Click on a photo to enlarge it.
On Monday, we waited until the library opened at 1pm to use the internet. We left at 2-15pm and drove to the coast. We stopped after only 15
minutes and made chilli for lunch! But whilst we were eating the sun went in and the fog rolled up! That evening Kirsten tried, unsuccessfully,
to repair the power converter that we plug into the cigarette lighter so that we can charge up batteries, and the computer etc.
On Tuesday, we realised that the cigarette lighter wasn't working. That is a real blow because we can't do without the lighter plug and so Helen
got the books out to find out which circuit the lighter is on and changed the fuse. Voila - fixed!
As we went south along the coast, we stopped off to have a look at the elephant seals in San Simeon and then went to Hearst Castle which is billed as a very
extravagant house of superlatives with out-of-this-world swimming pools. Unfortunately the entrance fees were also extravagant - $20 each. So we
went to the little museum for free and looked through various guide books to have a look at the pictures! Maybe its so expensive because Castles
are rare in America.
We stopped off at a Wal-mart (there aren't very many in California and only 2 that are 24 hour ones) and bought various stuff for Winnie including
some new fuses and connectors to fix the converter. Then we drove for a few hours in the dark and finally stopped at a rest area for the night.
On Wednesday, we drove into Santa Barbara. It is a really lovely place, full of adobe buildings, old mission churches and very Mexican in style. We
parked up Winnie and went for a walk to the Old Mission and walked past some very nice houses on the way. Later we walked along another wharf and
then phoned up a campground in Los Angeles to make sure we could get in for a few nights before heading over there.
We hit a lot of traffic on the way into Los Angeles. and the freeways were blocked up. So we ended up trying to cut through and it took us 3 hours to do
the 45 miles to the campground which is in Arcadia - in east central L.A. But at least we managed to get a glimpse of the famous "Hollywood"
letters on the side of the hill as we drove through.
It was already dark by the time we got there so we didn't have much time to do anything. But it was great to get a shower!
On Thursday, we did the washing (3 loads), paid for 5 nights and swapped some books. We repaired the battery connection from the back battery to
the motorhome and made the battery a lot more secure in its compartment to stop it from moving and rattling so much. Then Kirsten finally managed
to get the converter fixed, even though she blew another set of fuses before getting the connections the right way around!
Then we did a lot of cleaning and tidying up and started work on the computer! Its a hard life!!
On Friday, we had a relaxing day and Kirsten made some monster cinammon rolls as the dough rose a great deal!
On Saturday, we worked on the computer for most of the time and went for a walk down the road to the local supermarket to pick up supplies.
On Sunday, we decided to extend our stay at the campground for another 2 nights but had to move to another site. We also realised that the hour had
been put back - because we noticed that the hour was different on the computer. It's a German computer and will automatically change the hour when
Germany changes it and not necessarily when America does. But at least we found out!
