Escape from LA and We See Hearst Castle, Elephants and assorted Wild Life

With some trepidation we left LA hoping that our steed would once again be trustworthy. The sky was overcast and gloom seemed to hang all around us.Slowly we began to regain confidence in the Jag and the weather responded.

Soon we were flying along enjoying the road, scenery, life….

Does that really say 55?? I can’t drive 55!

Oh….

We see hills..

valleys…

and Lompoc I almost forgot about Lompoc. Very long story ask me sometime and I’ll bore you with it. Lompoc is home to …..

Vandenberg Air Force Base. Good ole Vandyland. Brings back memories of how I learned to love the bomb. Never did find the ocean.

On the road again – Oh! I forgot as we were driving through Lompoc the Jag did its thing again as we pulled into a gas station for gas. As I was filling it up a lady said “what a pretty car … Oh its a Jaguar”. I’m thinking for 50 cents I’d give it to ya, lady but she didn’t offer.

Country road..

for Hal…

Guadalupe…

….another for Hal

the back end of a Morris Mini Woody..very cool!! but you would have had to been there.

..San Luis Obispo

A long time ago, some Spanish dude traveled through here on his way to rediscover Monterey Bay, (apparently he had found it once but lost it.) The expedition’s diarist, some other Spanish dude, called it something in Spanish that means a bunch of bears because there was a bunch of bears.

country living…….

…big hill

San Simeon

“I would like to build something upon the hill at San Simeon. I get tired of going up there and camping in tents. I’m getting a little too old for that. I’d like to get something that would be a little more comfortable.” – William Randolph Hearst

Our view of Hearst Castle:

Patty? Patty? Where’s Patty

Sorry couldn’t help myself. By the way, the pic was taken through a telescope.

The Jag? What was wrong you say? From the gas Station in Lompoc (you remember the gas station, right?) we kept going for a few more days and up past San Francisco without incident but then while motoring along at “speed” it did it again. We pulled off on a convenient wide-spot and after “it” ( I wasn’t feeling inclined to be kind) cooled off, I inspected the dealership’s work suspecting something had come adrift, but their work was fine and while wondering how much a tow was going to cost back to civilization I pulled out the electrical plug on the other side of the one the dealership had replaced and lo and behold it was corroded, too. My trusty Swiss Army pocket knife scrapped off the corrosion and off we went. Wonderful people the Swiss. We drove the rest of the way around the country and back home without incident. Just so you know.

Big Sur

Big Sur? Big Sur? What is a Big Sur? Careful, learning ahead: Big Sur is a sparsely populated region of the Central Coast of California where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. The name “Big Sur” is derived from the original Spanish-language “el sur grande”, meaning “the big south”, or from “el país grande del sur”, “the big country of the south”, referring to its location south of the Monterey Peninsula. The terrain offers stunning views, making Big Sur a popular tourist destination. Big Sur’s Cone Peak is the highest coastal mountain in the contiguous 48 states, ascending nearly a mile above sea level, only three miles from the ocean. Told ya.