“What’s that sound?” I ask from my bed.  The  voice from the front seat replies “Crows on the roof.”

I listen carefully and hear the scratchy movement of bird feet overhead in the van.  An interesting way to wake-up in the early morning.  Behind the crow sounds I hear the subtle swoosh of waves hitting rocks as they land against the shore of Monterey Bay, the screech of sea gulls perched on light poles, and the distant bark of sea lions out on the Breakwater Cove jetty.  Dave has been hoping I’ll wake up so he can start making noise while he brews coffee.

I get dressed, he makes tea and coffee, we sit up front and savor our warm drinks as the van heater blows warm air onto our feet.

After a bit, I heat the griddle and make buttered toast from a cinnamon bread loaf.  We finish our drinks with it.

While we have our drinks, we watch the waves ebb and the pelicans swoop low over the bay water.  A smooth, relaxing, early morning routine.

Business appointments have brought us to and kept us in Monterey for a few days.  We spent a few days with Rory and Thomas, then started hanging out at the beach turnouts.  There are a fair number on the peninsula and also further south toward Big Sur.  We spend our days there, put out the solar panels if we need them, use a small propane bottle to cook inside, clean dishes inside ( so we don’t appear to be camping in areas that say “no camping”), and then move into the neighborhood streets for stealth sleeping.

In the Pacific Grove neighborhoods after dark, little groups of deer wander about, stopping to stare at us.  In another spot, owls hoot.  There is very little nighttime traffic.

As we move around town, it is odd to view this city where we lived for years from the perspective of van living.  We are spending time in areas where previously we had simply driven by, or skipped entirely, like the Monarch Butterfly Preserve.  The longer we are here, the more we begin to recognize other vans that seem to be doing the same thing as us.  This lifestyle appears to be more widespread than I had realized.