Day 34 Week 5

I have been travelling slowly down the coast towards LA. I spent a good part of the day in the lovely seaside town of Monterey. It was a beautiful day until about 1300hrs when this incredible sea mist rolled in and obscured everything. I mean you couldn’t see 50 metres in front of you and I was about to head down the incredibly scenic Highway 1.  Typical!

Monterey was the place where John Denver was killed when his aircraft crashed in 1997. His family placed a monument on the beach at the location so I had a look at that.

I was having my lunch in the car park at the beach when these squirrels came up for a feed. I couldn’t believe it. They were the tamest squirrels I have ever seen. Although I think I have only ever seen 1 or 2 others and they were in the distance. These would take chicken nuggets right out of your hand. Fantastic.  

Speaking of animals and my expertise in such matters, I have been advised that the moose I saw aren’t moose at all. They're Elk. Don’t ask me what the difference is, they all look like moose to me. I just thought it was a girl moose without horns. LOL. I did see a Buzzard sitting in a tree eating something today. (I think it was a buzzard)

Highway 1 was an adventure in itself. It is a bench road cut into the side of the cliffs and runs for a couple of hundred miles from San Francisco to LA. It is incredibly tight and in some spots there are no barricades between me and the drop to the ocean rocks, hundreds of feet below. I would be amazed if people haven’t plummeted to their doom. I was heading south so I was on the cliff edge side the whole time. I was crawling along and had to let the locals by many times. They just hammer it around the bends and think nothing of the cliffs they are on.  Anyway, the fog eventually lifted and the view was spectacular. It didn’t last though. Around the next bend the fog was back, and then it lifted, and then it was back, and then it lifted. I did get to see some of the coast so that was ok.

Bench road of doom

Fogs back. Great view!

I got to see what I can confirm are Elephant Seals. (I read the sign). They are everywhere around here. The seals that is...  Every stretch of beach had them lying around sleeping. Brilliant!

I just got some good news. My mate David from Arizona, where I started this whole adventure, is going to be just north of San Diego on Sunday with another mate, Cornelius. So I will head on down there and catch up with them before I leave on Tuesday.