Monday 21/04/2008 - Santa Maria, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Los Banos?

Mileage - ~380 miles (via Santa Maria, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Los Banos)

Just realised that we've drank at least some alcohol every day since we got here (16 days)....

Stunning roads heading out of Santa Barbara through the hills - lovely lush green forests (Los Padres national forest), olive trees, lemon trees, strawberrys, vinyards, garlic, flowers, other plants, lakes and winding roads. I now realise why most American's don't go abroad - why? Everything is here from the rolling green hills and wine valleys of France through to the very best of Cornwall, the Alps, the deserts of Africa, rolling hills of Wiltshire....... Everything you could ever want to do is here, only it's cheaper, less congested and often cleaner and better.

We thought we saw Ice-T in a little place called Arroyo Grande, but we could have been wrong. We stopped at a nice vista point and saw some Muskrats (or something). We lobbed a few grapes and Doritos at them and then about 50 came out and started running toward us - we had to leg it into the car. We should have put one in the car, it would have helped to tidy-up the food on the floor of the car. About 5 miles up the road we stopped again to see hundreds of massive Elephant Seals basking in the sun. It was as windy as hell, and only 14C, despite the sun, so we didn't stay long.

We kind of blasted through the other places on the coastal road (apart from a quick detour to the Laguna Seca racetrack) before heading East toward Yosemite National Park, the scenery was constantly changing and amazing. We saw lots more vinyards and plantations and went past the huge San Luis resevoir. It now looks like we're in some amazing bit of Scotland. It started getting late so we've stopped for the night in some place near Los Banos (editor - Chris tells me that Los Banos means 'The Toilet' - which is a suitable name for the town). We checked into our first chain motel a Super 6 or something like that. It's OK, better than most of the places we stayed and only $55!

Highlights - seeing vultures eating a dead animal carcass, stunning green landscape and rolling hills, seeing cowboys on horseback, Muskrats (or funny squirrels), Highway 1 around Monterrey had some excellent views (lots of cliffs and trees) and bendy roads (but Jaf drove most of it so I couldn't squeal the tyres much) - amazing 100's of miles of perfect mountain roads all following the coast. Lots of motorbikes. Drove into Laguna Seca to have a quick look at the track. Mexican music on the radio at full blast. Seeing the artichoke growing centre of the world (this one was Jaffas - just a load of plants to me).

Lowlights - Lots of driving (380 miles), not really taking a good look at Santa Maria, Monterrey or Santa Cruz, it was actually quite cold outside of the car today despite the sun (as low as 11C).

Tomorrow - Yosemete park and back to the outskirts of San Francisco.

Andy and Jaf.

Sunday 20/04/2008 - Oceanview, Long Beach, Malibu and Santa Barbara.

Mileage - ~200 miles (via Oceanview, Long Beach, Malibu and Santa Barbara)

We woke up with hangovers for the first time this holiday as we drank quite a lot in the bar (called the G-spot or something). Amazingly the bill came to just $47 - it was the bar's 16th birthday so drinks were half price. How good is that! We drank loads and were really happy as they had the best barmaid on the planet ever and they played the same music as I have on my MP3 player. We had our best Motel yet despite only costing around $75.

This is a really nice bit of the world for the rich. Driving through Oceanside even the bums (tramps) look well kept! Saw more dog grooming and dog health food shops than burger bars. It's Barbie's paradise playground around here. Everyone is a fitness freak - I've never seen so many people cycling, jogging and skating in my life.

We stopped for lunch on Long Beach which was quite busy, but had nice beach-front houses, and made sandwiches for the first time for a change from eating junk. We headed back through Venice following the Pacific Highway (1 and 101) through Malibu (lots of very flash houses hidden away up the hillside and down on the beach) until we got to Santa Barbara (about 200 miles) where we are staying for the night. We've got a place even better than last night for 80 bucks.

The views along the coast are spectacular - only the more urban bits around LA are a bit crappy. Jaf and me could live here - no problem. You wouldn't need to go on holiday if you worked in LA as you simply drive to the coast every weekend and that's your weekly holiday.

We've just walked into a small bar with 32 TV screens. Santa Barbara is a really nice clean place with a bit of a vibe. It's pretty dead though as it's a Sunday night.

