MrGrumpy's long day out

Yesterday MrGrumpy slightly overdid his sunshine quota, his little drive down to Carmel turned into a much longer drive down Highway 1 and the rugged coastline of California past Big Sur and onto Cambria.

Carmel Beach

Carmel was MrGrumpy's favorite place in America so far, really quaint, nice european feeling but most definitely part of rich america, he could tell by just looking and the number of Ferrari he saw.

Ferrari 430

Strangely enough it was not sunny all the time, down the coast there was a fog coming in off the sea, the fog was very localised. When in the fog MrGrumpy felt quite chilly, he even put the windows up a couple of times to keep out the chill winds. MrGrumpy found himself stopping regularly to take in the view and take a couple of photos.
As the drive was longer than expected MrGumpy found he needed to get some gas (for the car), he prodded the sat nav and requested the next gas station, as usual with these devices, it only reports one that have already been passed, "hum", thought MrGrumpy, must have enough to go on a bit longer, he did not want to retrace his route just to get gas. Onward he went, the gauge was reading between 1/4 and E, so given he had already done 220+ miles, should be good for another 35-50. MrGrumpy did come across a gas station, it was a busy tourist stop, but he was surprised that there was no queue for the pumps.

Upon looking at the price, MrGrumpy had a flashback to being in the UK, $5.34 a gallon, "gulp, not filling up here" MrGumpy thought and proceeded to put in $25 worth (which did not take long). Meanwhile MrSqeegee was promptly cleaning the windshield, even though MrGumpy has said it was fine, "doh, suppose I had better tip him" thought MrGrumpy and gave him a $1 coin.
MrGrumpy continued on his way (with a nice clean windshield), by this time the day was rapidly going by, the decision had to be made on how or if to go back to San Jose. MrGrumpy decided that it would be best to return, but he did not want to retrace back up Highway 1, that would take far too long and it was already about 4:30pm. Consulting the SatNav, MrGrumpy found he could continue on towards Hearst Castle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearst_Castle) and then across to Highway 5 and back the quick way.

Seals on the foggy beach

Just before Hearst Castle, MrGrumpy saw another "vista point", it struck him odd that the car park was full because it was very thick fog at this point and had been for several miles, "may as well take a peek" he thought and pulled into the car park. He was glad he had, the beach was filled with elephant seals, laying there flicking sand on themselves. It was a pity the fog was so thick as this made getting good photos quite difficult for MrGrumpy.

MrGrumpy was now only a few miles before his final stopping point, he stopped in the car park of Hearst Castle, and looked across at the building far upon the top of the hillside, "uhm, dont have time to go up there", so he took a couple of photos and got back into the car. Before driving away he asked the satnav for another gas station, expecting it to report several that were behind him, but no it gave him one infront of him about 5 miles.
This time the gas was not quite as expensive, Shell for $4.799 a gallon, "oh well, have to fill up" he said to himself and proceded to put his debit card into the pump, Ping, try again, Ping try again, Pong see attendent, "grrr" he said and went into the station, "fill er up?" said the attendent and took MrGrumpy's card, to his surprise they keep the card until you have filled up and return to pay. MrGrumpy picked up the Black pump and locked on the filler and stood waiting to see how much it would be. For everyone in england thinking MrGrumpy had just put Diesel into his Mustang, no, just to make things simple the Americans have Green pumps for Diesel and Black for Petr

Well $47.34 (9.85 GAL) later, the Mustang was full and MrGrumpy was ready for the journey back to San Jose. This took him over the hills where there were some stunning views, he did stop to take a couple more photos, but knew he needed to make some progress and he had about 170miles before getting back.
Once on Highway 5 the satnav announced "In 134 miles take the exit", MrGrumpy engaged the cruise control, set it at 74MPH (speed limit was 70) and pointed the Mustang in the direction of San Jose.

MrGrumpy arrived back in SanJose after 8PM, he went to the local store to get a bit of shopping and then had chicken fajita at the nearest barrito place, strangely for MrGrumpy he had only had a coffee (in Carmel) and a can of Coke (at the expensive gas station) all day, so after 10 hours of driving he was ready to eat.
Back at the house, MrGrumpy applied several ounces of Aloe Vera aftersun to his sunburnt head, neck and arms.