Pacific Coast Highway

Mission San Carlos Borromedo del Rio Carmelo

Well, we spent the morning waiting for a repairman. Our bathroom sink had sprung a leak a few days ago, and since we were back to civilization, this was good day for a repair. After an hour’s work and $184 we were ready to set off, a little after noon. Our first stop was the Mission San Carlos Borromedo del Rio Carmelo. This was the second of the California missions, founded by Father Junipero Serra in 1771. His tomb can be found here, along with some of the original timbers from his coffin. When we visited, they had a lot of the church under scaffolding as they try to earthquake proof the building. The bell tower, of Moorish design once held 9 bells. The mission came under state control in 1846 and fell into disrepair, until 1884 when restoration work began, but real repair work starting 1931. Today, the courtyard is largely restored, a new school sits next to the mission, it was declared a basilica in 1961, and Pope John Paul II paid a visit to the Basilica in 1987.

            From here we began the 123 mile Pacific Coast Highway (California 1) with all its twists and turns, ups and downs, bridges and steep drops off the shoulders. I had hoped to make a few stops, particularly at Point Lobos State Reserve and Pfeiffer State Park for some short walks, but both parks didn’t allow trailers and since we were running late anyway, we continued on. Of course, this didn’t stop us from seeing many fantastic views of the Big Sur country with the waves crashing into the rocks. The day was crystal clear so the sights were awesome. Unfortunately, we had to fill up with gas at one of the most isolated gas stations, I’ve ever seen – we broke our record for gas again, $6.69/gallon. Needless to say, I’d didn’t fill up, but got enough to make it to San Luis Obisco where gas would be about $4.20/gallon. As we approached San Simeon in late afternoon, we came upon a beach with 100’s of Elephant seals, resting on the beach. Mary started taking a movie of them, and we thought this would be like watching hippos, very little movement between lots of resting, but they were more active than that and she got some good shots of 2 males sparring. We camped for the night at San Simeon State Park, a large campground just a few miles from the Hearst Castle.