Day 41 and 42 Week 6

Well I am home! My final total distance travelled in the 6 weeks was 10,152 miles or 16,334 kilometres. I was a bit amazed when I handed the car back that I hadn’t put a single bump, dent or scratch on it in all those crazy miles.

I kept pretty close to my guestimate of about $100 to $120 per day with only a few blowouts due mainly to accommodation charges.

I couldn’t update my blog yesterday because I couldn’t log onto the free Wi-Fi at LAX for some reason. Probably my lack of IT skills more than anything. I dropped the car back to the Car Rental people at 11.20am and then just had to hang around the terminal until the A380 left at 22.10hrs. Good thing I had a good book to read.

Overall, I did have an absolute ball. I got to see 7 Civil War Battlefields, The Little Big Horn Battlefield, Ground Zero in New York, The Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the Hoover Dam and a million other places. I met some really great people and have a thousand photos and memories that will last a life time.  I can’t recommend a road trip across the United States highly enough. The changing cultures from one side of the country to the other is amazing. It really is an amazing country. 

By the end of the trip, I had the driving down pat.  Even driving in LA wasn’t anywhere near as difficult as it would have been 6 weeks earlier.

It is going to be difficult getting used to the price of things at home again. Not having the $1.00 per litre petrol or the $5 take away meals with endless drinks or $8.00 all you can eat buffets is going to be a bit of an adjustment.  I can't wait to get back over there again.

A big thank you to all of you who read my blog and gave me encouraging advice along the way.  I hope you got as much pleasure following my adventures as I had doing it. I definitely have the bug now and will start planning the next one soon. Not that much planning goes into my trips, it is more of a suck it and see adventure.

Remember, “Don’t regret the things you have done, regret the things you haven’t done”

Brad signing off!

Day 40 Week 6

I took a slow drive up the coast towards LA today. I hugged the beach as much as I could wherever possible. Apparently we had a small earthquake today, about 5.1 magnitude. It was out to sea a bit. Everyone was talking about it but I was driving at the time and missed it.  I am spending the night in a cheap motel in Huntington Beach. It’s about 30 miles to LAX so I will take a slow drive into the airport tomorrow and hand the car back before I have about an 8 hour wait in the terminal.

My fleapit room with the mirror above the bed.

Day 39 Week 6

Hung around town today waiting for David and the boys to arrive.  We had a lovely dinner at a restaurant across the road from the motel. They are very busy tomorrow out at Camp Pendleton, so I am heading up the coast towards LA. I have pretty much exhausted this town for things to do so I will have a look at Capistrano or Laguna beach. Be easier to duck over to LAX from there.

Day 38 Week 6

I Enjoyed a lazy Saturday just hanging around today. Being a weekend in a coastal town, the number of people seemed to quadruple. The beach was packed even though it was an overcast day.

Otherwise, it was just a restful day.

Day 37 Week 6

I found out that a daily commuter train runs almost hourly down to San Diego from here, so I took the train down there today. The last stop on the train line was at Santa Fe station which is right on San Diego harbour. I knew that the Aircraft Carrier USS Midway was permanently docked alongside as a floating museum, so I thought I would go and have a look.  The Midway was Commissioned in 1945 and Decommissioned in 1992. She was the flagship of the US Fleet in the Persian Gulf during Desert Storm and led the airborne assault on Baghdad.

 Nice clean commuter train to San Diego

Arriving in San Diego

Approaching the USS Midway

The USS Midway

Inside the Hanger deck

Sitting directly across the harbour was the USS Nimitz. Now that’s a big ship.  

While I was standing on the flight deck, looking at a flat screen TV that was mounted on the side of the ‘Island’ as they call the raised section that houses the bridge etc, I was watching a video about air operations and shooting planes off the deck. This young girl, turns out she was 19, came up and stood alongside me watching the video. I just glanced at her and said “Amazing isn’t it” and she said, “It’s not as cool as it looks.” So I said “Do you do this?” She said “Well, I’m in training at the moment but yeah.” It turns out she is from the Nimitz and had come over on her time off to have a look at the Midway. We ended up talking for at least ½ hour. I got all the inside guff on what happens on the flight line etc. She interpreted for me all the hand signals that the guys on video were using to communicate with each other. It is so noisy on the flight deck that everything is done by hand signals.  It was really good talking to her. She was a really nice girl.

Day 36 Week 6

I had a lazy day today, just hanging around Oceanside. This little town has some lovely Art Deco buildings, some original and others renovated. It really gives it a nice retro feel.

There was a twilight street market going on this evening so I had a browse through that.

I also went for a walk down at the beach

 A big peir

 Looking north

Looking south

The water was freezing. I mean painfully cold.

It was a pleasant break from driving today. I think I might do it again tomorrow.

Day 35 Week 5

Travelled down the coast and through LA today. WOW! What a stuff up on my part. Note to self. DON’T ARRIVE IN LA ON PEAK HOUR! Just the way it turned out, I hit LA at 15.30hrs. Even a couple of hours out, I could see it happening but couldn’t stop it. If I wanted to be down the coast like I did, I just had to do it. 70 miles of bumper to bumper traffic, 5 lanes wide. If I hadn’t done it myself I wouldn’t have believed it. I don’t know how these people do it every day. And they all seem to be texting away on their phones as they duck and weave in and out of lanes. I was gob smacked.

