It felt a bit odd waking up without the usual trip planning ahead of us. With the exception of Sedona where we stayed for the extra day we had been on the move everyday. Our trip was at an end though I was looking forward to one last ride to Santa Monica for some shopping. As much as I would miss the adventure of our trip and the excitement of visiting new places each day, there was something nice about home and New Zealand. I wanted to see the green grass, smell the fresh air and taste the sweet water.
Kelly on reception recommended 3rd Avenue at Santa Monica as her 'preferred place' to go shopping to look for those last minute shopping items.
I was also looking forward to my usual Oatmeal and coffee at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf so Nev and I trotted off there for the last time. Logging in like a pro & the locals, we checked for any last minute emails and messages. Yum, loved my Oatmeal and coffee. I kind-of was savouring my last experience of this.
Back to the hotel and checked with the girls that our late book out arrangement still stood. It did.
On the bikes and with the aid of Mr GPS we went to 3rd Avenue. Parked in our first car park, fully appreciating the amplified noise of my beast. We wandered up and down in what was obviously a very up market shopping area. My daughters would love this place! We visited the Nike store and Nev wanted to check out iPads in the Apple Store. That was really busy with lots of assistants in blue and yellow t-shirts. Each specialising in their areas of expertise. Nev is going to consider his options.
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| A shop sign that appealed to my sense of humour! |
Made some purchases, had our obligatory coffee and muffin and people watched for quite a while. Again I am amazed by the number of homeless and destitute people there are - even in an area like this. You see them all over the place, one having what sounded like an interesting conversation with himself in a shop window. There was an Irish busker singing away, quite an old chap. You wonder why he had to, perhaps he just liked singing in public?
Well, our final ride. We headed towards Bartells route 66 to drop the bikes back, stopping to top up the tanks and for me to take the GPS RAM mechanism off the bars.
The store was supposed to be closed on Mondays but as they were starting to get into their renting season business was picking up and some of the staff were in to arrange some people with their bikes. Glenn was there. I did wonder if he came in just to make that his own bike, (mine) was actually OK. He really is a chilled out character. Nice guy.
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| My last look of my bad-boy bike! I'm going to miss it! |
He looked at Nev's bike and made a tentative estimate of what the necessary repair costs were going to be. They will have to work it out in much more detail late via emails. We still hoped that Nev's insurance company was going to cover it.
With some reluctance I turned my back on my reliable horse and walked away. Just walk away! I had a wee tear in my eye. I avoided asking Glenn if it was for sale and if so, what price?
Paul was due back any second having run some people to LAX and was going to take us to our hotel. He did and it was a fast trip in a big RAM pick up. Sounded nice.
He said see you next year and shook our hands - and just like that our trip was over! Done!
We wandered into our room and freshened up for the last time and for the trip home.
Closed our door after leaving our last tip for the cleaning staff. We waited for the Custom Hotel shuttle to pick us and some other hotel guests up and take us to LAX.
Nev got dropped at Terminal 1 and I got dropped at Terminal 2, only to find out that only business or premium customers for Qantas used that terminal. I walked to Terminal 4. Hah, LA was having one last laugh at my expense. Anyway, I booked my luggage through after finding out that I was 3 KG over my allowance. The nice lady behind the counter gave me a little 'free' bag and would let me carry on two hand luggage items, but I had to find some weighty items to off load. I know, my bike boots and GPS holder. Perfect, that worked. Boy the boots really were quite heavy!
I walked with my two cabin items back to Terminal 1 to catch up with Nev.
We had a bite to eat and a couple of beers. As his flight was leaving two hours before mine he was keen to go and see if Phil was booked in and catch up with him. They were on the same flight. So that was that. I saw the Air New Zealand plane waiting to go. It made me feel quite proud, just a simple thing like seeing a bit of home in a foreign country makes your chest puff up. Funny but true.
I had 3-4 hours to kill and chose to do that by people watching, trying to work out who the mad bombers were! I also read and caught up with doing some of the trip blog.
Time dragged by but eventually it was time to go.
My shoes made their last step off American soil and my journey in this amazing country was at an end.
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