American Gam

“Life’s a beach.” ~ Unknown

Hobson & Rincon. It sounds like one of those campy, police detective shows we used to watch on 80’s TV. Hobson & Rincon: On the case! 👮‍♂️ 👮‍♂️

Hobson Beach and Rincon Beach are both parts of the same heavenly ribbon of sand. Both are located between Carpenteria and Ventura on a beautiful stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway. The drive for us, to tow our camper from one beach site to the other, was exactly one half mile. The distance to the ocean water from our campsites at Hobson & Rincon was about fifty feet. You don’t get much closer. 🌊

The lay of the land here at Rincon, running parallel to each other, is the green Santa Ynez Mountains, then Highway 101, some railroad tracks, the Pacific Coast Highway, the North Ventura County Bike Trail, this line of campers that we’re in, the sandy beach, and finally, the blue Pacific Ocean. 🌊

Laying in bed at night it was hard to tell the difference in sound between the Surfliner passenger trains rolling by and the roar of the ocean rolling in. Both were soothing sounds. 🌊

The Beach Boys sang about the beaches on this coast where we’ve been camping or visiting. They mention Rincon and Malibu in Surfin’ Safari. In Surfin’ U.S.A., they sing about La Jolla, Del Mar, San Onofre, Doheny, Pacific Palisades, the Ventura line and others. Needless to say, there were a lot of surfers, from ages eight to eighty. And those surfing songs, with their infectious beat, have been stuck in my head for months. 🌊

This camping at Hobson & Rincon was different for us because it was dry camping. We hadn’t done a five-day stint where we had no hook-ups for water, sewer or electric. “Like Robinson Caruso as primitive as can be.” 🎶 We brought our own water, 38 gallons, which we had to ration for five days. Flushing the toilet was done conservatively. Electric was the only problem. We had one battery, one solar panel, and two days of thick storm-like clouds. Plus, the battery had completely drained out once in North Carolina so it wouldn’t hold a full charge like it did when new. So… when the CO2 detector went off at three in the morning on the third day we knew we were in trouble. That third day was spent shopping in town. We bought a new portable generator and two new batteries that I banked together so that we never run out of power again. So…that was fun. 🤷‍♂️

Our neighbors at Rincon brought a ladder to access the beach over the storm wall. There are no stairs and the rock walls have the potential to be treacherous. We preferred to use the tunnel that ran under the PCH and under our camper to get us to the beach. 🌊

Kodi made a friend at Hobson. Her name was Pepper. They chased a tennis ball and frolicked in the water until they were drained. They both slept the rest of the day. 🐕‍🦺🐕‍🦺

Despite the clouds, we managed to catch a few of those famous California sunsets. They were gorgeous… ☀️

I hope the sound of the ocean is music to your soul. 🌊

The gam continues…