#lifeofagypsy

I left the southern coast of California exactly two weeks ago now with hopes of cooler temperatures further north. The heat in San Diego was lingering too long for my liking, so I packed the little I own into my van Pearl and hit the road. I have plans to meet up with a few friends along the way, hoping to document this wanderlust lifestyle we live while we caravan far north, hugging the rugged California coastline up into the cold and wet Pacific Northwest.

I stopped in Santa Barbara for the first day. I took a dip in the ocean and collected beautiful sea glass along the shore, I then hopped back on highway 1 and drove about an hour further north until I found a nice quiet rest stop to crash for the night. When I woke up early that morning my van wouldn’t start. Thankfully it was only a loose battery cable, so I made my way up into Santa Cruz where I had some friends arriving from Tahoe, we surfed for a few hours while the sun was still up, took some photos and then said our goodbyes.

I continued up highway 1 as the sun began to set until I began seeing farmland just outside of town. I pulled off the paved road onto dirt and headed east to search for a safe place to park. Two miles down the road I saw a nice pullout big enough for my van to safely sit, I slept well there that night, no noise except a few cars passing in the night. I woke the next morning to the sound of farm workers and tractors, preparing for a hard days work on a berry farm.

From there I made my way up to Pacifica, just south of San Francisco, where I have some good ol’ surfing, hunting, fishing and farming buddies that always treat me like family. The one lives up on the point, where I have a parking spot and access to the waves down below, not to mention gorgeous views as far as the eyes can see, and this time, I had whales greeting me in the bay as I pulled up that day. They stayed and surfaced almost the whole time we were there, about five days. On the second day I was there my friend Laysea came to meet up with me to begin our caravan together. Her pup Koda and her have been traveling in her VW Westfalia van through Arizona, Colorado and Utah for the past few months and decided to head my way for an adventure together. She’s also a surfer and although she didn’t have her board with her, I had an extra. For the next five or so days we took it easy, surfing, reading, relaxing and an occasional day venture down to a secluded beach a few miles away, or one wild night, a huge au pair beach party that we stumbled upon, packed with nannies from all over the world drinking and dancing to the live dj lit by only the light of the moon and the fires scattered along the sand.

We left with grateful hearts from the hospitality we received from our friends in Pacifica, but needed a change. After hearing multiple people tell us wonderful things about Bolinas, located just northwest of San Francisco, we decided to stop and see it for ourselves. We passed the Golden Gate Bridge, stopped and took our touristy shots and then continued up a few miles until the road to Bolinas took us sharp west again, this time through the mountains on a windy and narrow road. The light outside was perfect, so naturally I stopped many times to take photos along the way, finally making it to the top we could now look down and see the stunningly wild coastline below. As we made our way back down towards the water, we passed through quaint little beach towns that reminded me of back home where I grew up in South Africa. Just after passing a colorful swampland lit up by the sun setting, we saw a left that led to Bolinas. There are no signs that lead you into town, as we soon found out most of the locals take them down as soon as they are put back up.