Day 36: Laguna Beach to San Diego

So tomorrow is Halloween! thats exciting, I tried to book a campsite for tonight, but like usual everything here on the south coast is booked fridays and Sat. I think I will head downtown San Diego and visit the "Vegan Zone" for din - then stroll around the big city - I have decided that I am going to head East towards Joshua Tree national Park either sat. night or sunday night - then spend a day or 2 camping there. I spent the last 2 days up in OC and Laguna beach - amazing! no wonder there is a show based there, and so many rich people flock there! the beach and tide pools are some of the nicest i have seen on the coast so far! the red tiled roofs and while stucco walls and spanish decor is getting very annoying lol as you drive south towards Ocean Side, Cal, there are thousands of cookie cutter homes all look exactly the same, cluttering the coast. The landscape is at an all time high for being baron and dead - little veg. except shrubs and yellow grass. The weather is still warm down here - a lot of locals i hear complaining that at night it gets to 10 degrees! It hasnt rained in 2 weeks and sunny/warm  - I dont think i could ask for better weather! Hung out with a "Bob" at starbucks last night - does custom fine carpentry in Laguna - one of his clients invented the compact disk and lives there in "The Hills" in Laguna

So hung out on Laguna beach today and read some into the wild, been working on my tan - cant come home and still be pasty... not too much exciting stuff- just been putting around looking at the scenery and taking it easy.. lol

a

OC lookout "Inspiration Point"

Palm Tree

Laguna Beach

Day 33: Malibu, Cal- Cactus and Lizards

So I havent posted since last Thursday I see - Havent really had internet that much here in Malibu. I got here on thursday night after going to the gym and lunch. Its amazing here! all the massive houses perched out the side of mountain cliffs, and the millions of dollars in cars - BMW, Rolls Royce, a ford GTX, Mercedes... the landscape is nice, as last night and tonight I am camping at Leo Carrillo state park on the Ocean. The camp site is pressed between foot hills of "santa monica mountain range" So theres a trail that climbs some of these hills so I went on  a 3 hour hike this morning and found some amazing views - My cell phone camera does not do the pictures any justice, as the view from the peak lookout was one of the most amazing things I have seen - Mansions perched all through the hills of Malibu - Tennis courts, swimming pools, 4 car garages... there are also some nice mountains that are hidden until you reach the top, and reminded me of what it would look like in Arizona. I found many little lizzards running around the trails and for the first time heading south I found WILD cactus all along the trails edge  - much more exciting than the decoration type i have had from home depot.. The heat here is starting to get rediculous, as this is becoming the longest summer I have ever been through - It is as hot as canada in August right now, and the sun is even worse - I have been wearing shorts since Fresno and night time is no longer cold, but I usually sleep outside my sleeping bad lol definately does not feel like fall here!

Im not sure where to head to tomorrow, I think that maybe I might venture up Highway 2 and see hollywood and Beverly hills - then head back to highway 1 and down the coast to someplace outside LA - too many people here and everything is expensive! Looking forward to San Diego - As far south as I think that I will be heading!

  - Santa Monica Boulevard

lizard-guy...!

Day 29: Santa Barbara Cal - Beautiful coast!

I am here in Santa Barbara, getting ready to go to the Gym, and then find this vegan Bistro downtown. Super warm here! Spent tuesday and Wednesday on the Beach a super Awesome town called Pismo Beach - walked for miles and miles down a beach, dense enough for cars/rvs to drive down. Many kite surfers, kite boarders, atvs and dune bugeys, lots going on! I camped at the Pismo Beach state park for the night on Tuesday, where I walked to "Oceano" and visited some tattoo parlors. I am looking into a tattoo and getting a piercing but talked to the piercer at one of the places and went from a lip ring (super high maintenace for cleaning with antibacterial soap inside mouth/outside after anything you eat/drink... so I opted for second choice of a nose ring - It didnt hurt as bad as I thought, and after 12 hours I didnt even notice it.

