Disappointment to Ecstasy! Barstow, CA to Trinidad CA

It did not take us long to see that Barstow, CA was one hell of a disappointment. Doris asked me why I planned on a multi day stop in that town, I replied that I heard of Barstow in a Sheryl Crow song. She must of too had been saddened by the state of disarray that town has suffered. The downtown area was contained mostly long ago vacated stores. Many of the residents appeared down on their luck. A lot of transients too. Didn't have a warm and fuzzy safe feeling there. On a positive note, we did find a good Chinese restaurant and a drive in movie theater. We did go to the drive in twice and had a good time there. Tequila got bored very quickly there. Apparently she is not a fan of the Fast and Furious films. There was an Army base about 35 miles away and we took a drive there to check out the commissary and exchange. They had good deals on fish and we loaded up on Alaskan Cod and Salmon (fresh).

Street art in Barstow, California

Drive in Movie screen

Rock art outside Army Base

After a couple of days we both eagerly left Barstow for Gilroy, California. Gilroy is known as the Garlic Capitol of the US. As soon as you enter the town, you can smell the garlic crops. The town had an abundant supply of fresh fruit, vegetable, and anything garlic. The scenery in the area was absolutely beautiful. We took day trips to Santa Cruz (rainy day walk) and Monterey California Nice bike riding). Enjoyed this part of California. The only issue is so does everyone else making the area extremely congested. Driving was  hectic at time, but we managed to make it without a scratch.

After a few days in Gilroy, we headed for Lockport, California. I understood that the Redwoods were there, but was mistaken. I wondered by the area was called Redwood County. Oh well, we at least started to see the California wine country. Good thing we no longer drink, for there was wine tasting galore there. We visited the City of 10,000 Buddhas and ate at a purist vegetarian restaurant. The food was fantastic even though there was no meat included in any of the dishes we ordered. We walked the grounds including the temple and attended daily chanting by the believers. It was very interesting. Got to see a lot of Peacocks including a couple that spread their tail feathers for us. Lockport was pretty much a laid back place for us.

On our way to Trinidad, CA! Trinidad is a small town situated on the coast of northern California. We  had to take a detour around a road that was closed due to a mud slide. California had experienced record rainfall and a lot of the coastal road have suffered slides either from hillsides of parts of the road dropping off into the Pacific. We had to leave a day earlier from Gilroy and drive an addition 100 miles to detour around it. The detour took us up, around, down some treacherous road including around one mud slide. Pretty hectic driving. We did make it to Trinidad safe and sound. It rained 3 out of the 4 days we had in Trinidad, but every day was fantastic. A beautiful part of California is the northern coast. We hike the rim trail in Patrick Point State Park and in the Redwood State Park. The Redwood hike was over 12 miles and the most beautiful hike we ever experienced. Just when you think the Grand Canyon hike were fantastic, the Redwood blew it away. Maybe is was the lack of people. We only seen three people on the Redwood hike. Doris now wants to move here. She is just so much in love with this part of the US.

We leave for Oregon tomorrow morning and have one section of bad coastal road to travel on. After that it should be smooth sailing. My niece Paula lives in Salem Oregon and we will be camping about 7 miles from her house. Looking forward to that visit, for it had been many years since we seen each other.

Until the next Update! Adios!