RV Camping

We have always wanted to go on a RV trip. The want became a reality on the weekend of Apr 12th, 2008. We rented a 32 Feet, 8 Person RV and headed down south on Route 1, to camp in San Simeon State Park.

The main trigger for the trip, so early in the summer was because Sanju and Vaishalli were visiting the bay area with their 18 month old daughter Tanvi and Giri & Fiona were heading back to India first week of May. We all wanted to camp but then with two young children 11 & 18months, with the weather as low as 0 F at night, we took a break from our routine Tent camping and decided on RV camping. Unfortunately Sanju and Family couldn’t make it, as Tanvi was hit by the roseola virus

After a week’s planning and with one family out, the rest of us i.e. Vidya, Venkat, Fiona, Neetu, Giri, Ram & Us, started on Saturday Apr 12 at 7 A.M. Nikki was very excited to see all the activity so early in the morning

The Dosa Accident:
The RV was loaded with all the supplies we needed for two days (and more). We used up all the storage space and the fridge was completely packed, with all sorts of food. As soon as we pulled out of our driveway on to the main street, we heard a loud noise and then saw the Dosa batter strew all across the kitchen. The dosa batter was thrown out of the unlocked fridge when the RV turned. We were shocked! What a mess! Many other things came out of the Fridge too and the door was hanging open telling us that there will be more to come. Giri and Fiona quickly forced the fridge door close, locked it, and clean up the batter-mess on the floor, while the RV was moving, with the balancing act, trying to get a firm footing. We quickly checked all the cabinets to make sure they were fastened, so they were no flying objects. We all laughed at what happened and then we all moaned about the lost Dosa batter. No yummy dosas for breakfast on the RV!

Early Morning Stop at the Liquor Store:
Ram and Neetu, who were in charge of breakfast that day decided to chop some onions and veggies, on the road. That’s when I realized, I had forgotten to pack a knife. We needed a knife, period. Venu, under venkat’s guidance, took an exit hoping to find a convenience store. Our first stop was at seven-eleven, whose good neighbor was the Liquor Store.
While venkat went out to Seven Eleven, we girls decided head to Liquor Store -- to find a knife, of course. The person at the counter was this desi dude; he was ringing up a few drunkards…ooops..customers in the line, while on the phone. Everyone in the liquor store were pleasantly stunned when they saw four Asian girls charging into the liquor store so early in the morning. We made no efforts to hide the fact that we were looking for a knife. All of a sudden, we hear Fiona’s voice addressed to the desi dude at the counter who was already multitasking ( i.e on the phone and ringing up the inebriated customers) asking if they carried a knife. Her voice was kinda shrill and high pitched and it resounded in the small liquor store. I don’t know about others, but it was very unexpected and quiet shocking for me. It felt to me, like Fiona was holding the entire store hostage while pointing the gun at the desi dude. Desi dude’s both cell phone and the jaws dropped (or may be I thought it did), he immediately answered ‘No’ and his shocked expressed quickly turned into ‘Get the hell out of my store’ expression. We waltzed out of the store and declared to everyone that the store didn’t have knife. Venkat didn’t find one either.
Then someone reminded us of the GPS. We headed to the nearest Safeway which was about a mile. We girls warned the men not to use the god given brains to get to Safeway, but to rely solely on the GPS

Just missed:
We spotted Safeway, to our right, while waiting for green light at the traffic signal. A split second after we passed the traffic light, we heard a loud noise from the back of the RV. It felt like somebody hit the RV from behind. Venu pulled over to the curb. A car hit an SUV from the side, right behind our RV. We felt the impact in the RV. It could have easily been us. It was so close. We made sure there was no damage to the RV from the flying metal pieces. After ensuring all was okay, we boarded the RV, with our hearts still beating fast, relived, that we were not involved. The trip would have been such a fiasco, if we were hit instead of the SUV

