it was my pleasure, I'll visit you guys soon, the redneck mud fest looks great....
this is my first draft, I need to edit and write the Spanish version as well, but give you guys the idea of what happens during the weekend...
Over Landers at Orange County, California.
July 15th to 18th, 2011.
Back in March 2005, I was able to meet with my friends at Death Valley; they were doing an expedition Caracas-Houston-Alaska during wintertime.
Alaska Expedition | Overlanders4X4
Recently, in October 2010, Rui Mendes did another expedition, but I missed him twice, at Moab and at my place. I was able to connect him with Alexis, at least.
Expediciones Rui Mendes
Now, in July 2011, Luis is coming back from Alaska. They started their journey in Key West, Florida; they went from South-East east to North-West, specifically Deadhorse, Alaska. They are visiting as many National Parks as they can, as well of nature wonders in between, doing a lot of filming and picture taking for future TV program/series/show.
Overlanders4X4 | Just another WordPress site
My first step was to save Luis US phone number, so I will know for sure that he is calling. Otherwise, I do not pick-up the phone from unknown numbers; that happens to me with Rui, and I missed the opportunity to talk with him in person.
I got the call, Luis was in Sacramento and he was planning to visit Alvaro Rodriguez, so I provided his number. From there to Napa Valley, San Francisco, Pismo Beach, Los Angeles.
After 6 weeks in a row of driving and camping, they planned a little brake, and I will be part of it. That is a bummer, they do not want to do any more camping or off road trips. I need to plan for a regular tour instead.
Friday 15. They drove a lot, but they enjoy the day at Six Flags park; north of LA, famous for their rollercoaster. That day, the 405 highway (10+lines) was schedule for a total shutdown, so I told them how to avoid the chaotic traffic that was expected. They arrived home close to midnight, but not due to traffic, they stay at park until closed. We hugged, we set the air mattress and had few drinks and chat a lot until when to bed.
Saturday 16. We had arepas (Venezuelan corn bread), scramble eggs and Venezuelan coffee for breakfast. The plan was to do a Beach tour, no 4x4 required. We drove the Pacific Coast highway (PCH) through the Beach Cities, Laguna Beach, Corona del Mar, Newport Beach, Balboa Island and Balboa peninsula. We visited the Top of the World, the highest point of Laguna Beach with a 360 degrees view. We took a ferry (chalana) from Balboa Island to the peninsula just for fun. It is unique. We saw the most beautiful girl of the trip so far, she was wearing a tiny bikini and skate boarding while we were, speechless, at the ferry line. She waves us, and we wave back. We didn’t coordinate a word until it was too late. We expend like an hour looking for parking spots at Balboa Peninsula with no luck. We drove back home, we stopped at Crystal Cove for the famous shakes and a snack. Then, we have a beer or two at a local hotel/bar terrace, in front of Doheny State Beach at Dana Point. They closed at 10:00pm, that was a shock for the Venezuelan gang and that explains why people was there since 5:00pm. We drove home, we saw a little bit of nocturnal bars at Laguna Beach, but we were not interested in party, just rest.
Sunday 17. We had pancakes and Venezuelan coffee for breakfast. The plan was to visit the Festival Colombiano, but we also could watch the Copa Americas soccer game where Venezuela was playing at Enrique’s place. We decided the last one, more family oriented and more according to the expedition budget. It was a potluck, we had chicken, beef, appetizers and we brought Alaskan Salmon, directly from the decks to our grill. We watched the game, instead or reading news about it via blackberry texting. It was a great game, lots of action and Venezuela bits Chile 2 to 1. We celebrated with Chilean red wine (the nickname of Venezuelan team is “la vino tinto” (red wine) and we grilled all the mentioned food. What a fest. This time, I was driving, so they were allowed to drink as much as they can, and sure, they did it very well.
Monday 18. We had toasts, sunny side up eggs and Venezuelan coffee for breakfast. They packed their truck, we did a short interview and they took off to Death Valley, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon and somehow, Florida by the end of the week. I noticed looking at the Spot tracks that they drove all night through Death Valley. My guess is that the full moon, plenty of rest and full on energy, they just avoided the summer heat driving at nighttime. I hope that next trip report will give us a clue.
