rain keeping us in bed until quite late. Even at 9am the forest was still dim and dark as late evening. I made omelets for breakfast and we took the slow beautiful drive along the Avenue of the Giants, stopping at the visitor center. The displays were excellent, with stories of a man named Kellogg and his van made entirely of one redwood log.

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We drove south all day on the winding highway 1, through many dark and winding forests, and many signs that said “road narrows”. It was hard to imagine how the road could get any more narrow. Eventually we emerged from the forest to the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The Mendocino coast was wild, rugged, and beautiful, but the roads are incredibly narrow with very few places to pull over, and no shoulders at all. I was car-sick most of the way and was very happy to finally get to the little town of Mendocino. We did stop along the way to hike the half mile down to the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, beautifully restored.

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Continuing through town just in time to settle into space 11 in the Van Damme State Park just as darkness settled in. Our late lunch of leftover turkey sandwiches at an ocean overlook should have been plenty, but Mo started a campfire and wee cooked burgers. They were great! Venus was huge and brilliant over the ocean and Mars glowed red through the redwood branches, forecasting a sunny day to come. I knitted while Mo read until lights out at 9 or so.

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The next morning we were up at 8 and after a good home cooked breakfast we packed up to go explore Mendocino. It was a gorgeous clear day, but cool and windy. we walked the town, checked out the Art Fair, I found some wonderful yarn at the perfect little yarn shop, and had a delightful cappuccino.

We decided to travel south on Highway 1 until we found a place to spend the night. Instead we saw a sign that said “coastal access” and followed it to the tiny perfect little hamlet of Point Arena. Supper at the restaurant overlooking the ocean was perfect, with rock cod and a perfect salad. Beautiful. Our plan was to continue as far south as Sea Ranch before heading inland but we hoped for someplace along the beach. Sure enough, high above the ocean, we found a wide turnout in the road, level and safe, with no signs saying we couldn’t park there. As we were settling in, a man drove up and let his dogs out of his car. Suddenly the peace was ruined by a huge tussle of dogs with his aggressive animals attacking Molly, who ended up scared, shaking, and limping a bit. I was furious! Thank goodness he left.

The evening settled into a peaceful sunset with music on the stereo, Mo reading while I wrote and Molly sleeping peacefully.At dawn, the skies over the ocean were all shades of pastel pink and lavender and the rising moon was visible in the east. We tried out the new toaster oven with some corn muffins which tasted ok, but I burned them a bit too much. Driving all day east from Gualala through Annapolis where the signs said “no rv’s” but with our little 21 footer and no tow car we did just fine. The road was really steep and curvy but not much worse overall than all those curves on highway 1! Continuing to Clear Lake and Williams we hit the interstate by 1pm to take us back north to Oregon. Stopped for a steak dinner in Redding before the last long leg into Klamath over highway 97, leaving the interstate at Weed. It’s a long stretch to do in a day, but since I had to be to work on Monday morning, it was necessary. Mo is retired but I am not, so sometimes these little trips with me are much quicker than either of us would like.

Traveling the California Coast

Copied from our old leather travel journal in April 2011

February 27 through March 7 2004

February 7^th, Friday morning we left Klamath in the Chevy van at 8AM and drove through snow and rain over Mt Shasta down I-5. Stopped in at the Rolling Hills Casino and then had breakfast between Corning and Williams. Drove to Calistoga via Clear Lake. The road was really curvy and narrow with a 16% grade! The valley was green and beautiful and Calistoga had great shops. We took Molly in the French shop for wine and hors d’oeuvres. Enjoyed a great dinner with wine and cheese in our Motel 6 room in Santa Rosa, a really small room. Gas in Santa Rosa was 2.09 per gallon.

February 28, Saturday morning we were up early and drove from Santa Rosa to the great pastry shop in Sebastopol. What a lovely little town! Drove out to Jenner, hiked around Blind Beach and collected driftwood. Drove down the coast, had lunch in Bodega Bay watching all the water birds from our table by the water. Drove over the Golden Gate, past the Presidio, and down HWY 1 to Pacifica and Moana’s old school, her ranch in Montera, the Moss Beach house, and then over 92 to Belmont. Had a great dinner at Fresh Choice and went swimming and hot-tubbing at our hotel.

February 29 Sunday. We spent the day in San Francisco hiking up Coit Tower, walking Lombard Street, and down to Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf. Went to Pier 45 and the great museum with all the old arcade games. Went to Bubba Shrimp for a great dinner at a perfect table while we watched sailboats in the bay. Home to watch the Oscars in our motel room drinking wine and laughing a lot together at the silliness.

March 1 Monday. It was raining hard today. Moana dropped me off at a fabulous mall in San Bruno while she did her taxes and took Molly to the vet. We drove highway 82 back into San Francisco, Union Square, with the great Williams Sonoma store where I bought some wonderful Valentine plates on sale for only ten bucks. We took the cable cars up California Street to Chinatown and had a wonderful Chinese dinner at Yee’s. We were the only non-Asians in the restaurant. We had fun shopping at found dominoes at one of the little Chinese stores. Also explored some of the big hotel lobbies and took some linen towels from the Ritz. Bad! Home to our hotel for a hot tub under the moonlight again.

March 2 through March 7 Sunday

The little red journal goes silent for the last five days of this trip, so I went to the photos to try to figure out what we did and when we did it. I am so glad that we now have the blog and that I have learned to keep regular updates. The photos tell a bit of the story, but for some reason the dates aren’t set properly, and nothing seems to be in order so that was no help either. From the photos, it seems that we spent a lot of time in the Arboretum in San Francisco at Golden Gate Park, and then traveled down the coast to visit the roller coaster at Santa Cruz and then on to Monterey to have a great dinner on the wharf and join a morning history walk through the town. We traveled down Highway 1 to Carmel and Big Sur and went hiking along the ocean cliffs there. Mo took my photo next to the huge artichoke in the Artichoke Capital of the World at Castroville.

We stayed mostly in Motel 6’s because we had Molly with us and they are easy and inexpensive. It was a wonderful trip and a great respite from the cold wet late winter days back in Klamath Falls.