SLOW SALLY & CREW

The famous saying goes, when life gives you lemon, make lemonade. Well, there were lemons aplenty in San Luis Obispo (SLO).

We were under no illusions that vanlife on the California coast would be easy, but we did have certain expectations of SLO. Namely that it would welcome us with sunny skies, warmish weather, less tourists than other parts of the coast, and accordingly, more affordable prices. Oh boy, were we in for a surprise.

We spent much of our time in San Luis Obispo adapting, pivoting, and adjusting our expectations (i.e. making lemonade!). In this post, we’ll share with you the lemons, the lemonade, and whether it was all worth it.

Snow in the Mountains & Landslides on Highway 1

The decision to visit San Luis Obispo was in and of itself an attempt to make the best of a less-than-ideal situation, as it wasn’t along our original route. From the Alabama Hills, we had planned to make our way high up into the Sierra Nevada to marvel at some of the world’s largest trees in Sequoia National Forest, and then descend to the Pacific Coast Highway (Hwy 1) at Big Sur to start our coastal adventure. Just days before we arrived in the area, well over a foot of snow fell in the Sierra Nevada, temperatures plummeted, and several miles of Highway 1 around Big Sur closed indefinitely as parts of it slid into the ocean. Mother Nature was not on our side: it was time for a new plan.

A New Pin On The Map: San Luis Obispo

We opted to avoid the Mother Nature’s wrath in favour of a new destination: San Luis Obispo. The tourism website boasted a perfect Mediterranean climate year-round, a charming downtown with a well preserved Spanish Mission, abundant hiking, and proximity to the ocean. We were sold and we steered Sally southwest toward our newest destination.

Crazy Expensive Parking

We entered the city with high expectations and were already impressed with the streetscapes when we pulled over to park. After fumbling briefly with the parking app, I discovered that metered parking was $4/ hour, every hour, with no maximum limit. What?! That would have been fine for a couple of hours, but for the day it would cost $32 USD ($43 CDN). Ouch! The parking structures had more reasonable daily rates, but RVs were prohibited, and Sally was too tall for the height restriction. We expected to pay for parking in downtown SLO, but we didn’t expect to stumble into the most complicated, and unreasonably priced parking scenario we had every encountered. The reality of van travel on the California coast was beginning to sink in.

We drove in circles downtown along 1-way streets, trying desperately to find a solution to our parking dilemma. Just as Marc was about to pull out all his hair, we discovered a trailhead on the edge of town, with free parking. It seemed too good to be true and we scoured the parking lot for signs with rules about use and length of stay… nothing – success! What a score.

Unique Urban Exploring

We left Sally at the trailhead and spent the day exploring SLO. The weather was pleasant and we enjoyed the historic architecture, cafes and shops as much as the tourism website had predicted. Gum Alley was one of the most unique attractions… fascinating, disgusting, but an irresistible photo op. I’m ashamed to admit that the alley looked a lot like the back of my childhood bedpost. One of our favourite finds was the Novo Restaurant’s dog-friendly patio. The food was delicious, the patio was picturesque, and we had an excellent view of the creek below. With each good experience in town, our parking frustrations dissipated.

Complicated Camping

Much of the camping in and around SLO was very expensive, but I thought I had found some reasonable, affordable alternatives. Here’s how that went:

TV Tower Road

We chose to spend our first night in the free dispersed camping area along TV Tower Road, just 15 minutes out of SLO. As we climbed TV Tower Road, it turned to gravel and became worryingly steep and windy. Our GPS indicated that we were almost at our destination when we encountered a short but incredibly steep, rutted hill. Sally, our van, was not made for this terrain; perhaps I should have read the iOverlander description a little more carefully. Oops! Never one to shy away from a challenge, Sally burst up the hill with a surprising amount of gusto, cresting it while bouncing wildly, and eventually settling victoriously on top. Phew!

The parking area was much smaller and more sloped than we had expected, but it was too late, too dark, and too foggy to hunt for alternatives. We levelled Sally and tried to relax while an endless number of dirt bikes, 4×4 trucks and vehicles of all other types used the space beside us as a turn-around point. Several cars bottomed out on their way down the aforementioned steep hill, filling us with worry for our morning departure.

When we awoke, the parking area was peaceful, the fog had lifted, and the views toward SLO were magnificent. This was what I had in mind when I chose the spot! We enjoyed our breakfast with a view but before long, the skies turned cloudy, the temperature dropped, and it started to pour. Worried about the slippery, muddy descent and the forecast for snow at higher elevations (yes, snow!), we decided to escape back to town while we still could. I began to question the tourism board’s claim about a mediterranean climate, and ponder whether it snows in the mediterranean.

El Chorro Regional Park

Safely down the treacherous TV Tower Road, we ran some rainy day errands and then drove to nearby El Chorro Regional Park. The weekday rate was $31 USD, which sounded reasonable for a night in a real campground. We arrived in the pouring rain to discover that it was still Spring break in California and that the holiday rate was $41 USD per night… plus a $4/night dog fee, plus a coin operated shower… so all told, $47 USD (well over $60 CDN) for a primitive campsite. Argh.

I eased my frustration by drinking tea and eating chocolate, a good solution to most first world problems. We made the best of our stay by hiking and taking Walter to the dog park between rain and hail storms (does it hail in the Mediterranean?), and getting caught up with admin, blogging and showers when the skies opened up.

Un-Mediterranean Weather

We had high expectations of the weather in SLO and on the Central Coast. We pictured sunny beach days, surfers, and I personally expected to wear shorts and sandals. We quickly learned that the weather on the California coast is wildly unpredictable, even in Spring, and that we’d have to suck it up and adjust our expectations.

On our last day in SLO, we bundled up in our puffy jackets, drove to the coast and did our best to explore the trails and beaches between rain showers. Our persistence paid off and we even managed to find some sunny skies. It was our first view of the coastal landscape and we were in awe of its beauty and ruggedness. It was even more spectacular than we had imagined. The mansions that lined the coastline were also mind-blowing; seriously pretentious but decidedly impressive. We capped off the day at Avila Beach, which is dog-friendly after 4:00 pm. We arrived at 3:40 pm, which gave us a perfect excuse to eat ice cream cones at Reimer’s Ice Cream before playing on the beach.

Was It All Worth It?

Turning lemons into lemonade isn’t easy and all the pivoting, adapting, and adjusting our expectations to make the best of SLO felt like hard work. However, I do think it was worth it. Exploring the quaint downtown, hiking along the rugged coast, and watching a family of seals snooze just off the shore were experiences we won’t soon forget, and they far outweigh the inconveniences of complicated parking, less-than-ideal camping choices, expensive everything, and cold, wet weather.

Stay Tuned

From SLO, we began our journey north toward 2 of California’s most charming beach towns. The forecast was calling for pleasant sunny weather and our planned campground sounded ideal. Was our luck on the coast about to change? We’ll tell you all about it, in the next post.