We have a new addition to the family!

We have been in Kingman now for over a week. I wish I could say that we used our time wisely. I wish I could say we got the most we could out of Kingman.  I wish we could say that under this kind of pressure, we pull out all the stops and do what needs to be done. We have, in our own, unique kind of way.

We have been making a lot of hard decisions. While this might not sound like any great accomplishment, it is very taxing. I recently read a quote that said "When life hands you lemons, the lemonade is gonna be pretty nasty unless life also hands you water and sugar." Life felt like that for a few days. Our problem is not a lack of choice, but rather, too many. The more choices you have, the more likely it is that you will choose the wrong one. Despite there not really being a wrong choice here, there are most certainly preferable choices. Our task has been a balancing act between what we should do, what we want to do, and what we can do. We are both fortunate enough to have very kind and generous parents. I have spent a lot of time wrestling in my head over whether to accept parental help. You always hear people complain about others whose parents 'bail them out.' But after much consideration, I should count myself lucky enough to have parents who can/will help in dire circumstance, as long as the generosity is not overused or abused. It is a bit of a knock to the pride, but sometimes you just have to suck it up.

We thought about moving to Phoenix, the nearest big city to us. Turns out it is one sprawling suburb with minimal public transportation. Good in theory, but we would probably have to buy 2 cars to get us to work. Austin was always the plan and if anything better came up along the way, we would stop. But now we are so close!

Cloudy Kingman

Our time in Kingman has been pretty limited to our RV. We were told on the way in by the tow guy that there is a lot of white supremacy here. They don't like foreigners who look foreign. And you can tell. It is monochromatic as far as the eye can see, despite this one little mosque. I haven't seen anyone go in or out, but it's there. Kingman is big to look over at night when the lights come on. Lots of empty plots of land between housing complexes preparing for a boom that never quite happened. It spreads across the valley and up its sides. It has been raining in Kingman for the past 2 days, which we have been told is almost unheard of. The sky loomed low over the tops of the mesas, trying to scratch some long hidden itch within the clouds. It is cold here too - 7C, or 45F.

We had the same friend who swooped in and tried to fix our engine come up with all manner of schemes. He could tow us for free if he got some work in Austin. We could store it at a friend's house in Las Vegas, he could replace the engine at some point and we split the cost of the sale. I can't imagine much stands in the way of Paul. If it does, he'll find a way over, under, both at the same time or just plough on through. He's been a great help, but in the end we have decided to store the RV in Kingman and try to sell it remotely.

We have since bought ourselves a van. A big van. It's a Dodge Ram 2500 for anyone who cares or understands. We have yet another leaky roof for which we knocked the price down by $700. Sweet! We contacted Paul before buying it to ask if this was a serious issue. Vans, luckily, are not the same as RV's.
The holes just require a bit of silicone, which we have after doing up the roof on Damon. I believe the new name of our vehicle is Mark. I'm sure the name will be embellished over time, but for now, just Mark.















Our one foray into Kingman was to see a movie at the local cinema. Upon the approach we noticed how small it was. It looked like a misplaced bit of strip mall. Sure enough, they managed to fit a cinema screen in it. But not just one, but four! The theaters were small, but it did the job. I haven't seen a cinema that busy for anything but a special release since I was a child. Looking around Kingman made the reason for this apparent - there is little else to do here. Not only was it crowded, but phones went off all the time, two disabled ladies behind us thought that their disabled badges meant 'free pass to do what the hell I want' and spoke in patches throughout the film. Overall though, it was a pleasant experience. There were a lot of families out, which is nice to see. In cities you so rarely see families do things together that doesn't involve a harness, leash and a pissed off parent.

So now we are just waiting to see if we can sell Damon before we leave. This would be ideal obviously, but unlikely. Today we are going to do much of what we have done for the past week - Stumble (internet timewasting device) and play video games. We have to take the van out for a drive and hit the local Walmart. We need to winterize the RV before storing it which requires the purchase of an air compressor. Tomorrow we take Mark to get an engine tune up and find out if we have an engine on its last legs or a stout piece of machinery. Fingers crossed, again. I'm going to have arthritis in all my joints at the rate I cross things at!  

If all goes according to plan, the next blog I write shall be from Austin!

It's all over folks...

...for the meantime.

