Andy & Gillie's Big Adventure!: Route 66 And All That

Had a bit of downtime recently, so this post is a bit tardy. Suffice to say that we’re back on the road as of 23^rd May.

Anyway, written test passed with flying (well, rather earth-bound, actually) colours, so next hurdle was the ‘behind-the-wheel’ drive test. Couldn’t get booked in till 22^nd May, so nursing poor old Bob suited our freeloading in Santa Clarita perfectly – or at least it made us feel better about hanging around at Hannah and Jai’s lovely house!

It was with some trepidation that we drove out to Tehachapi in the desert north of LA to pick up our new home, but we got there - and back – in one piece and prepared for our first excursion to San Diego the following day.

San Diego was a lovely experience – although the drive down was fraught. Driving on the wrong side of the road in six lanes of screaming traffic in a vehicle that steers like a boat and weighs about 6 tons is a bit, well, scary. But we got there (and back) with no physical scars to show (but a few mental ones).

Our first experience of US RV parks/campsites was less than positive, so we moved on after one night. While we were there, we very nearly bollixed the RV by putting the levellers down, then forgetting to put them up when Gillie wanted the vehicle backed closer to the power hookup. Weeping and a’wailing and a’crunchy crunch crunch, meant we were unable to move!!! The very nice man – Dominique – whom we bought the RV from received a phone call in some panic, however he was able to calm us down with some suggestions as to what we might do. Without boring you further, the shop (store) at the campsite had some more 30 amp fuses and things were mended. We’ll never do that again!

Our next camp was the car park at Silver Strand beach, much better, even though it was simply a car park right on the beach, specially for RVs, with power and water hook-ups and we used that as a base for taking a trolley-bus tour of San Diego – great.

When we returned to Santa Clarita, the day before Hannah & Jai set off for Yorkshire, we found out that Bob cat was off for a remedial operation the following day, so we were feeding him on his return, plus administering a pharmacopeia of drugs while they were away.

Without going into too much detail, Bob lost his appetite and did not take kindly to us trying to force anti-biotics and painkillers down his very tender throat. He eventually needed to be fed by a tube, which caused more problems, these were finally overcome and he is now on his way to a full recovery.

Got very depressed listening to the General Election results coming in on BBC World Service, but it was great listening ‘through the night’ in the afternoon!! Only up side is that Lib Dems seem to have lost any chance of sharing power for a generation. Let’s hope that Sturgeon can keep some sort of rein on Cameron’s tory boys and their lust for wealth at any cost. I fear for the Welfare State, the NHS and state education.

Anyway, much of our sojourn in Santa Clarita was spent kicking back and watching ‘Breaking Bad’, ‘Peaky Blinders’ and ‘The Fall’ on Netflix – definitely something for the shopping list when we get back!

We spent a day doing the tourist thing – open top bus around Hollywood, Santa Monica, Venice Beach and Beverly Hills and got Molly Too ready for the trip with fresh oil and coolants. Also had a great time catching up with another of Andy’s ex-students, Laura, who lives in Hollywood – very desirable address – she took us to The Griffith Observatory, where we looked over LA from this amazing 53-acre park in the centre of the city!

Friday 22^nd May was a very important date, as Andy had his driving test, miles out in the desert in a place called Lancaster, waiting over an hour for the test, which was booked in for 3.15. All over in 15 minutes, with the all-important pass at the end of it! Relief!

Next day, we set off, first stop Bullhead City. Where the fuck is that, I hear you ask. Well, we still don’t really know, but we drove along a stretch of the fabled Route 66 until the road became so bad that we had to get back onto the highway. Later we discovered that the road had been so bad, it had shaken off one of our lovey shiny hubcaps. Fortunately, we had some spares, but still. We spent the night in Walmart car park at Bullhead City and it was fine. After that we went on to Williams, a small town with the only railway station serving the Grand Canyon, which we didn’t use as it was over $75 each.

