Stop 43: Pismo Beach / Avila Beach, CA

Our RV park is located right between the 2 towns so it's close to both without being in either. We stayed here last year and were able to reserve the only pull-through site in the place. This year, it wasn't available.

The back-in sites are as difficult to get into as we have ever seen. Fortunately Kristen thought to ask about pulling into our site through the back-in site that is behind us. The woman said that she didn't think that they'd arrived yet and that, if they weren't there, we could pull right through.

Our timing was perfect, we pulled through the site behind us just seconds before its' owners showed up. I'd had to move their table so that we could get close to our utilities. I had to jump out and immediately move it back so that they could get close to their's.

Our first full day: Avila Beach (and Pismo for dinner)

We've visited Pismo many times but only managed to get to Avila on our past couple of visits. It's a nice little town and is much less tacky than Pismo. On our first visit, we found a parking place but all of the restaurants (all 2 of them) were full. On our next visit, we never even found a parking place. This time, we found a parking place, got into a restaurant and, to top things off, it was a beautiful day.

The pier on the main beach. Notice that there is a second pier in the background that is owned by one of the oil companies.

Looking down the coast towards Pismo.

Looking back at the town from the pier.

Looking back at the town from the other side of the pier.

I took this picture from a landing that is under the end of the pier. Large boats moor in the bay and dingy over to this landing.

Some sort of junior lifeguard training was in progress.

More junior lifeguard training (they were really working them).

Running made a nice change of pace for the junior lifeguards.

Later, we headed down to an old favorite, Steamers Restaurant in Pismo, and had an excellent seafood dinner.

The view from our table. The whale count here can't compare to Moss Landing but we saw several breeches as we dined.

We have a funny story - stop here if you don't enjoy sewer cleaning stories. In our travels, we have collected several gadgets that we use to keep our black and grey water tanks clean. We have a device that we use to back-flush the black water tank nearly every time that we empty it. Another device that we don't use nearly as often is a spray wand that goes down the toilet to clean the pipe that connects the toilet to the tank (it can get pretty gross).

The last couple of times that I have used it, it's been like taking a shower and the bathroom has gotten pretty wet (the water wasn't coming from the business end - that would have been really gross - but from somewhere in the vicinity of the handle). It was kind of difficult to assess the problem while the bathroom and I were getting drenched.

Prior to our trip to Avila, I hooked it up, stuck the end in a bucket and turned on the water. The handle, which is supposed to be solid plastic, had somehow developed hundreds of tiny pinholes and was spraying in every direction. It went directly into the dumpster and we made a trip to the local RV supply store to buy the new, improved model. So far, so good.

After we returned to the trailer from Avila, it was time to try the device out. It worked splendidly. The only issue that I had was that I was using a flashlight to monitor my work and it slipped from my hand and fell into the tank. Fortunately, we have tremendous water pressure here. Kristen directed the hose down the toilet while I monitored the clean out (we have a clear section so we can see how clean things are running). Eventually, the flashlight rattled on by and I stopped the water.

Just out of curiosity, I checked the line and found that the flashlight had stopped just short of the sewer. I shook it out and, believe it or not, it was still on. For some reason, Kristen didn't want it any more so I hauled it over to the trash and then washed my hands again and again and again.

Our second full day: Pismo Beach and an afternoon on the beach at Avila

Another beautiful day. We headed over to Pismo early enough to get a good parking place. Our morning walk took us out to the end of the pier and to the far end of the beach and back

The Pismo Pier.

North along the beach. Our walk took us to the far end and back.

South along the beach. Most of the beach down this way is open to off-roading.

Pismo has Junior Lifeguards too.

From the end of the pier, looking North towards Avila Beach.

From the end of the pier, looking back at the town.

Pismo Pier from up the beach.

After lunch back at the trailer we popped over to Avila Beach and sat on the beach for a couple of hours. It was very pleasant and I even went in for a swim. The ocean couldn't have been calmer but the lifeguard stand was still flying a red flag. It seems that a shark had been sighted somewhere along the coast. It didn't seem to be keeping anyone out of the water.
.
Tomorrow, we're off to Simi Valley and a visit with Grant, Melissa and the kids.

-JC-