The Phallic Road Trip

Up earlier this morning, making our way up towards San Simeon to see Hearst Castle before heading back south.

We left Monterey yesterday morning and began the trek down through Big Sur and toward Cambria on the south end. However, after driving about 30 miles down Highway 1, we hit a roadblock informing us that wildfires ahead of us had forced the highway to be closed.

It was pretty unfortunate, since that drive was a highlight we had all been looking forward to, but at least we still got to see part of it. We briefly stopped at the River Inn to walk around; Chris and I hung out for a little while down in the cold creek while Justin and John shopped. Afterwards, we turned around, made our way back to Monterey and over to Highway 101, which we took about 125 miles down from Salinas to San Luis Obispo.

We did make one eventful stop in Paso Robles to get our oil changed. After we had told our attendant, George, about our journey, he began sharing stories of the days he hitchhiked all over the country — except to Minnesota: “Why would anyone go to Minnesota?” He then told us about the time his sister hitchhiked from London to Istanbul; though she made sure to get back to London in time, because she got knocked up in Rome and if she made it back, the public health system would cover it.

We all just kind of nodded, not knowing what the hell to say, but appreciated the story.

Getting to San Luis Obispo, we settled into a hotel and made our way to the downtown area for dinner. We have seen a lot of beautiful coastal cities, but for four recent college grads, this one felt like the best fit. Being a college town — home to Cal Poly — we found a good BBQ restaurant, before following the crowds to the Frog & Peach for pints.

We’re about 40 miles south of Hearst Castle, so we have to backtrack a little up Highway 1. Afterwards, we’ll make our way down to Santa Barbara — about 150 miles from the castle — where we’ll meet one of Justin’s friends for dinner. The plan is to stay there for two nights, before making our way to Los Angeles on Friday for a night game between the Dodgers and the Angels.

Today, Chris is sporting his traveling hat found at a drugstore, complete with his newly purchased Hawaiian shirt from Wal-Mart. Should make for some good photo-ops.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 10:51 am and is filed under Background. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.