Springville Inn Bed and Breakfast

Left Mark & Karla Marie on schedule Thurs 16th and rode up to Springville. Beautiful little town hidden away in a valley on the western side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, nearest sizable town is Porterville. Came to unload and could not open left side pannier, Rang the local Honda dealer in Visalia and got it fixed under the extended warrenty for a $5 tip, That was Friday morning ...

We made it down the backroads from Yosemite, driving through endless orange groves and other farms. It actually felt more like we were in Mexico then California. After a pretty long drive we started heading east into the hills again only to be turned around by a snow storm and chains laws. We decided to keep driving all the way through Nevada and to make a pit stop in Las Vegas.

Saturday night was another family occasion. It was Chanukah so Ann did a lovely family meal and Jason, Julie, AJ and the rest of the family was there. After the meal, we lit the candles, gave presents, sang the songs and then played Dreidel. It was good fun and a lovely way to end our American part of the trip. On Sunday, Gra and Gary ...

Last night Gary introduced us to one of his favourite TV programmes. I am sure it will transfer to the UK but I'm not sure which channel. It is a docu soap which follows the real life exploits of a modern day bounty hunter and his assistants who seem to consist solely of his wife (hugely breasted (Pamela Anderson style) blond with ...

Drove to the north of Los Angeles today to Griffin Park. This is a huge area where the zoo, observatory and various museums are. We had decided to go to the Autry National Centre which is the Museum of the American West as there was also an exhibition of paintings and photos of Yosemite which looked ...

Last night while watching a film it was stopped by an emergency flood warning! Mind you it was pouring down outside. Apparently there is a danger of mud slides where there has been fire damage which as you know, if you have read last weeks blog, is here! Should we pack our rucksacks again? Decided not to. A good decision as woke to sunshine again. Gary wanted to drive us to Ojai which is over the mountains in a North West direction. There ...

Today, like all tourists to LA we went on the movie set tour. Not the Universal Studios tour, but the Paramount Pictures Ranch. Well, it had been in the past (1920 - 40). The area is in fact a National Park preserved for its association with the early westerns, there is a boarded up wild west town and trails into the hills. Other than ...

After spending the day doing more shopping we went to the theatre. There is a small local theatre in Moorpark that has just been renovated and they were doing Christmas Carol - the musical. Being a musical meant Gary wasn't going to go - he hates musicals, however, there was meant to be carol singing and other events in the High Street before the play started and he agreed to come along to that anyway then pick us and Ann up after. Moorpark High Street is the ...

... achievements etc. Regan's is only a couple of miles from Gary's house so have visited it many times. However, since we last went they have built a huge building containing Air Force One. The actual building is set on the top of one of the hills so wonderful views and they'd changed the exhibits around so still interesting to look round. They also have a mock up of the Oval Office when Regan left the White House. You can go inside Air Force One which was ...

... open to the air square, and the flight from Auckland landed and suddenly music struck up from nowhere!! Looked around, and there was a George Formby type character playing a Ukelely dresses in South Seas gear and standing amongst plastic Palm Trees!!!!They certainly do things different from Heathrow! Eventually took off, was given a breakfast, landed at Tahiti, back on plane given a cold breakfast, then a hot breakfast ...