We decided it would be a great time to join our fellow American Clipper Owners Club
members for a rally in King City at the San Lorenzo Park. The weather forecast
was iffy, but as it turned out, it wasn't too bad. No rain on Friday and
Saturday, a few short showers on Sunday and some heavy rain Sunday night, but it
had stopped by Monday. The park apparently got the campsite reservations a
little messed up so the 30+ Clippers that showed up were scattered around the
park. The place wasn't too big, so we still got to meet everyone and check out
the other rigs. I went hoping to learn a few things, and I did. Got a few
ideas for ways to do things and maybe a modification or two for the
future. Visited Clip Jr. and bought a few things. A couple of nice ACOC
T-shirts, a new faucet for the bathroom, a new American Clipper decal for the
front and new bushings for the windshield wipers which I was told I desperately
needed as they might not make it home in their 
current
condition. I replaced them on the spot and now the wipers work much
better. I was happy to see that our Clipper was among the shinier examples at
the rally. It just seems to make the scrubbing worth while. :) We
met some new friends and had a great time. RVers tend to be on the easy going
friendly side, but when you add to that the common thread of everyone having the
same rig, it makes it much easier to make friends. And I'm happy to report that
at least a few of our new friends are GREAT cooks as evidenced by the offerings
at the potluck breakfasts and dinners. Saturday night we had a catered
dinner. The food was good and the BBQ chicken was the best I've had in a
long time. Almost forgot, we played bingo on Friday night. I was starting to
think they might throw us out after Meghan won 2 games and Kendall won 1.
Out of 7 games, we won 3, talk about lucky. too bad they weren't selling
lottery tickets.
12/29/2000 - 1/1/2001 - The New Years Weekend
We decided to join our next door neighbor and
good friend Robert on a weekend getaway to the bluffs south of Big Sur. I
was sworn to secrecy about the exact location of this little campground, but
it's about 30 miles south of Big Sur. I was concerned about the winding road to
get there as I am still a "Rookie" RV driver. Let's face it,
this thing isn't any kind of sports car. We just took it easy, and the
road has many turnouts and vista spots that I could use when someone was stuck
behind me. The campground had no hookups of any kind, so we had to be a bit
careful with our resources. There were lots of tent campers, so we really felt
like we were living in the lap of luxury.
The weather was perfect. Not just
considering it was the end of December, it was just plain perfect weather for
any time of year. About 75 degrees and not too cold at night either, not
even any fog.
We had a great time visiting and in some cases
just kicking back and relaxing to the sound of the waves crashing on the rocky
shore. We took a couple hikes, Robert and I spent an afternoon climbing
the wrong mountain. It was surely an adventure, and after it was over, it
was fun. But I'm not in a hurry to make that climb again.
We
were witness to spectacular sunsets every night we were there. The clouds were
just right for some good ones. To celebrate the passing of the millennium, we had
a crab feast and watched the sunset from the picnic table. We had a nice campfire
roaring and visited with friends. This was the best New Year celebration I can
remember.
Solvang,
Ca -