Woke up this morning in Winchester, CA where we stayed with Joe & Amelia. Super nice! Amelia took us to breakfast at Chris’ Burger where we had pancakes in George’s honor. She also took us around Diamond Reservoir, which is the largest in California. We debated for a while why it was okay for fish to be in the water, but human swimming wasn’t allowed. Seemed strange since the water would need to be treated regardless.

We left Winchester about noon to move down California’s freeway system. I thought I was inured to driving down major highways by this point, but these roads made me jittery. Pattie handled it with good grace and got us to La Puenta where the last remaining drive-through Donut Hole stands. We drove through and selected pastry from the display case, picked it up and paid, and then drive through the other side. I love tacky Americana like this! The apple fritter wasn’t bad, either.

We hopped onto I-10 and drove into Los Angeles to check out the La Brea Tar Pits. I know it’s from nature, but that experience is tacky, too. The only thing that’s missing is an animatronic elephant and pre-recorded trumpeting of distress. I could almost picture what Disney would do with the place.

Tar pits are for real, people! Kids picked up globs and created graffiti around the edges of Tar Lake. I almost did, but was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get the stuff off my hands. I mention it because the graffiti has a Blair Witch feel which I think is neat.

We pressed onward to Highway 1 only to run into real LA traffic. It was start and stop all the way past Santa Monica. We tried at several points to find a State Park to camp in for the evening, but unfortunately we arrived on a Friday when everyone else wanted to camp. Equally unfortunate were the hotel prices around the Santa Barbara area and the availability. Had some great people look into it for us and we finally found a spot in Lompoc. We’re about 21 miles outside of town.

It’s 8:10pm. We’ve traveled 3589.6 miles.

Remember, it’s not too late to give us money to do your bidding from the road. We’re open to suggestions.