Things start to look up

Friday morning, and we leave Paradise Pier Hotel.  Its nice to get out of the hotel, and away from the commercialisation of Disneyland.

We spend a good couple of hours travelling a mere 60 miles.  The roads are packed, queues everywhere, we are travelling across from southeast LA to northwest LA, and the motorhome (or RV as they are called here).

The RV we pick up, well its massive.  Its perfect.  Its massive!  Such a big contrast to that in New Zealand.  Its like a little house.  There is a room at the back, with a king size bed and wardrobes.  We have a tv/dvd/mp3 player, large fridge, freezer, tons of storage space.  Its over 30 feet long, about 10 feet wide, and the side moves out to make it even bigger.  Its also like brand new, only done 5000 miles, and smells very new.  Hope we dont trash it!!

Steve is given the un-enviable task of following me back to LAX to drop off the hire car.  It isnt helped by the heavy traffic we encounter, or the fact Steve drives at the speed of a mouse!  In fairness he does really well considering where we are and the size of the vehicle.  Just to make it a little more fun I take us through central LA (well it seemed a good idea at the time), and down past Santa Monica Beach and Venice Beach.  We have seen this before on previous travels to America, but its still nice to see the ocean again.

After dropping the car off we head for San Diego, the next stop on our travels.  I had already spotted a campsite on the web, so head for this using the gps (which has been forgiven).  Steve only manages to nearly kill us once, bottom the RV out on the road twice, and knock a few branches of some trees in the park.  He did quite well overall....

The campsite is very strange.  It is large, with lots of RVs, and lots of tents about.  Not much grass, even the tents are on the gravel.  And fires everywhere, smoke everywhere.  People in tents seem to have bought everything but the kitchen sink. 

On Saturday we get our first proper look round the camp site.  Its very different to what we have seen in New Zealand.  And I start to understand the Americans more than I have in the many visits I have made here previously. 

Its like the land of the giants.  Everything is on a much bigger scale than New Zealand, and also England.  No wonder people are fatter, they are just trying to fit in! The laundrette is bigger than I have ever seen before, with maybe 30 or 40 washers and 20 or so dryers.  This is just for the campsite!  There is a decent shop with aisles (whereas in New Zealand we were lucky if the reception sold a few items).  There is a field with a stage erected, for the evening's entertainment.  And at the beach (Mission Bay) on the campsite there is a marina.  Its possible to hire just about anything, fancy going water skiing? Then hire a boat and off you go.  Pontoons (boats) which can carry 11 people are also for hire at about 300 quid per day.  Jet Skis? Pedal Boats?  And even things such as golf carts for going round the campsite (yes it is that big).  Some people bring their own boats, golf carts, motorised scooters, etc.

This is when I start to understand the Americans, and get a new appreciation for them.  Mission Bay is a playground, primarily for adults.  These people are playing, they are having fun the American way.  Big RVs, big cars, boats, fires, food, kids, its all about having fun in a big way.  I realise that the Americans really have the right idea in a lot of ways.  They are enjoying their lives, enjoying their money, and good luck to them.  People speak about "living the lifestyle" in New Zealand, but I didnt see people living the lifestyle as these guys are doing.  And they have the disposable income to do it out here - and things are cheap.

The nice thing about going round in a RV is that you get more interaction with the "locals".  When we have travelled to America previously we have always stayed in hotels - and this by its nature separates you from the American culture.  Even shopping in supermarkets is something we have not done much of previously.

I also have a theory on the "no smiling" attitude of many americans, particularly seen at Disneyland.  I think they are slightly wary of making eye contact or talking because they are scared of what they may encounter.  You might be a weirdo, you might take offence, or worst still you might reject them.  I have found that if I manage to initiate a conversation with an american they are extremely pleasant, amicable people.  They are just the same as anyone.  But they are just a bit more wary than what we have encountered before, preferring to stay in their own bubble for security and peace.

It also makes me look at our experience at Disneyland slightly better.  These people are just having fun, they know how to enjoy themselves.  We english are a bit too serious, a bit too grown up.  What we need are some more toys and then we too could have fun.  Toys arent just for kids, we can have them too!!! 

We notice other differences to New Zealand.  No recycling on the campsites, no kitchens or tv rooms (everyone has a great one in their RV). More noise than in New Zealand - people are having a lot of fun.  Adults are playing games on the green, not just the kids.  And big big RVs around - our motorhome from New Zealand would get scoffed here.

We are lucky with the RV, as I see a couple of others from other rental companies and ours is by far the best.  Road Bear RV rentals - we got a great deal from them.  In fact it cost practically the same (think it was actually less) than the one in New Zealand based on cost per day basis. 

The kids are good.  Matthew has started to eat properly which is a relief, his diet hasnt been too good just lately what with being in hotels.  Lloyd has re-adjusted his body clock and is once again demanding to be asleep as soon as the sun goes down.  We also have Lloyd's activity centre up, he loves sitting in it, and gives him his first taste of independence.  Matthew spends more time playing with Lloyd now - I think this journey has made them more close.

Our original intention was to stay around Highway 1 and go upto San Francisco - we have 25 days with the motorhome.  But based on the driving experience so far (and the fact it is so busy and regularly has 6 lanes of traffic), we are wanting to head inland, and drive in a more relaxed fashion (its hard work concentrating on these roads).  So we might end up going up to the Grand Canyon and round to Monument Valley, then onto more national parks.  This will be good, and is the route we would ideally have taken but thought maybe would be too hard on the kids.  I think the kids will be fine, as the RV has air conditioning - and there seem to be loads of RV parks around (we have a campground directory bigger than the yellow pages back home). Time will tell.  We will spend a few days in San Diego though, as lots to see and do.  Steve has some fishing brochures aswell.....

Tonight we walked to the supermarket (Vons), think the people in the office thought we were mad when we asked for directions to walk it!  No-one seems to walk far here.  Was nice though, and easier as the RV is hooked up to this and that.  A young man passed us in the street and said hello, thought that was nice.

Matthew still says Bula, but also says hello now to everyone.  He gets a response maybe once in 10 tries.  Not bad I suppose.