Sherrie & Tim

From-the-road.com

Sherrie and I have been together for over 30 years, married 26 and counting. We raised 6 children. The children have given us 9 grandchildren. I spent over thirty years working for Walt Disney World, now retired to a dream life of comfort as we enter our golden age. Our goal has been to see as much as we can. During the time we were raising our family and spending so much time working, this was the era for us to let go and join those who have retired and set their goals to accomplish their bucket list items.

Our journeys have taken us to the West Coast twice last year. We traveled across the USA to Forks, Washington, early in the spring.

As the new year approaches, our sights are set to roll out to Alaska by May 2026.

Sherrie and I have learned the #road life. Last year, we rolled over 20k miles on the road, seeing places we never thought we would ever be. I have taken thousands of pictures, reminding us of the memories of the thousands of miles we’ve traveled.

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The morning we rolled up to the Pacific Ocean.

Only a few sample photos of where we finally found a legal spot to pull over on the US 1 Pacific Coast Highway.

It was one am when we finally reached the west coast, Pacific side. Somehow, this one escaped us until I reflected on it. Perhaps because we were new at RVing or just so worn from the drive, we had no plan but to find anywhere we could be legal and safe. At one a.m., we drove north on the PCH for about thirty miles. We turned back to Santa Cruz down the PCH again; it was dark, foggy, and cool, with ocean air blowing west to east. The waves made sounds I’d never heard the ocean make before: the water crashed on the rocks and cliff sides below, making a hollow, echoing roar with a swish, fading with another crash before the first faded. Over and over, Sherrie, we have to find a place to stop. She had been quietly on the computer navigation system, satellite-driven, of course. She said in the dark to me as I eased down the PCH, “Slow down a bit, there’s something on the right coming up.” “What did I reply?” she told me she was looking over a mapping of the roads database from the Road Trippers app, and she said, “You’ve passed this already, northbound.” “Past what?” I said again.

“Ok, in about a mile on the ocean side, there is a gravel pull-off, no restrictions, and it is public domain,” she was eager to locate it. With the old dim headlights that we decided to run to California with, barely lit up the road, unlike the ones we use now. She kept her eye on the map, saying slow, slow, slow. I was down to 20 mph by now, no traffic, no cars, just sky, the cliffs, and ocean with the roaring. I somehow felt this may be it.

Pull over, she shouted. Here, I said. here? But there’s no road, it’s a gravel pull off, she exclaimed, ” Yes, that’s right, stop now, or we’ll have to turn around again.” So I slowed and eased the rig off the west side of the southbound highway. At almost two am, just rolling up to the first time ever visit to the Pacific Ocean left me with a sense of someone pinch me.

As I got out to examine the pullover, it began to look legitimate. It was not a very isolated place to park, but it worked; there was no traffic on the road when there was a truck passing in the night, whizzing by. It reminds me of the night we spent in Death Valley’s desert watch, approaching lights from far away.

I secured the parking spot, then shut the rig off. We were on all internal power and sustenance now. We had enough to hold us over for about three days before we had to think of replenishing sustainment.

Do keep in mind that this was our first trip to the Pacific Ocean together. Sherrie was born in Santa Cruz and had spent time with her family. So this was my first visit here, and made the trip even more exciting.

So, a set of photos of the first camp in California. The three nights we spent on the PCH.

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