My steering workout for the month

We are at Kirk Creek campground, on the Pacific Ocean in Los Padres National Forest (map).

This is one of our very favorite spots on the entire California coastline, at the western terminus of the Nacimiento-Ferguson Road, which starts on the other side of the forest in Fort Hunter-Liggett. We've stayed here many times on our motorcycles, either coming down highway 1 or across the forest, and this is the third time we've been here in Odyssey.

Naturally, the first person we encountered here was the camp host, running out to stop us because "you won't fit." Harumph. We informed him that we'd been here before and that we, not him, would decide whether or not we fit. The Forest Service's own web site even lists the "average" spur here as 44' long.

Of course we had no problem fitting into a space once we found one available -- almost the entire campground is now on the reservation system, and it is no longer possible to just snag a primo waterfront site by driving in without one, such as the space we had three years ago. No matter; the campground is arranged on a hillside, and we have an unobstructed view of the ocean over the tops of the other camp sites and even the restrooms.

The fee is now all the way up to $22 per night here, in part to pay for the services of the private concessionaire that now runs it. We liked the place better back when it was strictly first-come, first-served and the Forest Service ran it themselves. Still, it is very beautiful here, and serene.

We paid for two nights when we arrived, and today I've been getting some more projects done around the house. We also walked down to the "beach" (really a jumble of rocks), and just generally enjoyed hanging out in camp. We had a great drive up from Oceano yesterday, albeit slow once we hit the length-restricted part of the road.

It's easy to see why vehicles longer than 40' are prohibited on this stretch of highway. At just 39.5', we still had to stick across the center line on several of the switchbacks, one of the consequences of doing the route in the northbound direction. Many folks prefer this direction, because the shoulder fronts a rock wall rather than a multiple-hundreds feet drop-off, but the reality is that it is harder to drive. The rock wall means you can never extend past the right edge of the lane, forcing you over the center line in several spots, wherease southbound I know I can swing wide as long as the wheels are left of the fog line. Also, visibility is more restricted on the rock side in right-handers.

We found enough turn-outs to mostly keep to the legal number of cars behind us (California law requires you to turn out when there are five or more vehicles behind you), and the ~25 mph average speed was no problem for us. (Another reason why southbound is an easier drive -- turnouts on that side of the road, many of which are scenic overlooks, outnumber the northbound side by at least ten to one.)

We squeaked out of the 5-Cities Elks Lodge just before the Easter Egg Hunt started; they sprinkled the eggs throughout the campground, and I had visions of having to gingerly slalom Odyssey through gaggles of egg-seeking tots. Apparently, we also just missed reader Lloyd, who was looking for us there right after we left.

Tomorrow we will leave here mid-day and continue north, through Big Sur and into Monterey. There is just one more really tight stretch norh of here. Tomorrow night, we will either be at the Monterey Elks, or Laguna Seca.

Photo by hrtmnstrfr
(no, that's not Sean)