A friend that we met at Crater Lake saw our blog. I get a call at 11:30 at night from him asking what the problem was. He said "If I wasn't so drunk now, I'd drive right over!" Dave and I just looked at each other and smiled uncontrollably for a few minutes. This kind of thing doesn't happen to us? Are people really that nice that they would go a hundred miles out of their way (he was in Death Valley) for a friend they met only once? The answer is yes. There are people that lovely.

He turned up the next morning, a complete set of tools in the back of his truck. He got straight to work on the old girl. After a quick bite at In & Out Burger, we got back to work. He got it to run! We got to see the engine in all its glory as well. We took a turn around the block and just as we started to pick up speed, a cylinder blew. The engine is no more. It is a deceased engine. It is an ex-engine. We managed to get her back to the campsite and just managed to roll in front of the dump station. It was in great need of a dump! We managed to roll her a bit further to the campsite and here she remains.

We have spent today trying to find somewhere else to stay. Somewhere that will accept our poor disabled vehicle that doesn't cost the moon and the stars like this place does. One person would take us out of six. And they didn't have internet, which we need to sell her.

We are waiting on a quote to rebuild the engine... but I doubt it's going to be feasible. Now we are weighing up our options - do we go back to Vegas? How long do we try to sell it? Every day it costs us money to stay here, and every day that's less money we have to set up somewhere. We want to buy a van just to get us to Austin, but that is reliant on us selling Damon and getting a bit more money. No salvage yard wants to take it in the area either. It is a time for decisions with a couple that struggle to decide what to have for dinner or what to watch next on TV.

We are not giving up. Please don't get me wrong. We intend to come back to Kingman, back to this campsite and back to the space we're stuck in and start all over again. We shan't let the fuckers grind us down.

All suggestions welcome, donations heartily received!

When you seek adventure, expect to find it!

A bit of a snag...

We have some news. Some fairly big news. But that is to come later.

Once we left LA, we were craving a space with no people -  a place where Dave and I could get back to what we're used to. But first, we needed to charge up the RV as it had been sitting for so long. We ended up at a gated time-share style RV resort. Honestly, the only reason we did this was the price tag - $45 for 4 nights. In resort speak, that's fucking cheap. We were a little dubious so I called to make sure there was no snag. I was told they didn't even have a sales person at the moment so we wouldn't have to sit through someone trying to sell us the space, bargain! But we were still waiting for the catch. Right up until we drove out we were waiting for something to happen; a fat bill or some condition we had overlooked. This was the first resort we had stayed in that had activities that people actively attended. We were the only people without grey hair (as someone actually commented!) but we were never made to feel out of place. It was a lovely community and I could easily see the draw for retired folk.

The site was near Palm Springs so we decided to head out and check what the fuss was about. They have a street market every Thursday so we sewed up our wallets and made the journey over. There was loads of lovely food to choose from, and we did manage to keep our purse strings tight. I mean, we bought some stuff, but Dave and I cannot walk past delicious, artisan food without picking up a token bit of luxury. We were also told to check out the flea market in the nearby University of the Desert. What a name for a school!! The flea market was pretty sprawling, but it wasn't what I was used to. I'm used to seeing quirky, second hand stuff, the things you'd find at a car boot sale in England. This instead was people trying to sell tacky t-shirts, golf cart covers, belts and other pointless commodities you only pick up to commemorate the visit. We bought nothing apart from a blooming onion for lunch. Oh wait, no, we bought a pastry brush too. Last of the big spenders!

We were eager to get to Joshua Tree National Park and get back to nature and camping. The first night we spent in a horrible campground where we were packed in like sardines in a fairly bland landscape. It really was our fault - we didn't book and didn't realise we were arriving on the weekend of a bank holiday where entry is free. All sites were full and we were lucky to find the one we did. We went down the next day to enquire about hiking trails only to be told that all hiking trails in this part of the park were closed due to

