We had a solid night’s sleep, not even the nearby highway traffic was enough to stir us. We woke with the sun and the sheets were clear of Cleo’s shit. The place had filled up overnight and we had very closely parked neighbours but that didn’t matter. We were surrounded by huge off-white sand dunes all around, some of which Dan had ridden over on a motorbike in a previous life. Without the cover of darkness, we were forced to use the disgusting bathrooms that smelt like years worth of piss. That ordeal over, we had bird bath showers at the water tap then I cooked up some eggs, tomatoes and onions for breakfast.

We were on the road pretty early, continuing on the road west to the coast. The road remained flat and sandy as we drove through the sand dunes, with the Mexican border wall visible not too far to the south. Apparently this wall is long standing but per the Trump administration, the intention is to build it higher and stronger to prevent illegal immigration. Hmm. I listened to a new podcast called “Shit Town” by This American Life as we left the flat straight highway of the desert behind and climbed into the mountains. Air Force One pulled away from me with all his V8 power while Atro chugged steadily up the hill. I was glad we hadn’t driven through last night, it was quite a scenic drive.

As we neared San Diego, my excitement started peaking, I was about to see the ocean again! I was excited also for Cleo, it would be her first time seeing the ocean and experiencing the beach. Eventually, after navigating a few highways through the city, I could see water in the bay. We hit Ocean Beach around 10am and parked, our vans pointed towards the horizon. I was out in a flash to breathe in that sweet salty smell. Dan shared my happiness, he was stoked to be back in Ocean Beach, a place he called home not too long ago.

We went straight to Dog Beach, appropriately named since it is a beach just for the dogs. As we crested the small hill into the small bay, our toes sinking into the sand, we looked out over dozens of dogs running around their owners and complete strangers in utter ecstacy in being by the ocean. Cleo wasn’t so sure, she avoided the water at first and also played it timid with the other doggies. It was fun to watch the exchanges between every type of dog you could imagine. Some were high energy running around their new friends, others like Cleo, took their time approaching strangers before decided whether to play. Dan ran around with Cleo, trying to get her into the water, eventually carrying her into the waves to pop her ocean cherry.

We ran around for a while, all of us relishing being by the sea again, until Cleo was tiring, so we head back towards the main beach where we walked past our cars and on towards the pier, the longet on the West coast apparently! We wandered along the beach and then up and down the streets of “O.B.”, Dan giving me the historic tour of his life here, explaining how it had been a few months ago. It is a nice little town with local shops and hole-in-the-wall type bars and restaurants, not many tourists about but plenty of homeless people. Dan says that O.B. is so named because it is “Only Bums” which I could see being true. They’re not like homeless in big cities though, they seem happy and I didn’t see one that was begging.

We walked on to the pier for something to eat at the café halfway along the structure. Along the way, Dan recognised a few people he’d hung out with the last time he was here, some things staying frozen in time. He’d never been on the pier before so it was a first for all three of us. The café had some good food at the right price, we shared a burger. My cold was getting better, but I was by no means cured and all I was craving was hot chips and that’s exactly what I got.

I dared Dan to jump off the jetty for $100 but he didn’t take me up on the offer, especially since it was illegal and much higher than it looked from the shore. We walked back to the cars and, being mid-afternoon, we were both keen for a nap thanks to all the driving we’d done the night before and this morning. We climbed into Air Force one, put the palm tree shades up on the windscreen and nodded off until Cleo woke us about an hour later with some gentle guard dog barking. It was time for another run around Dog Beach.

Cleo looked more comfortable this time round and made lots of new friends. Dan was over the moon to find that Cleo was shitting solids again. My cold kept feeling better and better, it was nice to be taking it slow. Back at the cars, we planned to stick around for sunset but wanting something to do to kill an hour or so, I started fiddling with Dan’s car. Some of his curtains needed fixing so they could be moved up and down and he had some electronics issues with his DVD player and radio. No problem anymore! I sorted his curtains out with a bit of wire to keep them up then got to work on the harder job, the DVD player. I cut los t of wires and stripped them, then I was soldering wires together for a reliable connection. It took the two of us and four sets of hand to jam one errant wire into a vacant terminal in the back of the player. When I was finished, everything worked fine! Pretty sure Dan’s starting to really like having me around… But wait, there’s more! His radio, which hadn’t worked in ages had power so I thought I’d just clean the terminals out with a screwdriver. That fixed everything too! Happy with a productive afternoon, Dan skated off on his skateboard to buy some beverages for the evening and soon returned with coldies to enjoy while watching the sunset.

I was drinking vodka cokes in the hopes of killng whatever was left of my cold with raw alcohol while Dan stuck to beers. Cleo wandered around chasing rats as we sat to watch the sun dip below the horizon. Dan explained that here it was possible to see the green flash that is rarely present across the sky for a moment during a clear sunset. I thought that only existed in Pirates of the Carribean movies, but Dan convinced me otherwise. We watched on as people enjoyed their local beach after work, playing volleyball or just taking a gentle stroll.

The sunset was simple and beautiful, but no green flash. We continued watching the sky until it turned dark. Just as we were both by our vans, a groupd of young guys approached me and asked if I knew what the deal was with camping in the carpark we were in. I consulted Dan, who’d done this before and he said that it wasn’t strictly allowed but they’d maybe be able to get away with it. The four boys stuck, sticking around the vans to smoke and drink with us, telling us of their adventures driving their VW Westafalia up from Mexico on their way back home to Vancouver. They were nice guys who appreciated Dan’s sharing when he passed a joint around. As we were loitering by the vans, I was having a pee by the Astro when a huge meteor or falling star streaked across the sky, momentarily lighting up the sand. It was slow but burned up fast in a couple of flashes. The boys had been facing the right direction, as had I, but unfortunately Dan missed it. I’d never seen anything like it before. The excitement subsiding from such a freak event, Dan and I started asking about the Westafalia and so were invited inside where we continued talking away, completely nerding out about van mods and travel stories.

After Dan and I did some graffiti on the walls and ceriling of the Westafali, we decided no one would mind if we used the two pallets by the beach entrance for firewood. There was a fire pit on the beach that had been occupied so we already had coals to get us going. Dan and I were starving and, without much godo in the pantry, we made do with a mash-up of his breakfast special. We put the grille over the fire and Dan cooked bacon, then potatoes with onions, all topped off with some tomato and egg. Eating it with our fingers, it was delicious. The boys all continued their smoking and drinking while I stuck to water as I tried to kick my cold once and for all. After the boys had cooked a dinner of hotdog over the fire, we put the mashed-paper pieces of pallet onto the fire, sending the flames soaring. We were warm, full and happy. We kept talking to our new friends a good hour or two until we could listen no more, then it was bed time.

Despite the rules, we weren’t going anywhere. We crawled into Air Force One, excited to watch a movie on the newly improved DVD system. We tried out a Snoop Dogg film which was a terrible show, then switched to a comedy DVD before finally giving up five minutes in when we fell asleep just as the show got going.