October 28, 1997
Morro Bay, California, USA

Last night, I slept on the beach beside an unusual dude. He told me that people call him "The Villain". He is 50 years old, but looks and talks like he’s 35. He is a descendent of a famous Mexician ruler of California. I asked The Villain why he sleeps on the beach, considering he has a truck and a good job. "It’s just easier..." he sputtered. I’ll probably continue sleeping here until it starts to rain." He got up first thing in the morning and went to work.

At noon, I went for a tour of the Hearst castle. The construction of the castle was started in the 1920s by muti-millionaire William Randolph Hearst. The place was amazing. What impressed me most was that the castle was like a big jig-saw. The fire place was from a castle in Spain... the wooden paneling on the walls was taken out of a Roman Cathedral... the roof was... etc, etc. Mr. Hearst used the castle mainly as a place to entertain guests, such as Charlie Chaplin, and other famous personalities of the era. If the castle were on the real estate market today, it would probably be listed for several hundred million dollars.


As arranged, Mike Mulligan met up with me this afternoon after my castle tour. Before heading back to my kayak, I suggested we drive to a near-by beach to check out a colony of elephant seals I paddled past yesterday. I didn’t count, but it looked like there were over two hundred of them. The seals were extremely passive, and most of them allowed me to get as close as I wanted.

Mike suggested we throw my kayak on top of his truck and head down to Morro Bay, so I could get to Jalama in time to get in the Sunday paper. It sounded like a good plan to me, so that's what we did. This evening, Mike and his mother-in-law, Mary, took me out to dinner at Dorn’s, the original Breakers Cafe. I had broiled halibut and it was delicious, but I could have eaten five days for what that one meal cost.

I’m staying with Mike at the Embarcadero Inn tonight.