Highlights - Seeing how the other half lives from the Carmel Valley right up to Santa Barbara, making sandwiches on the beach amongst the beautiful people

Lowlights - A lot of stop start driving (they need more roundabouts here - too many traffic lights and stupid Stop signs). Tired - Jaf did the first shift driving and I fell asleep on a freeway section. I woke up and being on the right hand side I thought that I'd fallen asleep and the wheel - bit of a panic moment for me. Other lowlights - getting sand in our sandwiches, buying disgusting pickled-dills which tasted like plastic, sunburnt skin still peeling off our heads and arms..

Tomorrow - Continue on Coastal Road 1 through Santa Maria, Monterey and Santa Cruz.


Jaf and Andy.

Saturday 19/04/2008 - Santa Monica, Mexican Border, San Diego and Carlsbad (Carmel Valley?)

Mileage - ~240 miles (via Santa Monica, Mexican Border, San Diego and Carlsbad - Carmel Valley?)

Went out last night in Santa Monica. Lots of bars and Restaurants everywhere - all of them packed. Jaffa had a bit of a Charlton Heston "Planet of the Apes" moment as we walked onto the pier. "Dammit all to hell" - after 4500 milles Jaf thought that he was back at South-End Pier in Essex. Amusement arcades, pikeys drinking lager and fishing off the pier, etc. It also got suprisingly cold despite getting up to 33C (about 90F) yesterday in LA. We went down to the beach and touched the water which was warm though and finally we ended-up in a nice little Italian restaurant after taking a photo of Jaffa outside the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant. On another note we also thought that we saw Will Smith last night (and Kevin Bacon in a Prius in LA nr. Bel Air).

We finally made it to a launderette and washed all of our festering clothes. The bloke on the machine next to us looked like an aged Jimi Hendrix - we asked him how the machine works as we'd never been to a launderette before. He was funny and told us to put the powder into the conditioner bit so we ignored him (which was good).

After going down Muscle Beach/Venice and seeing the sights (cool place but we left before it got hot and therefore didn't see Pamela Anderson or Hasselhoff), we decided to head down to San Diego and the Mexican border as it's only a few hours drive. We had a good view of Tijuana in Mexico, but turned around as we'd probably have problems with visa's and the hire-car.

We're now in a place called Carlsbad as we've started down Route 101 - The Pacific highway. Did 240 miles today despite not leaving Santa Monica until late afternoon. Most of the places en-route seem like a playboy's paradise, this was the scummiest place we could find but it's still pretty flash. We've walked around for a while and found another excellent bar/grill on par with the Inyokern one. It's a real surfer place and Jaf commented on how all the women are nearly as beatiful as his wife (editor - I think he started missing her by this stage).

Highlight - Mission complete (we made it), having clean clothes, Venice Beach, seeing Mexican border, seeing marijiuana man and roller-skating Jimi-Hendrix in Venice, Pacific Highway.

Lowlight - Some drunken black guy shouting his head-off/roaring in the street outside of the hotel in the middle of the night (the Po-lice were on the case eventually though), wasting time doing laundery (Jaffa insisted on puting the clothes through the drier 10 times, traffic, California is a bit more expensive than the rest of the US..

Tomorrow - contiune along Route 101 to Santa Barbara, Malibu and beyond.

Andy and Jaf.

Friday 18/04/2008 - California - Barstow, Los Angeles, Santa Monica

Mileage - ~280 miles (via Barstow, Los Angeles, Santa Monica)

Stayed in the Sierra bar until closing time (drank lots of Bud). The barmaid told us to drive carefully (obviosly we weren't driving)! Everyone else got in their cars / Harleys and drove off. One guy got into his black Firebird, put Nirvana on full blast and shot out of the bar, across the main road with no lights on, narrowly missing a house. It was as funny as hell, like something out of Dukes of Hazzard.

This morning we got up, I opened the curtains to find there was a junk yard next door. I then heard the screech of tyres and someone crashed into the junkyard! Crazy little town but you've got to do something to pass the time when you're living in the middle of a desert. (Editor - also found a credible explination as to Jaffa's skid-marked towels - see photos).

Got to Barstow which is a pretty good place to stop en-route, but we didn't hang around and continued down 66 until I spotted Bottle-Ranch (Google it) which I'd seen on a documentary. We met the old fella who owns it and had a good chat. He's a very friendly chap and he basically makes trees out of bottles just for the hell of it. He's completely non commercial and as he put it to us "I'm a free man with no chains or shackles." Strange but cool.

