El Refugio

Now this is more like it! Campsites that are well arranged and clean, neighbors who aren't living out of their barely driveable vans.

The system for using the park is an anomaly in California state parks. You drive in, make sure there is a spot, go to the automated kiosk and pay, then put your receipt in the window of your vehicle. You can camp in any unoccupied site. It is so easy I suspect they will come pounding on the door like they did last night to tell me I am in violation of some obscure rule, then drag me out of the camper and set about beating me with nightsticks. They didn't do the last part last night, just the first. Oh, and the camphosts don't look like bikers or bums, but are friendly and helpful. It must be a bureaucratic experiment that has gone well, but they have overlooked in Sacramento.

It is so nice here, just like a Corona beer commercial- palms, crashing surf, flat seas, mild breeze. Here top you can see the oil rigs. I have decided I like them. They look like giant ships, trim at the waterline and with masts and great bowsprits. When the lights come on they look cheery. They represent ingenuity and enterprise, and the restrictions on them make them one of the lowest environmental impact structures on earth.