Friday 17th May - Still at Pismo

Spent another day at the Trailer Rally. Admit I’m not into the finer points of refurbishing but have to say I love the colours on the older ones – think they just look so good

 

 

 

 

ok, enough already!

Went out for Lunch with Gary, Lee and their daughter Jami in San Luis Obispo which is a beautiful town but has street art reaching both ends of the spectrum of taste in my humble opinion - one end quite literally.

Apparently the good Burgers of SLO - possibly to try and compete with Beverley Hills - decided to let students decorate Utility Cabinets around town - this one was done by one of Jami's frinds and is - again in my humble opinion - really very good ...

 

 

 The other end of the spectrum is occupied by this....

 

Can you see what it is yet   (sorry Rolf!)    ......

                   yep, bubble/chewing gum.... made my skin creep!

However Jami more than made up for that by introducing me to a Cookie Icecream sandwich ...

 Got to spend a bit more time on the beach with Lee...

One proud mum!

 In the evening just sat around with Lee and Gary’s family eating and drinking and discussing life in general and my trip in particular.

Got talking about the areas I’d been to where the people appeared, without exception, to be odontilogically challenged. Apparently this is not something I imagined but an accepted fact. Bruce, one of Gary’s friend’s, who I hope to meet later this trip refers to such areas as having a high tattoo to tooth ratio – harsh but true. Gary’s brother in law asked me if I knew that the tooth brush was actually invented in that area. Ok, I fell for it and asked how he knew that – “because if it had been invented anywhere else it would have been called a teeth brush!”

I also raised the matter of the strange “street lights” along the route and wondered what they were.

 Well, first of all they are not street lights, they are mission bells!  They are there to mark El Camion Real – heard that tem before, so have I and raved about it didn’t I. Was so excited to be following its path. Except I now know that the phrase El Camion Real means Royal Road – ok, you knew that – and the one I followed in New Mexico was actually El Camion de Tierra Adentro – or the Royal Road of the Interior Lands – now they tell me, in very small print.  Another El Camion Real is celebrated in California and is a loose, in fact apparently a very loose – interpretation of the route - initially just a footpath - begun in 1769 by the Franciscans linking the Mission I’ve mentioned before from San Diego to Sonoma.

The greater portion of El Camino Real is now Highway 101 in California. Over seven hundred miles in length and marked by the unique and picturesque Mission Bell Guideposts and which I followed from LA to Pismo Beach and will then be following all the way through north California. The 101 then drops the fancy tag and continues on through Oregon to Washington State and Seattle. I’ll be following that tomorrow!

And just because I could – I went back to the beach at sunset!