Packing is one of my least favorite things to do. I don't own many things, and certainly not many big things - no furniture, no television, no bicycle (I sold my old one back in LA). Somehow, though, every time I move it's harder to pack everything into my car. This time, I was forced to leave behind my stereo, my tennis gear, my free weights, my camping mattress, and some art supplies. Here's me, ready to leave.

And here's my poor little car. I don't think it likes road trips as much as I do.

I meant to leave Los Angeles in the morning, but errands and packing took all day. Finally I got out of town just past 5pm. Which is in the thick of rush hour. In LA, you simply don't drive at 5pm. You wait, you watch television, you play a board game, you take a nap. And then you drive at 7 or 8 when the traffic has died down a little. But I wasn't in a waiting mood, so I took off. I headed for the coast, planning to take the Pacific Coast Highway north. To my great surprise, traffic wasn't bad at all. I got to Santa Monica at 5:30 and headed north along the coast and watched the sun set along Malibu.

Everything was going well and I felt good. It got dark before I made it to Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara, CA has some of the most gorgeous beaches in the USA, and great campgrounds nearby. Seeing as it was Monday night, I didn't think I'd need a reservation. I picked the best-sounding one - Carpinteria State Park. When I arrived it was very loud and bright. The campgrounds were clustered together like egg cartons, and people were running all over the place. I knew right away that it was full. The Ranger told me that the nearby University of California - Santa Barbara was on spring break, and all the Santa Barbara state campgrounds were full. But, he told me, the privately-owned El Capitan nature lodge had some spaces. I went to check it out. They had spaces alright, for $50 each. El Capitan nature lodge claims to provide not camping, but "glamping (glamorous camping)." Which means, as far as I could tell, some type of strange combination of camping, resort, and spa. Not quite what I was looking for.

I visited 3 or 4 more campgrounds, all full as well. I was getting pretty tired so I decided to try a little covert camping. Which is to say, illegal camping. I started taking promising-looking beachfront freeway exits and poking around to find somewhere that (1) didn't look too scary, (2) I could park my car discreetly, and (3) I didn't think I'd get arrested. For some time everything was full of 'No Trespassing!' and 'Danger!' and 'Keep out!' signs. Then I found a little dirt road off an unmarked exit that ran between the freeway and the train tracks. It overlooked the ocean and was pretty nice. So I pulled my car off the road, threw down a tarp and sleeping bag, and went to sleep.

It was really loud between the freeway and the train tracks. I kept waking up thinking somebody was sneaking up on me. Notice the hatchet in the picture - I slept with that in my hand and it made me feel better. Around 6am a truck pulled up next to my car and after a few moments drove off. They didn't see me sleeping behind it. I left after that.

The tricky thing about covert camping is that it's very risky in popular areas like Santa Barbara. Law enforcement strictly enforces no-camping laws because if no one paid the state camping fee they wouldn't make any money. If caught, your car can be towed, you can be fined, or even jailed. Also, outside alone, it's best to have some way to defend yourself if you need to.

But if you can pull it off, it's free, it's private, and sometimes you get lucky and wake up to a view like this:

All in all, a good first day. 

Learn more about travel in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and California.