SUPER VARIO WORLD

Hello from LA.

First of all, thanks again to Aunty Pat and cousin Debbie for their amazing hospitality. We left them 10 days ago, and after being spoilt rotten for so long, getting back on the road was almost like starting over again, with the usual feelings of excitement and anxiety of what lays ahead.

So we headed down to Northern California, the day before the awful wildfires started, to Stockton to get an oil cooler fitted to Bowser’s gearbox, to keep the temperatures down on mountain climbs. We went to Valley Hybrids, a renowned Land Cruiser specialist, who were amazing. They took us into town while they did the work, picked us up 3 hours later, gave Bowser a clean bill of health, gave us stickers and t-shirts and even posted photos of Bowser on their Facebook page as an “international traveller”! We’ve tackled some steep, long climbs since without problem, so hopefully that’s done the trick.

From there we drove through Silicon Valley, which we were expecting to be all high-tech companies on business parks, but was a real mix of buildings, with houses and shopping plazas right next to the HQs of international companies. Apple’s current building was quite bland, but their new HQ still being built like a spaceship looked amazing, from what we could see through the hoardings. Google’s was more funky with a few things to see and do in amongst the employee rest areas. Facebook’s was big and colourful, but nothing to see other than the big “like” thumb-up sign outside - the buildings themselves didn’t even say Facebook on them.

Onto San Francisco, we obviously headed straight for the Golden Gate Bridge and bay area, where there happened to be an air-show on, so that was a nice was to spend a few hours. Highlights were the Canadian Snowbirds, US Navy Blue Angels and a United Airlines 747 sweeping down over the bridge and circling the bay. We then did a drive though the city, going up and down the streets from Bullitt and up to the Twin Peaks look-out for great views of the city and Alcatraz.

Then we bumbled down the coast to Santa Cruz, which has a huge but slightly sad amusement arcade on the waterfront and a very hippy-dippy town-centre, with lots of “interesting” people (mainly weirdos). Monterey was more interesting, with loads of old adobe buildings from the Spanish and Mexican times, one of the many towns with a Mission, built by the Spanish monks to convert the locals. There’s something special about whitewashed buildings, red roof tiles, blue skies and cafés in quiet shaded plazas – like “proper” inland Spain, but then there’s a beautiful white beach with huge surf at the end of the road! It’s certainly made us even more excited about heading to Mexico and seeing more, older architecture.

Carmel (the place Clint Eastwood was mayor) was absolutely lovely - probably our favourite place so far. Quiet, small, clean, interesting shops, loads of places to eat and drink and another beautiful beach – it had it all. We visited Clint’s old pub – The Hog’s Breath – and his current business, the very posh Mission Ranch Hotel. The valet boys must be used to tourists driving through the car park, as they just stared at us with no suggestion they thought we were potential guests!

Further down Highway 1, we drove the legendary Big Sur road as far as we could – it’s still closed due to landslides last year. The scenery was as expected – stunning – but it is a true road-trip – there aren’t many places to actually stop and enjoy the views or beaches. Having turned around and gone back to Carmel, we drove through the Carmel Valley, which was arguably more twisty-turny and beautiful than Big Sur with hills, valleys and vineyards as far as you could see.

San Luis Obispo was next up, with another Mission and bizarrely a “Bubble Gum Alley” – a narrow brick alley covered in used gum of uncertain origin, but at least the 1970’s. Lovely! Then it was onto Santa Barbara, one of Caroline’s favourite places from her previous trips. The stunning Courthouse was only built in the late 1920’s, but in a Spanish style. It’s intricate design, coloured tiles, murals and gardens are worthy of a 5-star boutique hotel, let alone a public building. The rest of the town was similarly beautiful, with more adobe buildings, so many palm trees and a long, white beach.

So then it was on to Hollywood, the sign, the Walk of Fame, Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Strip. We got there early on a Saturday and it was surprisingly quiet, even managing to park on the road by the Chinese Theatre. Then along Mulholland Drive through Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Van Huys and Sherman Oaks just being blown away by the sheer opulence of the houses, cars and shops. We’re not big “celebrity” fans, but we did seek out Nikki Sixx’s infamous “heroin house” (Motley Crue bassist) and Dave Grohl’s pad. It was one of those surreal days, driving our old, scruffy truck from the UK through some of the most iconic and famous streets in the world.

Our plan from here is pretty loose. We’ve started sorting shipping to South America, which may be from Guatemala or Honduras, probably sometime in December. Soon we will head to Mexico, but first we will probably go inland to check out the Mojave Desert.

TTFN

Click here to check out our photos!