CAMPERVAN & COASTAL ROAD SOUTH

The Rest Will be told mainly in photographs, for the moment...

Halfmoon Bay is a beautiful fishing town about a half hour south of San Fran, known for it's annual pumpkin festival and great seafood, and more recently a large dark ominous mass of water that exploded on to a graveyard of rocks. The land of  the lost? Yeah we  found it, just beyond the labyrinth dedicated to famous big wave surfer Mark Fu who died there over 10 years before.

I'd been telling Eli from the very beginning of the trip that if we got to Mavericks I was paddling out no matter what. I'd hate to have that regret nagging at me...Eli always replied with "you're completely crazy". haha We checked it and it was 20-25ft  with a wedgie "Little" 15ft reforming peak at mushroom rock. Eli said nothing, but as I suited up to head out I noticed him waxing up his board. I smiled, happy for the company to tackle the half mile paddle and a large unknown wave.

Looking back on it now, surfing mavericks that day is still one of the most significant things in my life.

We got the full experience, caught some giants, and were caught by them; learnt what it felt like to be a rag doll and felt the pure joy of walking back up the beach after 2 hours of Adrenaline.
























After spending a few days amongst the trees with Garret we decided it was time for the Giant of our trip, Mavericks. But in order to get there we'd have to navigate the steep streets of San Francisco. We explored the city of San Fran for a few days finding breathing space from the busy pedestrian streets and the bustle of and in and out burger in the clean lines of sloat beach. We got 2 days of solid 3-4 ft off shore with not many people out. We slept in Ivan, parked snug to the coast a stones throw away from pounding surf.

We then headed south Half moon Bay...


We spent a few days in Bend oregon before heading south to Portland to read books in the largest second hand bookstore in the world. 
From there we headed through the redwood forests of northern california and found our way to Arcarta were a friend of ours Garret lived. Garret studies at Humboldt country university. We found some big trees and some beautifully RUGGED coastline to splash around in. Breaking laws and and documenting it as we went. 

Better to live until you die.



















From Bellingham we headed south, staying with good friends of Eli near Seaside WA. Then further down through Oregon. Plagued with Van-dalisms (problems with our van) the whole way. One of the only things keeping our heads as high as our floating spirits was given to us in a shanty old country town. Our van was having some serious problems with it's radiator...leaking green stuff everywhere... ughhhh. hahaha 

So so we puffed into this old creepy town off the highway and visited a local mechanic for his opinion on our predicament. Eli muttered something about the dudes accent under his breath, unfortunately Eli's Loud at the best of times so the mechanic overheard him and would have nothing more to do with us, as we pulled away we saw him talking to some of his buddy's as if a bounty was being put on our bumper...

Kinda freaked we drove a few blocks over and found another mechanic who said his boss (who was epic with fixing shit) wouldn't be in until the next day. We did NOT want to sleep the night in this "hills have eyes" lookalike town. So we asked him politely to do his best. He was kind decided to take out our thermostat, this way coolant would be constantly let into the engine to keep it cool.We also realised the thermostat had probably stopped working the same year as the berlin wall. 

With our car fixed to the best of Bill's ability we decided to grab some food, Jen brown found a local chinese takeaway place and brought eli and I some KAUKAU. It was good, warm and smelled and tasted stingily of msg. Amongst the greasy noodles and chicken we found some Fortune cookies.

The fortune inside wrapped up our creepy few hours in this town. It brought us an eerie warmth about the future of our cruise via van to the South. So we duct taped it to the dash.

Finally we made it to Bend Oregon and were welcomed by the beautiful company of Bob Jumper and his family. 


























 Thursday December 16th 2010

We arrived in Bellingham after nightfall and with know idea where Jack lived. So we pulled into a holiday Inn, to use their internet to understand exactly how lost we were. It turned out we were less than 5 minutes drive from the house!

We pulled into the driveway puttering and tired, the van was to. Beth and Jack welcomed us in in with a warm blanket and some food. We talked for a while updating them on our rolling adventure before sleep overtook us happy and comfortable for the space we dreamt.

The next morning we worked on our blog and caught up with the outside world, the opportunity kept the netfiend in each of us grinning. Slowly the day took shape and Ivan need tending to, cleaning, repacking and relieving him of old baggage from an owner long past. The clear out gave us allot of free space and a much nicer feel to carriage compartment which was paramount for our peacefulness in long hauls of highway. Jack made us some delicious Burritos before we said our goodbyes and headed to Seattle where a friend a city and Jimmy Hendrix awaited us.



Wednesday, November 3, 2010Stubacca drifts downunder.


Stubacca said his goodbyes today, heading back to his sand box known as Tasmania, it was good having him for our first week of road tripping shenanigans. Tofino wouldn't have been the same without him, and we wish him the best for the future. Ivanlegend is somewhat more spacious and as it putters on down the salty road, the crew can't help but ponder on the departure of one fellow tribesman (stu) and the loss of another (AI).

Arrival in Washington and all things America greeted our shining headlights this evening, following an emotional roller-coaster day of drained batteries, dead alternators and auto-shops. Kicking off the american leg of our endeavor with Sonics' Drive thru, stomach beater burgers; we regretted every bite as we hurried along to a blanket and a roof that awaited us in Bellingham.

New and amazing things seem to happen everyday, the new alternator has made night driving less of a nightmare, with the instigation of headlights that actually work. 

"A van is safe in the garage but that's not what Van's are for"

-tyler


There are no real goodbyes, not between friends.



Tuesday, November 2, 2010
R.I.P Andy Irons


One of the worlds greatest surfers died today. Andy Irons from Maui died today, Nov 2nd in Dallas Texas... :(





Andy Irons, was an incredible waterman, who will be missed by the seas and it's people.
We've lost a great warrior today, one of our own. RIP 

Date: the day Halloween is on...

HALLOWEEN


Halloween in Victoria, was a colourful scene. As always, Eli and I tried to bring some surf culture by representing Dahui; while Jenbrown pyro'd the only female firewomen among a male team. And Stubacca Morphed into a hippy then back into a Morph...
Bewildering? The house the next morning told it's own story.

                                    
                                      




Two days before Haloween we headed off to a party at Jen's friend's house. Dressed as....
Eli- baby
Tyler - Pirate
Jen- Cougar
Stubacca - Camo man

there was  much cheer and beer....pong

02/11/10

TIRED in a cafe.


02/11/10

Found a wave at Long Beach.

We Named this break B.C.Mokes  because there where two islands that looked like Lanikai's Mokoluas



02/11/10

Still Searching.

02/11/10     

Second Day, looking' for Surf.

02/11/10



On the first day we surfed a break we found at south Chesterman's bay, we named it virgins, because it had been so long since we had surfed it was like copulation for the first time.

30/10 2010


We drove all day to hopefully catch the peak of a big swell hitting the island. But we had some complications with the car and had to get a new battery. When we got to Tofino all of the stores where closed when we got there and we couldn't rent gear.





The trip started in whistler, we then went to victoria to pick up Jen and head up to Tofino to find some tasty waves. About half an hour into driving we stopped to check out a view and couldn't start Ivan (the name of our car, we got it from I Van Legend, because the headlights don't really work and we have to be in before dark) we then got a Jump start from an old man named Tony, who we named JUMP START TONY !