conditions within the park. We decided to take out chances and headed out north to the hiking area. It paid off - we ended up having to wait for someone as they left their campsite and bunged ourselves straight into the site once they had. It was the most beautiful campsite we have stayed in. We had no neighbors (that we could see) and the view opened out onto the Joshua Tree plains. It was peaceful and awe inspiring. We went off on our hike and tried to find one of the many trails outlined on the map. Couldn't find it so we forged our own way until we finally came across it. We ended up leaving the path anyway as it was a bit boring and headed off into some rocky hills to get a lay of the land. Once up there, we could see this glistening white rock in the distance. In that landscape, it really did stand out. So we hiked our way over and discovered we had to climb down a small canyon in order to get to it. The rocks really did come from nowhere. Someone had built a wall and 2 bowls formed in the rocks held water. It was pretty surreal, and I have no idea why it was there, but it made for fun exploring! We made our way back, and since daylight savings time had kicked in, we started to worry that we might not get back before dark. We did. But for a short while we were wondering what we would do in that eventuality. It led us to packing a properly stocked bag whenever we go hiking - food, torch, whistle, plenty of water and a warm jacket. Just in case.

We debated for a long time whether we should stay for a little longer, but we knew we were on our way to Las Vegas and needed to book a hotel. We had no access to internet and needed to stop into a fast food joint. We booked the cheapest place we could find that parked RV's on the strip and headed off toward the Mohave. We had farted about for so long at Joshua Tree and booking the hotel that dusk was drawing in as we got to the Mohave National Preserve. We had read about boondocking sites and turned off down a dirt road in search of our free haven.
Turns out the road was quite bad, so we quickly reversed and tried to get to the visitor's center before it closed. The guy, once we were there, told us that the option we had turned away from was pretty much all we were going to find. We turned around and made our way back toward the dirt track, determined to take it slow and get our free night's stay. We watched the sun go down as we made our way down the 4 mile track. We cracked a beer for the arduous journey and found ourselves in another practically empty site. We got a fire going and got our dinner on the go. Early darkness is a true bummer when camping. When we awoke the next day, we were right at the foot of some of the biggest dunes in North America. Somehow, we had nearly outdone the awesomeness of the campsite before. We got our hike in and climbed to the very top of the dunes - a task not for the undetermined! It was a hard hike, but the descent made it all worth while.

The sand makes a noise as you jump up to your knees down the dunes. Once back at the RV, I revelled in taking off all my clothes (mainly to get rid of all the sand in every place you can imagine) and running around the RV naked. There was no one there, so why the hell not I say?! Again, we were heartbroken to leave the site, but the reservation had been made and neon glitz was awaiting us.


Las Vegas. Hhmm. We got to our hotel, and had to wait in line for about 20 minutes just for check in. We were upgraded for free, which was awesome. Until we got to the room. What must the rest of the hotel be like? It was one of the more faded hotels on the strip, that's for sure. Dave and I are too sentimental for Vegas - the faded glory of hotels that were once the place to stay is too much for us. Vegas is a place designed for rich, single people or poor families. If I were ever to go back, it would be with a decent amount of money to spend. No, not a decent amount, an obscene amount. The hotels are incredible, the restaurants and clubs within them are even more a feast for the eyes. But we couldn't afford to go to any of them. So we just spent a whole day walking down the strip and going into each hotel to see what they had to offer. The

The Ventian (the sky is a painted ceiling)

Venetian has canals going through the hotel. The Wynn has a mountain in the middle complete with foliage and waterfall. Caesar's Palace is just huge and ostentatious. One problem we did find was that all the hotels had shut down their major features for cleaning or refurbishment. Treasure Island's pirate ship show was down! Why does every hotel do this at the same time?! It may be off season, but there were still lots of people around.

We decided to do a famous Vegas all you can eat buffet. We went for one of the upper end ones at the Bellagio. It was exactly as I expected it. The food was ok, with some things that stood out more than others. Okay, it wasn't as I expected it. I did expect more, especially after my careful analysis of reviews, quality and cost. They make sure the food is very rich so you can't eat that much. But it was still fun. We did the on the last night we were there, despite getting all the way there the night before and being told we only had half an hour to eat. It was our fault, we had decided on a happy hour bar crawl that led us to sitting in one bar and drinking until we had nearly run out of time. We took a shuttle back, only to find that there was construction all along the road leading to our hotel and we had to backtrack to a previous stop to get to the hotel. Although, before doing all this backtracking we tried to take shortcut through a big, fenced off parking lot next to a construction site. We set alarms off and had security very kindly tell us get the hell out. Whoops!

