leaving Carpinteria

I was so wiped last night when I arrived at Carpinteria State Beach. They told me that they were full on the Hike and Bike and I was just crushed, of course it was the 4^th of July and EVERYONE and their brother was out. Fortunately, when we went to double check, there was plenty of space, so I got to tent and sleep for the night. See the 2014/07/04 video for just how bad I looked (not sure what the hell happened to the audio).

Yesterday was definitely California Wildlife Day... I saw enough lizards and some amazing birds, but the large snake sleeping on the path I was on and trying to get around without bothering him, that put me on edge for a bit.

I have been keeping a collection of maps of my routes for later reference, but yesterdays is totally screwed, thanks Google Maps. Some of the bike paths are not listed on Google and when it put me into "Map Editor" I could not make heads or tails out of it, so I did the best I could and made notes for myself.

There was a section of the hiking yesterday that ran on the 101 freeway, fortunately they have a line of K-Rails to separate the traffic from the bike-lanes. Even with them there, a bit unnerving to walk along.

I am trying to do some video a bit each day, I think they are going to get pretty messy, but supposedly that is what people want. Well, if I go to far, forgive me and tell me.

On leaving Buenaventura on the 3^rd, I had a Park Ranger totally screw me up.  As tends to happen when I get to a beach that has camping, I end up walking from one end to the other to check in and often go back to the start to setup. Well at Emma Wood State Beach I get to the far side (it is REALLY far) and it is starting to get dark. I stopped at the kiosk and see that they do have "Hike and Bike", so I ask him about signing in. He tells me that you have to go to the group site and that is all the way at the other end, go out of the park, cross the bridge and then get on the path on the ridge and follow it.

I had just come in that way. So unless he was sending me all the way back to Buenaventura, where Main St ends at the paths, he was full of it. First, there is a kiosk there, it was not manned. I am not walking all the way back there, so I followed it back to the bridge and took the ridge route back up along the trailer camping area and found a great spot to sleep, or so I thought...

What is it with me and ants?

After about an hour, I started feeling like my skin was crawling, when I turned on the light on my phone, I was right in the middle of a swarm of ants, again! Fortunately, I have found a little trick; I have this mosquito repellant that is made from lemon eucalyptus and ants don't seem to like it either. So I sprayed a little around the edge of the tarp and they left me alone for the most part.

Next Segment concerns

I am a touch concerned about the upcoming segment from Mission Santa Barbara to Mission Santa Inez. There are a few routes I can take, but they are all going to take around three-days and I do not really have much in between them. The most direct route has San Marcos Pass Rd connecting them via Lake Cachuma but there is not much in the way of road shoulder and people FLY down that street. The other way is a bit longer, but is pretty barren from what I have heard, I will be pretty on my own for most of it.

Once I pass Mission Santa Ines, I am in uncharted territory for me. I have never been north of Solvang in California so it will be a totally new thing. I have been told that this part of the trip will be beautiful.

Oh well, I find that I am stalling, I need to get my ass in gear. The phone is charged, last nights video is uploaded and the battery unit is well along on its way to being charged. I really should get going and be ready to guerrilla camp this evening. So Ta!

Suddenly all I want to do is take a nap, talk about stalling...

Robert

The West Valley and Santa Susana Pass

OK, lets start with the down side of the last two days...

1. San Fernando Rd from Burbank to Mission Hills
   What a desolate road to walk along.  If you were to call Central Casting and ask for the most boring piece of road in the history of the planet, I suspect San Fernando Road would definitely get a call back. With the right angles, you could cast this street as any lonely highway through the desert.
   
   
2. Devonshire St across the Valley
Mostly residential and mainly middle to upper-middle class, there is just no life to this street and on a warm Valley day, well it could give Dracula a run on it's ability to suck the life out of living beings (of course it may just be that I don't like the Valley, Fer Shuure).

Mission San Fernando Rey de España

I had been to this mission once before, I cannot remember exactly why or when.  I arrived late Sunday evening and it was too late to get my passport stamped so I was going to have to spend the night.

Now tell me just how crazy this is, I actually called LAPD and told them what I was doing and that I needed to crash, where could I go and not be harassed for it. I had a very nice officer that not only offered to pray for the success of my quest, but basically told me that unless someone called to complain, anywhere was pretty much fine.