Anyway, I managed to get through it all without banging into anyone, so I’m happy. I’m at a little coastal town called Oceanside. Right next door to the Marine Corps, Camp Pendleton.

Day 34 Week 5

I have been travelling slowly down the coast towards LA. I spent a good part of the day in the lovely seaside town of Monterey. It was a beautiful day until about 1300hrs when this incredible sea mist rolled in and obscured everything. I mean you couldn’t see 50 metres in front of you and I was about to head down the incredibly scenic Highway 1.  Typical!

Monterey was the place where John Denver was killed when his aircraft crashed in 1997. His family placed a monument on the beach at the location so I had a look at that.

I was having my lunch in the car park at the beach when these squirrels came up for a feed. I couldn’t believe it. They were the tamest squirrels I have ever seen. Although I think I have only ever seen 1 or 2 others and they were in the distance. These would take chicken nuggets right out of your hand. Fantastic.  

Speaking of animals and my expertise in such matters, I have been advised that the moose I saw aren’t moose at all. They're Elk. Don’t ask me what the difference is, they all look like moose to me. I just thought it was a girl moose without horns. LOL. I did see a Buzzard sitting in a tree eating something today. (I think it was a buzzard)

Highway 1 was an adventure in itself. It is a bench road cut into the side of the cliffs and runs for a couple of hundred miles from San Francisco to LA. It is incredibly tight and in some spots there are no barricades between me and the drop to the ocean rocks, hundreds of feet below. I would be amazed if people haven’t plummeted to their doom. I was heading south so I was on the cliff edge side the whole time. I was crawling along and had to let the locals by many times. They just hammer it around the bends and think nothing of the cliffs they are on.  Anyway, the fog eventually lifted and the view was spectacular. It didn’t last though. Around the next bend the fog was back, and then it lifted, and then it was back, and then it lifted. I did get to see some of the coast so that was ok.

Bench road of doom

Fogs back. Great view!

I got to see what I can confirm are Elephant Seals. (I read the sign). They are everywhere around here. The seals that is...  Every stretch of beach had them lying around sleeping. Brilliant!

I just got some good news. My mate David from Arizona, where I started this whole adventure, is going to be just north of San Diego on Sunday with another mate, Cornelius. So I will head on down there and catch up with them before I leave on Tuesday.

Day 33 Week 5

In yesterdays post, I tried to show some pictures of how big the Redwood trees are over here but as Laraine pointed out to me, I didn’t show anything to compare them to, to give them some perspective. They could have been pictures of saplings for all anyone knew, so I jumped out of the car with tripod in hand and took some more shots for you. Well, for Laraine anyway who is size perspective impaired apparently.

I continued on down the road towards San Francisco, not intending to go there today but as time went on, I couldn’t find anywhere to stay, so I just kept pushing on thinking there will be something along here soon and the next thing I know I am at the Golden Gate Bridge.

One interesting thing I noticed today was the abundance of Gum trees in California. They are everywhere. It seriously looked just like home. Apparently they were introduced by Australian miners in the 1850’s during the gold rush.

Well, when I unintentionally got to the Golden Gate, I figured well I ain’t turning around so I just moved my plans forward a bit. Unfortunately I got there on afternoon peak hour so it was a mad house. Thankfully, I am used to the driving now so it wasn’t too bad.  I popped over to the home of the Mythbusters, M5 Industries and took some photos outside the shop.  The sign on the door left no doubt that they don’t like being disturbed so I took my pics and kept going.

When I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, I was pushed along in the traffic and couldn’t see too much so I thought I would pop back over there for some more pics.

Once I had that done, I took a drive down through the middle of ‘Downtown’ and into China town. More chaotic traffic but a lovely city all the same.

So tonight I am just south of San Francisco. Over the next few days I am going to take a slow drive down the coast towards LA. I may even sleep in a few days.

Day 32 Week 5

I drove down through Oregon and crossed over into Northern California. I punched back over to the sea so that I could travel through the Redwood forests of North West California. These trees are amazing. They average 300 feet high and are dead straight. There used to be about 2 million acres of Redwood forests but due to unrestricted logging there are only about 100,000 acres left. Luckily the government has declared them national forests so they should be well protected now.

I tried to take some photo’s but my little camera just couldn’t take them all in.

Whilst heading down the coast I got held up temporarily by a herd of Moose. They had wandered out of the hills and took up residence on and around the main road.

She's not wearing a party hat, that is a stop sign behind her.

The sand on the beaches here is a strange grey colour. Nothing like the white sand at home.

Petrol is ridiculously expensive up here compared to the rest of the country. It is $3.79 a gallon on average elsewhere but up here it is $4.59 a gallon.  I’ve no Idea why.

I have done 9,135 miles or 14,698 kilometres so far. I still have about 800 miles to LA so I will come in close to the 10,000 miles or 16,000 kilometres I estimated.