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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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“first bit of "free camping" we have done” |
Monday 9th May was a funny old day. We couldn't really decide what to do. The weather was scorching in San Diego, which isnt really ideal for us as prevents little Matthew from playing much outside. I put suncream on him every day, more than once, but still dont like him to be outside much if its really hot.
Anyway, we end up heading out of San Diego, allbeit about 1pm by the time we have sorted ourselves out. We have to fill up with petrol, and I had to get a new phone as my New Zealand one broke in Fiji (only 2 months old!).
The guy in RadioShack was superb. Much better than the guy in the bespoke shop I had spoke to the day before. I had tried to get a phone on Sunday, but the guy offered me a choice of just one (a Motorola) and spoke to me like I was a little bit stupid. Well I know my stuff on gadgets (or at least I pretend to myself that I do), and could smell a rat. He wanted 109 dollars for some poxy brick of a phone. I told him it was too clunky and too expensive and walked out.
In RadioShack the guy had lived in england in the 80's so understood me (a rare thing out here). He showed me tri-band phones for 30 dollars! I ended up with a Nokia again though, cant go wrong with them. With a international pre-paid phone card it will cost me about 7.5p per minute to call the UK, what a result!
After the phone purchasing we head to La Mesa, where I hit the "Target" shop. I buy some electronic games/musical toys for Matthew as I think he is getting a bit bored with his current games. He misses music, and as stuff is half the price of england (as opposed to UK prices + some in New Zealand) I'm happy to get him some decent toys. Also I know we have a bigger baggage allowance on the way home, so that helps. I also buy Steve some dvd's to watch, keeps him happy. He is a bit fed up as wanted to go fishing for the day, but I put my foot down for once and said we needed to move on from San Diego. I have suggested he comes away on his own for a week as they do full fishing holiday packages on these boats, I dont think its fair that we sit around in the boiling hot weather in a motorhome whilst he is out having a good time again!
Dvd's cost $13.78 plus tax, so you are looking at under 8 quid for a brand new release dvd. Bargains galore!
Finally we head out of La Mesa, and the San Diego metropolis. Its so nice to be out on the open road, with less traffic and less lanes to worry about. I also feel like we are going somewhere, not just going round in circles. I wonder for not the first time how I will adjust to being in one place all the time when I return home.
We must have found the smallest windiest road in California, which makes driving hard work in the RV. We head to a town called Julian, which is meant to have nice 19th century restored buildings. By the time we get there we are both so knackered we just want to rest up and sleep. After a quick glance at the buildings we go on in search of a RV park. I dont like going backwards, and it turns out the RV parks are where we have come from. So we move forwards, and head to Ocitillo Springs. Now this is a god-forsaken place (sorry if you live there), in the middle of the desert literally. Its hot, its run-down, and it doesnt seem to great a place to stop for long. The RV parks look like ghost towns, and not very hospitable. We drive on some more.
Eventually I decide to stop at a Rest Area, and this is where we park up for the night. Its the first bit of "free camping" we have done since being away on holiday, so we havent done bad (though I know one of my friends in particular will be aghast that we havent free camped more often, sorry matey!). I do have a few concerns about parking in a rest area, but figure at least there are people around the area to help if needed.
The americans have all been really friendly to us today, they have lovely personalities, you just need to scratch the surface and they soon start talking. I would say American people are more open than the english, as an example there was a lady in RadioShack looking at the phones and 2 other people were telling her what plan was the best, and including me in the conversation aswell. I got to know their jobs, their hobbies, everything about them really (they seem to talk a lot!). Its interesting that people in San Diego are more friendly than the staff at Disneyland. Maybe they should move Disneyland to San Diego...
previous travel blog entry
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