I am typing this blog in an overcast and cool Ventura California.
Yesterday a very chilled day but very hot outside, with a gentle start with a great cooked breakfast and lots of coffee. We all sat at the table and sorted e-mails, blogs and such like, then in the afternoon we all travelled to the 'local' outlet mall, well local by US standards. We arrived about 40 mins later and the Mall is located in the middle of nowhere, just Hotels, Restaurants and Outlet stores and the temperature in the car park was 102 degrees……. I managed to get a pair of Levi jeans and a sensible shirt. Then we left and stopped for a pizza on the way home - very tasty.
By now is was about 7pm and we settled in to watch a bit of footy on the TV - the Croatia match from earlier that day…. After that it was time to sleep and I woke up early and managed to get an early start on the day. Firstly I had to tackle the 2 miles of gravel and sand to the main road……. Ginamarie was very kind to follow me in the car to the main road just in case I got into difficulties in the sandy bits - I really don't like sand…. But I did 'man up' and rode it and didn't do too bad a job of it…. Well considering I am fully loaded and had road tyres that have done about 8,000 miles..
The ride to the coast started off quite windy all the way to Palmdale on the 138, then I picked up the I-14 and life got a bit busy and faster.. about 6 lanes wide and everyone in a hurry - I have not been used to this…. I managed to miss my turn to go North on the I-5 and connect to the 126 but Gertie Garmin played a blinder and put me onto the 118 and then the 101 North and finally into Ventura. The closer I got to the coast the cooler it got and we had a bit of mist and even a slight bit of rain / low cloud.
Not a long day but and busy one… my intention now is to chill a little more, re-sort my luggage, do a bit of washing and generally get myself ready to ride into LA and stay with Pablo at Huntington Beach via the US Customs Office. And I may even catch a couple of games from the World Cup. The final match will hopefully be live on the TV the morning before I leave…or not . I may just get another early start to miss the traffic !!! Some hope in LA….
Again many thanks to Mark and Ginamarie for Hosting and old Brit on a 21 year old Africa Twin..
