Le Sage Riviera RV Park, Grover Beach CA. Tuesday 25th March 2008
What a beautiful day again it is here is Pismo Beach, there is not a breeze in sight at the moment & the sun is shining so we are in short sleeves today again & I can hear the surf but the news does say the wind will come up this afternoon.

The internet is still 'down' in the caravan park so we are going to drive up to Pelican Point Restaurant & park outside to check & send the emails.

We were looking for a supermarket today & came across a Sales Team who were selling motor homes, 5th wheelers & caravans which were parked in the car park of a shopping centre so we had a good look through them & wow they were unreal. We have seen these vehicles driving onto the beach & we had spoken about the size of them, but once you walk inside it is just like a 'small home unit on wheels'.

Both the motor homes & 5th wheelers are all set up with one or some of them had two toilets, showers, leather seats, lounges, table, recliner chairs, two door fridges, microwave, oven & even coffee machines all set up. (This was for the larger ones) You could choose to have double bunks if you wished & they had 'two or three slide outs' to give you more room inside once you have set up for the night.

Some of the 5th wheelers are called "Week End Warriors" & were about 38 foot long & had a section at the back that you store your outdoor toys for example motor bike, quad bike, canoe or whatever you are taking for your trip to play with. There is a glass sliding door to close this section off from the rest of the 5th wheeler & a sealed tail gate which comes down as a ramp to remove the toys. They even had a two double beds above the storage area & TV in this area as well as the main bedroom & lounge room. It is so amazing - the Americans do not forget anything & certainly do know how to finish their workmanship off.

We had two salesmen 'tailing us' & gee they were hard to get rid of & they certainly DID understand Wayne for once as Wayne was asking questions & neither of them asked Wayne to repeat anything that was said, it must have been their sales technique! One salesman asked Wayne if he 'preferred a diesel pusher or a gas pusher'? These are US terminology for diesel & petrol motor.

Yes, we did eventually locate the supermarket.

After this we decided to go to the Pelican Point Restaurant for lunch & this was such a beautiful spot for lunch with the Restaurant perched on a cliff top & we had a great table right next to the window on the cliff edge & we could see right around the coastline with rock outcrops in the ocean in front of us & the seagulls & pigeons were having a great time. I was surprised to see pigeons flying with the seagulls. I had the most beautiful grilled white sea cod & salad & Wayne had beef ribs & chicken which he did enjoy but the rich spicy food played havoc with us later on.

After lunch we walked along the paths which lead through some lovely gardens which had pretty flowers & lead down a slopping pathway to a Gazebo on the edge of another cliff.  It was a great walk & just so beautiful we have been so lucky to have had such unreal weather.

Along the cliff edges where we could see from the sides of the cliff were huge 'concrete pylons' which had been drilled down through, at that time would have been solid ground & further down into solid rock. Over time the side of the cliff  had been eroded over the years & you could now see the pylons & where the dirt had once been. I don't think it was a good idea to build these large structures so close to the cliff edge. It appears at the time of the construction, Engineer's were not engaged in the planning of these huge buildings. A lot of places where we have travelled we have seen the same thing happening on cliff edges, it appears they build just where they feel like it & don't worry about the future erosion. Also at the bottom of one cliff were boulders which looked as though they had been tipped over the edge of the cliff & fallen to the bottom to stop the waves from eroding the bottom beach section.

We then drove down to Oceania Dunes to check out what had been happening down there & there were not many vehicles on the beach but as the wind had now come up there were people who were 'kite surfing' on the ocean & the wind would pick up the kite & pull them along & they would be skiing along on top of the waves. One person in particular was very good & his kite would lift him right out of the water & he would travel in the air for long distances & then come back down to a smooth landing & then keep surfing along the water. This was very exciting to watch & a change from watching the all the other activities on the beach with people getting bogged in their big vehicles.

We then came back to the caravan park & Wayne was a good boy & washed the motor home down & then power went off for about 40 minutes about 4.30 pm & when it came back on the televisions news stations were broadcasting the stories on the 'power outage'.  This is the term they use for the power going off, but they did not know why this happened. It was quite funny as when Wayne was washing the motor home nobody was around & once the power went off people came out of their vans & were asking what had happened & Wayne just kept washing the motor home while people were having conversations on what had happened, it certainly brought them out of their 'hidey holes' they were most likely watching us through their windows. I was a bit worried that Wayne had caused the power blackout spraying the water around the motor home as this is the first time he has used a hose for ages as we have water restrictions at home!

Also on the news was that at Oceania Dunes today a 19 year old boy crashed his 'quad motor bike' on the dunes & is in a 'drug induced' coma in hospital with massive head injures. Apparently three people have been killed on the dunes this year alone & now a person (unsure who he is) is now appealing for the age to ride the quad bikes on the beach be increased as young kids can ride on the beach as there are not any set laws, only that along the beach it is 15 miles per hour & in the sand dunes there is no set limit at all it says only - 'don't drive faster than is safe for existing conditions' & apparently the sand dunes are very big. As I said in my previous email that this is where 'Crusty Demons' stunt motor bike riders make some of their videos.

We have seen three companies loaded up with trailer loads of quad bikes driving down to the beach each day & they drive up to the 'camping & bike riding area' about two miles up the beach & then hire out the quad bikes there. The campers hire the quads & you can also book them at Oceania township & then the hire company will drive you down to the beach in a van.

We were going to hire two quad bikes this morning but decided against it just incase we did some damage to ourselves, I am glad we decided against it now as we didn't want to put the 'Crusty Demons' to shame!