(11/7/11-11/17/11)
A quick 10 day trip with over 3,000 miles of driving was my first experience with a Sportsmobile, my Sportsmobile. I had three major goals on this trip: pick up my Sportsmobile (Sauk Centre, MN), compete in the Davenport Paddle Surf Classic (Davenport, CA) and get the van checked out at Sportsmobile West (Fresno, CA).
I flew from PDX to MSP on Monday and was picked up at the airport in the Sportsmobile by its owner, Larry. Great guy that had a tough time letting go of the keys to his baby. After a drive out to Sauk Centre, MN to take care of paperwork and get an orientation I hit the road in my new rig. On that first night I drove late into the evening making it into South Dakota and couldn’t find any good pull offs or places to camp out in my new rolling home. I ended up finding a side street, tucked away in a neighborhood alongside a church, in a very small SD town. I tried to keep things low key and fell asleep quickly with the propane furnace keeping the 17deg. night air out of my “bedroom.” I snuck out of town early, but its hard to “sneak” anywhere with the noise that 7.3L Diesel makes!
After some long hours behind the wheel listening to the diesel hum away, with a dead stereo, I realized that I might actually have enough daylight, and only have to make a very minor detour, to see Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse. I quickly ate a late afternoon buffalo burger in the town of Wall, even though nearly all of the famous Wall Drug tourist trap was closed for the season and under construction. I did a quick drive by of Mt. Rushmore and enjoyed some super curvy roads, which honestly would have been more fun
on a motorcycle:) Next up was the Crazy Horse Memorial where I took some time to explore and stretch my legs. This place is majestic, a must see and a place that I look forward to revisiting to follow the progress. I ended up driving late into the night again and found a cool little place alongside the river just SW of Casper, WY to park for the evening. The crisp winter air and clear sky made for some amazing stargazing!
I pushed hard Wednesday in order to make it to dinner with my friend Heather in SLC. I ended up getting into SLC early and visited with some old friends at MSI, cool company I’ve worked for in the past that is still doing really exciting projects. I managed to squeeze in a shower at Heather’s place with her 8 million showerhead super shower quickly cleaning off 3 days of travel grim. After catching up over a nice dinner Heather had to get back to daily life and I hit the road to try my luck at the casinos in Wendover, NV. I planned a quick no limit poker session and then some much needed sleep, but instead played for 8 hours. When you’re unemployed, paying $4+/gal. for fuel, and averaging over $100/hr. profit at the poker table it is really hard to get up and walk away! When the game at Montego Bay broke I hit the hwy. and made it only a few exits before finding a nice little desert pull off to get a few hours shut eye.
Northern Nevada is a big empty desert and takes way too long to cross. I rolled into Reno late in the afternoon on Thursday and went straight to Best Buy to have a new stereo installed, as the factory unit in the van wasn’t working at all at this point. It is so nice to be able to hook my iPhone into the rig and listen to Pandora, pod-casts, and iTunes. I then spent the evening at the poker tables with a small tournament at Harrah’s and a few hours of no limit at the Eldorado. After the long night in Wendover I called it an early night and made it across the CA border before finding a nice little wilderness parking spot. The propane furnace worked hard this night with temps getting down to the low teens.
My goal Friday was to shoot quickly down to the coast and get some time on the water. I hadn’t been in my boat for quite some time and wanted to shake off the rust. I first went down to Santa Cruz to check out Steamers Lane, but it was as stormy as I’d left it during the ’11 Santa Cruz Paddle Fest (Check out the Video). I checked out the event site at Davenport Landing and found much the same conditions. In the end I caught up on some internet, grocery shopped and caught a movie back in Santa Cruz. Finding a spot to boondock with the van in this area of the CA coast is no easy task. I found a spot in Santa Cruz that seemed like a good bet, and was verified when a few other local vehicle dwellers showed up and parked near me. I was worried about there being too much of a crowd, but all was fine and no one bothered us.
Saturday morning I drove up to the Davenport Paddle Surf Classic event site early to get a good parking spot and maybe get in some practice. Didn’t get any practice before the comp, but did get to catch up with a lot of the surf kayak tribe and enjoy a little CA sunshine. I also got as much beta on the waves as possible, as there are some major hazards at this surf spot and I had never surfed there before. The event organizer Geoff let me fill a vacant spot in the IC class and on top of it borrow his IC boat, as I still don’t own one. The surf kayak tribe are such good people! I was super tentative in his shiny Salsa IC boat, a model I had never paddled, at a spot that has a large rock in the middle of the surf zone known to destroy boats. Needless to say my IC scores where pretty low. My HP heat went much better, as I now had a little time on the water at this surf spot, with a 2nd place of 4 in my heat. My boating was done for the day and the comp wrapped up mid afternoon. There was a party/dinner held across the street at Swanton Berry Farm. Everyone ate some amazing Mexican food and enjoyed some cold cervezas while sharing stories of waves caught and the waves that got away. After the dinner it was still early and a small group of us went to the Davenport Roadhouse for some beverages, more food and story telling. Dennis Judson, owner at Adventure Sports Unlimited and organizer of the Santa Cruz Paddle Fest, was nice enough to let me park in front of his house for the night. I slept very soundly that night after a long day.
