Day 16 - LA Fog, traffic jams, goodbye to the beast and hello to a goat!

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Day 16 - Carpinteria to Hollywood, Distance travelled 108 miles (RV) and 16 miles (Mustang convertible)

Was considering knocking the blog on the head now the RV trip is over but after 6 hours in LA there is just too much good material not to carry on writing! But first some RV trip stats for those thinking about it.....

- 13 days, 12 nights

- 6 Campsites used

- 1442 miles covered,

- Longest drive in 1 day about 300 miles, took 8.5 hours

- 830 dollars on petrol! (183 gallons)

- 8 mpg! (4.5 litre engine that took a hammering !)

- Be glad it's not Uk petrol prices!

So we were awoken this morning about an hour before the alarms firstly at 6-30 as the texts of Crystal Palace's glorious comeback win over Cardiff filtered through and then at 7-30 a.m by a mixture of dogs barking, kids playing and trains honking like the Chattanooga choo choo. Carpinteria is a busy park at the weekend and people are keen to make the most of it. The surfers were up surfing, the kids were hacking around on bikes, skateboards and scooters and the dog walkers were up walking all manner of little furry yapping rats! If we had kids or were doggy people it would probably be the ideal place to wake up. The best thing was that there were about 20 seals just 30 feet off shore, bobbing around in the waves. Sadly there was no time to watch them as there was more leftover stuff to give out, an RV to clean and a sewer tank to empty before we could hit the road. For the first time I actually showered in the RV rather than the dodgy camp facilities and all I can say was it was 'tight' and i definitely need more gym sessions when I get back!

We hit the road about 10-30 for a Saturday morning run into LA in glorious California sunshine. After 10 minutes however, we were in thick fog, apparently normal for the coastal region, but more scary than a foggy morning on the M25. The intention was to drop off the bags in our central Hollywood hotel before heading down to South LA (Carson) to drop off the RV, first we needed petrol and that's not as easy as it sounds. First, there were still no service stations on the motorway so you have to pull off at a junction and hope there is 'Gas' nearby, once you have gas you then need to get back to where you started which with a 30ft RV, no roundabouts and an inability to U turn, makes life challenging, but we got our final 60 dollars to get us into town.

Back on the road we hit the famous LA traffic and our 90 mile journey turned into a two and a half hour stop/start all the way into Hollywood. When we finally reached the Loewe we sent the front of house into panic as I left the beast obstructing the entire entrance but they very quickly cleared space in their loading bay and had a bell boy meet us to unload the bags...great idea as he also took up all our leftover beer, wine, water, coke and snacks on his trolley to our room which having seen the mini bar prices at $8 a beer and $6 for a coke has saved us a fortune!

We left the bags and booze behind and armed with directions to Cruise Americas depot in Carson, off we headed. The highways were again a nightmare and it was about an hour to cover the 26 miles, the depot is right on the 405, is enormous and you can't really miss it....but I did... and missed the entrance completely, so required another 1 mile round trip around the block to get back there through a very pretty chemical works.

Return of the beast was very quick and easy and all our deposits for damage, fuel, un-emptied sewer tanks, un-cleaned vehicle, and propane were returned (phew, that was over $500 saved) The bonus of taking the early bird package in Las Vegas also meant that we could return the vehicle up to 3pm rather than 12 and we got a free ride to LAX in a Lincoln Navigator (no of course I didnt pretend I was Jack Bauer!) to pick up the hire car. If I was doing this again, I probably would have hired the car from Enterprise who have the location next door to Cruise America and saved the hassle of LAX.

LAX and Alamo was fun, you go through the usual hassle of a zigzagging queue of weary travellers all trying to beat each other out of the door, you present your licence and initial a form 87 times to say you promise not to drive the car on Mars, use it as a submarine and of course you will bring it back clean, check the oil every day, wrap it in cotton wool every night, read it a story and bring it back with a full tank of petrol, but then something different...they said 'go to this part of the car park and pick any car you want!'

