It's not such a small world afterall!!!

Friday 2nd May
It's not such a small world afterall because we ran around it first thing this morning in 28 minutes ha ha

David went to a mechanic to get the bike serviced and while he was away I tried to dowenload skype.  Because the internet connection is soooo slow here it took all day and even then it didn't complete.  I had another coffee and relaxed while waiting for David to return.

We had an early lunch and headed over to Disneyland I was quite emotional walking through the gates..... not sure why but this sign didn't help

 Disney was so much fun Space Mountain, Star Tours and Buzz Lightyear were my fave rides.  While we waited for the Star Tours ride we chatted with Jobie & Lucas from San Diego who have season passes and were just up for the day without their children.  It's so wonderful meeting new people and sharing our adventure.  They all find it hard to believe that I get 4 months paid leave the average amount of yearly holiday leave in the USA is 3 weeks max!! we are really fortunate in Australia and if they need to go to the (DMR) RTA or something like that they have to use leave for that because sometimes that visit can take hours  Will never go on the Matterhorn again wow that hurts!! 

The Grand Parade was fun too.   We rode the train, and double decker bus and bought Mickey Mouse ear pins for our vests rainbow for me and US flag for Dave.  We manage to keep refilling our water bottle and not drink any fizzy today :))  we ran 4.6kms this morning plus walked forever this afternoon.
We walked home and hopped in the spa and then the fireworks started so we sat in the spa and watched them :)

Mickey Mouse pin

Legoland Downtown Disney

Legoland

on the bus Disneyland

Grand Parade

Getting ourselves set up

Thursday 1st May

Today we have put aside the day to set ourselves up with a GPS, cellphone and some heated gear.  And to post some gifts and auction items for conference so we don't have to lug them around the countryside.  So we head off to the mall in Orange at about 8:30am to find what we need.  We arrive at the mall and the carpark is nigh on empty which we think is a little strange but find out why when we walk in the door and see that the shops don't open till 10am!!!! wow how strange! we wander around acclimatising and have a coffee/tea while waiting.  There is no post office in the centre so we ask the guy at Nordstrom (coffee place) if he knows where ther is one nearby and he gives us the address.

Once the shops open we go to the Best Buy kiosk (small version of the huge ones we have seen elsewhere) and are served by Ruth, a lovely young lady who sets us up with a cellphone and some credit through T-mobile costs $70 all up pretty cool little flip phone.  She then gives us the address of the closest larger Best Buy so we can get a GPS.  We had a little look around the shops and see some amazing stuff apples covered in all sorts of gooey stuff, oreo cookies covered in chocolate and on a stick and flavoured popcorn.  A lolly shop where they had a bank of hoppers with every different coloured M&M and no we didn't cave!!  Breakfast at the hotel had been frosty flakes so we had had enough sugar for today.

We looked through Macy's thinking we would maybe find a GPS there but only saw clothes and homewares.  We will definitely visit again on the way out though cause the clothes are soo cheap $50 for a pair of Levis!  And I saw some beautiful dresses that I might get for the weddings :)

We ride over to Best Buy and start looking at the GPS and a server comes over his name is Albert and he is not very helpful or knowlegable (I know that is spelt wrong but brain is fried LOL) David had looked up the GPS at Best Buy on the internet and saw one for $89.99, Albert tells us that they don't have any of that one left but a BB on the other side of town has it so we get directions and go over there.  We are standing looking at them when an assistant comes over wearing a shirt with Geek Squad printed on it and his Name embroidered on the front Jonathan P how funny!  He is way more helpful finds us the unit we want and then says we need to buy an adaptor to connect the unit to the computer for charging so we spend a further $21.00 for that.  When we get back to the hotel and open the GPS we didn't need the charger so we will take that back.

Lunch is sandwiches purchased from the small grocery store opposite the hotel, we also got some more bananas, apples and nuts we are trying to eat well while we are here especially seeing that the hotel supplied breakfast is sugar laden!!

