Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th April

Monday

Back down the dreaded interstate 5 to have the rv repaired. 34 miles in only 1.5 hours, not bad
but horrible driving again.  Having great difficulty not creeping in to the right with the van and having
to concentrate hard on the driving.  I find I am looking about 20 to 30 yards ahead and little more, scenery town or country is so far non existent.

Two and a half hours to repair the van but now it is dry inside.  Back to the campsite after some more shopping with only a little sightseeing unintentionally thrown in as we got lost.  Sat nav proving an absolute must in these areas.

Weather again today cloudy and quite cool.

Tuesday

Off into the wild unknown, well not quite at least leaving Los Angeles behind which seemed to take a long time about two hours or more though along route 101 the names of towns changed but all were closely connected.

For MASH fans, ourselves included, we called in at the site of the outside set of the MASH hospital in Malibu State Park.  Not much of the set left as the last ever  MASH filmed and it was  scripted and advertised as such weeks before being filmed was filmed with a bush fire raging nearby.  The fire was used in the last episode and the crew cast etc just got away before the whole set went up in flames and it and thousands of acres around was totally destroyed.

          Sort of area for MASH map shows detail and can be enlarged by clicking on it.


I got my distances wrong today thinking we had about 75 miles to travel when we had 160, not very impressive and will lead to revising some of our timing but we have set dates for the Grand Canyon of 16th to 23rd May so have to get that right.

Arrived eventually at Morro Bay State Park for the night, Large and quite empty. There are a lot of State Parks all through I suppose most states and as separate entities there are the National Parks such as the Grand Canyon, Yosemite etc
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We called in at a Catholic Mission founded around 1780 there being a string of these missions 21 in all each a days walk apart founded to convert the local Indians.  A calm and quite benign image is conveyed nowadays but the earlier reality was of quite brutal evangelism with the local population being used by the church for little or no return.  Same the world over in times gone by I fear.

.Tomorrow sees us at Hearst Castle but that will have to wait for now.

Sunday continued

Sunday

After the film we went back to Shida's house, via her dance studios, about five houses along the ridge
from Chris's where we had a great chinese take away quite different to UK foods.

Shida's house, photos below is lovely we could quite easily have it as a main or holiday home
perhaps depending on values in this area.

Standing by swimming pool and hot tub taking top photo.

Following evening meal in good company and having had a very good and enjoyable day it was
back to the campsite at 10.30pm with the roads as full as ever.  LA has about 17 million residents
sited on a strip of land  bounded on one side by the Pacific Ocean and about 18 miles back
3000ft mountains with no or few roads through so it is quite tightly packed in a long slim strip.

Sunday contunued.

I appear to be making a mess with the postings, it is the computors fault not mine!!

This is Chris's house. a building design project aproaching grand designs.  The house perches on a ridge and is cantelevered out on both sides a bit unnerving really. Chris intends plate glass right round the upright poles in the top picture to form a lounge. The views though misty when I got my camera out are 360 degrees around encompassing mountain ranges, L.A. Hollywood and the Hollywood sign but seen from above.  An incredible position, a huge project 1/4 done.  Names of just about any Hollywood type star and others seem to own or have owned houses in the area. Quite extrodinary.

Weekend 21st April 22nd April

Saturday 21st April

Getting down to it now, spent three hours in Ikea and two in Wallmart.

The problem with hiring at long distance is rv only comes equiped with bare basics.  In uk or even France one can bring a car load of bits and pieces, not so by plane.

The rv has good cupboards but no storage boxes or small spaces to contain food etc.  6 Wallmart sink bowls are doing a great job along with Ikea bedding and duvet as summer blankets are really not too warm.

Still we managed the basics though we did not like Wallmart very much.

Interesting in Ikea in the UK you can have 8 or 16 meatballs for lunch here it is 15 or nothing.

I think early one that this is going to be a somewhat cynical view of America though we shall see.

Weather today and yesterday has been hot and sunny 83 degrees F.  Temperature in Farenheight, weights in lbs, measurements in feet and inches, distances in miles and petrol (gas) in gallons. It gets quite difficult to understand !!!!!

Sunday.

Spent the day with Chris and his friend Shida who picked us up at 8am and took us all over
Los Angeles with breakfast American size and style on the pacific seafront next to Malibu. Weather unfortunately was cold, damp and misty most of the day.  We had a great time and part of the afternoon was spent at a Hollywood preview of a film not yet completed but which Shida had a tiny part in and which peoples opinions were being sort as music and scenes were being analysed.

The whole company of people watching and talking aftrewards were Iranian, Chris and us excepted
and lovely people they were too.  So much for current portrayal of that country or my preconceived ideas !

Saturday 21st April

Getting to grips with things and by way of sorting out we spent the day in Ikea and Wallmart,
three hours and two hours respectively.

The main problem eith hiring abroad and longish term is the motorhome comes equiped with basic
kitchen equipment for two plus bedding which assumes warm weather.  In UK you can pack your car with everything you might need but not so for flying.  for instance the cupboards are many and various and quite large but nothing to put foods

Motorhome

                                        
                                         Motorhome or Rv looking calm and serene at about
                                          27ft long by 8ft wide

                                          Ice calm in Greenland                                       

Thursday 19thApril to Friday 19th April Just Started

Having spent about an hour trying to find where to type a draft,  offline, I've finally found everything listed under accessories so I can get started.  How this will copy to the blog page will of course be in the lap of the gods
.
   A good flight out on Thursday 19th April leaving at 12 noon and arriving at 3.30pm the same day. California is 8 hours behind the UK.

   I was suprised to find we flew up UK and out over the Outer Hebrides, Harris to be exact then over Iceland, Greenland, Northern Canada down through central Canada just east of Calgary and then to Salt Lake City and on to destination of Los Angeles.

   North of Iceland and down to the American border some six hours or so say 3000 mile was totally snow or ice covered, we think we are unlucky with a few days of the white stuff!

   Taxi from airport to hotel some 18 miles $80  (times 2 and dived by 3 for approx £s) ie £53.  Freeways though are something else.

   Our first experience. in the taxi, was a five lane freeway  all the way to the hotel.  Outside lane for cars with two or more persons inside lane for singletons.  Outside lane doing 50 to 60 miles per hour most of the time inside lanes 10 to 20 mph stopped a lot of the  time.  One person one car we've heard it all before here was the proof that single  drivers in cars clog up the entire system and here
in LA this clogging goes on for most daylight hours on all major roads.

   Great sight whilst driving a woman flossing her teeth, marginally different to the many mobile phone users drinking coffee at the same time
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   Picked up the motorhome, RV here, and drove it, Friday now, to Buckingham RV Park which we had booked for 4 nights hoping it was close to Chris, Judith's nephew.  The drive along interstate 5 and other roads was horrendos.  The rv was larger than anticipated and the roads were concrete in terrible condition, lane widths constantly altering and inside lane or lanes turning off right without much notice so you had to get out across one or two lanes to continue on your way. Not easy
 on a six lane motorway totally full of cars and trucks moving at 50 to 60mph of stopped waiting to move.

   We got there.
 
   Our rv nemisis struck as soon as we arrived. water flowing over the floor of the van from an obvious split or damaged joint which sprayed water out whenever the water pump was used.  Easily identified but to rectify ment removing the complete shower cubicle under which the pipe ran.  Friday evening !!  no hope of getting anything done till Monday then the rv had to go back to base for the repair.