You may follow along in our journey by visiting Julie's Journal page. It will include photographs, suggestions, mishap adventures and our experiences on the road and back-country trails.

If you would like to know more about the history of our adventure click here for the history page. How we planned, saved money, chose our equipment and prepared for ten months on the road.

These are some other web sites we found useful and/or have recpical links with.

Pacific Coast Highway
Califorinia, US Route 1

Written by Julie Hackler and Dave Fink

The coast is magnificent, unlike the flat land I'm used to in New Jersey, the shores of California began with rocky cliffs and transformed into rolling hills. The wildflowers were in full bloom in May, which added to the beautiful landscape.

The road itself wasn't too bad. We were being passed by 18-wheelers which seemed to have no trouble. It was slow going at times, averaging 30-40 mph. The curves at times were challenging but not dangerous, we had little difficulty maneuvering the truck and trailer. It might be a little tighter if you have a large RV with a car in tow, but if the 18-wheelers can do it, I don't see why you shouldn't try. The major drawback is there are not many roads that head back east once you begin and turning around may not be worth it. There are turnouts to allow passing but it might be a long while before you find one large enough to turn around. So basically once you begin you're pretty much committed.

The drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco began to get scenic around Morro Bay. Morro Bay is home to Morro Rock which as produced by an ancient volcano. The rock can be seen from the inlet as well as a brief look at the 575-foot rock from Route 1. It's an interesting first stop. We then found that the road brought us through some of the most beautiful coastline I'd ever seen. There are several pull-offs where you can get out and take a photo or take a small hike down to the beach. Two of my favorites were Sand Dollar Beach and Jade Cove. Jade Cove is a pleasant place for a picnic and a stroll along the beach. Sand Dollar Beach is a fee area, but if you park in on of the pullovers and not in the parking lot you can walk to the beach for free - which is what we did. The pullover is located about a mile north of Jade Cove. You can walk down to the beach and look for sand dollars. Some are washed up on shore but mostly have to get your feet wet and dig for them in the water. I collected about two sand dollars and enjoyed the surf and sand, it was a bit breezy but I enjoyed it all the same.

We decided to camp along the Big Sur Coast at the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. It was a very nice campground but at $21 a night for no hookups we thought it a little steep. Thinking back we thought that it would have been better to camp at on eof the pull-offs for free. You do have to watch some are posted no overnight camping. But we saw several others that people were taking advantage of the great view and cheap rate. The State Park had hiking trails that lead you to waterfalls and to the Big Sur River. The State Park is inland so the view is of the trees and Big Sur River. The ocean comes back into view about 15 - 20 miles north.

Just a few words of caution if you plan to travel along Route 1 in California there are not many gas stations along the way. We filled two 5-gallon gas tanks and used them both when we were low on fuel and not sure where the next gas station was. There were some stations that had gas at $2.50 per gallon for 87 octane, if you were desperate. But we were sure glad we had them even if it was only to avoid paying the outrageous prices.

There were several other points of interest along the way, but many charged a fee. Unfortunately we decided to skip them because it would of cost us a fortune. So we picked and chose what ones we wanted to see enough to pay the $5 day-use fee. Garrapata State Park is a good one to see. But most of out journey we kept fee free. The view of the coast and the Bixley Bridge were quite enjoyable. From Monterey the ride cuts inland and we decided to take Route 101 the remainder of the way to San Francisco.

We followed Route 101 through downtown San Francisco and over the Golden Gate Bridge. After the bridge we took an exit that brought us west back to Route 1. The scenery was much of the same but gave us a better view of the ocean. We found it to be less smoggy the further north we went. We stopped at the Point Reyes National Seashore. They had several beaches and picnic areas. A great place for lunch. They also had lighthouse tours but were closed when we were there. The wildflowers were in full bloom and we stopped along the Sea Lion Overlook to hear the Sea Lions bark and look at the wildflowers. They have several trails that bring you through the various landscapes of dunes and forest. We choose to just take a nice scenic drive along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, which brings you through most of the park.

Route 1 them took us off the rocky coast and through several state parks which wanted day fees. We didn't make many stops along this stretch other than a few pull-offs to take a look at the wondrous Pacific Ocean. About 15 miles past Fort Bragg Route 1 joins up with 101 and heads north towards Eureka. Here it comes inland and doesn't show you the ocean again until you get up towards the Redwoods. The Redwood National and State Parks offer their own views of the ocean where the lush Redwood forest meets the water. I look forward to visiting the Redwoods and we both enjoyed the drive that got us here. It was a bit tricky and slow going at times but when time is on your side there is no excuse not to take the long way.