After lunch we ride over to Irvine to visit J C Motors (I have purchased stuff from them and had it shipped to Australia so it was nice to meet them) to buy some heated gear.  After talking to Mike for some time we decide to go with battery operated gloves with 3 heat settings and we decide against heated boot liners.  I buy a pair of denim/kevlar jeans as mine had got too big so left them in Aus.  Dave also gets two oil filters, one for an oil change now and one for later.  And we also buy a tyre repair and inflation kit (hopefully WILL NOT be needed).  By the time we finish at J C Motors it is after 6pm so we decide to stop at the mall not far from there for dinner and finish our last bit of shopping.  We choose Chick-fil-a for dinner (we had a meal there in Kentucky last time and I remembered it was very good) they have really good looking salads and we are not disappointed.  My salad had grilled chicken, lettuce, red cabbage, fetta, strawberries, blueberries, dried cranberries and a granola sprinkle and nut sprinkle with an apple vinagrette it was soo yum!  Then we went over to Target for a few things it was kind of weird the shop shuts at 7pm but we were allowed in and there were still HEAPS of people shopping and we walked in right on 7 and even whern we went through the checkout there were still people walking in.

The day finished with a sneaky MGD (Miller Genuine Draft) in the spa mmmmmmm so relaxing!!

M&M hoppers

apples covered in gooey stuff

outside J C Motors

Chick-fil-a ad campaign too funny

Monterey to Anaheim

We decided to go to Cannery Row for breakfast and rode into town.  We slept in again!!! so it's a little late and we park the bike and a waiter (named Angel!) comes over to admire the bike and then another man James also comes over to talk (also a rider and the executive chef at Schooners) so after we have chatted for a while Dave asks if they can recommend somewhere for breakfast and James suggests the restaurant where he works (of course!) we go to the restaurant and it's just lovely, it helps that the weather is so perfect and the windows look right out over the bay.  Our server is a man named Isnoel and he reminds me of the actor in that movie I am Sam, he takes our order without writing a thing and gets it all correct and he says "excellent choice" and tells David several times that the juice is 100% so cute.  The coffee is so good and the food divine.  James comes to visit us at our table and tells us we have made a great choice.

After breakfast we meet some more people near the bike who give us directions, of sorts, and we promptly get lost! ha ha we are soon back on track and riding along the amazing coastline.  Through Big Sur, Pebble Beach and Ragged Point.  We stop at Ragged Point and the very first thing we see is a hummingbird!!! (cool eh kids?)  We decide to have lunch and go to sit out on the point to eat because it's cooler.  And suddenly 2 whales appear so cool!  There are some other tourists out there and one is an Aussie from QLD.   After we leave Ragged Point about 15 miles down the road is a beach where Elephant seals bask in the sun you can see it from the road but we decide to stop and look and there are thousands of seals just lying on the beach it's amazing!!

We stopped for a cuppa in a little town called Buellton just out of Santa Barbara.  The cafe was in a specialty grocery store (Hispanic) and the young woman behind the counter asked us "Do you live in houses in Australia" OMG too bloody funny it was all I could do not to burst out laughing!!  Dave says it was the sweetest cup of hot chocolate he's ever had and not in a good way! (it is VERY hard to get hot tea over here this place just did not serve it at all)

Another very long day and we end up driving down the interstate for the last bit instead of taking the scenic route (right past Santa Clarita sorry Sal we were sooo late and tired) because it is so late we end up getting into Anaheim at 8:30pm after driving through horrendous traffic, and even though it was so horrendous I was kind of in awe riding along seeing exits to Melrose Avenue/Hollywood Boulevarde and Rodeo Dr.  David has printed instructions off google maps but I miss one turn after we exit the I5 but because he has studdied the maps so well he finds the hotel no problem what a legend.

There is a Denny's across from our hotel and we have a quick wash (my hands and arms are black!!! from riding without a jacket or gloves through the LA traffic) and head over because we think they must be closing soon but it's a 24hr restaurant which is good to know!  A great meal!! we will be back!

Ragged Point selfie

tired sekfie

LA traffic!!!!

San Francisco here we come right back where we started from

no not the Golden Gate but near San Fran

can you see the bridge in the background yes it is the Golden Gate

our room in Monterey just lovely

the view from our room

We had planned to be at the registration office at 7:30am at opening time (I know what the?) but we didn't wake up till 7:30 ha ha so decided to go for a run and stretch out, it was a nice run with some short hills and we ran for 25mins.
Things seen on our run through Redding
a train
lots of homeless people

David phoned an insurance company to organise insurance for the bike.  We find the office.....eventually LOL and Julie organises our insurance fairly easily and then we head to the registration office and Andrea organises our rego...we are set and somewhat celebrities in the office ha ha.

we decide to have an early lunch at Cicada Cantina and are served by the lovely Alex, before riding to Monterey.

We stopped at Wendy's for a cuppa and got some bananas and apples ($2.49 cheap as) we adjusted our route to a less scenic one as we just wanted to get there!