We were not too disheartened to leave Vegas. It's a cool place that's only worth coming out at night for. But I'd hit it either single or in my early 20's. I'm neither, and no longer want to be. We hit the road and looked

forward to the Grand Canyon. We made a brief stop at the Hoover Dam (it cost a tenner each to go into the visitor's center, so we appreciated it from outside). It was impressive, and I stole a postcard because I couldn't be bothered to wait in line. It's ok - karma got me back good. Just read on.

It's hard breaking down!

This is where it gets a bit bad. About 4 miles up the road from the Hoover Dam, just into Arizona, we broke down. We called AAA around 3:30. We made it to a campsite around midnight. The first tow truck couldn't hook up to the RV for some reason, so we had to wait for a flat bed truck to come and take us away. This truck's bed moved with comical slowness - it felt like another scene from Family Guy. When the second guy arrived we got a "the truck's a piece of shit, but it works!" A great vote of confidence! He was a chatty guy once we had settled in for the 70 mile journey to a campsite. He was a bit of a paranoid hick who thought Obama is a Muslim, but he was funny none the less. The truck itself constantly sounded like it was about to break down. To be fair, breaking down in an RV is the way to do it. We had beer, we watched an episode of Game of Thrones, it really could have been worse, and I still had faith that good old Damon wouldn't let us down.

We had someone come out to look at it the next day. It's not good. We are getting it fully checked out on Monday, but we are preparing for the 95% chance that it's over for Damon. I spent half an hour crying. I don't want this to end. I've loved this trip more than most things I've done in my life. But i have to remember that part of the reason this is so awesome is because Dave is here. And he still is. We are in the process of figuring out what the hell we are going to do. Sell her and buy another RV? Downsize? Just buy a car and a tent? Rent a car and start for Austin and start the saving all over again? I mean, the vehicle can be repaired, but at a cost we probably can't afford. Also, looking at prices in the hick town we're stuck in, the cost of repair is about what the rig is worth. There is still that 5% chance that the gaskets just need cleaning, or spark plugs need to be changed. But we are using Damon like it's our last chance. She's on death row and an approved appeal is unlikely. So we're trying to use up all the propane and using things we before didn't trouble with in case it broke down.

We shall know more tomorrow. Until then it feels like our partner has called us up and told us they're
not sure where this relationship is going. She needs some time - a week to see if this is right for her. Once someone says that it's only a matter of time anyway before it ends. The honeymoon is over. Welcome back to reality. With a short, sharp thud.

Piccies!!

Joshua Tree National Park

Mohave National Preserve

Las Vegas

Cities of Sun and Sin

I haven't included pictures in this one as it is nigh on impossible on the internet connection we are using, so you can just click the links at the bottom to get the full experience. Besides, I know none of you are that lazy...

So, we finally met up with Priscilla after lots of sticks being thrown in the cogs. She rolled up in her brother's Audi S5 - a very impressive way to make an entrance. It was great to see her, and both of us have been through a lot in two years, so there was a lot to catch up on. Dave and I were also looking forward to having familiar company. It's lovely meeting new people, but you always have to put your best foot forward. As Cills had seen some of very worst feet pointing backward, it was going to be nice to just chill out.

She took us back to what she rightly calls the Ivory Tower - an LA pad just off Venice Beach owned by her brother. It was on the 6th floor and commanded a view over Venice and the sea. With my description of the events that follow, please bear with me as the memories are a little hazy. A lot of drinking was done, but hell, we were on a holiday away from our road trip. You know life is hard when you have to take a holiday from your holiday!

Our first day was spent down on Venice Beach. As we walked out of her apartment for the first time, we walked straight on to a movie set. What a first introduction to LA! Apparently this had never happened to her before, so they obviously rolled it out just for our benefit. Thanks LA. We walked past the muscle gym on the beach where there was a gentleman wearing a saggy pair of red speedos and carried a bam bam style stick. We put our heads down through all the guys trying to sell you a CD. We sat down at a sidewalk cafe and had a pitcher of beer. It's a nifty little area, and prime for people watching. Tourists and locals alike provide great viewing entertainment. Every other store is a medical marijuana office where anyone can pick up a card for $40. Not only cheap, but the purveyors of these places are annoying persistent. But with 20 other shops in competition with you, I guess you have to be memorable. From what I can remember, that was pretty much the first day - drinking and people watching. We didn't plan dinner very well, so we had mashed potato and gravy (of course I remember what we ate!).

