Heading north, El Capitan and beyond!

After a fond farewell to Wilco and his city, we started our journey north to El Capitan state park. Walking on the highway was a little dangerous, so we opted for the smooth path by the railroad tracks. I felt this was the beginning of our adventure, and both of us felt like Huck Finn walking the line. The scenery was just beautiful, and we walked a few miles on the beach as well. Here are some pictures.....

We call this shot 'Cows in heaven!'  They have life made here with the tall grasses, and even a view of the sea. What more could you ask for? There are huge ranches right on the coast that we had to circumvent as we found out later in our journey. 

We walked into fading light, hoping to find camping at the state park. Many weary miles later we found the campsite only to see a sign saying "No Camping!"  We were hungry and it was pitch black, so we decided we would have to camp there anyway, and leave a note at the ranger station explaining our predicament.  I  had started cooking dinner when a car pulled up and a sweet voice asked, " Excuse me, are you lost?" We explained our situation to her and she said she was the camp host there, and that budget cuts had caused closures in many of the state parks. She graciously gave us a map to her area and told us where to camp safely so we wouldn' t get a ticket. She even unlocked the bathroom for us so we slept well that night after all! Her name is Carolyn.

That morning Reuben made friends with a blue jay, who was quite pushy

 about our sharing our food.

After our night at "El Cap" we walked to the beach to Refugio State Park and found ourselves in a gorgeous little alcove where we rested before what we knew to be a few really tough days.  Once we left Refugio, we had 10 miles of beach to Gaviota State Park with no food buying ability there or for another 22 or 23 miles thereafter.  We rested up and trekked up the gorgeous beach towards Gaviota State Park and found some serious solitude.  We saw our first seal resting on the beach, our first sea otter and a ton of peaceful settings.

About 2 miles after this shot was taken we ran into a secluded stretch of beach where a lot of men congregated and made the place a nude beach.  We obviously didn't take any pictures and didn't chat a lot! ;  )    Here's some video of the seal galloping into the ocean away from scary Reuben and Bethany.  Pardon my inability to aim the camera too well!

There is a large private ranch north of Gaviota State Park called Hollister Ranch.  (Somebody should name a clothing line after such a cool named ranch!)  Then the next 33 miles of coastline is occupied by the Vandenberg Air Force Base.  From what I understand it's the west coast station for US Space command.  Being forced inland forced us to climb high into California's coastal mountains and witness some spectacular lush green hillscapes as we made our way around the ranch and base.  It was beautiful, and not as cold as we anticipated.  

After many miles on Highway 1 we reached Lompoc (pronounced Lom - Poke)  We spent several days tending to my oaky condition before leaving Lompoc to finish our trek around the ranch and base.  Bethany renamed the town Longpoke because we've spent more time there  than in any other place on our journey thus far.  Appropriate.  Somewhere on this long journey I had my first experience with Poison Oak.  A wise woman name Faye Donna McNeil said it best, "Poison oak is no joke, and the itch is..."  I think I'll spare any friend/family/blog readers photos of my horrific itching blister masses and stop talking about poison oak in hopes that by not talking about my itch it wont be prolonged anymore! Bleh!

We've journeyed onward and further inland.   While walking inland we've noticed some oddities that we definitely wouldn't notice behind the wheel.  For example, the road from Gaviota to Lompoc had more dead and dying butterflies smashed by speeding cars than either of us have seen before. We wondered if this road held special significance to the butterfly population as the place to come to die.  How romantic. The road from Vandenburg village to Santa Maria was filled will all kind of gloves. Latex surgical gloves, heavy work gloves, blue rubberized palms, slick leather drivers.... this road no doubt held the same sacred significance for gloves. It was a privilege to witness.

We're eager now as we write this in Guadalupe, to get back to the coast!  Love you all!