Spring Training Trip - Day 6

We awoke this morning to sunshine, mild temperatures, and a light breeze. The weather remained warm and beautiful all day, quite a change from yesterday. 

Today was laundry day in the morning.  After that, Ted and Ann took us to lunch at the Village Country Club in Lompoc where they are members.  It is a beautiful building in a gorgeous setting on a hill overlooking Lompoc and surrounded by a good looking golf course and many large single homes.  The club has a fantastic restaurant, open to the public and run by a great chef.  We had wonderful lunches; Judy had a salmon salad, Pat and Ted had Cuban sandwiches and potato soup and Ann had a salad and the soup.  For dessert, we all shared a huge chocolate chip cookie sandwich with ice cream in the middle – yum!

We said goodbye to Ted and Ann and went looking for a place in Lompoc to top-off our propane tomorrow after we get on the road.  They do not sell propane on base, but the FAMCAMP gave us a list of three places in town that do sell propane. We found a place where we can get in and out while towing the Bug and will do so tomorrow after we leave the base.

We then decided to check out one of the few beaches on Vandenberg open to base personnel.  Vandenberg is a high security facility with a lot of missile and space launch activities going on, most of which are classified. So, despite having over 26 miles of coastline on the base, most of it is not accessible to the military personnel and their families who live on the base, and rarely to the public.  Even then, public access is strictly controlled and only under special circumstances.  The base, perhaps due to its proximity to the Los Angeles area and the type of activity going on here, has frequently been the scene of anti-war and anti-military demonstrations over the years. Most of the demonstrations have been peaceful, but there have also been some demonstrations in the past involving confrontation with base security personnel, attempted forced entry onto the base and injuries and arrests. The base seems well prepared to deal with these demonstrations and it is not the type of military facility where causal entry is permitted.  The Northern boundary of the base at Point Sal is also heavily patrolled and many activists have been arrested in the past attempting to get onto the base for various reasons.

The beach we went to is called Minuteman Beach.  It is about 10 miles north of the main base near Point Sal.  The coastal area is dotted with missile launch facilities that are frequently used for test missile launches.  Most of the test launches are not announced in advance but a high level of activity around the site usually indicates a launch is planned in the near future.  In the final stages of launch preparations, a fairly large safety zone is established and everyone around the launch site is evacuated.  The launch facilities near us were thankfully all quiet today so we were able to visit the beach without any problems.

Access to Minuteman Beach is restricted to daylight hours and swimming and surfing is prohibited due to dangerous surf and riptides common to the area.  Access is further restricted to most of the beach from March 1^st to October 1^st due to Western Snowy Plover nesting.  Dune areas are fenced off and the beaches are patrolled by CA and Federal wildlife officers.  The Plover nesting areas on Vandenberg beaches are allowed a certain number of violations each season (usually about 10) before access to the area is totally shut down.  So even though public access to this section of the coast is mostly restricted for national security reasons, it is perhaps one of the best protected and well-preserved sections of the CA coast and should remain so for many years to come.

When we arrived at the beach today we were the only people there as far as you could see in any direction.  The weather was exceptionally good for Vandenberg  – temperature in the low 70s, clear skies, and only a slight sea breeze. We had a short walk along the beach, found a few shells, but didn’t see any snowy plovers.  I guess they wait until March 1^st to arrive.

Dinner in the RV was bruschetta and left-over New England clam chowder and bread, and cookies for dessert.

Day 6 Pictures

Spring Training Trip - Day 5

As forecast, a fast-moving cold front came in overnight bringing heavy rain and wind while we slept.  Since we have a short drive to Vandenberg AFB today, we decided to sleep in and wait until most of the weather moved on.

We left the campground around 11:15 am under cloudy skies with patches of sun and breezy conditions.  We were camped in a valley, so once we got up on Hywy 1 south the wind picked up tremendously.  It was a very difficult drive for Pat with the wind pushing the RV this way and that, especially when the road went close to the beaches.  We also ran into some blowing sand in a construction zone.

It was a relief to get to the Santa Maria/Lompoc area and Vandenberg AFB.  After getting through the tight security at a side gate (no problem, but always an adventure), we arrived at the FAMCAMP around 12:30 PM and got set up.  Lunch was leftover cheese soup and crackers with cookies for dessert.  Pat went to the Shopette for ice; we will go to Suchecki’s at 3:30 PM, then take them out to dinner around 5:00.  It is still very windy.

We had a nice visit with Ted and Ann, old Air Force friends from our time in Little Rock, AFB.  We had dinner at AJ Spurs, a western theme “saloon and dining hall” in Buellton near their house in Lompoc.  The wind died down after dinner and fair weather is expected for tomorrow.  No pictures today, but we will catch-up tomorrow.

Spring Training Trip - Day 4

We slept in and ate a late breakfast “out” this morning at the Apple Farm Restaurant in San Louis Opbispo, a favorite of ours from previous visits.  The weather was cooler than yesterday and somewhat overcast.  We then toured the mission as part of our California mission tour.  We had actually been here before, Pat and I once and I was here once by myself while Pat was attending a Coastwalk board meeting.

Mission San Louis Opispo de Tolosa is still a working Catholic church, as are several of the other 21 missions stretching from San Diego to Sonoma.  The church, courtyard, gardens and compound has been fully restored and retrofitted for any possible earthquakes.  The interior of the church is fairly plain and primitive, not over-decorated like some of the other missions on our tour. The mission setting is beautiful, set along San Luis Creek in the middle of the city.  There is a small museum and gift shop; entrance to the mission is free with a donation box available.