We eventually got to San Bernadino / L.A. which had more traffic than we were used to after several days of quiet desert roads. My way points for Route 66 went nuts in LA and started sending us around in circles so we ignored it and stumbled across the correct route whilst also finding Santa Monica Boulevard, Sunset Strip, Beverly Hills, The Hollywood sign (from a distance), Ocean Drive and finally driving onto the Pier in Santa Monica - the Pacific and the end of the 'proper' road-trip. It was a pretty annoying day of driving but we're releaved to be here as this place is packed and has a vibe. We've just checked into a motel (expensive by our cheapo standards) and over 30 mins back to the pier on foot but nearer to Venice Beach. We're off out now - it's a bit like Magaluf here, warm and lots of party goers who have escaped from LA for the weekend.

Highlights - Bottle Ranch, 5 Weinershnitzel Chilli-Dogs for $5, finishing Route 66 and more in less than two weeks. Over 4500 miles in total - no problem, we could quite easily turn around and do it again now!

Lowlights - Couldn't find a motel with vacancies next to the beach (including the Hotel California), frustratingly slow progress through LA, we have run out of clean clothes and have been re-cycling - we need to do some laundry soon.

Tomorrow - who knows, we have to do a bit of planning tomorrow whilst soaking our feet in the Pacific.

Jaf and Andy.

Thursday 17/04/2008 - Death Valley – California

Mileage - ~280 miles (via Death Valley and Inyokern)

We found a great little motel last night with a pool and Internet (hence the photos that should have made their way to you). We had some beers and Jaf bought some disgusting Budweiser mixed with some wierd spicy tomato juice. It was foul and I had bad guts all day today.

We spoke to Chris (who we're seeing in San Fran) last night who's off motorbike racing this weekend and then doing a three day off-road bike trip in Utah on Sunday. We basically had to make a decision to either rush over to Chris on Sunday and then face another long road trip with me mainly off-roading with Chris and Jaf driving a van around with all the 'girlfriends' OR getting to Chris later on next week (as originally planned). We didn't want to mess-up Chris's plans so we decided to slow down and to see more of the USA on our own. So, this morning we headed off to Death Valley where we spent many hours getting roasted. I now look like Michael Jackson with black and red patches on my head where my skin is peeling. Jaf has more of a lepper look going on.

Death Valley was mind-blowing. It can get up to 57C, luckily we only got to 32C (80F). There was a lot to see and as always we did our best to do it all in one day, including treks into the desert and off-roading in the Chevy. Again more photos to follow.

We headed West out of Death Valley up and down 6000ft on the best driving roads that I have seen so far in the US. Perfect tarmac and one bend after another with stunning views. Jaf was blown away by the scenery and got me to take a look. I basically missed a corner whilst looking over and went off the road narrowly missing a 1000ft drop! Still, no visible damage done which is a good thing as we didn't see another car for about 60 miles.

We did 280 miles today - it was a fantastic bonus day that we never planned on doing and was well worth it.

We're currently in a place called Inyokern California in a grotty but cheerful motel called the Mayfair. We've gone to a cool rock-bar for some food and are amazed to see how busy it is - cool, beers..

Highlights - Death Valley, Wills Fargo Motel in Baker, amazing mountain road heading West out of Death Valley with the tyres screeching for 20 mins, Mayfair Motel <$40 with old-style Cable TV that clicks when you hit the button, this bar, best burger yet flame-grilled behind us in the bar..

Lowlights - I got bad guts, Jaf buys me a water bottle that is cracked so I almost die of thirst in Death Valley, $4.30 per gallon in Death Valley which is a buck more than usual (you're not gonna argue though are you), nearly driving off a cliff, no GPRS to send email until now.

Tomorrow - getting back onto Route 66 at Barstow, getting through LA and finishing the Route at Santa Monica.

The trip is coming to an end, or is it. We're currently debating going down to San Diego and the Mexican border at Tijuana. We would then like to head back up California hugging the West Coast road all the way to San Francisco. We'll see how we get on.

Basically after New York / Washington, there was no 'wow-factor' until we got to Texas / New Mexico. Things are ace - we are loving it now that the sun is out.

Jaf and Andy.