Priscilla was very accomodating to our desire for doing tourist stuff. She has had to do this several time before, and it was much appreciated. The next day we went out to see Hollywood and the Walk of Fame. Turns out you don't need to be all that famous to get onto the Walk of Fame, I probably recognised a quarter of the people who had stars. While waiting for Dave to use the bathroom, Cills and I had wandered into a candy shop and ended up making our own chocolate bars. Dave and I made one with pretzels, sour patch kids, and some other interesting things (not interesting enough to remember obviously), which was surprisingly delicious. We had drinks in a place called the Rusty Mullet, and had someone try to sell us weed through the window. Although, this courtesy wasn't just extended to us - he tried us and everyone else on the street - including a guy filming to which he just held the bud in front of the camera lens. For a bit of culture we were taken to the observatory where you can see the Hollywood sign and the whole of LA. Cills, meanwhile, is hopping everywhere due to a dog bite on her foot acquired before we got there. When I left her 2 years ago, she was hopping due to a sprain. I guess some things will remain the same. We drove back through Bel Air and Beverly Hills. This is the first time in my life I have felt acutely like I wanted to be rich. I've always thought it would be nice, but have never craved it. LA makes you crave it. Ostentatious wealth is everywhere, and it feels so tangible. It feels like you could wake up tomorrow and be in the right place at the right time and become a trillionaire. I kept thinking what niche product I could invent, or what person I could befriend to introduce me to someone who wants me to be their first hand man. It was a weird sensation, and both Dave and I succumbed to it.

The next day Cills told us of plans to go to Reno to see some friends. It turns one of them was someone we had met in Belize when traveling, and I just so happened to remember him. After much debate and discussion, we found a place to store the RV for a couple of weeks while we took another vacation from our holiday within a holiday. We hit the road the next day (I think) and embarked upon a journey that was to take around 10 hours. It was a long journey, around about 550 miles, in a small but beautiful car. We were thankful of the wine waiting for us at the end and I'm pretty sure that's the only thing that helped digest the large amounts of fast food consumed on the way. We had our own room in the boy's house in the basement set up with a single blow up mattress. We even had our own toilet! Our main purposes for heading up to Reno were to attend a Halloween party and go hunting another 6 hours up the road in Nevada. So the next day we set about finding ourselves a costume from the boxes of outfits owned by Cody, the guy we met in Belize. Dave dressed up all in animal print, put on a pair of sunglasses and called himself Blind Leppard (pun on Def Leppard for those of you not so swift). I found a lifegaurd costume that had been made with built in pubic hair hanging over the side, stuck a jet pack on my back and went as that. Don't ask me what it was called - it was a problem I never encountered as no one asked what I had come as. The party was on an army base, and it is a pretty weird sensation walking around in fancy dress, not quite in your right mind, on an official army base. They took our ID and all. It was an interesting night, most of which I don't remember. Dave has a few collected memories, the most distinct of which are being hit on in a hard way by an army guy (not in fancy dress but on duty) and getting into an altercation with one of our own crew. This kind of marred the rest of the Reno experience for him, which was a shame. Although we did get to try antelope (fucking delicious) and watch a dog catch a mouse.

The next day I pretty much just threw up and watched TV, and I was not alone. There was a lot of down time here as the boys went out to work so we decided to hit up another guy we had met whilst traveling who lived in Lake Tahoe. Unfortunately he was not at the house, but was kind enough to let us use his amazing chalet, complete with jacuzzi. We had a great time despite being there for only 3 days. We drank, we hiked, we hot tubbed. Although, I don't think we ever got the hot tub just right...

When we got back to Reno, Dave started to feel a bit sick. We were meant to be going to Jarbridge for some good old fashioned hunting the next day, so we hoped it would just go away, work itself through. But it didn't. We ended up missing out on Jarbridge, which was a real shame. We have our own gun and haven't managed to shoot it once on this trip, and this was going to be our opportunity. We had also heard how beautiful it was, and that it had a population of 40. But we tried to make our own fun in Reno once Dave felt better. My Dad very kindly used some of his points to put us in a hotel while Dave got better - the single mattress in the basement wasn't doing him any favours. Turned out the hotel was a little further away than we anticipated, and not one of the glitzy ones in the center, so we moved ourselves to the Eldorado. The Ramada had peeling, paper thin walls and we were privy to both a baby crying and a couple arguing 2 nights in a row. The Eldorado, on the other hand, was garishly appointed with fountains, lights and themed restaurants. We spent our first afternoon getting stoned and walking around the casino. If you ever attend one of these places, I suggest you do the same. We got on a shuttle which had no destination written anywhere in sight. It took us around the corner of the building. We walked for what felt like hours through 3 different hotels which were all connected and all with their own theme. I found myself in what felt like the set of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in the hotel Circus Circus. We found a cool little pub called The Brewer's Cabinet, which had great beer and great service. We went for walks around Reno and tried to find cheap places to eat, but we were just killing time really until the guys got back from Jarbridge. Although it did snow while we were there and it was great to see it, and to be cold for a little while.