I headed inland on the 101 to Santa Maria, I was awed by the amount of produce that covers the land.... barely any trees over miles, except to block wind around plot perimeters, but radishes, kale, every type of romaine, and lettuce you could imagine, strawberries, and grapes galore! its crazy how much food we could make if you didnt have to grow so much lame corn, hay and wheat for cattle. I think I am going to find a nice campsite on the Ocean tonight and tomorrow as I wont be heading to LA for saturdays UFC becuase there are only 11 tickets left on the floor, at $658 each haha, but I think I will head to a pub to watch possibly if im in town sat. night.

wow its almost been a month since I first set off. The drastic changes from Vancouver, to WA, to OR, then California, and east to Nevada have been amazing! Everywhere I go there is one thing in common.... the Ocean to my right, and the mountains to my left. Back and forth it has been hard to choose which one to explore each week. I feel grateful that I was able to save up this amount of money, and finally quite my job and do this. I mean planning this for 6 months and dreaming about driving down the west coast, soaking in the sun, feeling the mist and spray of the warm salty waves...hmmm good time. I wont be able to spend the whole 6 months that I had planned to stay, as my pre-trip budgeting skills didn't take for account all the extra costs of high camping prices, cost of showers, parking, tea/internet, and extras - Im not sure how many have done this trip, but if you get the chance there is soo much to see just along this coast that (sorry but im in Santa Barbara and "Sawyer" from Lost just walked into starbucks! yea its crazy to see someone that you have watched their series for 5 seasons....) but anyways I think this trip has done for me what many should experience, and that there is so much out there to be seen and experienced, and I havent even left this continent! I would advise anyone to take the 101 south to highway 1 and see for yourself the abundance of beauty and adventure!

Adam

Day 26: Fresno, Cal - The Ocean is calling

Hey so im here in Hedford )about an hour outside Fresno, and roughly dead center of California today, and really wanting to head back to the Coast and sit on a beach near the Ocean! It has been super hot here this week - around 28-30 with Humidex.

So I left Reno on friday and headed south to Carson City, pretty similar to Reno just not AS many casinos lol. Super exciting and lots going on in Reno/Carson city. I Needed to go to downtown Reno on the way to carson and hit a Casino - Went to the huge Atlantis and went all out - spent 700!....pennies..... ya I hit up the big 1Cent machines! Star wars slots, Amazon, even the "emerald forsest" machine... and won 10$! lol watch out....

then that afternoon, I realized how much of a bum I have been just sitting around and driving, walking places, so I went to the  "European Gym" downtown Reno, super sore after, a little out of shape! I decided to head back through the mountain pass to Mantica again, and stayed there for the night, that drive is really nice, around Lake Tahoe, the road gets up to around 7500 ft on I-80 and then 9500ft around the south lake tahoe 87 - such good views from that hight!

Had a super lunch that I got from the Sacremento Co-Op 2 days ago - A MASSIVE vegan black bean wrap! MMMM it was filling I must say... then all was good in my world.

So while downtown in Reno, I found this massive mural and an Iron Casting art of a somewhat Minotaur woman with many books around a base - Found my 2 fave books! Ishmael, and into the wild, amongst many famous classics! lots of artistic things along the Truckee
river walk.

Not too much interesting since saturday, its monday morning today, and just been dabbling around, driving here and there, but super excited for tonight camping on the Ocean! hope the weather stays nice!

Well will keep you updated if anything interesting happens, and when i head into LA!

Day 22: Reno Nevada; $$$.........$

Hey Hey, here in Reno Nevada, such a pretty landscape here. This is what you call the "Old West"! there are those neat old wooden railway tracks through mountain tunnels, and wooden/iron water troughs for the river run off along the highway (reminds me of the mountain run at Canada's Wonderland in Toronto! with the old mining town. The weather cleared up as I came through the mountain pass yesterday - So cool, I climbed, climbed, climbed, up highway 80 East, and reached a whopping 6300ft above sea level.. high enough that I drove through  the cloud line, and had to pull over because it was like a dense fog/ Insane rainfall!

