By Land and Sea to Berkeley, Big Sur and Back.

IncorpoRatedX

Explorer
This report is a few weeks old now. we've been on the road for the better part of the month and we're just getting settled back into our tiny-house in the southwest. If we back up two months, I got a call from a friend asking if I was interested in a transportation job. When I moved to the southwest I put the word out that I was interested in moving vehicles around the west coast for people at reasonable rates, I've wanted to see more of the west coast so it seemed like a win-win. This was the first time a call for a good one came in though. Phoenix to Berkeley to deliver a retired built rig to a guy that wanted to transfer the great parts from the trail worn rig onto his clean chassis. I loaded the cargo in the east valley and hit the road for Prescott, our first stop on the trip and extremely important; lunch. We stopped at The Raven Cafe had some decent sandwiches, somehow the barista made a Mocha with 4 shots of espresso accidentally and asked if I wanted it. My powerstroke diesel wasnt the only thing rattling as it left town... :coffeedrink: On our walk back to the convoy we came across a very nice Bridal outlet;

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Fueled up and off toward Chino Valley for a scenic drive up to 40, head west, through kingman, a dip under barstow and up to bakersfield where some BLM land was waiting for us in the Dead Mountains.

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The next morning, up early and heading into town there wasnt any sign of life around the Dead Mountains except for one lonely crow that flew 20 feet in front of us, soaring up and looking back at us to make sure we continued to follow him until we reached what I assumed was the edge of his town, he perched on a pole and watched us pass. It was quite enjoyable. We stopped in a historically decorated area of route 66 and had breakfast at one of the greasy spoons, then onward to interstate 5 and the long jaunt to Oakland.

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When we started into the bay from the eastern side, the hills became huge, rolling and green. The bay area received a lot of rain in the weeks prior to our visit and everything was green. Later we learned this was a rare and special event, all the locals were excited, the drought had left most of these hills brown or golden for most of the year.

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By the time the bay was visible the sun was coming down and the fog was starting to roll in. We cruised up 580 through Oakland and Berkeley, on to Richmond where we dropped the truck off, got a couple recommendations and a place to park our trailer, unhooked and rolled into downtown berkeley on a friday night for dinner. We walked the streets and did a little shopping, got some great curry, then cruised back to our friend's place to see how the truck was coming along. We came back to find it mostly stripped already, he works fast.

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A couple of local guys that I knew came by, one of them in a truck I had rescued a year prior from sitting in a warehouse for 6 years with it's engine out. I got it back up and running and eventually he flew down on new years day to drive it home, he took a more scenic route into the winter weather up through Reno and into Oakland than I did.
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Having been on the road all day I was ready to settle in, so we made our way down to the Berkeley Marina where we had a spot reserved for our van. Parked near the facilities and settled in to the gentle sound of the bay moving boats around. We woke to see there's a nice meadow across from the marina. No sign that you're in an actual city.
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The next post will be our time in Berkeley
 
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IncorpoRatedX

Explorer
I should probably clarify that this is a bit of an urban expedition. I've spent limited time on the west coast so I'm just scratching the surface of urban and natural exploration.

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I didn't really know what to expect waking up in Berkeley, but I rose to green grass and a cool bay breeze. We crossed into downtown berkeley and stopped at a hipster coffee shop, got our morning caffeine and went back to our van to enjoy it, a young guy stood in the parking lot playing a violin with two dogs at his feet. For some reason in that moment I thought that's exactly what I should expect in Berkeley. Once properly caffeinated we cruised up to Richmond to meet our friend, one of my other hobbies is old japanese cars and that's something he's into as well. I got the chance to check out his old Z and what interested me more, his 1.6 liter powered, 4 speed Mitsubishi Station wagon. If you're not into JNC's you can skip this part, but this car interested me because I've got a 73 I modified with a turbo twin cam engine, a 75 that's got a truck engine and a 79 with all the luxuries of air and cruise. I've had a 1.6 powered car before and it was never enough get up and go for me to feel comfortable using it in any demanding environment (ie: the hills and highways of Berkeley and surrounding bay area) his however was equipped with a hot cam and header, carb dialed in quite nicely and it ripped, even with four adults and a dog. We started the drive going up Marin Ave, which is a steep climb like any other in san francisco, this one taking you straight up to the top of Grizzly Peak that overlooks the entire bay area. Winding through the woods behind where UC berkeley keeps their hyena's and out to the trail entrances for the grizzly peak trail.

