Cannonball Run Day 15; this day in 1990

Up at sparrow's fart (note; apologies once again for my crassness - this was a term coined by George meaning 'very early' and although I know it is hopelessly immature, it still makes me laugh out loud when I just so much as think of it!). It is absolutely bloody FREEZING!

We drove to San Luis Obispo where George and I took a photo' of a De Lorean (Eat your heart out Dr Emmet Brown!). Then we decided to go for breakfast and found a little village called the apple Farm where we stuffed our faces for $30.

Then we hit the road again and drove along a very dodgy coastal road on the side of a mountain for about 12 miles, reaching Ragged Point; very beautiful.

I got some photo's of the ocean and also some birds overhead while I threw bread into the air whilst taking the photo at the same time (note; ker-azee stuff eh??).

We kept on until we found a nature reserve/campsite called Big Sur where we decided to stop while it was still light. we bought some firewood (plus some wood we'd picked up along the way). Got a roaring fire going, made tea, spaghetti, macaroni and jacket potatoes. I took a picture of George accidentally setting fire to his marshmallows!

The forest is the home of the giant redwood and we should be going in search of them tomorrow.

' had a few of the beers we'd bought and sat laughing round the fire. We made a little friend we called Noodle the Cat, 'cos he ate all our left over noodles.

Went to bed very late and slept like a log.

Great day.

Cannonball Run Day 14; this day in 1990

George has got a hangover this morning (tee hee). We all had fantastic hot showers this morning for a quarter (25¢) - lovely jubbly! Drove into town - Santa Barbara - to go to the bank and then we drove up State Street; a very long road, to Max's restaurant for some lovely grub. ' did some shopping and then got underway. We went through a little town called Solvang; totally Danish, all windmills and houses, really cute!

Then drove to the campsite in El Chorro. Very boring evening, nothing happening. The other guys went straight to sleep but I'd bought the new Clive Barker book so I sat up by torchlight for about four hours!!

Sleep was pretty broken 'cos it was so bloody cold.

Hardly slept a wink.

Bummer!

Cannonball Run Day 13; this day in 1990

Up at midday today and most people had gone off to Magic Mountain. When they returned, we packed up our stuff, said thanks to Jean for the use of his floors (!) and got on our way again.

Driving along the coast, we watched the sun disappear and it was beautiful, right up to the point where it vanished behind the smog, completely! We never fully realised how bad the smog problem was.

We finally got into Santa Barbara and it is beautiful; found the campsite in Carpenteria and it just happens to be RIGHT on the beach; the Pacific ocean is about 50 yards away.

Took a walk into town (dodgy light ahoy), bought some beer - little Michelobs - and then got speaking to a guy parked next to us. He gave us some firewood and we got a pretty good fire going. George and me sat up fairly late and then climbed into the van.

I seem to have spent all day and all evening just laughing!!

A good day.

Cannonball Run Day 12; this day in 1990

Up fairly late today, still feeling a bit woozy. We all watched a bit of TV and then went to a bar to shoot some pool; right on Venice Beach. Co-o-ol!

Ordered pitchers of beer then home to get changed before going to the Oar House (note: only just realised the play on words there; told you I was young and stupid, doh!).

While we were out our van was broken into; luckily most of our stuff had been brought in. One of George's bags containing clothes and his camera, my cherished jean jacket with my Beetle badges on were stolen though.

Oh well, live and learn.

(note: that diary entry ended there but again, remembering clearly, there's a teensy chance that I may have forgotten to lock the van - I did get the blame for it but managed to forget to put that little nugget of information down for prosperity!)

Cannonball Run Day 11; this day in 1990

The mechanic woke me up this morning at 10.30am by bashing on the window. The guys came back soon after and I went into Gabby's for some grub; had a pastrami sandwich and Jolene - another barmaid - gave me a beer. I said she had to be joking and she told me that when she's behind the bar, then you have to drink.

Oh well, I figured we weren't going very far, never mind!

Watched MTV for a while and then challenged this guy to a game of pool. Then George comes running in. "Our van's fixed!"

Okey dokey, said goodbye to the very friendly people of Upland and we got on our way. Three days and $1500 later, we're finally heading for LA; yee HAH!

We had a little trouble finding Santa Monica but when we did, wow! Met up with John V.H, Brett, Steve, Rod, Etian and Jean; what a crowd!!

We all went to the Red Onion and had a great night.

(note: it's funny how some things stay so clear in your memory - I can remember everything about this evening out - great club, very exciting. Also, every time I hear Sheryl Crow sing about the Santa Monica boulevard, I remember this shot and this night)

Cannonball Run Day 10; this day in 1990

Well today was more or less spent in the same way as yesterday. I opened a bank account with the Bank of America, then went for a walk of about four miles.

Went into "Gabby's" at about 4pm and introduced myself to this guy called Jay; a really nice bloke. We played pool against him until about 1.30am the next morning.

I found out that on Tuesday night, his brother had been beaten up and a Mexican guy had pulled a 9mm pistol and taken shots at the bar, so we ended up waiting for them to come back but they didn't show.

(Note: WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING??? I can remember this night vividly - I can only put it down to the stupidity of youth, stand by your (new) mates and all that clap-trap!)

Anyway, took some photos; me, Jay, Monique and their dog.

George and Kim stayed at John and Paulette's and I kipped in the van on my own.

BLISS!

Cannonball Run Day 9; this day in 1990

Oh well, up again at 7.50am and Ronnie and his boys were not over the moon at seeing us, as they had been working overtime on our van. Anyway, Ronnie gave us his brother-in-law's garage address so I drove it down to him; looks like another long day.

He sent us to another garage - his brother-in-law!

We sat in the van all day until about 5.30pm, when this guy John stopped to talk to us. He and his wife invitied us back to their motel room to wash up and brush up. Then they dropped us off back at the van and I went with them for a beer while George and Kim stayed 'in'.

Made a few friends, including the barmaid Monique - she never let my glass get empty - which was nice of her! At 2am (when the bar closes) she made me some spaghetti and said goodnight.

Goodnight.