So I did the usual this morning and when I woke up and had breakfast - cleaned up my "Bed", got a tea at starbucks, checked my rad fluid, trans, and OIL.... I found that one of my sparkplug "tubes" had popped out about an inch and was misfiring/popping... so i popped it back in... and then it popped out again... so I pulled the whole tube out and there was about 1/4 L of oil in the shaft... so I took it to the big "Tires Plus" down the road and told me that it needs a new valve gasket, new wires, plugs, free fuel system clean, oil change, blah Blah Blah... $450 Blah Hlah... yay I love to spend moneys! so its actaully at the place right now getting fixed and i walked about 2 miles back to my accomodations (walmart) and am just hangin out. Im surprised though that it was that cheap with all the parts on the bill and the amount of labor, but its better than breaking down!

So today im probably not going to do too much just hang out here in the big box mall and visit some stores? I really want to head downtown and look at the river walk, and the downtown culture. I just found out theres a UFC 104 in L.A. on Sat. Oct. 24th - I think I might be around there at that time.... maybe I will hit up some UFC nosebleed seats for $64 lol that would be super exciting! I think im going to start hiking back up the highway to the garage, and see how the progress is coming along. I think I will stay in Reno tonight, then Carson City tomorrow! then camping in lake Tahoe for a night or two! in the mountains for the week is nice! then i will head back to the big Manteca ( its probably the most comfortable, easy going town ive been and its very central!)...then Fresno and south down the coast...

So I really want to head east through the south states and towards the East Coast by the end of November... Wanting to head back to Ontario too and Visit Pops for a while - maybe look into some schools?
Well will update in a couple days.

Adam

Day 19: Happy Thanksgiving - Or Columbia day here in the States!

Here is a F-ing huge Pine Cone (fist saw one at the Crescent City Info Center, then Found One myself)- there are hundreds at the top of a mountain I hiked - White pine? i need to research - weighs about 5-6LBS! Would knock you out if hit you in the head! amazing...(Below)

So Im here in Manteca again, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone back home (who actually reads this haha) wish i could be with friends/Fam for a big "turkey dinner"! miss you guys! -



i was here friday night and hung out - went to Bass Pro Outdoor World, looked at all the millions of hunting, fishing equip,  jerky machines, meat grinders and a huge customer BBQ mmmmm. That store is huge! massive indoor waterfall with aquarium, and a pretty good camping section. I got a really good tent while there! Its a Eureka "Zeus Classic" 2 person tent - super fast to set up, and a tomb shape.. haha i have to admit that my old tent was only $20 at a grocery store, and that the interior length was 5'11"... and I'm around 6'1" ish... so ya i was super happy when I drove to The base of Yosemite on Sat and set up my new 7' tent and could stretch!!! haha. The camp site was 3400 ft Elevation - the climb up the desertous moutain was unreal! 8 miles just winding up, up, up and the lookout view was nice, all the hills up there are golden! It doesnt look like it has rained in 2 months or so... but the fields and hills are sparse with trees and it is relativly warm here, about 22degrees right now, and maybe 6 at night? Not sure what its like in Courtenay/P-dot right now but im betting cooler! There are still all the leaves on the trees, starting to fall. when I got to the campground "Pine Valley" its actually at the perimeter of the Yosemite Park, but the extent of driving up has started to take a toll on my little engine... lol so i stoped before i got the the "Yosemite village"... I really want to spend some time up there its just i dont want to burn my little car out getting there! I might find a road at a south pass when i go to Death Valley, just south of Yosemite. I stayed in "Big Oak Flats" mountain range, and when i got to the Gates, there was a sign that read " Beware Rattle snakes, and MOUNTAIN LIONS!" (don't hike alone).... oooops.

Found some convincing Mountain Lion "Poopy" ya then i decided to head back to camp lol as the sign said don't bend down - may look like 4 legged prey, with go for neck.... uhhhh... haha its exciting to be where theres creatures that you have to be careful of - not like back home where its stray cats, squirrels and seaguls....

       As i headed east towards the Park, I passed thousands and thousands of acres of crops - First Almond trees! so dusty and dry!! then Walnuts... then Strawberries... then i saw about 8 double dump trucks just overfilled with tomatoes, prob those really cheap ones you get for like $.80/Lb at walmart or something, but theres just so much abundance of fruit/veg here - Its wierd to eat a Cal fruit and have it finally be "local" haha. I took some pics, I will post them here tomorrow morning prob. Thinking of heading to fresno for a day or two!

ADAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!