We knew we had a long drive today, therefore, we were up early and on the road by 7.30 am.
Many fellow travellers, plus our own research, had told us that the coastal road from Los Angeles to San Francisco was stunning. Unfortunately, some of this road is closed until August. We won’t get to see Big Sur, supposedly one of the most scenic coastal drives in the world. We will have to spend a lot of our time today on Highway US 101.
The beginning of our journey was coastal and very foggy, even if we were able to drive the ocean road we may not have been able to see the coast.
From the coast, we drove through the misty mountain and pretty valley farms and ranches.
A voice beams from our navigation device, Miss USA “continue on 101 North for 330 km”, we have a long drive ahead.
The scenery today was unbelievably varied: coasts, mountains, vineyards, wineries, farms, ranches and miles of vegetable fields. I think the crops were a variety of lettuces (but what would I know). The fried artichoke is popular in these parts, maybe they were artichokes and I am sure I saw strawberries…
A lot of the crops were being harvested, it was nice watching the farming action.
We passed through more Santa’s (feminine form of Saint or Holy), Santa Maria, Santa Margarita and more San’s (masculine form of Saint or Holy), San Luis, San Miguel, San Ardo…
And, we also passed the many markers of the El Camino Real (The Royal Road), the 600-mile road connecting the 21 Spanish missions in California, along with a number of sub-missions, four presidios and three pueblos. The Royal Road extends from San Diego to just above San Francisco Bay.
A short break at the small town of San Miguel to stretch our legs, take photos of the historic San Miguel Arcangel Mission founded in 1797, some essential food supplies (dunny paper) and lunch. We even spotted a gum tree, it felt just like home. Except that San Miguel really felt like we had been transported back into Mexico.
Back on Highway 101 and Miss USA tells us “continue on 101 north for 150 km”, still a distance to travel.
The countryside was now a mix of very dry mountains, vineyards and vegetable fields.
We even passed an oil field which was different and very interesting to see.
A quick stop for gas at Soledad.
Next, onto Monterey, a gorgeous coastal town where the mini-series, ‘Big Little Lies’ was filmed. It stars some more of my favourites, Nicole Kidman and Reece Witherspoon.
We parked the motorhome and walked Fishermans Wharf. I was being stubborn and determined to use our pennies for the parking meter. This only gave us one hour which limited our sightseeing options.
The weather today is cold and cold, mixed with a little bit of cloud, fog and cold. However, there were still people trying to surf the wharf ripple, in hooded steamers. Hopefully, we will return when the weather is a bit warmer, after we have caught up with Shelley and Jodie in San Francisco.
Back into the motorhome and through the town of Pacific Grove, a gorgeous, gorgeous spot and then along the coast with a small stop to take photos and take in the beautiful rugged scenery.
On the road again and we took the famous 17-Mile Scenic Drive in Pebble Beach to Carmel-by-the-Sea. Unfortunately, our motorhome was not Carmel-by-the-sea friendly, and Pete had been driving for hours. We continued through the town and on to our destination for tonight, Moss Landing KOA Express.
A settle into our campsite and then a walk over the bridge to the beach and a delicious seafood restaurant, Phil’s Fish Market.
A quick walk to view the ocean after dinner and lucky we did because we saw whales breaching right from the beach, it was amazing.
Wow, a long driving day (Pete was at his driving best) but boy did we see some scenery. California, the state with unbelievable changing beauty.
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