Tuesday 17th May 2011

Sorry folks six days since our last post.  We made an early start on Thursday and back tracked to avoid the road block right back to Salinas which we had driven through the day before and the views going north on Highway 1 were even better than going south then down the H101 which runs parallel to H1 but on the other side of the mountains. At about 4 o'clock Steve realised that he had not been watching the fuel gauge, which had been dropping quicker than our motorhome at home, then the 50 mile warning came on in the middle of nowhere along Green Valley road.  We had a rather worrying hour watching the miles left, count down.  Then had to make a decision on whether to turn right to go back up to Hurst Castle just before the road block that had stopped us yesterday or to turn left. We decided that Cambria to the North was closer so turned right.  We reached a "Gas" station just before we ran out and had to pay a premium price for being "out of the way".
On to Hurst Castle just at closing time. The next morning's tours were all booked and we really wanted to be in LA by Friday afternoon to spend the weekend with our friends so we decided that we had seen many Stately Homes in the UK and a US one couldn't be that much better especially as we had to choose between five different tours, so we decided we would head on down south and give the castle a miss.
We pushed on to Morrow Bay and spent a delightful half hour watching the seals playing in the Bay and the Seagulls trying to pinch their fish.  Then onward to find a parking place for the night and took a wrong turn and found ourselves in a "HillBilly" looking settlement full of trailers and kids playing in the street and a seedy Saloon bar that looked just like it had come from an old Cowboy film.  We finally found the way back to the highway after a kind motorist had stopped us to say that the road ahead was a "bit tight" for our RV (not good to rely on TomTom too much) so we turned round and finally found the H101.   It was dark by now so we soon stopped in a rest area till morning. Six hours was the limit but the Truckers were bedded down for the night so we saw no reason why we shouldn't do the same.
In the morning we pushed on to LA missed Santa Barbara unfortunately as we had passed it without noticing.  We spotted many RV's parked by the sea below us, from the Freeway between Santa Barbara and Ventura so decided to investigate.  They were parked on a short piece of the old H1 just tarmac with no facilities and $27 for 24 hours. We found a day time parking place and had lunch and a short rest before pushing on to Moor Park just outside LA where our friends lived.
TomTom found their house easily and it was a surreal situation knocking on their front door in another continent but we were made very welcome and met their two children and many of their friends as it was their turn to host the supper party on the Saturday evening.  They took us to see the Hollywood Sign and the walk of fame, some of the stars houses in Beverly Hills and Sunset strip then on to Malibu and the second most expensive houses in the US, many of them just wooden shacks!
On Sunday they took us to Santa Barbara where the children went on an antique "Merry-go-round" and we had ice creams on the wooden pier. On Monday they lent us their car and we visited the Getty Villa as the Getty Museum which Judy would have really liked to see was closed on Mondays.
Today Tuesday we set off south towards Disneyland and arrived there in torrential rain which was obviously set in for the day.  We decided that Disneyland in the Rain would not be good so would save that for another time or when we visit the East Coast sometime.
So we headed on to San Diago stopping at a Wall*Mart to buy a mobile phone just in case of emergencies when we head east towards the Grand Canyon and beyond and are now parked up for the night in another Wall*Mart car park just outside San Diago.
Till next time....
Steve & Judy