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Ian Rambles
All across the States we had "saved" ourselves
to eat at the earliest MacDonalds still in operation.
We needn't have bothered. It was rubbish - and there
was no toy in the happy meal.
Fiona's Journal
Today we completed Route 66.
We started by heading for San Bernardino, NE of Los
Angeles, to the site of the first ever MacDonald brothers'
restaurant, now converted to a museum which charts the
history of the company and of fast food in general.
It was a lot more interesting than the food itself.
Then we went to Downey and the earliest, still functioning,
MacDonald's and bought our only MacDonanald's meal of
the trip, I hope. The staff had no apparent sense of
the historic importance of their restaurant and just
looked simultaneously stressed and bored. I am not surprised.
I only know one person who has worked in a MacDonald's
and she lasted precisely one shift!
From here we drove into the heart of Los Angeles. The
traffic has got heavier and the driving more aggressive
ever since we got into California and, having got used
to the laid-back, law abiding driving style of the mid
West, we have to readjust. It is still nothing like
as bad as an English big city rush hour though. I have
noticed that the bikers are all wearing helmets now
whereas hardly any of them were before California. This
must be State law I presume.
We crawled along Sunset Boulevard, gazed at the, smaller
than expected, white letters spelling HOLLYWOOD high
up on the green mountainside, drove through Beverly
Hills and it was all so very ordinary and suburban and
even shabby in places. We did see a few stretch limos
but then so you do in Reading on a Saturday night. Finally
we arrived at Santa Monica with the Pacific Ocean spread
out before us. We have crossed the great continent of
North America and completed Route 66 and it is all a
bit of an anticlimax really. It is like any small seaside
town in Summer. We visited the nice little aquarium,
ate some cotton candy and had a cold drink. Then we
turned our car to the North and began Highway One.
We looked up an affordable motel, a bit inland from
the coast, in the free visitor magazine with all the
money off vouchers in it. We have learned to pick up
one of these as we enter each new state. We set the
SatNav to head for this and it took us up a beautiful
winding road into the mountains and after 8 or 10 miles
of fun driving we spotted another motel entirely in
a place called Thousand Oaks. It had vacancies and the
rates were reasonable for this part of the world so
we stopped there. It had the best swimming pool and
spa of any motel so far! It is being driven home to
us however that not all of the US is quite as cheap
as the central and mid Western states. Accommodation
and eating out are at least 50% more expensive in California
I would say and fuel, which has varied quite a bit from
state to state, is by far the most expensive yet in
California although still only slightly more than half
what we pay in UK.
Arthur's Log:
We ate at the very first MacDonalds...... it
was crap, truly awful, I would rather eat urinal bleach.
It was a epic ending to route 66 over the last 25 miles.
Through Hollywood and the huge sign above Beverly Hills.
All the channel 4 programs that I hate jumped into my
head but it is nothing like that. The temp was a cool
15c and I could enjoy the sun without becoming a useless
lump in the heat.
Enjoying the Inn. Mega 8ft deep pool and spa, fast
wifi and excellent air con.
The Harry Report
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George's Musings
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