Los Angelos

We rented a car for the trip to LA because a) my car is a 5-speed, which Ambo can't drive, b) my car has a nail in the tire, c) Ambo's car doesn't have air conditioning, and finally d) Ambo's car needs some service before we'd trust in on a long drive.

I must have looked like hell when I picked the car up. I was still feverish (but feeling better) from the food poisoning, I was wearing sweats and I hadn't showered.

We were given what can only be described as the coolest car on the lot: A red Dodge Neon. Let me say, when it comes time for me to buy a replacement for my Subaru, I'm getting a used rental Neon. There are what I can only hope are not love stains on the front seats. The alignment is so far out it's somewhere in the next state.

The drive pretty much sucked, but that's to be expected. Drivers on the 5 in the middle of the night should not be expected to know what they're doing. Luckily I wasn't awake for most of the drive. I drove the first hundred miles to Paterson. I'm supposed to keep drinking fluids to help detox my system, which means potty breaks. Ambo had joked about driving away if we had to stop on the side of the road for me to pee. We stopped at the Denny's there for a bite. I managed to choke down some French toast and a bit of a hash brown. Ambo took over the driving when we left and I pretty much crashed out until we were at the base of the Grapevine.

We pulled off the road to get gas. Ambo filled up the car and I took a quick restroom break. She went inside to use the bathroom and while she was inside I moved the car away from the pump and up to the door of the station. When Ambo came out, she didn't see me. Not what I'd intended but still pretty funny. She was not amused.

The rest of the drive to Redondo was pretty much a blur. Thank god for the Garmin Quest that I brought along or we never would have found the hotel.

The woman at the counter of the Best Western was a total bitch. Sure, it's the middle of the night but that's no excuse to treat a customer like shit. After finally getting checked in, we went to the room. We climbed a few flights of stairs and upon entering, the stench was truly overwhelming. We had booked a non-smoking room but the bitch behind the counter had given us a smoking room.

We dropped off our bags anyhow. Ambo was too tired to deal with it. I went back to the counter and got us changed to a non-smoking room. I think the bitch intentionally put us on the ground floor so we'd have to carry our bags further -- I had seen her initially put us into 316, the room next to the smoking room before moving us to a room on the ground floor.

Today was much better. We slept in, expected after the late night we'd had. We decided to walk and get some breakfast. Since it it's her home town, she was leading the way but was afraid that she wouldn't be able to find anything. As soon as we got out of the hotel, she recognized where we were.

It was really cool to see Ambo rediscovering her childhood town. She had been afraid that we couldn't find her grandfather's house, but we did almost right away. We wandered down to the beach and back into town. Ambo bought herself a Redondo Beach sweatshirt while we were there.