I was like a kid in a sweet shop, Sharan's only stipulation was that it wan't green! In the carpark was a row of black, white and gold chrysler convertibles, one mustang convertible and an eclipse??? -convertible (girly Mazda mx5 type). We headed for the only Mustang but got beaten to the door handle by another couple and as we discussed ridiculously pointless and practical things like 'the boot space is to small for our luggage' in a Mustang anyway and 'the Chrysler is much more practical' a guy approached us and said he was one of the staff and would we like a cherry red mustang from 'round the back'...of course I said yes and off he went. Next another guy came up and told me the first guy would be ages getting the red one out of the back and he could get a black one faster...so the challenge was laid down, tips were prepared and off he went. 5 minutes later we were out the gate with the roof down, in a black mustang, sleek, throaty and totally impractical for our 4 suitcases, but we'll worry about that later!

It was now 2-30 pm and we hadn't had breakfast or lunch so with the two headed monster in the passenger seat demanding sustinence, we pulled over in a West LA KFC/Taco Bell drive-in and went inside. We were probably not the typical clientele for this area in our tourist attire, driving a convertible and so they've probably never seen two chicken meals destroyed so quickly or two people leave so quickly!

Unlike Cruise America, Alamo offer a sat nav and I virtually bit the guys arm off when it was offered. No more maps, no more rows, no more 'these bloody paper directions are wrong' and best of all, the Garmin sat nav they offer takes you the fastest route rather than the Mapquest 'highways only' route. On the way back, we found ourselves winding through the back streets of LA at a very fast rate and the return journey took 20 mins as opposed to 90 on the way down. We also saw a lot of different parts of LA as well, including some of the poorer areas, the affluent areas around Highland and Wilshere and a huge working oilfield complete with hundreds of 'nodding donkeys' (small oil wells) right in the middle of LA that I never knew existed!

We made it back to the Loews, valet parked the car ($35 a night!?!...will self park tomorrow) and got reunited with our bags and booze. Hotel is perfectly placed, you can see the Hollywood sign from the front door, Hollywood Boulevard and 'the stars' are just round the corner...Starbucks is next door as is a whole host of restaurants in the same complex. Unfortunately we're on the top floor, great views all the way to the sea but a long way to the street for a fag! Everything in the hotel is an extra including parking, bottles of water and wifi, but you're more than welcome to have your dog or dogs stay in your room if you want!

Bags unpacked and two weeks of 'RV grime' scrubbed and removed, it was time to hit the street. My god LA truly is right to have the title "La La Land". Of course there was the usual scantily clad women (and men), some were far to scantily clad with far too much cellulite and blubber escaping from under the 'clothing' and across the pavement, but there was a whole lot more. In Starbucks i had to queue behind two pirates arguing over American footall but best of all, as we took our cigarette in the 'sin bin' outside the front entrance I watched a bloke and a woman walk out of the lifts, across reception and out of the door with a GOAT on a lead. I did a double take and Shas claimed it was a dog so we chased them to see if I was cracking up....and it was definitely a goat and there is a slightly blurred picture to prove it!

On the 'walk of fame' what I thought was an 'exclusive list of stars' set in the pavement is actually 3 miles of 'stars 'with all sorts of weird and wonderful names, from the real screen greats to 'woody woodpecker' , 'tinkerbell' and 'the Simpsons'. Around the stars are lookalikes (ish) that you can have you picture taken with (for a price of course) so we walked past 13 Michael Jacksons, 3 Elvises, one Anthony Hopkins (with mask) , one Minnie and Mickey, four pirate Johnny Depps, one Paris Hilton and bizarrely a Mr. Miyaggi (karate kid) with a flashing tiara on!

By now we were in sensory overload so a quick lookaround the Chinese theatre, (we will return to see some of the hand prints from the true 'stars' of Hollywood) an Itallian meal and cocktails in the bar closed the bizarre day out nicely. The hotel barman did Shas a 'special coffee' which had many ingredients, the least of which was coffee and there was definitely whiskey, kaluha and other spirits in there.... It should probably be named 'anaesthetic coffee' as she was passed out before I had closed the hotel door.... Could be a quiet mornings sightseeing tomorrow, although we are meant to be going to Disney! Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggedy dog!

Happy birthday Dad!

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Comments

[Dave]

Mustang
Where's the pics of the car then? I want at least one with the tyres smoking!

[Jase and Shas US Adventure]

Keep forgetting to take one although it has stayed in the underground garage for most of LA as the roads are a nightmare to drive on...also been laid up with man flu....will have it out for the trip to San Diego tomorrow!