Down the California coast across the country to Te
Trip Start
Oct 06, 2006
1
10
76
Trip End
Sep 14, 2008
South Padre Island,
Texas,
United States
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Well everyone ... sorry for not updating the blog more often, but Internet access isn't just as easy to come by when you're on the road or ... living in the van for that matter. J
Mariela and I made it all the way to South Padre Island, Texas!!! WOW .....! This place looks great! We just got hear about 3 hours ago and that place is sweet! We both really like it and I think we'll stay here for a little while. It's low season right now so prices are very reasonable for an extended stay.
Back to the drive from Cali to Texas ... Take a look at the map to see the way we traveled. I am happy to let you know The VAN made it in one piece all the way to Texas ... huh.... J. Only had to replace 2 tires before they would deteriorate on the road by themselves.
We left Santa Cruz and headed down to Monterey, then along US 1 following the California Coast to Los Osos where we stopped at Marina Chang's (The Kiteboarder Magazine) place to say Hello. From there we continued on to a small town called Solvang which is a cool little Danish village. The next day we stopped in Santa Barbara. Mariela was sitting in the park while she had training over the phone that day with her company. So cool she's got a job she can do over the Internet while we're on the road.
Unfortunately the wind Gods along the California coast weren't on our side so we decided to head east. Driving through L.A. was a nightmare with tons of traffic and seemed like it was taking forever. Avoid it all costs if you're heading that way. Eventually we made it to Palm Springs where we checked into a nice resort to stay for 2 days and relax. From Palm Springs we headed east towards Tucson where we spent the night in Oro Valley. The last leg of the trip was this monster drive all the way from Tucson to Corpus Christi over 1000 miles. I drove until like 3:00 a.m. so we ended taking a 4 hour nap at a rest stop 50 miles north of Corpus Christi where we arrived on Sunday October 15th.
We called our friend Bucky Ashcraft who welcomed us to his apartment along Laguna Madre in Corpus Christi and let us stay there for 3 nights. Bucky is a great guy and super hospitable! Thanks so much for letting us stay at your place. His place is directly on the lagoon and he can kite right out of his house. Look out the window and if there's wind, grab your gear and huck it! Many people dream of living so close to the water, especially flat water that stretches for miles and miles in either direction. When we got there Bucky called up Chris (one of the pro-surfers for REEF) who was out fishing with his buddies on his boat on the lagoon. 30 Minutes later he picked us up in front of the house and we spent several hours cruising Laguna Madre as well as visiting the Gulf to watch the surfers catching a wave or two. Thanks Chris!!! What a great way to see the area from a boat. It was interesting to cruise the lagoon where they have marked waterways for boats to follow because the lagoon is so shallow in most places. The guys took Mariela up onto a bridge to jump off ... take a look at the picture. After the boat ride we went back to Bucky's where the wind had picked up and we got a nice 14m session on flat water in 82 degree water. Buckland rocks! Unfortunately we didn't experience much kiting at "Buckland" except that Sunday afternoon.
Tuesday night we went to have dinner with Bucky and Ryan Riccitelli from The Kiteboarder Magazine. What a cool guy Ryan is! Ryan, nice to meet you! I like the way you think and what you're doing for the kiteboarding community. Keep up the good work and keep telling the truth!
Wednesday Oct. 18th, I got a little session on my 18m but not much more so Mariela and I decided to head 3 hours south to South Padre Island, Texas! Yahooooooooo......! We got here right at Sunset and it looks like that's the place we'll stay much longer. We had a quick look at one of the kiting spots and it looks awesome! Stay tuned over the next couple of days for updates on what kiting is like here in South Padre Island.
Until then ... big HUG from Mariela
Ciao!
Mariela & Philipp
