The drive to Paso Robles from Joshua Tree took us through more of the Mojave Desert with rolling hills, winding ORV trails, graffiti painted rocks, old homesteads and small rural communities with vast areas of desert to explore. From Barstow, Hwy 58 took us west to Bakersfield. On the way was more desert and a distance view of the Mojave Air and Space Port with tons of planes parked outside. Turns out this is one of the major airplane boneyards and storage facilities for planes that were grounded due lower flight volumes resulting from the pandemic. Closer to Bakersfield was a valley with sycamore-covered hills and some flat areas with miles of small oil rigs and solar panels. We stopped to play disc golf at City of the Hills in Bakersfield. It was a great little 18-hole course in a neighborhood park and a great break for Ninja and us!
We continued on to Paso Robles driving by more oil rig fields until finally rolling hills with fields of vines came into view…ah, wine country! We pulled into our spot at the Wine Country RV Park – there was a local vineyard behind us, grass for Ninja, water and electricity for Birdie and days of relaxation for us. Since Redding, we’ve been driving, site seeing, staying a night or two and leaving for the next site the next day. Our pace needs to change – this is one of our biggest lessons learned on the trip – we need to stay longer at each location to have some down time. Our days have been filled with sight-seeing and driving – typically only staying at each location for a day or two. Not that we’re complaining – we love our adventuring but decided we need to sloooooow doooooown! That said, we stayed in Paso Robles four nights!
We did simple things – laundry, grocery shopping, naps, blogging. We sat outside and relaxed a lot and took a small walk every day. We were so close to the ocean though and it started calling to us, whispering of blue water glistening in the sun and the low rumble of powerful waves reaching the shore, so we gave in and drove to Pismo Beach and San Louis Obispo to get a glimpse. It was breathtaking. The Oceano Dunes were impressive with miles of white, fine sandy beaches and rolling dunes. Pismo Beach was filled with palm trees, little beach shops and lots of people! We stopped at the Dinosaur Caves Park and walked along the California Coastal Trail with great ocean, cave and cliff views. The park was beautifully landscaped and since it’s late Spring almost all the plants were in blook. We drove a little further down the road and walked most of the Shell Beach Bluff Trail to Pirates Cove Beach.
We made it back to our site that evening in time to make dinner and see the blood moon total lunar eclipse! We’re well rested and excited to begin our ocean view adventure via the iconic Highway 1!
