The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

We made it!

We were up yesterday morning at 6:00am, and got on the road right away. They were still calling for winds, but when we got up it was fairly calm. So we got a solid two hour drive in before we stopped for breakfast just outside of Palm Springs.

This was the last of our long driving days. We've now done 1,800 miles (3,000 kms) over the last two weeks since we left central Mexico.

We don't like traveling that fast, but our schedule was tight due to the dental work I had done in Mexico. We don't mind traveling almost every single day...I just wish the distances were shorter.

6:30am getting on the I-10 freeway.

Entering California. 
Fortunately, they did not inspect us and we got to keep all of our expensive fruits and veggies.

Scenery along the way.

Downhill for 10 miles (16 kms). Good gas mileage through this stretch!

Coming in to the valley where Palm Springs is located.

Nice and warm down here. Snow in the mountains way up there!

We had a very strong head wind through here. Not very good gas mileage on this stretch!

Nice scenery.

Four lanes in each direction. Greater Los Angeles is very busy for traffic!

And finally, we made it to Brea, California. Brea is a suburb of Los Angeles, but it's still 25 miles (40 kms) to downtown LA.

We're visiting with blog reading friends Mike and Tamara. I "met" Tamara online a couple of years ago when she was writing her own blog regarding their retirement activities, and she began reading our blog as well. She has since retired her blog and gone on to other hobbies. 

But when she read that we were planning on coming to southern California,they were quick to offer up a place to park and visit. They are also RV'ers, hikers, and avid travelers like ourselves, and similar ages so we have a lot in common!

Sherman, parked on the street (with a 3 day permit).

We visited for a while, and then went for a 3 mile (5 km) walk. Nice fast pace to get the blood flowing...we did it in under an hour. We've been missing out on exercise the last two weeks so Tamara and Mike have some hikes planned for us. Today, we're scheduled to do 10 miles (16 kms) on the coast, so we're really looking forward to that.

Tamara, Mike, and Ruth.

Pick up the pace girls!

Sherman has a nice little spot!

Tamara made a great dinner for us...vegetarian stuffed squash and a salad...very nice. 

Dinner is served!

Yesterday's drive, 210 miles (336 kms).

We're here until Friday morning. We pick up Ruth's cousin Helen and her husband Tony from LAX on Thursday afternoon for a two week visit with us, and then Friday morning we go pick up our rental car and take Sherman back to Palm Springs for the weekend where we're going to stay at an RV "resort".

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A great portable tool kit on sale until April 1st at Amazon.com...


And in Canada...




18 comments:

  1. It'll be nice to just chill out for a time. Enjoy your stay.

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    1. I don't think we will have a lot of time to chill, Tammy has us pretty busy while we are here which we don't mind because for us at least it doesn't involve driving! :-)

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  2. Welcome to Los Angeles. Hope you get to hike in the Santa Monica Mountains and then walk or bike along the beach boardwalk from North of Santa Monica all the way to Marina Del Rey. Also go to the end of 4th street (far North End) and you can hike the 'secret' stairs and look at the beautiful people.
    Will be interesting to hear your thoughts on the soul-crushing traffic...

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    Replies
    1. Not sure how much time we'll actually spend in the LA area but we will try to see what we can and we will keep this in mind, thanks for the suggestions.

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  3. oh and cheap Mexican food can be found at any of the many food trucks that cater to the day workers in the nice parts of town - Brentwood, Bel Air, Beverly Hills etc

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    Replies
    1. Love those two words "cheap" and "Mexican food". We will keep our eyes out for these food trucks, thanks again.

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  4. Nice to finally be there, now relax for a bit from driving.
    Good luck with driving in LA , been there done that and no desire to do it again.

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    Replies
    1. Well, we will get our first experience at the LA driving this afternoon as we make our way to the airport, luckily it will be in a car and not the motorhome!

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  5. Ahhhh... no driving for a couple days. Enjoy that hike. LA is a beautiful place!

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    Replies
    1. No driving in Sherman but there will be driving involved! Loved the hike, wait until you read today's blog. :-)

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  6. On the weather station in Ottawa yesterday, the dust storm in California was mentioned because of a pile up on some highway!

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    Replies
    1. Luckily that wasn't where we had to drive but we had heard about that accident as well.

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  7. My brother lives in Redondo Beach. Kinkaid's, on the Redondo pier, is a great place to eat if you get up that way! And you must check out the cactus botanical garden in Palm Springs. Really pretty!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the ideas! There is so much to see and not enough time but we will try to get there along with some of the other suggestions that other readers have made. We will definitely try to get to the cactus garden in Palm Springs though because we will be there for a few days.

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  8. Nice to be off the road for a few days anyway! Glad you missed that messy wind! Enjoy SoCal!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, we are glad to have a few days off from driving Sherman but we are still staying very busy. We did get some very strong winds when we were driving but not enough to have us stop driving although we did take a rest every once in a while to give ourselves a break from it.

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