musings

Slept until almost 12 noon because the shade was very efficient. Still managed to clear off before the KOA man came round. Had breakfast at a nearby truck stop (chopped sirloin sandwich turned out to be hamburger).

A short drive and we found ourselves in the familiar surroundings of good old Cleveland. Went to the shore of the lake, sat and watched a cargo ship slide by. Went to Pieter van Erp’s for the sack of letters I knew would be there. Mrs van Erp didn’t recognise me first. I had two letters she said, and she had returned both to England. Then we went to Bryan’s place to return his radio, book and t-shirt. Shopped at Zayre’s to kill time. DB bought a transparent skateboard ($13) and Shôn got two Budweiser hats. I got nothing.
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Drove through Louisville and someone noticed that Fort Knox is virtually on the way, so we made a mid-course correction and entered Fort Knox - the name of the military area surrounding the federal gold depository we know as Fort Knox. Through a military checkpoint and through on to the depository. “Don’t go near the actual building” we had been warned by the female MP at the checkpoint, “there are automatic M16 machine gun posts and the area is mined”. Fair enough. We got as close as we could to the place made familiar by Goldfinger. Got a picture of the place with “Stop. State your business into speaker” sign in front. Strange to think there is all this fuss about blocks of metal dug out of the ground.
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Felt foolish asking directions to Elvis Presley’s house in Memphis. Turned out that he lived on Elvis Presley Boulevard (coincidence) but we drove past his house the first time. It was just an ordinary street with Burger Kings and gas stations and neon signs. We turned round and realised his house was the one obscured by trees, behind a brick wall and wrought iron gates manned by “heavies” and watched by closed-circuit TV. That was all we saw. Didn’t bother to get out of the car.
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We called his bluff, and won. No Commandant came round for 2 x $7.50 in the morning. Saw him shouting at two Mexican workers for not turning up at 7am. Bet they were illegal immigrant cheap labour “wetbacks” as they are called. Glad we jipped him.

We had the choice of seeing Fort Worth or going on to Dallas and looking round there. We opted for the latter and so drove through Ft Worth. Stopped in Dallas and walked to the place where JFK was assassinated in 1963. It was completely different from my memory of the scene they showed on TV. I thought it was in the middle of the city, but it was more like the entrance to the freeway. Anyway, nothing much to see except a memorial plaque describing the killing.
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Unfortunately, in the morning we realised we’d pitched the tent in a conspicuous place and sure enough the manager came over. John paid him the money we should have put in the nite registration letterbox the previous evening. Can’t win ‘em all.

Visited Carlsbad National Park to see the famed caverns. At the visitor centre we paid $2 for the car-load and got our radio guides which we had to clip round our necks. These picked up recorded notes from wires buried in the trial we walked on, and as we entered a new area the message changed to describe it. Clever.
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Again the sun conflagrated our tent early in the morning - so early, in fact, that we were able to catch a McDonald’s breakfast. Motive: to obtain a McDonald’s Good Morning coffee mug as a souvenir. The sausage and egg breakfast was just like an airline breakfast and the sausages were like hamburger patties in shape! Still, I got the mug and might even get it back to England in one piece.
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Today we returned to Tijuana to have a look round in the daylight with all the shops open. There were hundreds of souvenir shops/arcades selling leather goods, cheap jewellery and similar junk, like in Acapulco. Shopkeepers were very pushy trying to get you in their particular shop.

Obviously competition was stiff, and as each shop sold the same things they had to rely on hard-sell techniques. “Yes! Hey guy! Come here. Bargains!” or even “Beerded man - over heer!” However we refrained from buying anything in any of the shops. I nearly got a pair of leather sandals with soles made out of old tyre treads.
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Great discussions about where to go next. We had arranged to be back in Cleveland on the 20th, and at the moment we are as far away as possible from Ohio. The choice was between heading back today, or spending another day on the west coast, in order to see San Diego. Decided in the end that we may as well check it out.

The City is noted for two things: its zoo and its beaches, so we headed for the beach. It was a bit cold and I was only just over the ‘flu so I didn’t go into the water. In fact Shôn was the only one who did. We were content to lie on the fine sand and watch the beach boys (and girls). They obviously hung around the beach as Liverpool teenagers hang around street corners. Some cruised along the “prom” on bikes, some played pool in the beach cafe, and some sat on the wall drinking from bottles wrapped in brown paper bags. A few were actually in the water.
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Landlady tried to get in this morning but the door chain defeated her. Ten minutes before checkout time we made a move. I picked up my sleeping bag, opened the door, stepped out, saw the cleaning lady and shot back in again. Wonder if she saw me?

We waited until she was in the next chalet and then jumped in the car and drove off. A mile down the road we heard the wail of a police car behind us. Our hearts raced. We did not need jail sentences for defrauding a landlord. The car raced past and we relaxed. Drove on towards LA and Disneyland.
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Woke late but no KOA official bothered us. Left the restroom key on a picnic table and left for downtown. Found nowhere to eat at the university so we had a McDonald’s and then headed for the Mystery Spot mentioned in the Moneywise. I decided $1.75 was too much but DB, Shôn and Joe went up the hill to the circle where everything defies gravity. They came back mystified.

Decided to replace the gas cap Shôn had lost. One gas station gave Joe a cap left by another motorist. The fool put it on our filler and there it locked. Of course there was no key for it and everyone had a go with a screwdriver. In the end I got it off and we bought a proper one. Bought some lozenges for my sore throat.
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