Gremlin's Tall Stories

Woke up about 8am, but took a while to rise. Into the shower, using it to clean some garments. First shave in probably 4-5 days, and felt much better (still need more sleep though). Time adjustment seems to be going very well.

Down to Mariposas again, and hating egg didn’t leave me a lot of options. Ignoring Steak, French toast and nothing was left. Hmmm. I don’t like having a heavy breakfast. Luckily I noticed the milk and cold cereal in the bottom corner, so hoping the best, I got that. Turns out it was cornflakes in a box, so I ordered 2 and some yoghurt. While at the bar, I finally met some more of the group, including the guy I was sharing a room with, who had been placed in another room… so there will be another mess to sort out on Monday when the person who handled all our rooms is back on duty.

The two rented vans were being taken for an outing, and anyone who wanted to could jump in, so I did. First up was a Harley Davidson shop, Barlet’s, and it wouldn’t be like anything you would see in ol’ NZ. This shop was massive, it was a hot sunny Sunday, they were open and had a large number of shiny customer bikes parked outside. It was interesting to see the Harley culture tho. Everything from boots to jackets, helmets, bandanas, a soap dish and even baby clothes. Every biker wearing Harley gear, pretty much exclusively. Bikes were far too clean to have been ridden properly either.

Once the others were happy with a couple of odd purchases, and seeing what they wanted to see, I was even asked why my card wasn’t out. I replied that “I’m not quite the target demographic”. One of those shirts would have been an expensive rag. I would rather use free ones.

Moving on, we went down Santa Monica Blvd, heading into the downtown LA area, but we turned off to Beverly Hills before then, taking a cruise through wide roads bordered by countless palms. Sprawling homes, most with gates, and the Beverly Hills Hotel completed the flash image. We went in a bit of circle, so I started map reading and took us up a winding road, Coldwater Canyon Rd, onto Mulholland Dr, which is quite popular amongst the bikers due to it being one of the best roads in the area. Finally a scenic lookout at the top allowed some photos.

Convincing occupants in both vans the wandering had not been aimless (and sadly smog on the mountain range in one of the shots) we headed back south to LAX, mostly staying off the Interstate and taking in the city streets. At the hotel we went across the road to have a late lunch, and when the others showed me Sizzler, I realised there was a whole complex behind it, consisting of multiple outlets, so I went for a Japanese one, staying healthy, getting salad with a chicken curry.

There was still space on some afternoon outings, so I jumped in again and we headed off to Venice Beach. Suddenly was not that quiet, in fact, it was ridiculous for a Sunday afternoon, parking was $17-20 and people were everywhere. Once parked we headed for the beach, while the rest of the guys (5) went in hunt for a beer, but since I don’t drink I joined the ladies in browsing the front, full of entertainers hustling for a buck and a plethora of tiny stalls, selling shirts, food, trinkets and anything else you could think of.

There was so much going on, it was almost mind blowing. People playing basketball, possibly a tournament, with a crowd, cyclists and bladers all over the place along with a lot of foot traffic. We strolled around, saw rollerskates making a comeback and narrowly avoided being hit by cyclists several times. Two cyclists came off, that our group saw but at least there were bikinis everywhere. I love summer. The men should have put their shirts back on though, I mean seriously, who wants to see that?

I eventually succumbed to the stalls, buying a couple of postcards for $1.50 +tax. $1.63? At least I got to use some pennies! Then I saw all the funny shirts, like a picture of a wedding and the words Game Over underneath. “Rock out with your cock out” was one of the blunter ones, but well over 20 combinations. 3 for $16 couldn’t be passed up, until they said that was for the cheap ones with no funny phrases. Bugger it… otherwise I would have bought 6.

A couple of stalls down I caved in, buying a couple for $13 +tax each. “Gas grass or ass, No one rides for free, It’s all too expensive for me” and “Sex Instruction (First Lesson Free)” were too good to pass up on.

We met up with the guys again (they said the bar was cramped, smelly and packed 4 deep) and headed off. Well… we intended to, and I’m blaming this on GiJoe, as he always says it’s the Gremlin that does it. Jumped in the rental van… nothing. Key turned, nothing on the dash. We’d parked the van, but then the attendants had moved it. They said nothing was wrong, but it sure wasn’t going anywhere. We all tried everything we could think of, even checked as many fuses as possible, but no luck. Rang the rental company, and they were going to send another van as replacement, but it would take up to 2 hours, so we spent 1.5 hours waiting around.

New van, sure enough, no problems starting that one so back to the Hotel. Apparently they got a ticket yesterday for parking where they shouldn’t… so I wonder what tomorrow holds for our van adventures. Back at the hotel, the guys desperate for a well-earned beer headed straight for the bar.

I went across the road, finally sampling Sizzlers. $13 bucks for two pieces of Malibu chicken and fries. It included a buffet salad bar of stuff like carrot gratings, pineapple chunks, salads like coleslaw, potato, dressings, damn good value. I love Americans and their preference for meat, as salad is then cheap.

Meal over, back to the hotel and wrote up this blog. Tomorrow morning we meet downstairs around 9am to head over to the shipper and finally pick up our bikes. 2 long months without them, it will be good to finally have them!

Sampling of pictures attached. Jump here for the day: https://photos.app.goo.gl/DNpU8SZyZ4vK7jCH8

It's 11.30pm, so I need a shower then bed...