first stop, Long Beach

Mr. C woke me at 4 AM this morning, not a smart move on his part but necessary. At 5 AM he announced that the handle had broken on the master bathroom toilet. Also not a smart move. Yesterday we thought the washing machine's spin cycle had conked out. Now the toilet. As it happens, the washer was fine, but the toilet was not. The hardware store is not open at 5 AM. What to do? Could we fix it with a paper clip and some masking tape. Hardly. So we continued to pack and sent our tenant an email saying, "Sorry. You'll have to fix this." I was not happy about doing this but really had no choice. This is probably the first trip we've taken that Mr. C hasn't vacuumed as we are locking up. I did it yesterday with the wonderful new Oreck he bought while I was schlepping around Paris. I know he's always wanted one and was waiting for our old machine to finally take its last sucking gasp.

We pulled away from the house at 6:45 AM, loaded to the gills. We made good time all the way to Long Beach, arriving here at 2 PM. Four stops along the way to stretch and snack. I took a nice q1 1/2 hr. nap after we arrived and settled into the hotel. Then over to Alex's for an early supper. Now back for a good night's sleep.

The drive down the Central Valley is nothing if not boring. I-5 needs road work all the way from Sacramento to Buttonwillow. Alas, probably no state funds to take care of it. Maybe Jerry can find some cash. The air quality is horrible; dusty and smoggy and reeking of cow poop. Then up the Grapevine to clearer skies, past Gorman to Lebec where there is a very nice Rest Area where we always stop for lunch. Up past Pyramid Lake, then down into the LA basin past Magic Mountain "amusement park" (is anyone amused by this place?) past the turn off for Sepulveda (my father amused himself by pronouncing it "Se-pul-VEE-da"), Crenshaw and Pico Rivera,the Getty Center, the round apartment building that was once a Holiday Inn hotel. Then Mulholland Drive, the AmEx, FedEx and LAX, Bel Air, bel paese and bel canto. Beverly Hills, Woodland Hills, Huntington Beach, Long Beach, Newport Beach and all the other landmarks of my childhood. Along the way I saw three Smart Cars; one was bright blue, two were black, a Smart new look for the mafioso. Toyota is still the vehicle of choice, according to my unscientific survey of the passing traffic. Silver, once again, the color of choice for the majority of all drivers.

It's time to turn off the light and get some sleep. Tomorrow we will see Cait and Mike, providing a new storm in Salt Lake doesn't ground them, and Kaley, Rob and Ruby. We are all having dinner together tomorrow night at George's, a wonderful Greek restaurant on Long Beach's famed 2nd Street. Meanwhile, Mr. C has to make a couple of his famous Pumpkin Pies and I have to huddle with grandson Andrew to find out what he has in store for the world.