We got up early the next day and caught the Arizona Shuttle bus to Grand Canyon(a lot cheaper). No matter how many pictures, films etc you’ve seen, nothing prepares you for Grand Canyon in the flesh, as it were. We won’t go on, suffice to say we were, literally, breathtaken (there- made up another word).

We’re writing this post in a Rest Area (Truck Stop) on the I-15, having camped at Bryce Canyon last night (Friday) and on our way to Zion National Park tomorrow, before meeting up with friends in Las Vegas on Monday.

Since the Grand Canyon, our senses have been assailed with some of the most amazing scenery that we simply never expected: Monument Valley, Arches National Park, Bryce NP. All completely stunning and quite wonderful. This loop wasn’t part of the original plan, but we’re so glad we did it. It has been a truly humbling few days that words and pictures simply cannot do justice to (or not ours, anyway). We’ll probably add a few more words after no doubt more wonderfulness at Zion NP, then post this when we have wifi (hopefully) at Vegas.

Something about this country…they get so much surprisingly right – protecting their amazing landscapes (maybe a bit late in some cases), while paying lip service to environmental issues. There are recycling bins all over and some stupendous free camping and national park campsites, but there’s not a washing line to be seen!

We’re in our RV (recreational vehicle) park just off The Strip – whatever that is – in Las Vegas. It’s hotter than the devil’s jockstrap (and twice as sweaty), there’s a wind coming off the desert as hot as a furnace and we’re having to pay $1.75 to dry our clothes in the tumble driers, cos there’s no washing lines!!! Wtff?!!!? More than half the washing machines don’t work, the showers – all two of em - look like they were chucked out when the Ark had a refit. This is premium priced RV accommodation. We’re used to Aussie and Kiwi-style campsites and parks. Where’s the fucking kitchen?

This country has some of the longest and most amazing stretches of road, but prolonged riding on them rearranges your innards something rotten. It’s like, well, very very bumpy, man. The people are either amazingly friendly and helpful – in fact the friendliest group we’ve met was a young man called Sam and his girlfriend and dad, they were from Melbourne…Or they’re right miserable fuckers.

Till the next time, which won’t be quite as long a gap…

PS. Wow! What a long time since I did this, I’ll have to sharpen my typing fingers again. Thanks again to Hannah, Jai and Leo for their hospitality in L.A. We were thoroughly spoilt. They have now got their lovely house back to themselves, with the good news that Bob the cat is back on the road to recovery. A month in L.A. was not in our original plan, but you never know what’s around the corner and that’s the beauty of this trip. It’s taking us time to get used to being on the road again as things are a lot different in the USA than in Australia and New Zealand. Things seemed to be easier there, definitely the camp sites were so much better and a lot cheaper which has surprised us as the Yanks are supposed to be so good at this camping lark.

We had a lovely time yesterday, in Las Vegas, with our good friends Ann and Stewart and they agreed with us as to the quality of accommodation. We are hoping to camp more in the National Forests, which in our experience so far, are less like car parks!! In fact as Andy has said, they are stunningly beautiful, with breathtaking landscapes and scenery. I’ll never forget my first view of Grand Canyon. I felt quite emotional.

Now, back to Las Vegas… what a place! Full of flashing neon and dancing fountains, it's a great place to visit, but two days is quite enough, thank you. It’s as hot as hot, but everywhere is air conditioned up to the hilt so it’s bearable. We got half way down ‘the strip’ last night and tonight we are planning to attempt the other half before going to a show by Blue Man Group. Andy has heard of them, so hope it’s not too weird! We said goodbye to Ann and Stewart as they have flown on to New York today, before they continue with more exciting adventures. We set off tomorrow heading back to our original route, Yosemite, San Francisco, Vancouver and on…so more in a couple of weeks…

Bye for now G xx

PPS For some reason there's an enormous picture in the middle of the photo selection. It's of Molly Too outside Hannah & Jai's house. It doesn't appear in the draft and I've no way of editing it, but it's there and she really is quite big!