To the Finish (LA)

The repair
Well, as bad as things seemed being trapped in Death Valley, it all turned out alright. The sketchy over the phone UPS - NAPA pick up combo and delivery to a motel we technically weren't staying in but lounging by the pool that you weren't actually allowed in worked! With a little technically expertise over the phone from Cameron Kerr we were able to switch out the u-joint and fix the exhaust in a little under two hours for the grand total of $29.99 for the part and $31.00 shipping, a little different then the $400 just for the part we were quoted in death valley.

-Jason


Day 25, Friday Nov 5th Disney Land


After getting the van back on the road and making it to Dana Point (just next to Laguna Beach) we woke up early to check out Disneyland, something I (Jason) was not a big supporter of in the first place. The day went a little like this, early start, took the option to get a pass for Disneyland and California Land for $101/day. We decided to spend the day in Disneyland and the night in California Land. Disneyland started out very average because we accidentally went on a kids ride.... I guess toddlers would be more appropriate. The day was saved for me when they allow in the what would appear to be 2 person rides 3 people, I would imagine so you could have two parents and a kid or a parent and two kids, something like that and not 3 young adults. It was funny because after the ride, they show a picture that you can buy of us three stuffed into a tiny little car. We spent a whole day there riding pretty much what were to be the most popular rides, highlighted by Space Mountain which we got to sit in the front.

Im not quite sure how kids can go all day because after about 6 hours of standing in line in the baking hot sun and doing rides we were pretty worn out. However, with the promise of a night of adult rides we were all inspired. We managed to do all of the exciting rides and were able to sit in the front seats of the roller coaster but we left the water ride until the end. So we had to take the shuttle back to the van soaking wet. Still wet, we hit Walmart to get some last minute supplies for the central america section of the trip and headed to Palmdale where andy is going to be parked for the next 6 weeks and slept in the Walmart parking lot.
















Day 26, Saturday Nov 6th Palmdale - LAX

This is why nice hotels shouldn't post  rooms on expedia

It was bittersweet saying goodbye to Freeandy today as we found an incredible deal with a self storage company. Compared to the $500 they wanted to charge us in LA to store the van, Palmdale was only $80 for 8 weeks. We had no idea how to get to the bus station, so they lady at the storage place gave us a lift to the station and all was a go from there. There was a little bit of panic as we realized last minute that none of our bags had ID tags on them, but we played it cool and didn't say anything and our bags ended up in LA with us at the end. Once getting to the Greyhound station in LA, I asked a guy who worked there how much it would cost to get a taxi to the hotel we had reservations at. The guy had a pretty thick accent and I wasn't sure if he said $40 or $14... turns out he meant $60. Even though the cab was more than expected, we figured it was alright because we had received such a good deal on the storage and it was a big relief to finally get situated at the hotel and have the van parked in once piece. The rest of the night consisted of visits to Burger king across the street for Lisa and Jason while I cooked spinach, onion, red pepper and mushroom wraps on an upside down iron in the hotel room. The egg whites in a campbell soup can didn't turn out so well heated up by an iron.

-Taylor


Day 27, Sunday Nov 7th LAX - Costa Rica


We woke up this morning to two very pleasant surprises, daylight savings and our checkout wasn't until 1pm. We took full advantage of this just because we are kind of stranded without a car and had nothing really planned for the day. We figured that we would try to go to the airport to get rid of our packs so we didn't have to worry about carting around our bags but when we got to the airport we were told that COPA air only does one flight a day and we wouldn't be able to check in until 10pm and after 9-11 the airport won't store bags anymore. So we went back to the hotel where the happily stored our bags for us for the day. With nothing really to do we went to a mall so that we could go see Due Date to pass a couple of hours. We also discovered the "Jerk Shop" a Jamaican restaurant, which had some of the best fast food that we have had this trip. After the movie we headed to a bigger mall to pick up supplies for the plane ride and to try to waste another hour. We finally ended up back at the hotel where we can snag some wireless while waiting for more time to pass.

-Lisa