Ian Rambles
This part of the Northern California coast feels very different from the rest of the state - and from the rest of the States. A bit run down in a genteel way. Older buildings well maintained but "used". An enclave where the resident population resists change and brash commerce.

Fiona's Journal
A sunnier day today with temperatures up into the mid sixties. Hardly sunbathing weather but warm enough to enjoy the campsite's outside swimming pool. Ian's flight home is booked from Seattle on Sunday morning so, until then. we will continue as planned.

We had a really good brunch at a B&B/Cafe in the village of Elk. It was a pretty wooden house perched at the top of the cliff and surrounded by a beautiful cottage garden looking out across the Pacific Ocean towards Japan. The woman proprietor would have looked and sounded very much at home in Notting Hill or perhaps Totnes – British readers will know what I mean by that and for non Brits, I shan't attempt to explain. All the food was home made, including the bread, and I think many of the salad ingredients and herbs may have come from her garden. Anyway the food was delicious and the coffee really good and we were invited to explore the garden (which we did) and to play the piano if we wished (which we didn't – well I mean we may have wished we could play but we can't so we didn't).

We stopped at a lovely beach afterwards, a steep bank of perfect white sand and masses of drift wood ranging from 30 foot tree trunks to small pieces of wood smoothed off to the shape of pebbles by the action of the sea. I paddled but the water was icy thanks to a cold current that flows down this coast from Alaska so I have no desire to swim here without a wetsuit. Now I know why all those surfing songs refer specifically to Southern California!

Back at the campsite Ian and George cooked supper in the communal outdoor kitchen. They cooked what George insists on calling “A Full English Breakfast” in audible quotation marks and it was exceedingly good. As I washed up afterwards I fell into conversation with one of the camp wardens. It transpired that she and her husband used to live in Las Vegas but, as she phrased it, “Vegas is not any easy place in which to save money”. It gradually emerged that they had got caught up in the gambling habit and lost their home and had finally escaped in their RV with what little they had left to live a frugal retirement working in the KOA campsites in return for their ground rent and utilities and perhaps a little on top. What really got me about this story was that she was such a down to earth, sensible sort of woman. She seemed mildly surprised herself, and rueful, that she had fallen - but not bitter and certainly not blaming anyone else.

Arthur's Log:
Hung around the Koa most of the day updating the website.

This is about the bit of the day that isn't most of the day. We went into town to watch a movie, it was a really nice classic old cinema with huge foot space and one of those pillars out front were you buy your tickets. We watched “Get Smart” which was a good film and made the whole audience (3 other people) laugh.

George's Musings
I sat in the car at the beach and went grumpy. The cinema was good.