Whichever day it happens to be, it has often been said that margarine is best kept refrigerated. Equally so, it is advised to knock before entering and one plastic mug of Cabernet Sauvignon does not cater for two well rehearsed wine drinkers.
Leaving our Airbnb house in Palms, Los Angeles, was a fond farewell as we had enjoyed the company of Taco the overheated, lean feline and his companion Nick who had been providing the master room to the apartment he rents as an Airbnb for over two years now.
We had a few hours to spare prior to collecting our van at 1pm so we chose to spend that time at a nearby Coffee Commissary. A couple of hours whisked by as we researched various North bound routes and caught up on events back home. Using the last of our Metro card dollars we journeyed the No.3 for 40 minutes to our old friend Westfield Culver City. Nearing lunch time and with weather remaining quite warm, we tried to google another small patch of grass within close proximity. With luck we found a gorgeous, well maintained and lush lawn with trees providing some shade in the middle of a busy freeway turn off. Sadly, after a 15minute walk with all of our gear we discovered it was thoroughly fenced off due to no footpath access and 1,000 cars a minute buzzing past. We'd need to find another spot. Trekking a further 10minutes we came across a business park front garden, that would do. As we prepared our left over lunch items, Jamie opted for a bagel with banana, while I chose the bagel and apricot jam. As it turns out, I probably shouldn't have attempted to place margarine on my bagel... with my finger. It was then quite difficult with my margarine dipped finger to retrieve the apricot jam, with the same finger. There may have ended up more margarine in the apricot jam than on my bagel. Much to Jamie's delight as she enjoyed her banana bagel immensely.
Deciding to take the last leg of our trip by Uber, we arrived at Escape Van rentals. It was suggested we peruse the returned travel items from earlier van users and to our thrill there was a smorgasboard of oddities to choose from. The question was however, do we really want to read the complete set of Fifty Shades? Or drink 2 gallons of Dr Pepper? After some scrounging we came away with a small container of assortments. By this time our van was ready and we steped outside to learn what would become our home for the next 84 days. The casualy attired attendant looked us both back and forth directly, "Jamie and Ian, I give you The Falconer." A sly smirk and giggle came to our faces as we both knew that name would change.
Our first night was in the hills above Santa Barbara, thoroughly enjoyed and a beautiful view as the sun set across the Pacific. Our dinner for the evening, eggplant pasta.
After an evening of discussing tweaks to the van and recommended routes for day two we crashed to a slumber on our pleasantly sized mattress.
With drip filtered coffee, banana & porridge and apricot on toast for breakfast we were fueled to get started, all we required was a toilet so we Googled the nearest shopping centre and off we went. We had a number of tasks for the day, one such included refilling the 20 gallon water tank we use for our sink pump. Some more Googling and the recommendation was free accessible water could be gained from local cemeteries. As we discussed this in detail, neither of us felt comfortable stealing water from the dead. So we Googled some more.
We continued North and came upon a flatulence of lazing Elephant seals. Moments of sand flicking and slight murmurs of breathing kept us glued to the lookout. We chose to make a fuel stop prior to departing for our final destination. We had learnt here we could also acquire water for our tank. With moments of confusion in how to actually begin the refuelling we had to ask first a fellow fuel purchaser and then the attendant. Ian took the chance for another toilet pit stop and discovered the men's toilet door was broken, as instructed by the sign, which advised "door broken, knock before entering." Ian did this and with no response entered an empty lavatory. Alas, the man following did not read the sign and had to back step out again.
The West coast of California certainly demonstrated a young crumbly landscape. Numerous rock fall locations and new road works. A quick dip in the ocean for a shower and we were on our way to another road side campsite. Winding our way through the hills, Jamie gripped the wheel tightly as she hugged the corners and weaved around the cliffs edge. Ian snapping blurred pictures out the passenger window yelling, 'look Jamie its beautiful!"
As we pulled into our 4th potential spot we had each had enough and said this will do. With bugs about and after our previous nights learnings, we had acquired a roll of fly wire from a hardware store along the way and duct tape. We then went about cutting and duct taping the fly wire across our front windows and along the inside of the rear. Not perfectly sealed Jamie went to prepare the salad dinner, while Ian continued his duct taping mission. By completion he had succesfully duct taped all the insects of california on the inside of the van that now allowed them both to sit outside in comfort.