Riding down to Monterey we ride right past Oakland where we started out. ha ha

It is another long day and we finally pull into the Monterey Hilton after dark.  We should have stayed here way back in 2000 but thought it would be too expensive, in hindsight we should have just forked out!!!  It was a beautiful room. Another late dinner but a much nicer one at the hotel restaurant goes down well with a beer.   After dinner we go to the spa which is sooo good after 7 hours on a motorcycle! Tried to facetime Jenny for her birthday but it wouldn't work.  The bed is very very comfy and I don't need much rocking!!!

Up, up and away!!!!!!!

Monday 28th April 7:30 EST Sydney Australia

We leave our hotel and wander down the road all our luggage in tow for breakfast.  We find a small cafe just down the road and bacon and egg rolls go down well.  We are struggling down the road towards the station to catch the train to the airport when a taxi driver appears from nowhere (like literally!!!) and says did you want a cab? we asked him how much to the airport and when he answered $30 we did the maths ($17 each for train) and decided it was worth the money, seriously think he was an angel!!!

He was from Bangladesh and started serenading us from the front seat then says "Domestic?" and we said "no International" at which he face palms and says "oh that's usually $35 but I said $30" so we paid him $40.  We were happy it was a quick trouble free trip.

We check in and go to our boarding gate early and sit to wait for a while.  I notice a wiser couple sitting not far from us.  The husband left to go do something and so did David to buy a magazine for the trip and while they were both gone some security staff came and asked us to move out of the boarding gate so they could check the area.  So I offered to help the woman with her luggage as she was using a cane to walk.  We vacated the area and move to some nearby chairs and then struck up a conversation Jackie and Jack are from Georgia and we had a lovely time chatting with them before boarding our flights I think we have made friends for life!

The flight over was pretty uneventful, good leg room, quite nice food and we even managed some sleep.  We had a spare seat between us so we could spread out a bit David can sleep absolutely anywhere so got a little more sleep than me.

Monday 28th April 8:00am California time Los Angeles

Our flight arrives and we collect our baggage and go to check in for our flight to Oakland at 10:57am.  we decide to check in only one bag as it cost $25 per item!!  The flight to Oakland is 45 mins and I manage a short nap.  When we land we pick up our car and I drive most of the way to Redding, until I have a microsleep then Dave takes over.  We arrive in Redding about 6:30pm and find the sellers house easily.  The bike is parked in the driveway.  It has been a loooooong day and I am starting to flag.  We do all the paperwork and then go to our hotel and check in.  We take the car back to the airport and then go to find something to eat by the time we eat it's 9pm!! and by the time we get to sleep it's after 10pm I am showered and in bed and say good night to David by the time he turns the water on I am OUT!

David sleeping at the boarding gate

plane selfie

plane snack

plane meal mmmm chicken

The day before it all begins

here we are with 2 sleeps until we leave the country.

tomorrow we head to Sydney so that we are there for our flight at 11:30am Monday morning.

I am nervous, excited and anxious all at once......

this is going to be AMAZEBALLS!!!!!

I know corny but I can't help myself the excitement is just too much right now.

We are packing tonight after a practice pack last night it's hard packing soo lightly for 3 months travelling ha ha

Bobs Farm - Wollongong with an oops in Thirroul

Went for a run this morning and even though runkeeper said we ran 4.25km we actually ran 5kms in 34:40 GPS ripped me off but 9 laps of our driveway plus a little bit is definitely 5kms.  After brekky, showers and some last minute packing we were off!! 

We are going to Wollongong for Dave's cousin Gabby's wedding.

Our first stop is the twin servos at Wyong for a cuppa and a wee break.  And then on to South Hurstville for lunch and Subway, by the time we get there we are both tired and hungry and the sub goes down a treat.

Back on the road we head to the Sea Cliff Drive south of Stanwell Park, it's amazing driving out over the ocean as we are driving down into Thirroul we come around a corner and a car 2 cars in front is turning left and Dave isn't able to brake properly and the bike goes over, we slide about a metre down the road leaving a furrow in the bitumen.  We get up dust ourselves off and Dave rode the bike around a corner out of the traffic while I followed on foot.  We are both fine not even a scrape thank goodness for good bike gear!  Dave has a small hole on his right shoulder how that happened I'll never know and my right boot lost a bit of leather.  The bike has a few scrapes on the panniers and a broken lens on the right front indicator but that's about it.  We gather ourselves give each other a hug and thank God we are both OK. 

We arrive at our accomodation and although basic will be comfortable.  The church and restaurants are all within walking distance so we won't be back on the bike till Monday.   Pics to follow.