Geography in the real world

Maps are wonderful things, treasure troves of information, and for most of my life, my window on the world.  Although in recent years, 24/7 cable news networks and things like Google Earth have provided exciting new glimpses of the planet, most of what I know about it, I learned from maps; and the one thing above all else that I have discovered on this trip is that when it comes to geography, I don't know squat.

I have constantly been surprised by what I've seen, and one of the biggest surprises has been the mountains.  There are more of the them, and in more places, than I ever imagined.  I first noticed this crossing Texas, a place I had always thought to be as flat as Kansas but which seldom is, at least along I-10, and I doubt that I have been out of sight of some mountain or other ever since.

Our journey today started with a short drive to Salinas where we filled up with gas.  We then headed south through the Salinas Valley on four-lane Highway 101.  For the first hour or so, the road was mostly flat, smooth and straight with almost no traffic--the perfect way to ease back into driving the RV.  As the road followed the Salinas River upstream, the valley gradually narrowed and the highway began to climb, first through hills, then full fledged mountains that, once again caught me by surprise.  We finally reached the coast near Pismo Beach, but that lovely, expensive looking town had hardly faded in our rearview mirror when we turned inland for another 30 or 40 mile passage through the Santa Ynez Mountains.  Near the end, the highway squeezes through a canyon that is barely more than a large crack in the mountains and that would have looked right at home in the Canadian Rockies.

From Gaviota, where we returned to the coast once more, to Oxnard, where we have found shelter for the night, 101 is confined to a narrow strip of land between the mountains and the sea that in places leaves room for little else.

The path we have followed today is called the Camino Real.  It is the trail that linked the string of missions built by Spanish friars in the 1700s.  With the exception of the Salinas Valley, which modern irrigation has turned into fabulous farmland, this is still harsh, dry, rugged country with little to recommend it to sensible men.  No wonder the first white men to set up shop here were priests.

My photo of the day:  Self Portrait

Day 115
Monterey, CA to Oxnard, CA

Daily Mileage:  288.5
Total Mileage:  13,660.6