We departed Pismo Beach and made way for Carpinteria. Our travel south took us through the town of Solvang, which was created in 1911 by a bunch of Danish-Americans hoping to recreate some of the homeland in their new environs. The town is vaguely Scandinavian in a Disney-esque kind of way, but the pastries are spot on. Or so we later heard from our neighbors at the next RV campground who were visiting from Denmark. We didn’t have room following our lunch at The Red Viking, where we enjoyed traditional fare of sausages and plenty of cabbage.
Needing to stretch our legs and promote digestion before jumping back into Davista, we strolled about town and checked out a few stores. Our very own Red Viking favored us with a photo shoot:
On our way down to Carpinteria, Flight and I were fondly recalling some of our favorite scenes from episodes of Psych. The TV show had been set in Santa Barbara and, having never seen the town in person, I was curious to see how much I might recognize. And it was close to nothing. I have since learned that Santa Barbara wanted no part of that show and so the town was pseudo-recreated in British Columbia for filming. No wonder I liked the town so much on the little screen…
Our arrival at the campsite was spectacular, in the truest sense of the word spectacle. Flight already self-reported complacency in the recaging-his-gyro exercise, but he neglected to mention my role in the Captain Crunch episode. Our SOP for setting up camp had evolved into our collectively scouting a place to disconnect the Subaru, having us both jump out and decouple the car (after setting the parking brake – forgot that once or twice…), and then I jump into the car and follow Flight in Davista to the site. I park the Subaru out of the way, pop out of the car, and would serve as a guide to help Flight coax Davista into the spot and stop in the most advantageous location, taking into account: access to the girls’ bikes on the back; distance to the electrical outlets, fresh water source, and sewage ports (if available); space for the port side slide to expand; and, if possible, room for the enormous awning to unfurl on the starboard side.
Just after we pulled into the campground, we disconnected the Toad as usual and I found an out of the way place to park the Subaru as Flight maneuvered Davista to back in. I, too, was complacent and for the first time ever stayed in the car while Flight was docking Davista. “Flight’s got this…” I thought, as he so often had before. When I saw where he was headed in the next point of his 17-point turn to perfectly back in (it was reeaaaaaaaaaally tight), I realized he couldn’t see through the roof. By the time I bounded out of the car and hollered “STOP!”, my warning came too late. Tree – 1, Davista – 0.
I did not take any pictures of Davista’s gaping head wound, deferring to Flight’s comfort level as he had been at the controls when said air conditioning modification happened. As soon as Davista was shoehorned into place, I went back inside and offered Flight his choice of duct tape (Firebolt’s pink unicorn or standard silver) and adult beverage (beer or single malt). He opted for the silver to dress Davista’s wound and waited on the single malt until battle damage had been assessed. Keeper and I had planned to make a CostCo run with the intent of procuring a blanket similar to one Grammy and Papa had just purchased there (and he had luxuriated in while we stayed in their driveway) and I further offered to take all three kids with me so he could process (and enjoy some Balvenie). Flight sighed and said rather resignedly, “Thanks, but you and Keeper go. I’ll hang out with the girls.”
One little aside… CostCo has been our primary shopping venue for many years. We actually have a saying in our family, “If CostCo has it, we need it. If CostCo doesn’t have it, we probably don’t need it.” No kidding, we bought our living room and master bedroom furniture at CostCo, as well as other smaller purchases. We typically can’t get out of there without spending a minor fortune. Now, however, we are entirely limited by space and weight and can’t CostCo like we used to, but we did manage to buy Keeper a new blanket and some cheese because you can never have enough cheddar…
We returned to Davista to find Flight in better spirits (maybe having ingested some?), prepared dinner, and planned just to chill on the beach the following day.
Our Columbus Day on the sand amidst the tar deposits was intentionally slow so we could gear up for our upcoming scientific field trips scheduled for the next two days. We had Physics Labs on tap at Six Flags Magic Mountain and a trip to MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration and Innovation. I have to say, roadschooling is pretty awesome and I’ll delve into how that experience has evolved in the next post…