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Our Travel Adventures
Welcome to the Adventures of Larry and Connie Farquhar.
March 2007 Travel Log
03/25/07: San Louis Obispo, CA: Today's moving day. We're moving another whopping 45 miles to review a couple military 
campgrounds. Over the past couple days, we've been exploring the area. While the weather hasn't been great, it didn't
stop us from visiting Morro Bay, and viewing Morro Rock. We enjoyed a picnic lunch watching and feeding the squirrels and Seagulls.
Yesterday, we ventured further up the California coast to San Simeon. We had thought about touring Hearst Castle, but 
at over $30 a person, for 1/4 of the grounds tour ($100 each to see it all), we passed on that. It just wouldn't feel right paying so much money to see rich people flaunt their wealth, getting richer on tourists. The other night, we enjoyed "social hour" with some neighbors at the Army RV park. They recommended a winery and grill along the coast to visit. Connie LOVES her wine, and I struggle to keep her from wanting to visit every winery we pass. We stopped at the Harmony Cellars for her to get a wine tasting fix. She really liked their wine, but we only walked away with one bottle. Nearby, we enjoyed a wonderful seafood platter meal at the Moonstone Beach Bar and Grill. I surprised Connie by driving further up the coast to a beach full of Elephant Seal's. There were over 1000 pups on the beach that were only a couple months old. They sure looked lazy, all spread out in the sun and sleeping. These pups hadn't gone into the water or learned to hunt yet. Currently, they've been weaned and are now living off their fat. They'll soon start exploring the water and learn to hunt. They're born with black skin, which lightens up as they get older. The bulls had already left, which is a good thing. They accidentally trample the pups. The bulls are the seals with the large, elephant looking noses.
Although we got away from the winery with only one bottle, Connie made up for it later in the town of Paso Robles. We learned a long time ago not to buy wine directly from the wineries. Although, Connie feels obligated to buy at least one bottle. The best deals for the same local wine is at Long Drug Stores, or the grocery store. Bottles that sell for $16 at the winery can be found for $5. We left the grocery store with another 4 bottles. The drive through the green covered rolling hills was fun. TONS of little wineries all over the place. Looking at our wine map, there must be over 75 wineries in this area.
03/23/07: San Louis Obispo, CA: Our week was up in Lompoc, so yesterday was a travel day. We moved a whopping 60 miles North to
San Louis Obispo. When we arrived, we found out the weekly Farmers Market was that evening. Connie and I enjoyed browsing the market, watching street entertainment, getting some good deals on fresh veggies, and dinner out. Connie was teasing me, stating she couldn't remember the last time just the two of us went out for dinner. Well.. I couldn't either. Our dinner's out are usually a special occasion when we meet friends. Yesterday was wonderful clear weather. It's foggy this morning, but we plan to do some coastal site-seeing if (when) it clears up.
There's all types of seasonal work available, but this advertisement was a new one to me: "Awesome opportunity for the right person and the right pet!!! Needed for permanent employment: a person or persons with a 1995 or newer RV and a friendly, well trained herding dog to control goose population in a 5-star RV resort in Oregon." Not your normal workamping position.
03/20/07: Vandenberg AFB, Lompoc, CA:We finally got everything repaired and are back on the road. We're very happy for that service contract. When we bought the motor home new, the service contract cost us $3000. The repairs we just had came to $2188, and we paid a $50 deductible. So we still need to get $870 worth of work done to break even. But it's a "Bumper to Bumper" contract and we still have a couple other things that need repair. The contract doesn't expire for another couple years, and we'll be sure to get everything repaired before it expires.
We moved farther North to the town of Lompoc, staying at Vandenberg AFB. It's pretty nice here and is real quiet. This is a pretty part of California. Connie really likes rolling hills covered in green grass. That's all over here, and she's loving it. Connie also has fond memories of "Anderson's Split Pea Soup", which is (was) available at a few special restaurants. Yesterday, we had to visit the small town of Buellton, home of this semi-famous soup. We had a delicious lunch there, and Connie enjoyed her THREE bowls of split pea soup. We then headed into the tourist and scenic town of Solvang. The entire town is Danish and very pretty. We walked all around the town window shopping, and working off some split pea soup. An enjoyable afternoon.
03/14/07: Point Mugu Naval Base, CA: After waiting more than 2 weeks, our parts have finally arrived. We have an appointment to have the 2 front jacks replaced, and an ABS hydraulic module replaced. Hopefully, this gets the faulty brake working. We also hope they get it done quickly, so we can move on down the road. We've enjoyed sitting here, but we're ready for some different scenery. We have to report for training for our Summer jobs in a month. But we really don't have far to go. We're almost there already.
Nothing exciting has happened with us, so there's not much to report. I've been doing a lot of programming and web design, while Connie is knitting her first pair of socks. The first sock came out HUGE and used a roll of yarn. She's learned, and her second sock looks more normal.
03/06/07: Point Mugu Naval Base, CA: WOW! I thought I had updated the website. Guess we're having too much fun sitting around waiting for brake parts. After our week's visit with Connie's parents, we started our trek North. We stopped near Oxnard, CA, at the Point Mugu Naval Base. We had made an appointment near Ventura to have the remaining brake and ABS system repaired. This is the first time we've had major problems since starting to travel full time. Finding a location that would work on our large motor home turned out to be challenge. We finally found a place and had our appointment. Sure enough, they agreed it was a module in the ABS system. While we were here, we also decided to have our front jacks repaired, as they were severely leaking fluid. Connie reminded me that we had a Service Contract that we purchased, when we bought the motorhome. We've never used it, but soon discovered might cover the entire repair bill, minus our $50 deductible. The contract doesn't cover brake pads, rotors, and calipers, so we didn't miss anything on the brake job. But the ABS and jacks ARE covered. Once the RV repair shop determined the problems, we waited 3 days for an adjuster to review the motor home before approving the $2200+ repair bill. He finally showed up yesterday and agreed that was the problem. We're still waiting for approval before the parts are ordered. THEN we still need to wait another week or more for parts before it can get repaired. So we're sitting around working on various hobbies and did a bit of local sightseeing. What a hassle, but it'll be worth it to save the $2200+.
We have a ocean side RV site. When the weather's good, it's real nice. But usually the wind is howling. Luckily, we're not on any set schedule to be in a rush. Our only deadline is to be near Fresno by April 17th. So we still have 5 weeks to take things slowly. Connie started knitting again and made one sock. Being a learning experience, it seemed more stressful than rewarding. Now she's working on the second sock, and it's going much smoother and quicker. I've been busy working on a new website for the Boomers club, and my Military Campgrounds website.
We also recently met new friends, Mike & Kaylyn De Heus, for breakfast. They are planning to purchase an RV and try this full time lifestyle, starting this summer. We appreciate them driving a fair distance to meet us. We were once in their shoes, and did the same thing. We invited a couple traveling full timers to meet, so we could quiz them. It's a major lifestyle change, and perfectly normal to be a bit nervous. Meeting and talking to others doing it helped reassure us. We're getting eager to start our summer work. Partly for the location and the experience, but the recent brake problems took a fair chunk of our savings. We'd like to replace those funds as soon as possible.
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