The Journey IS the Destination #16: Fire in Big Sur!

Tuesday, June 24 - Big Sur, California. - After having visited Monterey and Carmel, Jas and I headed south to Big Sur. We were on a quest to get a couple tee shirts we picked up there two years ago. Oddly enough, the tee shirts have a hiker on the front with BIG SUR scrawled across it and on the back the words, "The Journey is the Destination" - which was the inspiration for this 16-part blog series. Heading into Big Sur from the north, I snapped this picture. Little did we know that this fire would turn into a behemoth that closed down the PCH five miles south of Big Sur, forcing us to head north back to Monterey and cut over to the 101 in order to head back to LA.

The blaze started in the Los Padres National Forest and was only 3 percent contained when we were there, burning nearly 37 square miles near the coast about a mile south of Big Sur. As I'm writing this today, the fire is still burning but is 72% contained, after burning 142,617 acres. 26 residences and 32 other structures have been destroyed, with the cost of suppressing the fire reaching $70.4 million.

We stopped at this eclectic, hippie store and found out they have this stage in the back where they do music and readings on the weekends. Nice - do I see a Big Sur production of "Pass the Salt, Please." in my not-so-distant future?

Oh - that's my shirt I was telling you about...the old one. We never did get those tees. The store owner closed her shop to go check on her home - to see if she needed to evacuate. Well, I guess acquiring the shirt was only second to the week-long journey that got us there, right?

Well, that's the end of "The Journey IS the Destination" blog series. All 16 parts. Feel free to scroll down and catch-up if you'd like. There are some really sweet pictures of the Sequoia National Park, Solstice in Santa Barbara and the rest of the Ircink brothers' travels. As singer/songwriter Russ Ballard said to me in an email the other day (that's another blog post), "Life's good - Dig it!".

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The Journey IS the Destination #15: Point Lobo.

About three miles south of Carmel is Point Lobo State Reserve, deriving its name from the offshore rocks at Punta de los Lobos Marinos, Point of the Sea Wolves, where the sound of the sea lions carries inland, the reserve has often been called, "the crown jewel of the State Park System." Point Lobos State Reserve features rare plant communities, endangered archeological sites, unique geological formations, and incredibly rich flora an fauna of both land and sea (this according to their website).

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Monterey cypress.

An old whaler's shack build by the Chinese and now a museum.

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The Journey IS the Destination #14: Monterey & Carmel.

Got side-tracked with all the Brett Favre/Green Bay Packer news and I've got as few more installments of The Journey IS the Destination series to get out.

So, after a very fulfilling and life-affirming trip to the Sequoia National Park, we drove back across the San Joaquin Valley from Fresno up to the 152, through Los Banos and the Pacheco Pass - which was one windy mofo in the dark - we stayed in Monterey for the evening. 50 yards from our hotel room this is what we saw - the Monterey Peninsula.



Heading South on the PCH, or 1, for Big Sur, we stopped briefly along the route...here we are at Hurricane Point. Way off in the distance you'll see a bridge. There had to be between 5 and 10 of those all built in the 1920's, 30's and 40's.

Carmel, or Carmel-by-the-Sea, is just south of Monterey - and the town Clint Eastwood used to mayor of. Very quaint. Very touristy. Great cottage homes, albeit crammed in like sardines. But it's a great walk and some excellent shops and dining.

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