Afterwards we walked around the city, bought lattes and window shopped, then drove to a local mall and shopped some more.  After buying a few groceries, we came back to the RV, worked on this blog and the pictures (Pat), read for a while and took a nap (me), and hitched up the VW in preparation for leaving tomorrow morning.  It is supposed to start raining tonight, so we will eat dinner in.

Day 4 Pictures

Spring Training Trip - Day 3

We left Santa Cruz around 9:00 am for an easy drive to San Luis Obispo.  The weather was still great and we cut across the Salinas Valley to US 101 through what seemed like endless fields of commercial agriculture with all kinds of different crops either growing or starting to grow.  It is always an impressive site to see and a constant reminder of how important the area is to our agricultural economy.

The trip down US 101 was uneventful and we arrived at Camp San Louis Obispo, a California National Guard training center about 5 miles North of San Luis Obispo on Highway 1.  The RV Park is small with 12 RV spaces, 8 of which are pull-through full hook-up sites.  When we arrived at 12:30 pm, the billeting office was closed for lunch, so we had lunch in the RV while we waited for the office to reopen.

After we checked-in and set-up the RV, we decided to drive over to Morro Bay (about 8 miles away) to get some ice for the cooler and take a short walk on the beach.  The tide was way out when we arrived and we had a nice walk along the beach North of Morro Rock.

We then returned to the RV and had an early dinner while watching the Super Bowl.

Day 3 Pictures

Spring Training Trip - Day 2

We slept in, ate breakfast and headed out to the Santa Cruz Mission and found it in two locations, separated by one block of residential houses and a school.  Of the 19 missions we have visited in California, this was the only one that is divided by two factions – that of the Catholic Church and that of the State of California.

The church’s location, on part of the original mission grounds, is a small-scale replica of what it is supposed that the original mission church looked like, plus a small side wing containing old vestments, chalices and religious pictures, along with a gift shop and a small courtyard garden.  The chapel is undecorated except for some religious statues and small stations of the cross.

The plaza/park in front of the chapel is wooded and grassy, with a fountain, paths and benches.  At one end of the plaza is a new Catholic church, the Church of the Holy Cross.  It was not open at the time we were there.

The State of California’s location, a State Historic Park, is one block away, also on part of the original mission grounds.  It consists of an original adobe residence building, a gift shop, state park offices and a grassy and shaded courtyard picnic area with a “beehive” oven.  The adobe, built in the 1700’s by Indian labor, was used to house Indian families.  Later, after secularization of the missions, Californio families were housed there, and later, an Irish-American family from Kilkenny lived there.  Nine or ten different rooms were in various stages of restoration and remodeling, a result of all of the different residents’ needs at the time.

The use (and ill use) of the local Indians by the padres was described on several of the informational plaques throughout the adobe in no uncertain terms.  We feel that because of the historical accuracy of this information, at least at this mission, no mention was made at the church’s location of the existence of the state park, just one block away.  Luckily, the Santa Cruz tourist information pamphlet that we had showed both locations on its map.

We went to Natural Bridges State Park on the ocean nearby to see if any Monarch butterflies were still there from the annual migration.  Because of the unseasonably mild weather this winter, most of them were already heading back to Canada for the summer.  Another generation of them will be back in Santa Cruz next October, ready to spend another winter on the coast.  A few Monarchs were still hanging around today (there is always somebody who doesn’t get the message), so Pat got some pictures of them.

We then walked along the coastal cliffs north of the Santa Cruz pier and watched many surfers ignoring the “EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS!  DO NOT ENTER THE WATER!” signs.  Apparently there were exceptionally high tides today and the waves rolling in from Japan were huge - awesome to us.  The warning signs probably brought out more surfers than usual – there were a lot of them out there.

We had a wonderful late lunch at The Crow’s Nest, a restaurant right next to the East Harbor in Santa Cruz, while we watched the boat traffic in and out of the harbor.  Since there is a large breakwater on both sides of the harbor entrance, the waves were not as large there.

After 4 hours rest back at the RV, we drove south to Moss Landing, CA through a clear and cold moonlit night for dinner at Phil’s Fish Market, a great seafood restaurant we had been to before.  After red and white clam chowder, seafood quesadillas and fried clam strips, we are back at the RV for the evening.

Day 2 Pictures

Spring Training Trip - Day 1

We left home about 9:00 am and began a fairly complicated departure maneuver.  Karin will be using the Durango while we are gone, at least initially to transport a car full of kids back and forth to slumber party events tomorrow.  So, we drove the VW over to the closed Meeks Lumber parking lot, parked it, and drove the Durango over to mom’s house where the RV was parked.  We then unloaded the last few trip supplies and drove the RV over to Meeks, hooked-up the VW and headed out.  Judy followed with the Durango which we dropped off in Rocklin.  After another stop for Subway sandwiches for lunch on-the-road we finally headed for Santa Cruz about 11:00 am.

The trip was uneventful.  The traffic was light, the roads dry, and it was a pleasant 60+ degrees and sunny skies all the way to the Santa Cruz KOA, about 7 miles south of town off of US 101 near La Selva Beach.  We arrived around 3:00 pm and after settling in we had a relaxed dinner of spaghetti & meatballs, salad, bread and molten lava cake.  (The cake was from Omaha Steaks, a Christmas present from Brian & April.  Totally chocolate and delicious) The campground is almost empty so it should be a quiet night in the park.


Day1 Pictures

Spring Training Trip - Day 0 Minus 27

Here we go again!  We are getting ready for the next trip - a 2-month plus trip to Florida to watch Phillies Spring Training games in the Clearwater, FL area.  Other adventures en route are also planned.

We depart on February 3rd and are scheduled to return on April 12th.


Stay tuned.