August 31: Ventura County McGrath State Park. Layover day
Our day of rest and each successive one more precious than the last. As usual, laundry is a must-do chore for this day; laundromats see a surge in business as the Expedition passes through.
By now the walkers are anticipating these days and trying to maximize their utility; making advance plans for the day. Ginny, Jeanette and Linda visited with friends here. Others just wandered about Ventura or the harbor area.
I decided to leave the mainland and took an Island Packers boat (www.islandpackers.com) for a day on Santa Cruz Island. The trip was memorable in that I did absolutely nothing at the destination. Someone suggested going for a hike, but after throwing a rock at them, they went away.
Going out, we had common dolphins playing in the bow wake and on the way back visited with a pod of transient orcas for twenty minutes or so; the captain said that seeing these creatures was a fairly rare occurrence in these waters. (Jon Breyfogle. Photo, Richard Nichols)