We bought the knife from Safeway and were on our way

The Tea making:
Once back in the RV all safe, we realized that early morning caffeine was not in yet. Why go to Starbucks, when we could make coffee in our very own RV kitchen. Common sense told us, we shouldn’t be making Tea while RV is in Motion. Well, we let the caffeine sense override our common sense and decided to make Tea.
Let me summarize some (not all) of the challenges to making tea in a moving RV

1. Getting things out of the fridge or the cabinets is the hardest thing. You always run the risk of flying objects (--remember the dosa batter accident)
2. One didn’t have steady footing and upon that, try holding a pot full of tea on the stove.
3. Once the tea starts boiling, you run the risk of spilling hot liquid on either yourself or the fellow RVers.
4. Again , while drinking the hot tea, you run the risk of spilling hot liquid on either yourself or the fellow RVers.

Vidya volunteered. She was very determined to win the Tea making challenge. She successfully made awesome chai! Bravo Vidya! We all sat back in the dining area and enjoyed the tea.
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Ram chopped all the veggies for Upma on the highway. We pulled over to a dead end road for breakfast. Ram & Neeti made us yummy Upma. After hogging like pigs, we continued our trip. Rt 1 is the most beautiful highway, cutting through the hills, running alongside the pacific. All of us sat in dining area enjoying the scenery, chatting, drinking our tea or beer. Yes, Giri and company started working on beer immediately after breakfast

Nikki was having fun in the Car seat. His routine was off; he didn’t have enough sleep, no freedom of movement. Yet, he didn’t complain or whine. He just went with the flow.
Actually, I didn’t hear him cry the whole trip.

Water or Beer:
Vidya started using the empty beer bottles to hold drinking water as I had shopped for water cartons instead of bottles. Water or beer, it all looked the same in the beer bottle. Many of us accidentally drank water thinking it was beer. Once in the mouth, water or beer we gulped it down anyway. But not Giri. Giri , like the most of us, accidentally drank water instead of beer. He went around the RV, with the water in his mouth , saying ‘aghhhhhhhh………’ , like he had…hmm….phenoyle perhaps, before he spit it out in the kitchen sink. He won’t give up beer for water ..ever.

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After several stops at vista points, we pulled over for lunch. Fiona quickly whipped up delicious Vangibath. I’m not a big fan of Vangibath, but this was yummy! And again we hogged like pigs.

In the RV with your family & Friends, facing the extraordinarily beautiful clear blue waters of the pacific, with the beer slowly kicking in, eating the delicious Vangibath …hmmm…joie de vivre!

We stopped at Piedras Blancas to see the elephant seals. I put Nikki on the back carrier and headed out in the scorching heat to see the seals

Elephant seals Piedras Blancas :
Piedras Blancas is popular for elephant seals. From Nov to April, elephant seals come to Piedras Blancas (and to a few other beaches like Año Nuevo) to breed. The males can weight up to 11,000 pounds and the females can weigh up to 2000 pounds. I won’t say watching the big, filthy elephant seals vegging on the shore is a pretty sight but definitely is worth it.
Elephant seals were hunted to extinction for blubber (fat) oil. This oil is second only to sperm oil. What is this oil used for anyways? Well, blubber oil has many uses. It can used to illuminate lamps , wax and also as food.
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After driving on Rt 1 at snail’s pace, we arrived at San Simeon State park in the evening. As the Campground office was closed, we had to look for an unoccupied campground ourselves. There were plenty empty spots and we camped at the one which had ample shade. Campsite was also close to the rest rooms. But not so close to infringe on our privacy. We got our lawn chairs out and sat in the open air while Venu and Ram went out to get some wood.

The beach was just half a mile from the campsite. Right around sunset we went out to the beach. We strolled along the shore, watched the sun go down. It was a wonderful feeling. Cool ocean breeze made us feel fresh. We headed back to the camp with new a zest to enjoy the rest of the evening.

As the camp pit was not set properly for BBQ we decided to cook in the RV instead. All of us huddled over the Camp Fire chatting and singing the night away.

