cold coastline

After a quick stop to see Dan and Karen, I spent a couple extra hours driving toward the Pacific Ocean. The sun was out and the weather was predicted to stay moderately warm; considering it is December. So, I quickly found the San Simeon State campground I intended to stay at north of Cambria, pitched my tent and went off to enjoy the last few hours of daylight.

Cambria is near the famous Hearst Castle. I have seen television documentaries on this mansion, and my mom had talked about it once or twice when I was younger, so I drove up to the visitor's center and nosed around a bit. The tours were booked up for the evening, so I did not get to visit the actual castle, or see the zebras still roaming the grounds, but I did enjoy the view.

I drove from there to numerous view points on the beaches; watching the sun fall into the Pacific Ocean and talking with a few folks on the way about what they had done on their travels. At one point, I got pulled over by a policeman for going 73 in a 55mph zone. I told him I was watching the sunset and not paying attention to my speed, so after he did a background check and made me promise not to drive so fast and use their pullouts to look at the sunset, he let me off. I drove slowly after that!

In Cambria, I found a grocery store and picked up a couple items to cook for supper. Upon returning to the campground, I couldn't start my stove. I had a fuel leak. I learned out to disassemble my MSR Whisperlite in Antarctica though as part of our Happy Camper, or Snow School course. So, I took the entire works apart, didn't find anything wrong with it, and put it all back together again. It worked then.

I was awfully cold when I crawled into my sleeping bag, but the weather forecast predicted low, 40F degree temperatures. When I woke up the next morning, though, I new why my toes were numb. I had a solid layer of frost on the outside of my tent and frozen condensation on the inside. This wasn't nearly as cold as Laura's overnight at the South Pole, but certainly a bit chilly for someone who was not expecting to freeze!