Wednesday & Thursday, August 14 & 15, 2013
We stopped in Solvang and Buellton for a couple of nights. We really love the Santa Ynez valley. I would like to find a small place with a couple of acres and build a country home some day. I imagine that is what William Randolph Hearst said and then he ended up building San Simeon. I would build something a bit more modest. None the less, I can see exactly why he chose this area. The rolling hills are beautiful and the weather is great.
Elisa did some antiquing in Solvang and Buellton and found a few nice things. When we drove down to Solvang on Tuesday night we tried to stop in Nipomo, which is just outside of Santa Maria, to eat at Jocko’s. We ate there many years ago when some people we meet at a campground at Pismo Beach had some problems with their rig. They had no transportation, so we offered to take them to dinner. Elisa and I, the two of them and Brandon and Krista all pulled into our small convertible and they led us to Jocko’s. We remember it being out there in the middle of nowhere and we also remember it being great. This is the kind of place for meat lovers. The specialize in Santa Maria style barbecue. This means – open grill over oak wood with a nice rub of garlic, onion, salt and a little pepper. When we went before, we had no trouble getting a spot. The restaurant is very informal with long rows of picnic tables with customers sharing space. It was the kind of place that the truck drivers mainly went to.
Well, I guess the rest of the world has discovered it. This time, we pulled in and there was a line of people coming out the door. The place looks the same, but it was packed. The cute hostess asked us if we had reservations – (reservations? this isn’t the kind of place that takes reservations) – we replied no. She politely told us that it would be a 2 to 2.5 hour wait. Needless to say, we did not get to eat at Jocko’s. However, if you happen to be cruising up the 101 near Santa Maria, I strongly suggest that you make reservations at Jocko’s. All was not lost, we did find a table at Shaw’s Steakhouse in Santa Maria and we had a couple of great steaks. The were cooked over an open oak fire and the quality of the steak was great.
On Wednesday, we spent the day taking it pretty easy. There were a few antique stores in Solvang and Buellton that Elisa wanted to check out. Unfortunately, one of the larger antique malls is now out of business. We did find one in the small town of Santa Ynez. Elisa was able to find a few nice things there. She really admired one of the oldest items in the antique shop and that was the owner. Lee, was a young 91 and she has owned and operated that store for a long time. She was very nice. After that, we simply relaxed at the very nice and quiet park that we stayed at – Flying Flags RV park. For once this park was not directly adjacent to the freeway – so we both slept very well the night before and we were looking forward to another good night’s sleep on Wednesday night. For dinner on Wednesday, Elisa had marinated some chicken thighs in a teriyaki sauce. I broke out my brand new Traeger portable wood pellet smoker and slow cooked the thighs. 40 minutes on smoke setting – about 190 – 220 degrees and another 35 – 40 minutes at 350 degrees. They were fabulous. Elisa made some jasmine rice mixed with a little bit of Lipton Onion Soup mix. To top it off, we had some fresh corn on the cob that we picked up from a farm to table roadside store near Seaside (near Monterey). Dinner was great!
On Thursday morning we decided load up and make our way home. Along the way, we decided we would stop in Santa Barbara, where Elisa wanted to check out a few antique shops. I’ve decided that I really don’t like Santa Barbara. This pretentious city has made it illegal to park an RV anywhere. We actually had to drive south of SB and find some beachside parking near Montecito. We were able to unhook the car and head back into SB to check things out. It was pretty much a bust. The few stores we found were ridiculously expensive. So, we had a nice lunch and then headed down the road. We were there last summer with our friends Glenn and Lynne and that made SB seem a little more fun.
As we drove past Oxnard, we tried to call my Aunt Dorothy to see if we could drop in. Unfortunately, she wasn’t in and we will have to do it another time. We also wanted visit with my cousin Leone in Beverly Hills but she was under the weather. So, we headed on down to Torrance in the South-Bay section of Los Angeles so we could visit our daughter Krista and her boyfriend Rob. We got there around 3:30 and since Krista and Rob were still at work we went into the old-town section of Torrance. Krista had found a neat doll house shop that specialized in miniatures. Elisa spent quite a bit of time there and she couldn’t help herself – she bought a nice display piece. It happened to be the very first piece the owner made and built her shop around.
We connected with Krista and Rob around 6:00 PM and had a quick but tasty dinner at the local Macaroni Grill. I had the parmesan crusted veal chop that was very good. Elisa had the chicken marsala – it was supposed to be served on gluten free pasta but they were out of it. So the served it with oven roasted potatoes that were probably a better choice in the first place. After catching up with Krista and Rob, it was time to head back home – we still had 2 hours to go. There was an additional passenger in the car. Maggie, Rob’s cute Chihuahua that had lived with us for about a year and a half was coming home with us for the week. Krista and were headed out of town for a long weekend, and the dog sitter he was going to use flaked out on him. So we volunteered to have Maggie come stay with us for a week. Rob will pick her up next weekend.
We finally pulled into Poway around 10:45 pm. We had traveled about 11000 miles making our way around the country. The plan was to simply go in and go to bed. We would unpack in the morning. It didn’t quite work out that way, our dogs Oreo and Bella were too excited to see us – the also had to get reacquainted with Maggie. We finally headed off to bed around midnight.
I will have to collect my thoughts to write up an epilogue that sums up the 8 week trip we took. Our travels took us to about 26 states and one other country. I’m proud to say that we did not pick up any dents or leave any paint behind us on this trip. Ironically, closest we came to having a fender vender was when we were 125 miles from home. I had stopped to get gas on the way to Krista’s house. I pulled into the first station that offered diesel fuel. It was a Chevron station and they are notorious for only having a diesel pump and one of their many islands. As I pulled in, I was pleased to see that the island with the diesel pump was open and directly in front of me. In my haste, I neglected to notice that there was a large tanker truck parked to my left and ahead of me. It would be a pretty tight turn to get our motorhome and our tow car past the tanker. There was a concrete block wall opposite the tanker leaving me only an 8.5 foot pathway. Even though it required a fairly tight turn, I was fairly sure I could get the motorhome through it. Tight turns and 25 feet of motorhome plus another 15 feet of tow vehicle don’t get along too well. With the tow car attached, I can’t back up any great distance. If I do, the front wheels of the tow vehicle begin to turn out of alignment and the tow bar binds up. So I decided I would try to make the turn. I was able to maneuver the motorhome fairly easily. The questions was would the tow car make it. I first had to clear the side mirror. We edged it past the huge bumper on the tanker truck with millimeters to spare. Now the question was, could I get the rest of the car past it. I backed up just a little bit, but enough to get the front wheels of the tow car into the right position and Elisa got out to keep an eye on bumper of the tanker truck. We made it with about an inch to spare. If we had gotten stuck, we would have had to wait for the tanker to finish dropping its load so it could back up. Fortunately, we didn’t have to do that.
Keep an eye out on this Blog site and I will post some closing thoughts.
Thanks,
Rex
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