Taking The Long Way: The End of the Road (Trip)

We slowed down our road trip pace after we left Las Vegas because we still had 5 days to get the van back to LA. It was nice to have a bit of a break from holidaying- we've been very busy for 23 days now and it's hard work you know! OK it isn't that hard but still...!

After leaving Las Vegas we drove alongside Lake Mead. We stopped briefly to see the old London Bridge from 1831 that was bought by a developer and reconstructed in Lake Havasu, Nevada.

Just like London...except for the weather

That night we camped by the Colorado River at Buckskin Mountain State Park. I had some apartnent admin to do, calling the gas company in Aus. It was very hot and frustrating trekking around trying to find enough reception to Skype Australia. Luckily I could jump in the lake to cool off afterwards. Ros was a bit tired so she didn't coming swimming. She helped me by standing on the shore and counting me down to jumping in the water because it was really cold at first and I was being a wimp!

Campsite by the side of the river

That's not a dog head in the water - that's me!

The next day we crossed back into California and went to Joshua Tree National Park. I don't think I need to mention that the park entrance road was closed due to road damage-we just expect this to happen to us now. We continued West and went to a different entrance. It was incredibly hot in the park with only a little bit of shade from the Joshua Trees - we are properly in the desert now. We waited until a bit later in the afternoon to go on a short walk.

Hiding in the shade

Taking our classic 'sitting in an empty road' shots!

We camped in the national park for the night but there was no water and our tank was very low. We even had to save that night's washing up for the morning to conserve our supplies - that was my excuse anyway!

We came within about 70 miles of LA the next day but instead we turned south towards San Diego. We stopped in the Palomar Mountains for the night, about 50 miles from San Diego, and drove into the city in the morning. We have no pictures from our campground that night, because it was horrible, our worst one yet. In fact we had to abandon camp after a couple of hours because it was so gross, and we don't exactly have high standards when we're on the road so you know that it must've been bad! We drove back a few miles to an RV park we'd seen the sign for - it was much nicer.

We made it to San Diego after only a couple of traffic jams and found all day parking for $10! Already we were doing a lot better than our last city outing in San Francisco. We walked around the downtown area for a few hours then we went along the harbour and took a tour of the USS Mission aircraft carrier. We then had an couple of hours to pass in the car park and Starbucks before we went to see the San Diego Padres play baseball.

San Diego

Enjoying the audio tour at the USS Mission museum

I almost got a photo with this guy - some baseball player?? But the security people took him away to get ready just as it would have been my turn - oh well!

Passing the time before the game with free hot dogs and popcorn

The last two nights of our road trip we spent along the Southern California Coast on the way back to LA. We spent our time on the beach making the most of probably the last sunshine we'll see for at least 5 months, maybe longer! I'm not looking forward to that - online coat shopping time I think!