We made our way back to LA the day Cills got back as her boyfriend was to be arriving any day on his bike. It was another long journey, but it was good to get back to the Ivory Tower. The next day was purely a drinking day. We were leading up to the anniversary of Cills and I meeting for the first time. It was pure coincidence that we were together for it, but it was awesome to celebrate 2 years of being on the road and 2 years of knowing each other. We had a great drinking day which took us to Venice Beach, the canals and ended up with me in a tellytubby costume roaming the halls of her apartment building. Her boyfriend arrived that night and joined in the fun. Yet another day was spent on the sofa recovering and watching a whole season of some trash on Netflix. We managed to fit in some more touristy stuff - a trip to a Malibu beach, piss off an LA local in the car and got railed at for it in a cafe, and visited Santa Monica Pier. For our last night we had dinner in a nice restaurant to celebrate our 2 years and to say farewell.

It was a sad parting, but Dave and I were eager to get back on the road.  It was great to have company, but we were looking forward to being a duo again. We picked up the RV, which was in a state. We had left some stuff in the fridge, which had turned to mold. The toilet stank, the fridge and freezer stank, the place was a mess. It felt like our maiden voyage. But, we were cooking for the Burney's that night, so we left it as it was and set about our homemade Chinese Takeaway - sweet and sour chicken balls, egg fried rice and spring rolls. Yet again we had a lovely evening, and hope we have made some lasting friendships. The oldest daughter left a note on our windscreen with very touching sentiments inside - it made me feel quite warm and fuzzy inside.

Now we are on the road again, but I think this is enough for now. I've been blogging for about 4 hours now, so it's time to go out and explore a bit. Luckily, life come first!

Piccies!!

Los Angeles
Reno
Lake Tahoe

Making Our Way to LA

It should probably become a running joke that I leave too long between posts. But this has been an especially long time and with no good reason. I've had plenty of downtime. Just not the will. I'm going to break this up into 2 entries as well - there's just too much to tell, and I don't want you to feel like you are reading an essay for school.

So, we drove down and stayed in Santa Maria for a couple of nights at a county fairground. We have found this part of California to be particularly devoid of affordable places to park the RV. The county fairground was a pretty good deal, it just turns out that Santa Maria isn't a highly desirable place to visit. We learnt later that it is home to the tri tip - an undersung cut of meat in England, but over here in Central to South California it is don. It is a fatty piece of meat from the sirloin, but when cooked/barbecued slowly, all the fat melts into the meat and leaves a delicious flavor sensation.

After Santa Maria we headed on down to Santa Barbara - a place we had heard great things about. The journey there was a bit harrowing, and Dave and I have agreed on each other's strengths. I'm good at city driving, Dave is good at narrow, windy roads. Dave was driving through Santa Barbara, and we ended up at the tiniest roundabout I've ever seen. I will set the scene - Dave had been driving for a couple hours and the steering wheel was squeaking like crazy. This alone is enough to set him off. We approach this tiny roundabout - the only way to get out of a tiny parking lot. Without exaggeration, he must have had to

An entrepreneurial way to make money on a Santa Barbara Beach

execute a 12 point turn to get the rig around this thing. I am trying desperately not to laugh, I really was trying as I could tell Dave was not in the mood to see the funny side. Then I made eye contact with a woman who had been watching us the whole time. That was it. I nearly hurt myself trying to bite my lip to stop laughing. The whole thing was such a farce. Luckily he just looked straight ahead and ignored me. We ended up pulling up in a parking lot and asking a guy with a very homemade looking RV where was good to boondock in the area. Turns out he had been in that parking space for at least a couple of years. When he found out we were full timers and not just renting our RV he opened right up and told us all the good places to go. Santa Barbara has obviously seen a lot of people trying to camp on the street for free as there are signs everywhere telling you that you can't. We managed to find one street that they had missed and plonked ourselves pretty centrally in Santa Barbara. We went out to an English pub and had a few drinks and then hunkered down for the evening. Santa Barbara is beautiful, and it is full of beautiful people. I imagine the cost of living would outweigh its beauty though.

