Our Road Trips: August 2016

8/29/2016 8/21-28/2016

Sunday, we chilled out at our campsite until about 1 pm. Then it was a trek across town for the 3rd time in 5 nights for another concert at the Greek Theater, this time with Melissa Ethridge followed by Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo. We have really enjoyed the 3 concerts at Greek Theater, great pre-show atmosphere with all the folks eating picnic fare and drinking wine, wonderful seats & great entertainment. The trips have been interesting too, took 3 different routes to and basically the same route from each show. And the promptness of the start & finish has been like being on a Sixthman Cruise...start on time & end on time. Shows that start 20-30 mins after the advertised time can be very irritating. But both segments of the show were great, brought back memories from the 60's & 70s, fun night. We were back at the camper by midnight.

The next morning, we were off early, as we had reservations at the Ronald Reagan Library to tour a special display called Vatican Splendors, a quite large display on the art & relics usually on display at the Vatican, which is very hard to visit for various reasons. There was a lot to look at, but most of it was related to the Catholic faithful. But it was fun to walk through and see all the paintings & other relics. We ate a so-so $21 lunch and then spent the next 2 hours walking through the Ronald Reagan portion...lots of things to see & read. But major parts of his presidential terms were not there or barely mentioned, which we have seen as a regular part of the displays. Some of that is understandable, some of it is not. But the displays were nice and there is even a tour of Air Force One which is there in all of its splendor, with a beautiful view of the surrounding hills, it is pretty impressive. All in all, we enjoyed the visit, but wish these libraries were more honest with the people who walk through them...history is only as good as it is remembered and if parts are omitted, it is not a realistic place & can be disappointing. Truman's Library is next on our list in Missouri.

From there, we headed west with Ventura our destination and a visit to the Channel Islands National Park's Visitor Center on the coast. We were aware there was no likely chance of going out to any of the islands because of dock damage and other issues, we thought it would be fun to at least visit the area. Upon arrival, when I got out of the car, I got dizzy and blacked out for a split second and went crashing to the sidewalk. I was back up in less than 30 seconds and have been fine since. I have no clue what caused it, it was very strange. But we went into the visitor;s center and talked to the fine folks that were there, took a few pictures and started back. We reprogrammed the GPS to take us through Malibu and headed east. The GPS got all screwed up and took us north instead of south and we reprogrammed it and headed the right way, sometimes retracing steps, and finally ended up on the Pacific Coast Highway west of Malibu. We got home after dark, but we had a great day and saw so much and ridden on some very scenic, very fun roads. I just hope my incident was isolated and done.

On the way home from Ventura, we ended up on some very fun roads that were both hilly & had plenty of curves. We enjoyed the ride, the car's brakes revolted. We decided we needed to get them looked at, so first thing in the morning, I got on the internet and found a place close-by that could look at them and possibly make any repairs. So, I made an appointment and at 1230 we went there and started our wait. About 5 pm we were back on the road with new brakes on all 4 corners and on our way to The Fabulous Forum a few miles away. Tonight's adventure was a 3 pronged concert, starting with Cheap Trick, then Joan Jett & The Blackhearts and finally Heart. Each band played slightly over an hour and we were home by 1215. 4 concerts in a span of 7 nights has been a fun time with a vast amount of different talent in the 8 different acts we enjoyed. It has been interesting.

The next morning was something completely different, This is Jeopardy! We had asked for tickets while we were in Texas, but had been hoping it would work. We had friends who tried & failed, so we didn't get our hopes too high. But we drove there, found a place to park and joined the 100 or so others who were led to the sound stage and greeted by Johnny Gilbert. They proceeded to tape 3 shows in succession that will be aired near the end of Nov, 2016. The same guy won all 3 episodes. It was fun to watch, meet Alex Trebek & Johnny Gilbert and see how the show is done. It was done by 230 so we found a place to have a late lunch called Holy Cow BBQ...very good with its own craft beer & all...nice spot. After lunch, we headed east again, this time to Dodger Stadium for a baseball game with the San Francisco Giants, in town for a 3 game series for 1st place in the NL West. It took us over an hour to drive the 10 miles through downtown LA...lots of traffic & way too many stoplights, always red when we got there. Our parking was close to our seats so it was pretty pleasant. Dodger Stadium has been in use since 1962 and is still a nice stadium. I went to a game in something like 1965 with my dad...not often you go to a stadium 51 years apart. We had great seats i found online and it was a perfect evening. Our seats were considerably lower than where we entered the park, something else sort of rare. But the game was boring, ended up Dodgers winning 1-0, something I dislike even more than a 7-3 football game. But we had a nice time, glad we went. The ride home was another story, took a 1/2 hour to get out of the parking lot, then the detours were everywhere, and our GPS wasn't figuring out which way to go. But we finally figured it out and it took about an hour to get back to the camper...another city that never sleeps.

The next morning, another fun adventure...a taping of an episode of The Price is Right. We arrived about 930 am and waited, and waited, and took pictures, went through security and waited some more, The show didn't start until about 415 pm and lasted about 90 mins. Then it was about 45 mins to get out of there & another 45 mins back to the RV...you get the idea, it was a long day. But we enjoyed it and ended up with a few souvenirs including an autographed cap by George Gray, the long time announcer. It was a fun time and something we will likely never have the opportunity to do again. We were very fortunate to request and get tickets to 2 TV shows...a LOT of people try and are not successful. It made visiting LA an experience we won't forget soon when you add in all the rest.

The next morning was moving day, 11 nights at Dockweiler Beach has come to an end. So we packed up and moved out about 1130 am and headed across town. About 1, we arrived at East Shore RV Park near San Dimas, CA. We have a beautiful spot for 4 nights before we head to Las Vegas. We will do some sightseeing, do some relaxing, visit my cousin who has been in Oregon and is due back on Sunday and just enjoy our site. The sunsets behind us are gorgeous and the view in front of us is where LA County has there County Fair & where the NHRA has their first & last meets of every season, all at an area called Fairplex. We can look down on all of that...pretty cool spot.

On Sat, we took a ride. Just north of us is a section of Historic Route 66 that has been preserved and marked...so we took a couple hours cruising Rt 66 from San Dimas to San Bernardino and stopping to enjoy some of the sights along the way. At San Bernardino, we headed north on CA 18 to Crestline and then CA 138 to Cajun Junction @ I-15 where there was a big wild fire last week. Lots of scorched earth and several buildings destroyed, But no one got hurt or worse, so it was a big thing that ended up being not much. We made our way back via I-15 and stopped by the Auto Club Speedway, took a few pictures and made our way back to the camper via a grocery store. Nice day!!

Today has been a easy day. Barb fixed us a big breakfast and we watched the NASCAR Race from Michigan, paid some gas bills and worked on this blog...just relaxed. Barb is outside enjoying the pretty day. We have been very busy, we deserve a few laid back days. We are off to Las Vegas on Tuesday and we will be going pretty hard again. Stay tuned, lots more coming up.

Steve & Barb Larson