Intermission

So, for various reasons we skipped the Joshua Tree park (though we saw plenty of Joshua trees), the Humbolt Redwood park (the we saw plenty of giant redwoods and also the big Sequoias on the way out of Yosemite), the Lassen park (though we saw lava stuff at Lava Beds) and Death Valley - which we will have to do another time. And in the Grand Canyon it would have been cool to have more time to do an overnight hike. But generally we kept up the pace around California, had enough flexibility to deviate when neccesary (not with the Fairbrasses but with Shasta, Reno, extra days in Yosemite, Vegas, Grand Canyon, pivking up random motels, plenty of random stops and detours etc etc.).

We have been mostly eating our own breakfast, having roadside sandwich lunches (Reuben is a fave), and eating out at night in the 10-15 dollar main region. We didn't spend a night in the car in the end as we always found a 40-70 dollar motel. The exceptions were in Raggedy Point on Big Sur and just outside Yosemite where we paid the arse-end-of-nowehere-big-wiggly-bricking-cliff-top-drive-in-the-dark-to-get-out premium and paid $120.

Last night we finally downed the best bottle we bought in Sonoma - a Cab Sav for $40 that was so close to some of the $100 Cab Savs that we tasted that we had to buy over the delightful $25 Syrahs and blends that also got our attention.

We really miss the car already. Pete was one of the family. When we got him he was pretty filthy inside. There were nuts all over the inside, big stains on the back seats, chippings in the boot, and mank all over the centre console. We had to clean him up ourselves (he was the only Sebring available - tip: when renting from Dollar and given a choice of cars, hang around a while because the selection changes rapidly - we nearly took a tiny Cruiser and were actually driving away, which would have been a waste of the upgrade we paid for, but then Pete waltzed in). Anyway, Pete saw a lot of great sights, we didn't have a fender bender, though we had a couple of heavy brakes, we got one parking ticket in LA, and we got a caution for speeing in Mount Shasta doing 87mph (down from 93) in a 60 zone - but we got let off - hoorah. We hid a note for Pete's next driver and hope they get as much mileage and satisfaction as we did.

Three songs about cars:
#3 Driving in my car, Madness
#2 Drive my car, Bobby McFerrin
#1 Crosstown Traffic, James Marshall Hendrix

...not exactly a ground breaking selection but then cars aren't really that big and clever either. And don't get me started on the enormous volume of imbaciles driving Toyota mini trucks and the like on the freeways.