Scheduled trip: -
Actual trip: Moved to Lompoc (120 miles)

Peel City
After a night of all too many reminders of the beach, we arose to another day of fine Californian weather. Niels checked out his new tan, which still was a prominent red. In the more sensitive places, e.g. on the back of the knees, on the ears, and nose, the skin had started to peel. Now, there's something basically disappointing in seeing your tan fall off before you've even gotten used to it. Going through the irritating period of sunburn would be a fair tradeoff if you were promised a nice tan after a few days. However, it doesn't necessarily work that way. It was time for damage control. Applying a generous layer of sunscreen to the disaster zones induced a cooling effect, which made life worth living again.

It was Sunday and everybody displayed a rather lazy attitude so sightseeing was off the agenda. MTV announced that they would have a beach party somewhere in the LA area and we seriously considered crashing the party. Meanwhile we were drawn by yet another television generated desire. Most young men who've been exposed to the TV-series "Baywatch" probably have a secret wish to go to Santa Barbara and meet Pamela Anderson or one of the other bathing beauties. In other words, none of us would mind experiencing a bustling beach populated only by girls of supermodel quality.

Sta. Barbara Beach was nice but not nearly as crowded as portrayed on TV although more people were on the beach than the day before. A moderate wind kept the temperature in the high 70s.

When things became too dull we threw around a Frisbee or went exploring. Not far from the place we camped, a lifeguard hut - exactly like the ones from TV - was occupied by a male lifeguard. What a downer! Occasionally yellow and red pick-ups (also true to "Baywatch") cruised up and down the beach. Although the setting was right, the atmosphere never came close to that of the TV-series.

When the novelty of hanging out at 'Barbara had abated we decided to find a place to stay. Quickly we discovered that the cheaper places didn't have any vacancies so we drove up the coast. Around 7 PM we reached Lompoc and found a motel that suited our wallets. The place certainly wasn't overbooked; judging from the parking lot, we were about the only ones staying there.

The town of Lompoc wasn't that exciting, we noticed on an evening tour. Other, more fashionable communities on the Californian coastline easily outshine Lompoc. However the town was quiet and prices were lower that at the trendier places down south.

We stopped for some fast food before returning to the motel where we spent the evening in front of the television, probably watching out for Beavis & Butt-head.

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