Day 1: Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz

Not a dull moment! Packed up the RV (overpacked, I might add...) and hit the road. As we headed North we only made it as far as Buellton before our first dog pee break. Just before leaveing Matthew noticed the tire had a lot of steel showing, so we decided to roll the dice and push it to SLO, as we had an appt with our soon to be wedding photographer anyway. Thankfully we made it- the dolphin (our RV) cruised over the first grade going a cool 45 mph, a success in our book! After a really yummy organic farmers market pizza lunch with the photographer and a successful tire fix, we hit the road again. Hwy 101 to and through Salinas was hot and windy, but offered some excitement as the wind ripped off the water heater door on the side of the RV, hurling it back down the freeway at mock flying force, ha ha. We reversed backed to get it and chased it to the center divider. Most entertaining however is Oliver's enthusiasm and vigor for spotting cows and horses on the side of the road, he has Cutty excited about them too, each time they start running around the RV howling, bouncing off the walls and stretching up the sides of the windows at every passing field of cattle. We pulled into Santa Cruz at dusk, the cool breeze and warm air was refreshing compared to the long hot drive. We cruised down to the boardwalk and watched as crowds of people lined up for the big dipper ride! Unfortunately it is summer and we didn't book ahead for a site, which is half the fun of being free to wander, but not so good for no good place to park. We ended up pulling into a nice upscale neighborhood and parked her under a tree, on a severe slope which made for an interesting sleep, but hey I'd call it a successful first leg!