Pacific Coast Roadtrip

From a fan. He thinks it sums up our adventure concisely. He’s right.

That’s IT!! I am not listening to Mexican pop radio ANYMORE!

Beer battered shrimp and fish at Neptune’s Net in Malibu on the beach. I am a happy man today.

Hey guys, we just hit five hundred miles!

Today was a long haul in three segments. We emerged after last night’s shenanigans, packed up, and (after a brief struggle with my starter, which is beginning to develop a lethargy) headed down the 5 from Santa Clarita to Highway 27, Topanga Canyon Boulevard, which took us through some spectacular rural scenery inside LA. In the twists, turns and hills, I learned two things: engine braking and that my truck’s suspension was definitely adjusted for Jaime’s kids to use the truckbed as a moonbounce in its previous life.

We emerged onto Highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, and followed it north through Malibu to Neptune’s Net, a famous emporium of beer-battered almost-anything, recommended to us by Eric (who also joined us last night). Get the shrimp for sure, the calamari and fish were also good. After lunch, we jaywalked across the highway to walk along the cliffs and watch the surfers, a sight which made all of us question or nutritional choices at lunch…

After that, we took a detour to Oxnard for a locksmith. Trouble with Evan’s door was damaging the key, which caused it to stick in the ignition and sometimes prevented him from starting his car. Once he realized what the problem was, he got pretty good at flattening his key out with a tire iron, but the more permanent fix was to get his key duplicated.

While we were there, I tried to get them to re-core the toolbox on my truck. We’ve been using it for tools and cleaning supplies, but the lock is broken. The locksmith was unable to fix it and said I’d need to go back to Craftsman. But for his troubles, I felt compelled to make a token purchase, and happened upon this vintage keyring that is the same age as the truck.

From Oxnard, we set out to Prismo Beach. On the way, we stopped at a roadside vista that looked out over a valley of endless vinyards and fields. It was stunning.

Unfortunately, George spent a lot of that stop trying to figure out why his car died on the highway. It seems the jostling shook his negative battery connector loose. Easily reattached, but still unexpected. Evan and I continued to apply as much elbow grease as we could muster to clean our windows, again. It is steadily improving with each pass, but in late afternoon sun, the remaining permagrime on all the glass gets rather difficult to see through.

After the vista turnoff, we continued on to Dinosaur Cave Park in Prismo Beach. Apparently it got its name for a cave along the waterline that has since collapsed inward, but not before the original owners tried to build a giant concrete dinosaur to attract more tourists. Now it just makes a great place for a killer sunset.

The final segment sent us back up the 101 into Paso Robles, to the Melody Ranch Motel, which is exactly the kind of old-timey accommodations a roadtrip like ours definitely required.

We had a great dinner at the Villa Creek and turned in for the night. Tomorrow is going to be another long day.

I realize we stopped here to get that authentic roadside motel experience. I think we did good. But tell me, does this experience traditionally involve tremendously shitty in-room coffee?

Well that was a little alarming start to the morning. The Alfa was leaking vital fluids at a steady pace. Looked like transmission fluid. Nope, got under it, just washer fluid. I think we’re good to go!

This is. This is just fictionally pretty.

I’m sorry but if some punk kid in a twenty-seven year old four cylinder pickup corners better and faster than you, it’s time to trade in that damn Mustang you’re so fond of for the walker you deserve.

I’m having an acute attack of ‘oh my God, what are we doing?’