Day 20, Monday, October 7th, 2002
Woke up this morning fighting a migraine. Also with second day of major sore throat. Probably all related to stress of traveling so much. Beautiful morning. Mom and I did get down to the beach. She was as interested in the sediment layering as I was. We could hear several seals barking out on a bunch of rocks in the sea. Couldn't see across the Gulf of Santa Catalina to Santa Catalina Island, due primarily to ocean mist.
Eventually watched the second DVD "Replacement Killers" with mom. Then everyone took a nap again. Finally packed up the RV, returned the DVDs and got on the road to San Diego.
California drivers are speed demons. And very impatient. It's ridiculous. Road rage must be a serious problem here. It's worse than I remember in Boston.
We found the De Anza Harbor Resort (RV and Mobile Home Park) with only a 7/10 stress level. Parked the RV, then took Mikey to Fiesta Island, a land mass jutting out into Mission Bay. It is part of Mission Bay Park, but has different dog rules. Everywhere on Fiesta Island dogs rule, and can be off leash. Most of the island is just a mass of dirty sand surrounded by beach which isn't too bad. Not wide, but car free, and safe for loose dogs. If there were dunes on this island, they aren't there now. I would guess that it substitutes for a parking lot, or a renovated landfill. Others using the space included jet skiiers, and 3 paragliders. After a short walk there, we drove around to Dog Beach, a popluar beach on Ocean Beach. This was somewhat better, but the fog had rolled in, so the atmospere was gloomier. There were street people hanging out, and lots of poop, in spite of poop bag posts and trash cans every 50-75 feet. I also worried about the number of pit bulls we might see....
Then went on to a Costco, for replenishment of RV supplies. Back at the RV, mom made us clams in bean sauce with rice. Yummy. Dad had picked up a handful of clams at Fiesta Island, but I was very negative about eating those.....clams are filter feeders and often concentrate toxins......Given that Mission Bay gets lots of run-off from the city of San Diego, I wouldn't eat any local clams.
My car is booked into the Honda dealer for service at 7:30 tomorrow am. The malfunction light went on in Monterey, and even after tightening the gas cap (as instructed in my manual), and 3 more trips, the light is still on......oh, well, we intend to be here at least 3 days, and Pauline is taking some time off work to enjoy with us. Hopefully, we will eventually go the old historic town of San Diego, the Zoo and anything else of interest.
No pics today