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We parked the wagon and spent the morning hiking through the wooded trails above the bay. Around lunch we resurfaced and discussed what to eat. Our friend did a quick mental planning for the trip and off we ripped into the redwoods;

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Once we left the redwood areas, the hills became blanketed in green as we got closer to Walnut Creek,

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we stopped for lunch, packed back up and our friends took us to a small bay side town they'll be getting married in. We walked to the beach and then down the shore for a bit while the dog ran around. Then ran up north to see some of the old industry from the area for some exploring.

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By the end of that the sun was setting and we enjoyed watching it fade away as we parted ways with our friends, from there we found our way to a coffee shop to snag a quick one before returning to the shop to check on the guys. When we got to the coffee shop they were having live music, so we stuck around for a little while and listened

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After the sun was gone and the air started to get cool we headed back down toward richmond, to the remains of a neighborhood and a secure storage facility near the rail road tracks... under a bridge. In the dark we heard power tools and saw a soft glow from the very back, upon approaching, it looked as criminal as one could want to look, but rest assured, it was all on the level.

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By the end of the night the remains of the truck were strapped to my trailer and the title in my hand, ready to scrap the beat body...

My next post will be about our second day spent in the little red wagon and our plans to go out on the water.
 
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calicamper

Expedition Leader
My hood. We sail out of Richmond YC, live about 2 miles as the Crow flies from your Berkeley hills hike. Glad you could enjoy the Bay!

Lots of live aboards in Berkeley Marina, your violin player was probably a marina resident. Cool place down there. Goid mix of working boats and colorful boaters.
 

IncorpoRatedX

Explorer
Our second morning in Berkeley started early, fog was heavy in the area and it rained at some point in the early morning. We met with our friends and waited for the windows to defog on the wagon. Once it was up to operating temps we embarked to the headlands. Stopping at the military batteries, we explored the area and the ruins of the base.

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The edge is a straight drop to a sandy beach, even with the fog the visibility was quite far.

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After some more scenic driving we came to a tunnel that took us down to the coast in Sausalito, then on to Marin city and finally the hunger for lunch was setting in. Our friends knew of a local spot with a bunch of food trucks, so we went for it. The food was great and it was a relaxing sunday but our friends had been with us most of the weekend and when you live in a city like berkley, every minute counts, so we parted ways so they could get back to their lives and we found our own way back into the hills of walnut creek and surrounding areas. We popped down to the Berkeley Bowl to stock up on food for our upcoming coastal road trip and got a couple of sandwhiches for dinner. Then it was our turn to drive up Marin Ave to the top of Grizzly peak, we sat watching the sun set as we ate dinner.

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The perfect end to the weekend, the next morning we would be taking off by boat to see the bay area.
 
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IncorpoRatedX

Explorer
Well, that was embarrassing. Thanks auto-correct. Thanks for pointing it out politely.

The beauty of having a vehicle converted to living space becomes clear when you start to get into the groove of staying in your rig. Waking up early monday morning after a few days in the van, it felt like we had started to get into a groove and our time from wake up to mobile was quite short. We just converted our van not long ago and it's still a work in progress but things are feeling more like home in there every day. We were ready for the water pretty quick with extra clothes and winter hats in the boat our friend built, powered by a 9.3 liter Detroit Diesel.
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Pretty soon we approached the Golden Gate. From below this bridge is tough to comprehend. I took photos, videos, they just dont show what i saw. I was momentarily overwhelmed, large man-made structures have always amazed and slightly terrified me.

