I had been warned that I shouldn't try to leave early this morning otherwise I would get stuck in nasty traffic so I happily to the advice to heart and slept in. When I did get up my Airbnb host Matt made me breakfast and espresso coffee. He had some suggestions about camping gear that I could get as well as the best route for me to take to get down to Monterey.

I'm sure not all hosts are as great but it was so nice to be able to spend time with people who aren't travelling and doing the same things that I am. It was also really nice to stay in a house and have my own room while still paying hostel equivalent prices (dinner and breakfast included!). I'm hoping to stay with Matt again on my way back to San Francisco in a few weeks.

My goal for today was to first buy camping gear and then drive to Monterey and find a camp site. It's important that the gear I buy is suitable both for me and also for the rest of the group once they arrive. This meant trying to strike a balance between getting a stuff (tent/chilly bin) that is small enough for me to use by myself but also large enough for the group.

I had been recommended a Coleman tent at Costco that supposedly can be put up in less than a minute so I decided to go and check it out. To shop at Costco you need to have a membership there which costs $55 per year. It's a bit like Gilmores back home except it sells more than just food. It is a bulk store though so most of what they sell is probably not really ideal for me. I decided to get the membership anyway as they allow you to get a refund if you feel like you're not getting good value.

The camping selection was pretty slim but they did have the tent that had been mentioned which I decided to get. Their returns policy works the same way as the membership so I can return the tent at any time if I'm not happy with it. I also picked up a soft chilly bin but disappointly I would have to go somewhere else for the rest of my list.

That somewhere else turned out to be Walmart. To me if felt like a big K Mart that also stocked groceries. They had a much larger range of camping gear so I did the rest of my shopping there.

While I was inside it had started to rain. This was the first rain in these parts for over a month and it was much needed. It wont do anything to break the drought but at least the grass might come back to life for a few days.

Across the parking lot was a Trader Joes supermarket. I'd been interested to see what this was like ever since hearing about there $2.99 wine specials. It seems to be similar to Farro back home in that they have a lot of organic food there. I have been to a few American supermarkets before but this was the first time I was actually buying a decent amount of food. There were hardly any brands there that I recognised which made things interesting. I think I might have ended up spending far more on certain items than if I'd gone to a normal supermarket but it seemed like it was all good quality.

The one thing I'm still confused about is milk. The options seem to be:

• No Fat
• 1% Fat
• 2% Fat
• Vitamin K

and that was it... I just wanted some plain milk! They also come in huge 4 (or even 5?) litre bottles.

At this point I realised I'd forgotten several things for camping so it was back to Walmart to grab them. The most interesting is probably the 44 litre water container that looks like a big fuel can. It might sound like overkill but with the drought in California I have heard that some camp sites are not providing any water at all. I might also have trouble getting water in the desert so it pays to be prepared.

With my shopping done it was time to attempt my first serious drive. It ended up being surprisingly easy and I feel like I'm already pretty confident driving here. There was quite a bit of traffic at times as well as the persistent rain but it never felt scary. The only time I accidentally went on the wrong side of the road was in the parking lot at Walmart and I realised pretty quickly. Most of today's driving was on freeways and similar large roads. It's amazing just how many of them there are and how they seem to pop up out of nowhere. The Pacific Coast Highway that I'll be taking for the next few days is supposed to be much quieter which would be a nice change.

I'm currently typing this from inside my tent in Monterey. I'm at a camp ground close to the centre of town. I can hear something large buzzing around outside so I don't think I'll be coming out again. There are supposed to be raccoons about though so that might just be enough to tempt me.

Sorry for the lack of photos today. I never got around to taking any!