On Our Way Home    

part 1

The time has come…….we must slowly head north to be home in time for our favorite time of year in Alaska… SPRING!!

After leaving family and friends in Thousand Oaks we headed straight for our favorite beach campsite along the Rincon Parkway just 20 miles away.  As we pulled into site 86 we spotted a beautiful 1967 blue VW beetle belonging to some folks from Phoenix.

Its hard to believe that two baby blue bugs were camped on this same beach. We spent the night listening to the soothing waves and the occasional train.

We are now in a new type of travel mode, one with a schedule. After 5 months of wandering with the freedom of the wind we now are on a more direct course that will take us home to Alaska.

Our  plans include visiting friends along the way and enjoying the coast line as much as possible. Our first stop was to visit with a friend we recently met in Lake Havasu at the Buses at the Bridge VW event. Gert is a retired rocket engineer that has lived in Lompoc for over 35 years.

He has an extensive collection of vintage cars and old VW’s. After a tour of his beautiful home and his warehouse full of cars we enjoyed some great Mexican food with his wife Joyce and several of their local Lompoc friends. Thanks for a great time Gert!

After a night camped along Avila beach we headed across the great San Joaquin valley to the western side of the Sierras.

The drive across the valley was hot and in the mid 80’s but as we climbed up into the western Sierra the wild flowers were fantastic and the hillsides were very green from the recent rains but most importantly…. the temperature cooled. 

Sequoia National park is where our friends Dutch and Tammy live in their beatuifully built custom cabin. Dutch is also now retired from Denali National Park and we spent the day cruising the back roads of the park while he showed us some of his favorite and secret spots along the way.

Being at 7000ft the dogs were ecstatic about the last patches of SNOW!  After living in the desert for 2 months the pups were ready to roll in something cool.

While good for the dogs its bad news for southern Californians. In a normal spring this time of year there would be several feet of snow pack yet to melt. It could be a very smokey summer. 

Next we traveled a little further north to the Mariposa area of the western Sierras where we visited good friends Ed and Patricia. Both are also retired NPS folks from Yosemite NP.  

I met Ed when we traveled to Tanzania together for the International Technical Assistance Program. They have also constructed a beautiful new home in the foothills of the Sierra.

The road to their house was steep but well worth the drive. After a fabulous steak and quiche dinner we reminisced about their recent trip to Alaska. 

From Mariposa we drove into our favorite High Sierra National park… Yosemite. Even though it was spring break we enjoyed great weather as we viewed the fantastic waterfalls and rock faces.

It brought back many a memory of hiking the Pacfic Crest Trail and climbing here in the late 60’s and early 70’s.

Our next post Part 2 will most likely find us driving north on hwy 101 in search of some wild coastline to explore.

Additionally it will include our adventures driving through British Columbia, the Yukon and finally into Alaska.  

Don’t miss our latest video “On The Way Home”  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97XkaI48ats&feature=youtu.be

Keep you posted!