Robin and I have arrived at Barstow after a very, very long Monday, 22nd October. According to the laptop it is around midday on Tuesday 23rd October. Barstow time is just past 7 in the evening on Monday, 22nd. The flight was fine - we were moved from QF25 which was via Auckland to QF93, an earlier direct flight which got us in about three hours earlier. Which was very good as it turned out. Getting through immigration took forever and getting a hire car took even longer. We also drove around the airport on shuttle buses three time doing it. We found that the car Dan arranged for us via Enterprise could not be used in Utah so we returned to the airport via shuttle bus and caught the shuttle bus to Avis. Here we were told that they did not have any left for hire but they offered us a phone list of other rental dealers (which Enterprise had also done but we said, no worries, we can go to Avis - they will have cars) This time we took the list and Robin phoned Hertz before we left Avis and yes they had a car for us that we could take anywhere except Mexico. So back to the airport again for another shuttle bus to Hertz.
We found our way out of LA with only one wrong turn which was quickly rectified and were going really well until we merged with the I15. Then it just stopped and we inched along in 4, sometimes 5 lanes of bumper to bumper. To the right of us we could see what looked like either dust or white smoke. In the end after not moving for some time I got out and got the bag out of the boot to get the motel phone number. Once I got back in we started to move slowly, then a bit quicker and suddenly we were off.
So here we are ready to have a sleep at long last. We had dinner at a Chinese next door then walked down the street which is part of Route 66. Not very exotic though. The motel has free wireless Internet so I just had to use it.
We found our way out of LA with only one wrong turn which was quickly rectified and were going really well until we merged with the I15. Then it just stopped and we inched along in 4, sometimes 5 lanes of bumper to bumper. To the right of us we could see what looked like either dust or white smoke. In the end after not moving for some time I got out and got the bag out of the boot to get the motel phone number. Once I got back in we started to move slowly, then a bit quicker and suddenly we were off.
So here we are ready to have a sleep at long last. We had dinner at a Chinese next door then walked down the street which is part of Route 66. Not very exotic though. The motel has free wireless Internet so I just had to use it.
2 comments:
Sounds like an eventful time at the airport. It's strange that you weren't allowed to take the car to Utah. Did they say why? When I picked up the car in Las Vegas last year, Utah was definitely on the contract as a state I could drive in.
There's been a bit of coverage of the Malibu fires over here but it all seems to be centred around the fact that Mel Gibson or Olivia Newton John's house may burn down.
Enjoy your drive to Salt Lake City tomorrow. Say hello to everyone for me.
What are you doing for halloween? :-)
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