Southern California

TL;DR: Left New York for California, acquired a campervan and named her Phoebe, fixed Phoebe’s plumbing, explored SoCal, survived Death Valley and headed further inland

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When Sarah and I planned our flight out of New York, we quickly discovered flight paths were even more unreliable than usual domestic travel. The most consistent flight was New York to Los Angeles, so this set the first state of the adventure, California. Our route from here was primarily determined by which National Parks re-opened first.

We packed our bags after three and a half incredible years in New York. It was an experience of a lifetime, both personally and professionally. Thank you, New York City, for allowing us to stand on the shoulders of giants.

The drive to JFK airport from the West Village one last time was a strange experience as New York City still grappled with COVID-19. On the plus side — our flight to LA was spacious, and we managed to navigate both airports with all of our belongings without any issues.

Safely in LA, we took ownership of our trusty camper. She was an unknown travel companion to us at the time, so we referred to her as “Big Girl” while we waited for her official name to naturally develop. Eventually, Phoebe the Ford felt right. We quickly discovered she is tough, loyal, has a big heart, and is up for any adventure despite the road surface.

After the first of many stops at Walmart for some essential inventory, we parked up at Long Beach for an early night, excited for the journey ahead of us.

The next day was all about unpacking, a full inventory shop, setting up and getting to know Phoebe. We cleaned Whole Foods out of all their goodies, fixed a freshwater tank leak and headed north up the Californian coastline. Camp for the night was an idyllic spot on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

The next day provided another opportunity to get to know Phoebe’s plumbing as a broken showerhead resulted in a trip to Home Depot (the Bunnings of America) for some materials and tools to replace the hose and unit. I finished the handy work, sans a sausage sizzle unfortunately as they had no idea what I was talking about!

With Phoebe back to full health, we cruised north along the Pacific Coast Highway. The coastline was incredible, almost as good as the bargain we found outside a strawberry farm, an entire box of strawbos for US$15 … ship them in, I said! We parked up for our first swim in the Pacific Ocean at Ventura Beach (and I almost locked Phoebe’s keys inside the camper — a “key” lesson learnt for sure), feeling refreshed, we headed inland for the night in Los Padres National Forest.

After refilling Phoebe’s water at a local windmill, we enjoyed a scenic drive along the coast to Santa Barbara for another refreshing swim. That night’s sleeping spot was the first time I tested Phoebe’s offroad capabilities, which turned out to be much better than Sarah’s nerves! The steep track to camp with drop-offs either side left my love a little worried, but Phoebe was steady as a rock. I also had an ulterior motive showing Sarah what Phoebe was capable of early in the road trip. In the United States, it is legal to camp anywhere in a National Forest, so I planned on getting Phoebe into even more remote spots!

We ventured further north. By this stage, we had established a seamless morning coffee and evening drink and pick routine. We pulled into what would be our last Californian beach for a while and savoured a swim at Pismo Beach, near Santa Maria. Camp for the night was in the mountains, so Phoebe’s offroad skillset was tested again, and she bounced us up to a fantastic spot with an epic sunset for the night.

We put the California coastline in our rearview mirror (figuratively speaking, as I had already removed the mirror to give more forward vision — all it showed was our dining room and kitchen!) East we travelled, pulling in to James Dean’s last stop before he crashed, a now-famous roadhouse. We gathered our next great haul from a roadside market, a bag of oranges and avocados from a local farm. Camp for the night was a dry lake bed at Fossil Falls. The wide-open spaces were also the perfect proving ground for Sarah’s first driving lesson in Phoebe. She was put through her paces by a strict instructor and passed with flying colours I’m happy to report.

We woke with a buzz as by evening we would be parked up outside our first National Park, Death Valley. Before that though, we had our first encounter with a rattlesnake at Fossil Falls, which sent Sarah running and yelling “snake snake snake”! The drive on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada provided some epic scenery, so we left the tarmac and explored the Alabama Hills with Phoebe charting a smooth course. We passed through a ghost town en route to our camp for the night. With a population of less than ten, the ghost town has one of America’s oldest but working post offices and is a remnant of the bygone mining era. A full tank of fuel (or “gas”) for Phoebe at the last point of civilisation was in order before we headed to camp on the outskirts of Death Valley.

Our last morning in California started nice and early as the temperatures in Death Valley would be mid-thirties by 8 am! The adventure through our first National Park was an early highlight of The Grand Tour. The scenery was spectacular — water-sculpted canyons, extinct volcanic craters and beautiful wildflowers filled our vision. Death Valley was punishing, barren, and a place that is driven by extremes. It is the largest national park outside Alaska, holds the record for the hottest recorded temperature of 57°C, is the lowest point in North America at 86m below sea level and is also the driest place. Phoebe handled the scorching condition like a legend, and we exited the vast, intimidating and incredible landscape into Nevada. We drove across the state in the afternoon as more mountains and adventure were calling us (skipping the flashing lights of Las Vegas.) Camp for the night was on the banks of Hoover Dam at Lake Mead. After a very sketchy road into camp, we enjoyed a refreshing swim and well-earned cold beer.

In the morning, our first adventure for the day was getting Phoebe back out the sketchy road into camp. This proved to be her most significant challenge to date on The Grand Tour! So, stay tuned for that and our travels through Arizona in the next blog post…

We hope you and yours are safe and sound, and thanks for reading!