Friday

This morning, we all rode in the RV to the town of Cambria. Here we found a coffee roaster and had breakfast and coffee. From there, Shannon and the kids took the RV to Morrow Bay to meet us for lunch, and we headed out on the bikes for the 25mile ride. Along the ride we were joined by some guy riding a pink bike who was also headed to L.A. for his daughter’s 20th birthday. He had ridden across the country twice and was going to do a double century ride from L.A. to Santa Barbara and back. Crazy.

We met the kids and Shannon at Top Dog Coffee (p.s. we drink a lot of coffee) got some food charged our phones and went down to the water to explore and take our picture next to the huge Morrow (it’s just a big rock). Down by the water you could kayak and explore the cove and there were sea lions sunning on the docks.

Mark drove the RV the rest of the way down to Oceano for our next stop. Jamey and I had a beautiful ride through the farm lands, and SLO town, and linked up with another rider (some 60 year old) who was headed to Pismo Beach. Luckily he was familiar with the route because it got a little harried crossing over the 101hwy! We were thankful we had a guide. Pismo Beach was beautiful! It was a quaint little town right on the water and we took the scenic route along the coast to explore. This was how I imagined Oceano would be, except maybe smaller. Boy was I wrong!
Oceano was like nothing we had EVER seen! For starters, the “mom &pop” RV park turned out to be a parking lot inhabited by mostly permanent residents who’s motor homes/ trailers probably haven’t moved in 10years! We were right next to the beach, but what we didn’t know was the road leading to the ocean was the main entrance to the biggest redneck party EVER! It was like being in the middle of a monster truck rally. There were trucks and trailers everywhere. People were loading up their vehicles with cases of beer and driving them onto the beach like the sand and salt water was no big deal. We even saw VW bugs, Hyundai compacts, and samurai’s driving through the sand and down the beach. Huge jacked up trucks pulling dirt bikes and ATV’s, and even motor homes were making the trek, at high tide, 2miles down to what looked like some trailer park regatta!

We were like moths being pulled to a flame. After our BBQ dinner, which we bought and then ate sitting in the middle of the liquor store parking lot (yes, all 6 of us, the kids and all), we made the 2mile walk down the beach to find out what we were missing. It looked like a scene post hurricane Katrina! The tide was washing in and people had plywood propped up against their motor homes, like that was going to help keep out the salt water. Kids and ATV’s were everywhere. Playpens were set up in the middle of truck and trailer circles, people had bonfires going, rebel flags flying, and music blaring. I figured there had to be carnie food somewhere! I never thought the left wing liberals would allow something like this to happen in their great state of California! It reminded me of Panama City on steroids.

Equally as amusing was the crowd of people that had gathered on the beach to watch all the trucks, trailers, motor homes, and compact cars drive onto the beach. Because the tide was in, about half the people driving out didn’t even make it 100ft onto the sand before getting stuck. It was truly a train wreck!

That night, we pulled all the shades closed and locked all the doors as we heard, what we hoped, was fireworks. Needless to say, there was no sitting outside around the bonfire tonight!