Winding down: day 12

We left Long Beach, CA yesterday afternoon after emotional goodbyes to all our friends from LB and Pasadena. That signified the end of LWOW Part 2 and we commenced LWOW Part 3 with a drive up the coast on highway 1.  It was gorgeous! 

We drove about 3 hours before we camped at a site pretty much on the beach last night at Pismo Beach.  We immediately ran over a little hill to the beach and felt the icy cold water of the Pacific. It will turn your feet into ice cubes! (This is coming from a girl who pretty much only beaches at the Gulf of Mexico.) 

We had a campfire last night for the first time since we started camping over a week ago. All the other places we have camped had fire bans because of how dry it was and the increased risk of forest fires. Thank goodness because we needed it last night! It was very chilly! I keep having to remind myself that it is July. I now totally understand why my friend Kara, a California girl who lives in TN now, always spends most of July back in CA! July is nasty hot in Nashville, so this has been a really nice break for us, weather-wise.

We are starting to wind down-- home is just 6 nights away. We are heading toward SanFrancisco today. We won't quite make it there today, but will get close as we do 17 mile drive, visit Pebble Beach, Monterrey and Carmel. We have two more nights of camping then the rest will be a cabin and hotels (for the first time!) on our two day trek back to Nashville. 

Before we left home 12 days ago, I started a mileage counter. We have kept it running whether on the interstate or driving around towns. 

Our grand total so far on Day 12 is:

Mileage:  2904 miles

Time in car: 58 hours and 1 minute

Average speed: 50 mph