A relaxing dinner with a mug of wine soon fixed that. An hour later and we were both sound asleep snug and cozy in our Big Bird.
Leaving our Airbnb house in Palms, Los Angeles, was a fond farewell as we had enjoyed the company of Taco the overheated, lean feline and his companion Nick who had been providing the master room to the apartment he rents as an Airbnb for over two years now.
We had a few hours to spare prior to collecting our van at 1pm so we chose to spend that time at a nearby Coffee Commissary. A couple of hours whisked by as we researched various North bound routes and caught up on events back home. Using the last of our Metro card dollars we journeyed the No.3 for 40 minutes to our old friend Westfield Culver City. Nearing lunch time and with weather remaining quite warm, we tried to google another small patch of grass within close proximity. With luck we found a gorgeous, well maintained and lush lawn with trees providing some shade in the middle of a busy freeway turn off. Sadly, after a 15minute walk with all of our gear we discovered it was thoroughly fenced off due to no footpath access and 1,000 cars a minute buzzing past. We'd need to find another spot. Trekking a further 10minutes we came across a business park front garden, that would do. As we prepared our left over lunch items, Jamie opted for a bagel with banana, while I chose the bagel and apricot jam. As it turns out, I probably shouldn't have attempted to place margarine on my bagel... with my finger. It was then quite difficult with my margarine dipped finger to retrieve the apricot jam, with the same finger. There may have ended up more margarine in the apricot jam than on my bagel. Much to Jamie's delight as she enjoyed her banana bagel immensely.
Deciding to take the last leg of our trip by Uber, we arrived at Escape Van rentals. It was suggested we peruse the returned travel items from earlier van users and to our thrill there was a smorgasboard of oddities to choose from. The question was however, do we really want to read the complete set of Fifty Shades? Or drink 2 gallons of Dr Pepper? After some scrounging we came away with a small container of assortments. By this time our van was ready and we steped outside to learn what would become our home for the next 84 days. The casualy attired attendant looked us both back and forth directly, "Jamie and Ian, I give you The Falconer." A sly smirk and giggle came to our faces as we both knew that name would change.
Our first night was in the hills above Santa Barbara, thoroughly enjoyed and a beautiful view as the sun set across the Pacific. Our dinner for the evening, eggplant pasta.
After an evening of discussing tweaks to the van and recommended routes for day two we crashed to a slumber on our pleasantly sized mattress.
With drip filtered coffee, banana & porridge and apricot on toast for breakfast we were fueled to get started, all we required was a toilet so we Googled the nearest shopping centre and off we went. We had a number of tasks for the day, one such included refilling the 20 gallon water tank we use for our sink pump. Some more Googling and the recommendation was free accessible water could be gained from local cemeteries. As we discussed this in detail, neither of us felt comfortable stealing water from the dead. So we Googled some more.
We continued North and came upon a flatulence of lazing Elephant seals. Moments of sand flicking and slight murmurs of breathing kept us glued to the lookout. We chose to make a fuel stop prior to departing for our final destination. We had learnt here we could also acquire water for our tank. With moments of confusion in how to actually begin the refuelling we had to ask first a fellow fuel purchaser and then the attendant. Ian took the chance for another toilet pit stop and discovered the men's toilet door was broken, as instructed by the sign, which advised "door broken, knock before entering." Ian did this and with no response entered an empty lavatory. Alas, the man following did not read the sign and had to back step out again.
The West coast of California certainly demonstrated a young crumbly landscape. Numerous rock fall locations and new road works. A quick dip in the ocean for a shower and we were on our way to another road side campsite. Winding our way through the hills, Jamie gripped the wheel tightly as she hugged the corners and weaved around the cliffs edge. Ian snapping blurred pictures out the passenger window yelling, 'look Jamie its beautiful!"
As we pulled into our 4th potential spot we had each had enough and said this will do. With bugs about and after our previous nights learnings, we had acquired a roll of fly wire from a hardware store along the way and duct tape. We then went about cutting and duct taping the fly wire across our front windows and along the inside of the rear. Not perfectly sealed Jamie went to prepare the salad dinner, while Ian continued his duct taping mission. By completion he had succesfully duct taped all the insects of california on the inside of the van that now allowed them both to sit outside in comfort.
A relaxing dinner with a mug of wine soon fixed that. An hour later and we were both sound asleep snug and cozy in our Big Bird.
Minor editing point...any chance of indenting each paragraph?
ReplyDelete