Giri is well know for his imitation songs (False lyrics sung in the original song tune) Here is one of those the false lyrics for the song Chalte Chalte . The humor is just not in the lyrics alone but also in singing.
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Going Going…You remember the song of mine..
Never say good bye to me… Never say good bye to me…

Crying Laughing …just like that…YOU
Keep mur mur murring…
Never say good bye to me… Never say good bye to me…

In the middle middle of the road..
We both get lost away…and this world seems to be…
Jeevan ke yeah dagar..
I willllllllll come back…You keep call call calling….

Never say good bye to me… Never say good bye to me
--

Giri is a wonderful entertainer. Bottom line ‘The party is not a party without Giri.’

It was during one of those weekend meets that we all tried to answer the following question

‘If you had a chance to be someone, for a day, who would you be and why?

Not surprisingly, Giri said he would be clown. And I would bet anything, that he would be a fine one too. I see that when he’s around, we all laugh more than usual.

For the same question Venu said he wanted to be Mother Theresa’s mom. It became a controversy. Let me not get into that now
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It’s true that babies get up in the wee hours. And when Nikki gets up early in the morning, usually Fiona cares for him. After confirming Fiona’s willingness to baby-sit, I hit the bed hoping to get up early so as I intended to stroll on the beach with Nikki. The rest of them played poker until the wee hours.

The next day:
The next day Nikki, Fiona, Neetu and I were up early and set out to stroll on the beach. Nikki was on the back carrier. Weather was cool with beautiful low tide waves. We met many beach combers looking for moonstones, one of whom gave Nikki a moonstone. Fiona also got a quick tutorial on ‘How to find a moonstone?’ from one of the combers and found some herself. We trekked for about 3 miles and took some pictures.

The boys made some eggs and toast. Cleaned up the site and the RV. We also emptied the sewage and filled up some water for our trip back. This time we took Highway 101 instead of route 1. The plan was to tour Hearst castle before heading home. Unfortunately we were unable to procure 8 tickets. While Neetu, Ram, Giri & Fiona went to see the IMAX, the rest of us headed to the RV. Vidya made us yummy masala bath while we dawdled time.

The journey back seemed long. Some of us napped, and then played poker and then the word games.

We reached Dublin at around 7 PM. As quickly gave Nikki a shower while the rest of them unloaded the RV and clean it up. After eating Kuttu Paratha (courtesy of Venkat & Vidya) everyone said adios.
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Nikki was wonderful camper. No Fuss. No high maintenance. I really don’t remember him doing anything, really. The camp night, I didn’t realize how tired he was. He just slept like that in Vidya’s arms. I finally made some milk ,woke him up and fed him. He drank the milk and went back to sleep. So cool!

Looking back, it was one hassle free trip. I had anticipated some fussiness, irritation & Clinginess from Nikki. I was mentally preparing my self all week. What do I do when he throws a fit? What if he doesn’t sleep? What if he doesn’t eat? I got so worked up. Then I took a deep breath and said to myself, he’ll eat when he wants, he’ll sleep when he wants. That’s exactly what he did. He just went with the flow. He would just sit in the car seat and watch us. He would talk when he was spoken to, he would laugh when we all laughed, he would shriek when Fiona shrieked… and so forth.

He was comfortable. He was home. He showed all signs of being a bon vivant!

The whole trip it didn’t even feel like we had a baby on-board. Nikki has given us hope and courage that we can do many more trips as such.

I also saw that he enjoyed nature. When we were strolling along the beach, he would constantly talk gibberish. He would shriek with excitement. Fiona and Nikki quiet frequently look turns shrieking. As matter of fact, it was Fiona who taught him to shriek. And he did that all thru the trip and after.

Venu did an awesome job of maneuvering/driving the RV. Thanks Venu for driving the RV and bring back us home safe. Thanks guys for all the good food and good company. It was a wonderful trip!