I knew my comp heat would be early Sunday, but didn’t expect to be in the first heat at 7am. I am NOT a morning person! I managed to pull it together and have some really good rides, as the conditions where quite good early. I again got 2ndin my heat of 4. I couldn’t borrow Geoff’s boat in IC as he was in my heat, and I couldn’t find another boat to borrow, so my IC comp was over. I will get my own IC boat soon and be competitive in this class. As I averaged top 2 in my prelim heats in HP I moved on to semis. I managed to sneak in some hot breakfast burritos, fresh off the Sportsmobile’s stove, for a few competitors and myself between heats. The conditions deteriorated all day to very small sporadic waves. I think I only chased down 2 pathetic
little waves in my semis heat for a 3rd place, with top 2 moving on to finals. The locals put on a show knowing exactly where to find the little waves and what to do with them. Overall it is a really fun comp that I look forward to competing in again. I had little in the way of plans after the comp, as I had to be in Fresno early Tues. at the Sportsmobile West Factory and then back in Portland sometime in the next week or so. I made the general decision to see Monterey, CA and headed in that general direction. I also decided to spend the evening playing poker at a small local card room in Salinas, CA. Played $2/$5 no limit for about 3hrs at the Bankers Card Room with some big profits, and then went in search of a good parking spot for the night. I drove around quite a bit and went to all the wrong areas. Affluent areas are NOT good boondocking locations! It is also much easier to find a spot in an area that you know, and when there is daylight. In the end a Walmart parking lot was home for the night.
Monday morning I drove down to Monterey and tried to get some internet. The local McDonalds was recommended and I bought some cinnamon bites and sat down. If you know me at all I don’t EVER stop at Walmart or McDonalds, so this was a little rough for me. To top it off there was no free internet! I gave up on the internet idea and drove through town. I found a good free parking spot and planned a little jog around town to see all the sights I could without spending any money or burning any more fuel. I’ll be back sometime for the Aquarium and cool local drives that I didn’t get a chance to experience. After spending much of the day in Monterey I hit the road and headed towards Fresno. I ended up gambling for the evening at the Table Mountain Casino and sleeping in the casino parking lot.
Tuesday I spent pretty much the entire day at Sportsmobile West. This is where my rig was originally built and I had them go through all the systems to make sure everything was working properly. I enjoyed great hospitality, free internet, a factory tour, a full van orientation and collected a ton of ideas on how to upgrade my rig:) I had them tighten the pop-top springs, install a new propane detector and install Yakima roof rails. I realized that I was really close to Yosemite National Park and made a plan for a quick drive through the park the next morning. After a long day at the factory I headed up to the Chukshansi Casino for the evening for some food, gambling, and parking lot camping.
I got up really early Wednesday in order to catch the sunrise in Yosemite. I was even lucky enough to make it in and out of the park without paying the entrance fee. I think a National Park Pass will have to be in the budget for 2012! Yosemite is an awe-inspiring place! Ansel Adams is a photographer I greatly admire and it was cool to see his work and the place he shot most of his famous photos. I only gave myself a few hours to drive and hike around experiencing this huge and mystical place. I look forward to spending more time here in the future and getting to do some of the famous hikes. I hit the road by midday, as I was trying to make it back to Portland by Thursday evening to catch the PDXKayaker Film Festival. I made it to the Win-River Casino in Redding, CA before taking a break from the long drive North. I had a tasty mac & cheese dinner and played about 3hrs of no limit poker, doing quite well with just over $500 in winnings. Late in the evening I hit the road and found a good rest area to get a few hours sleep before the final push to Portland.
Early Thursday morning I started the windy and snowy drive through the mountains back into Oregon with a quick stop at the Seven Feathers Casino for some breakfast and a “stop and rob”, a quick $100 bucks in under an hour at the blackjack tables. I pushed on to Portland with some windy and rainy weather greeting me back “home.” I made it in time for the film fest and got to catch up with tons of my WW friends and watch some quality local kayak porn.
It was a quick 10 days on the road, but was full of amazing adventures. I thrive on travel like this and look forward to many more adventures in my new rig. The sad part about coming home was having to sell off my trusty ’98 Volvo V70. Really sad to see her go as we had many great adventures across North America together in the short 3yrs that I owned her.
Summary:
1 Flight (PDX-MSP)
Bought a Sportsmobile!!!
Drove over 3,000 miles in 10 days
Visited 4 Iconic US Locations: Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Monterey, & Yosemite
Had my first IN-N-OUT Burger 🙂
Competed well at the Davenport Paddle Surf Classic
Won $2,038 gambling
Spent $1,824 on Van (Fuel/Service/Parts)
I own a SPORTSMOBILE 🙂
