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 San
Benito Thousand Trails preserve was our next stop. Didn’t
take long to get there as it is just up over Pacheco Pass and a
bit south of Hollister, CA. The park is quite large and spread out
with some big spaces for rigs. Although there were quite a few people
parked there, many spaces were still available to provide good choices.
We saw deer and squirrels and lots of birds. The place has many
amenities and a few drawbacks... poor cellular and TV reception,
great distance to grocery stores, and a huge curved hill to pull
up out of when you leave. I am always concerned about overstraining
our equipment.
One
day, while there we toured Wild Things. It's a place where
you can rent animals if you are making a movie or a commercial.
$1500 a day will get you the most photographed animal in the world...
a tiger... or Joseph, the lion who has many, many credits to his
name. It is said of him that he has never met a human that he didn't
like. As the tour guide finished saying that, he sauntered over
to the fence by the group, turned around and sprayed all over the
back of a little boy who turned to run but didn't get out of the
way in time!!!
 Wild
Things is south of Salinas, off the 68 and then down River Road
in case you ever feel the need to have a lion spray you. Actually,
it was interesting to see the place and hear our guide’s tales
of the fame of their animals. She seemed to truly love each one
of them.
In
Hollister we drove around seeking open W-Fi wireless connections,
(hot spots) just for the fun of it. If we found one we could ‘join’
we were able to download email and check websites.
While
exploring from San Benito we traveled down highway 25 and across
G13 to King City on the 101. There we ‘discovered’ the
really neat San Lorenzo County Park. There are sites for RVs (some
with full hookups), shade trees, play areas, a train depot (with
a caboose!), old equipment, rural life, agricultural and irrigation
museums, etc. A very interesting place to stop if you’re ever
in the area. Rates seemed reasonable and you can stay for 30 days
at a time if you wish.
On
moving day we backtracked to Hollister to cross over to Highway
101 and take it south through the valley east of the Coastal Ranges,
along the Salinas River. Agriculture there is impressive. Huge vineyards
and humungous fields of row crops with harvesting going on some
places while winter crops are planted on other fields. It is an
awesome sight seeing the food that is grown in that valley knowing
it will seem small in comparison to what we will see in the Imperial
Valley and around Yuma, Arizona.
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