As we had been in cities for a while, we felt the need to retreat back into the woods. We ended up at a massive, well organised camp ground situated around a reservoir. As we are traveling just as we come out of the tourist season, places are pretty empty. However, on this particular day, there was a cycling race taking place along the road that led to Lake Casitas. This was a winding, narrow road and there were a lot of cyclists on the road, mostly riding three abreast. When you're in an RV, as I'm sure you can imagine, trying to navigate around a bunch of cyclists is pretty harrowing. But I managed it and got us there in one piece - the cyclists were ok too!

We rolled up to a great spot and had lots of space between us and anyone else camping. Until a convoy arrived carrying a huge latin family. We watched them set up, then play football (English style) and crash balls into RV's. We put them out of our mind for a while and ended up chatting with our neighbor. He was there with his daughter, who was on the other side of the lake with her school rowing team. We ended up chatting all evening, and it's always nice to spend an evening waxing away the time. While we were chatting, the large latin family were talking very seriously, and it kind of looked like the last supper gathering. We went to bed
and didn't think too much more of it. Our new friend, however, was in a tent and apparently had to endure a whole evening of raucous noise. The toilets the next day looked as though they had been used by a pack of rabid wolverines. They threw away their rubbish, mostly, but left all the tables in a row, which they had dragged over from other campsites. If you have never seen a camp host - the person who is going to have to clean up any mess you leave - I should tell you that they are old and usually disabled in some way. The camp hosts all gathered around the mess and had a chinwag, smoking cigars and riding aloft in their golf buggies. I never saw what came of this meeting, but I'm sure it was momentous.

Bin Squirrel

That morning, the guy in the tent came over and gave us his details, said we were welcome to park up outside his house in Orange County if we ever needed to. We were touched by such a generous offer, and it was only one day before we decided to take him up on it. Before we left we decided to go for a walk around the massive campsite. We came across  our first wild tarantula here! Towards the end, we came across a ground squirrel stuck in a large dumpster. It looked scared and tired, and my heart went out to it. We set it up with a makeshift ladder to be able to get out and walked away to let nature take its course. I still hope he made it out.

We felt a bit weird taking Mike (our newly acquired friend) up on his offer so soon, but if you don't ask, you don't get. We got a really friendly reply telling us they'd love to have us. So we set off, a bit unsure of what we were going to encounter. As we were early, we decided to go to the beach. We first had an extremely overpriced deli lunch. We then went down to the beach, called Sunset Beach, and settled down with a bloody mary (dutch courage). I got a bit carried away with the camera and took far too many pictures. I can't decide which are the best, so you can look through all 20!

We decided it was time to face the unknown. We pulled up at the house and introduced ourselves to what we would learn was an incredibly welcoming family. Mike has a wife and 3 daughters, whom we had learned all about when we were camping. We were offered beer and dinner, the best way to impress Dave and myself. We chatted to them through the evening and the next, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. We were roused one morning to what we initially thought must be some sort of practical joke. It sounded like someone was mowing our hair it was so close. We looked out the window and realised we were surrounded on all sides by a gardening company. It's a small price to pay for free camping and new friends, it was just rather unexpected. Then again, I'm sure the gardeners weren't expecting to have to work around a 30ft mobile home either. Priscilla was coming to pick us up to take us to the Ivory Tower, so we made arrangements with the Burneys (our new friends!) to come back and cook them a meal to thank them for everything they had done.


We have started to think about opening our own business. Food trucks are all the rage and we have been coming with ideas for a pie truck - good old fashioned English pies with a creative twist. I guess this is just an explanation for one of the pictures in dropbox - we tested our first pie, homemade crust and all. You know what? It was actually damn good!



The next leg of the journey is a bit of a departure from our usual tale, so I'll leave that for the next entry.

Piccies!!

Santa Maria & Santa Barbara
Lake Casitas