9. San Simeon to Paso Robles.
Paso Robles - that ol' west town, turned more wine country in the current epoch. The area is excellent for stellar wines, due to it's cool nights and hot days. Called Paso by the locals, or the visitors who know that.
We had driven up to the mudslides from the south; well - to the barricades anyway. There was a forest service road from near there on Highway 1 over to the other side near Paso, or to connect with another forest road back to Highway 1 north of the slide area closure. But while we could see such indicators on Google Maps, we weren't certain of, 1-how slow would be such a road, 2-how windy or narrow (not that we were too worried about that, having already tested Lil' Queeny out in her four-wheeling abilities), and 3- which road was it, out of all the spaghetti strings on the map?
The local guy we met at the barricades had already informed us about the "Must Have" Lucia Fish and Chips in Lucia up north of the slide! To die for! Not sure that was his words, but that was our take-away.
Now you can't never tell what a recommendation is fully based on - it CAN be due to simply a good memory on the part of the recommend-er. See, he would bike to past there on the coastal highway from San Simeon area (or where ever he was local from on the south side) and those Fish and Chips might have been nothing more than "acceptable" on a day he was famished, and had just had the best ride of his life! Hard to know. I have memories like that myself. Why I could tell you about this neat little joint with the best Heart-Attack burgers! But I won't - 'cause I went back a second time. Big mistake.
But the Fish and Chips went onto our list of things to check out. However, just as he was starting to explain about the short-cut over the mountain (CW's Black Bear Road starting playing in my head), a construction truck was heading out and we had to move quick. We gave our farewells to all and just kept driving - back south to Ragged Point.
So on the day we drove inland to go around the slides, it was just as easy to drive from camp, down past San Simeon and through Cambria, then eastbound over the mountains. What a beautiful drive too!
I think I recall vineyards on the west slopes, but maybe not. After cresting the top though, vineyards were popping up all over, all the way down to Paso, and apparently they are even MORE plentiful east of Paso - as dedmiston has already recommended!
On the way up the mountain we came across another roadside seller, and pulled into a short climbing driveway to a large turnaround and parking area.
DW went directly into the really cool and unique (and very long-term) self-serve stand, while I looked around and caught eyes with a fella way back in the back-yard area, sitting in a golf-cart. He drove up real friendly like.
While DW look over the goods, I chatted with the elderly gentleman, a proud multi-generational land-man named Karl - in his early nineties! What a pleasant visit! In fact, it was Karl who told me about the Santa Maria's being the sweetest strawberries (the ones we bought in Oceano). Whereas everybody thinks those up in Watsonville (near Monterey I think, or the Bay Area) are the best. Not according to Karl - or me. No - me and him? We are kind of particular about such things.
What looked like Karl's DGS, was a young man driving around on the tractor and serving us a bit unobtrusively so as not to interrupt his grandfather's conversation with the nice people. A great little joint.
His chickens even seemed to like us right fine too!
I don't remember what all we bought, but DW would. Avacados, and tangelos, and eggs-es, and stuff. It was fantastic, and we ate on it for a while again.
Didn't need wood, but they have it!
Then it was back to the road, over the top on Highway 46 from near Cambria to near Paso.
It was such a fine day, and beautiful country to drive through.
We pulled into Paso Robles (I think pronounced Robe-lez, and I think Pass-oh), found a fuel stop and fueled. Then we located (on our GPS) the destination - which was our reserved overnight spot - the Paso Robles RV Ranch RV Park, just off Highway 101 to the north.
But before we got there, we located an auto parts store (O'Reilly - because I had already bought a battery at one of those in another trip and had researched, chosen and successfully used their brand for cheap vs quality cost/benefit analysis battery in the TT). Yes, it seems our 6 year old marine battery enlisted from the boat, had reached the end of its life and was starting to display negative attributes, so we wanted replacement before getting closer to the more costly portion of the state.
So I bought and installed the new battery (replacing a group 24 with a 27 - they didn't have a 31, which I had space for), then drove across the street to the grocery store where DW was shopping for restockin'.
It was in the grocery store where we ran across a friendly checker, actually a manager type who was helping checkers get some breaks, and it was SHE who gave us the pronunciation and the road over to Big-Sur recommendation. That road was the Nacimiento-Fergusson, at one point depicted on Google Maps as THE alternate routing around the mudslide closure of Highway 1.
She told us it was partly unpaved, but mostly paved (it turned out to be fully paved), that it was beautiful, that she used to ride it on her bike (motor), and that "we were doing it up right!" Okay good, check! But - fair warning - not for big rigs. We'll talk about it tomorrow.
Off we went to our accommodations, to regroup and do laundry and stuff - the Paso Robles RV Ranch.
This was such a cute little joint. Some full-time residents, many here longer term for wine-country basing. The woman who ran the place had set us up in a great spot up front RIGHT by the laundry. The place was so cool, I had to snap some photos. And did I mention full hookups? $55/night and no reservation charges.
This is the office when you pull in and walk up.
And around back behind the office, set up as kind of a gathering spot, or perhaps more a yard/garden for the on-site owners?
Further back still was an old west street, like maybe for RV Park guests to have a street dance or gatherings of some sort.
It was kind of cool. We like seeing pride of ownership, and while parts of it MIGHT be a bit dated, this place had lots of charm - and it was very quiet, especially during the day. By evening, more of the guests were wandering about. But for us, what with laundry and all, beer-thirty began early, and we chilled in the green grass.
Then it was "Good night!"
