Mojave, Morro Bay & Coastal Highway, CA (3/5 & 6/2020)

Before leaving Mojave, I went out for sunset into the wind farm. Since the wind usually dies down in the evening, there is very little blade movement.

My drive to Morro Bay on the Pacific coast took me through beautiful hills and mountains, as well as agricultural areas that I also consider attractive.  There were some vegetables, but mostly citrus, other fruits and a lot of almonds.  The almond groves extend for miles in each direction.  This time of year the trees are in flower, making a beautiful field of white.  I'm sorry to say there are no photos, since there are few places along the route to pull over and those are usually at unattractive spots.

One photo op did present itself, a cutout of former movie star James Dean that commemorates the place where he died.  Younger readers may have never heard of Dean, who was 24 when he died.  He had already starred in three major movies, but had also begun a career as a race car driver. In fact, he was driving his Porsche to a race when he collided with a car turning left in front of him.  He never had to pay the fine for the speeding ticket he had gotten earlier that day.

The town of Morro Bay is named for Morro Rock that guards the entrance to the bay.  At one time the rock was completely surrounded by water, but now has an earthen causeway filled in by the tides, so it is possible to drive out to the rock.  Lots of surfers park there to put their boards in.  The rock is much larger than it appears in my photo, since I got low to include some foreground flowers.

My first full day on the coast, I drove up Highway 1, known as the Coastal Highway.  It is narrow, winding, and in some places steep.  At times it is barely above sea level, at others it drops hundreds of feet to the ocean below.  There are great views of the coast at times, at others there are mountains on both sides.  My plan is not to drive it in the motor home, but to have a base camp and explore north and south in the LRJ.  The first trip was north for 60 miles, then return.  Here are some of the photos from that trip.

At one stop, I was standing near the ocean when I heard the most raucous bellow, unlike any I'd heard before.  I turned to see an elephant seal sticking his head above water.  Then I saw another resting on the beach.  It was surprising to see them here because the elephant seal rookery is about seven miles south.  I learned these animals are loners, especially  the males (the ones with the large noses).

 Walking back to the LRJ, I liked the way the clouds looked above the hills, as well as the blooms on the ice plant that grows all over the coast.

It was disappointing that the Piedras Blancas Lighthouse does not have tours this time of year, so a telephoto shot of it was the best I could do.

When I arrived at the seal rookery, I first noticed some wildflowers growing on the cliff side.  Then I began noticing all the seals, almost entirely female or juvenile, lying on the sand or playing in the shallow water.  I learned the seals stay far offshore for 3-4 months at a time.  Males in one area, females in another.  Starting in December, they come ashore for breeding season, when they neither eat nor drink.  The males engage in brutal, bloody fights for breeding rights.  They all come and go individually.  Coming ashore is difficult for them, having to move by awkward flops.  After three or four flops, they need to rest before restarting the slow progression up the beach.

Accustomed to the cold, deep waters of the Pacific, they flip sand on their bodies to keep cool.  With no food to provide energy they sleep a lot, often close to each other.  Occasionally one makes a shrieking noise and adjusts its position away from one that's too close.

About 25,000 seals use this stretch of beach, not all at once.  The remaining 225,000 population goes somewhere else to breed.  Males can be as large as 16 feet in length and weigh up to 5000 pounds.  They are able to dive to extreme depths and feed on almost any marine life small enough to swallow.