America! What a shock! There have been some major re-adjustments for our bodies and brains to contend with over the past few days! A new continent, a new time zone (with 20 hours difference), a new hemisphere, a new latitude, a new season of the year and a drastic shift in temperature and humidity! All that piled on top of a long day of surfing and travelling on a flight with Fiji Airways (not the good service that we'd become accustomed to with New Zealand Airways!). Anyway, after surviving the security checks and the in flight 'meal' (with complimentary vinegar maskerading as red wine) we arrived into the sunshine state of California, via Los Angeles International Airport.
A short taxi ride got us to the car hire area, where we picked up our wheels for the next month or so - a Dodge Mini Van.
Our next port of call was a supermarket to pick up a few supplies. They sure sell some wierd stuff here! Cactus leaf anyone?...
But they do have multi level supermarkets that require you to negotiate the escalator with your trolley!
The traffic in LA is as bad as everyone had told us and some more. Having last driven on the empty roads of New Zealand, it was quite a shock to find ourselves driving on the other side of the road, bumper to bumper in the middle of a five lane highway!
Averaging about 15mph we tore out of the city in seach of adventures, hoping to reach Joshua Tree before nightfall. Four hours later (and less than fifty miles from the airport) we pulled over and made an emergency bivi at a motel that was deceptively called 'The 5 Star Motel'. Still, it was secure, comfy and quiet. We literally could stay awake no longer...
We slept right through breakfast and had to rush to check out before eleven! We left, feeling just as dazed but determined to make a renewed attempt to get to Joshua Tree National Park. A big Walmart store fitted us out with a few more supplies along the way and thankfully the traffic thinned out as we distanced ourselves from the city.
Gradually, the land became more desert like and less developed. The horizon was made up of snow capped mountains. We passed some huge wind farms, then late in the afternoon began the climb up to the National Park called Joshua Tree, where we hoped to go climbing. We still felt disorientated and slightly broken, but just about managed to climb into the van and sleep again as the sun began to set.
The night before when we'd boarded to plane in Fiji, the temperature had been 34 degrees celsius, with a humidity percentage in the nineties. The desert humidity at Joshua Tree was nearer 25% and as the sun set in the temperature plummetted to 3 degrees. In the morning there was frost on the windscreen!
No comments:
Post a Comment