I asked about the park, unlike other LA Parks, there was no notice about hours and trespassing, so I thought it was worth checking.  He said that unless they had a complaint about something they would not be checking the park, so not only did I find a decent place to crash, but I found a spot with no sprinklers to worry about.  Sore butt was another issue!

In the morning I wanted to clean up before I went to the mission and there was a bathroom in the park to use. Now I have been asked on several cases about sleeping and bathing, so let me tell you that for the most part you can clean up anywhere if you have a washcloth, I do, soap, supplied or your own, and a sink of any kind. What I had not thought about was how to wash my hair; I did not have a cup and trying to use one of my water bottles was a recipe for frustration, so I decided to see if I could fit my big-assed head into this little sink, with a few bumps, bruises and words I am not going to repeat here, I determined I could and managed to de-skunk myself, sadly the question turned out to be, for what.

I went over to the mission and there were two ladies working the desk, one around 18-20 and an older lady who was definitely in charge. I asked if she would stamp my passport and she told me that there was a $5 charge for the museum and then basically threatened to withhold my stamp until I coughed up the money. I just didn't have it on me.

Though this weekend had been an interesting experience with people who were definitely the priests of the temple of money.

On this trip and with the warming weather, I do not take any chances with my water supply.  I keep two one-liter bottles on my pack and when the opportunity comes up to top them off, I do.  Most of the time I ask if I can get water, from fast-food restaurants, 7-Elevens, the occasional liquor store and/or gas stations, basically any place that has a soda dispenser because they most often do have a plain water dispenser (strange, who knew?).

I had a lady at a 7-Eleven tell me it would cost me 75¢ for about 16-ounces and at a small liquor store the gentleman said that the sink does not work, and yet he was drying a plate as I walked in, large industrial kitchen sink in the back of the joint. A few other places just looked at me as if I were speaking a different language.

None of these were huge impositions, so I really did not concern myself with it, but when I got to the mission and this woman tried to extort me for the five-dollars, I just thought (I think out loud), "How commercial."

Starbucks and Santa Susanna Pass

I was about to start the cross out of the valley via the Santa Susana Pass, but since I was not exactly sure how long this would take and my phone needed a charge, I stopped at the local Starbucks, Lassen and Topanga Canyon.

As luck would have it, one of my back-up batteries was taking its dear sweet time to the point I finally decided to just take what charge I had and get going.  Santa Susana Pass has a bit of a reputation for crazed drivers and some of its most remembered guests were the Manson Family while staying on the old Spahn Ranch in 1968, apparently the energy is still there.

I had been talking with some of the staff and what my plan was when Klarissia informed me that there was a bit more danger than I had anticipated and gave me details on where and how far to go to be safe.  She then asked if I would like a ride to someplace that she was sure I could camp the night as she lived in the area. I said sure (what, you thought I was going to say no?).

Here is one of those places where the Universe likes to mess with me.  As I was setting up the tent and getting ready to crash in short order, a young couple came walking toward me and asked what I was up to. I did not get a threatening vibe, so I explained that a friend had recommended the location for a one-night camp. They told me that I was right out in the open and some of the local homeless might mess with me and that it might be better to go behind the treeline.

My experience in such situations over the years is that people tend to get concerned when you look like you are trying to hide, so I tend to be right out in the open and it puts them at ease since nothing sketchy is possible.  We also talked about my trip a little and they decided that I was ok and they would go intercede on my behalf so that no one would mess with me. Cool!

About 15 minutes later, they came by again to inform me that the police would likely be coming by sometime in the morning as the group that lived further back had been given an eviction and tomorrow was the day they would be there to remove them, great...

Well, either the date was off, or I just happened to leave before the police showed up, but I got my first horizontal sleeping done in about a week and I got to use my tent, I like my tent, weird? I also managed to do some dreaming, my first on this trip, not anything I could make sense of, but dreaming none the less.

Ventura and Mission San Buenaventura

So today I am in Ventura and fellow El Camino Walker has opened his home to me for a short respite. I am finding my feet in much better shape than they have been and I have decided to take tomorrow off and continue on to Mission San Buenaventura on Thursday morning.  It is only about six or seven miles away and supposed to be an absolutely lovely walk. Then I start heading up the coast for Santa Barbara and all points north.

I am entering into an interesting phase of the trip.  I have been to Mission Santa Barbara and Mission Santa Inés, in Solvang, but I have never been further north in California than that, all unexplored country for me, a new beginning and a new place. I officially exit the known for the unknown and I am looking forward to it.

See you soon,

Robert