Out in California Part V

We spent three nights camping along the Pacific Coast Highway before arriving in San Francisco. Each night out there exposed us to new people and new environs and left us inspired to share them with you. Sometimes the tales have to do with food, sometimes they don't. Either way, expect one every Tuesday until we get to San Francisco. Read Parts I through IV over here.

The sun was just over the horizon when Patrick told me about the raccoon. I had already finished my breakfast of beans, eggs, and bacon, but when Patrick walked over with a cup of coffee for me I fried up some more bacon and we cut into a loaf of sourdough.

“Did you hear the raccoon last night?” He asked me.

“That’s what that noise was? I had no idea, but definitely heard it outside my tent,” I told him. “It sounded huge.”

Patrick told me he watched the crafty bastard get into the cooler he had sitting behind his camper’s trailer hitch. The only thing that kept the raccoon from eating a week’s worth of food was Patrick waking up and shooing it away. He brought the cooler inside and scratched his head in the early morning hours thinking about hunger and what animals can do to satiate it. We took care of our own hunger getting to know one another as the low sun cast long, sharp shadows everywhere.

Having been to San Simeon State Park before, Patrick went on in great detail about the network of wonderful trails that surround the park. I decided I'd go for a hike before taking down camp and hitting the Pacific Coast Highway. The bacon was gone and Patrick and I finished the bread and drank the last of our coffee. We shook hands. Patrick made his way nextdoor and I started to clean up camp before finding the trails.

That's when Leroy came by to say good morning.