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When I finally looked around I noticed another ship coming into the bay. I hadn't seen much for boat traffic that morning aside from us. The boat coming in was pretty big to me, a 905 foot vessel slowly approaching the bay. Our friend recognized it and remarked that it was a regular in the bay. We cruised around for hours, he showed us San Francisco from the water, it was a blast. By the time we got back it was nearing lunch so we ventured off in search of something to eat. After lunch we hooked up the trailer and took the remains of the chassis to scrap. $18 I think we got for it, then we went out on our own to explore the area. After driving from memory to some of the areas our friends had taken us to and eventually ending up on Grizzly Peak again to watch the sunset. Something about that peak worked out well for us to take in the sunset and easily make our way back to the marina. I decided to drive down Marin Ave this time and put the van in 1st and let the 7.3 do most of the work. It coasted down much slower than I expected, slow enough to stay smooth. The area of Berkeley, Richmond, Oakland and surrounding was easy to get to know. Years ago on a cross country one-way road trip with a newly acquired 73 Mitsubishi wagon, I stopped in San Francisco and spent the day working in a friends driveway, by sunset I was finished and he took me out exploring. Since then I had been trying to get back up to see him and explore more, we found a spot to get sushi and sake that evening. After catching up over food we drove around the area at night for a bit then decided to explore campus and nearby shops by foot, someone offered us weed, someone else asked for money, another lady announced that she was married to some important prince of some kind. Seems the entire coast has a lot of homeless by choice or chance folks. Most of them didnt fit the stereotypical description of homeless and I wondered how many of them got to where they were by way of reading 'On the Road' and giving things a go. I was probably just trying to keep my mind off the reality of the situation. Eventually he took us to some hole in the wall shop with new to me iced drinks, they were delicious but the type of drink escapes me, things were a little fuzzy at this point and we were ready for bed so we made our way back to the van and settled in for the night.

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The next post we fuel up and head for Big Sur...
 

IncorpoRatedX

Explorer
If you're like me and you're a productive person, the kind that feels guilty when they're not productive, you'll understand the conflict I had waking up in the bay area after only a few days and knowing I was about to fuel up and hit the road towards home. I was anxious to get moving but also thinking it seemed too soon, ultimately the curiosity I have for the coast and the fond memories I have cruising down it a few years ago in our 75 got me in gear...

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We loaded some parts onto my otherwise empty trailer and departed over the San Mateo bridge and wound our way to the coast. Soon it was ocean breeze and clear skies. We found ourselves stopping often to take in the views.


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Eventually we ended up in Santa Cruz for lunch. A bit of downtown navigating with the van and we parked to cool off for a bit then walked around downtown until we found somewhere to eat. Santa Cruz has a strange feel to it, a lot like the the cities north of the bay had, but a little less hectic. We eventually got back on the road, our destination unknown and our hopes to be able to park the van somewhere with an ocean view, utterly unplanned in a beautiful california coastal spring... Our chances of finding anywhere weren't looking good right out of the gate. I had been calling the national parks campsite booking number to see if any of the coastal parks had room, especially in the big sur area. Eventually things were looking like I would need to truck it down to Morro bay in order to be in much of a legit campsite. Despite this not surprising and yet discouraging news I decided to just cold call it and hit all the camp grounds along the way. We stopped at a few along big sur and found a spot with a few open sites. Good news but it was a short stop for the day so we decided to go forward. Eventually we hit McWay falls and it was nearing sunset. Working on the idea that we could drive back after sunset we headed out for the hike. It was a great view like everyone says, full of people and cameras on tripods.

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We made our way through and slipped into a secluded area with just as spectacular views. Still on trail but lesser known. By the time we were done exploring the sun was still an hour from down, being from michigan we know what it's like to be at the coast on sunset. It can really drag things out and we enjoyed it as we kept cruising south. Eventually we entered Limekiln state park and a sign for the Kirk Creek Campground was up, my maps showed it being closed but it seemed worth the risk at the time. After our fun around McWay falls I was getting a bit tired and would love to stop rather than double back. When we pulled in I pointed the lights at the registration board and hopped out, from the looks of the campground, it was full. I figured we were out of luck because there were no self register tickets out, not even a pen. So I started back to the van, barely over the rattle of the 7.3 I heard a woman's voice 'sir, are you looking for a site?' I spun around so fast I almost spun all the way around. The woman was the ranger, she said someone left early and If I wanted to back my van in, I would probably get a great view at sunrise. So I paid, jumped up and down in thanks, hopped in my loud cabin and rolled down to the lower level of the park. It was too dark to see anything but the sound of the ocean was loud enough that I knew we had something good going on. I backed my trailer in and unhooked, then backed the van as far as I could before it got off the level. Unpacked some snacks, laid around for an hour reading and listening to the ocean and then turned down the lights as we drifted off. The next morning.... well....

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The ocean air was warm and dry, the sky turned purple. I sat on a cliff over the ocean relaxing and stretching. I dunno how we lucked out, but we did. What perplexes me even more is how we managed to leave... I could've sat there for the whole day. But we wanted to see the Elephant Seals and cruise the coast while the traffic was low.
 

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