2:You Don’t Take an RV into L.A.
California, Los Angeles.
06th September 2019.
Day Two.
You don’t take an RV into LA.
Steering a 25ft RV through the middle of Los Angeles is difficult at the best of times. It’s made a lot harder holding on to Martha’s ankles as she hangs out of the RV window screaming ‘SORRY’ at the top of her voice.
At this moment in time all I wanted was to be back in England, thousands of miles away from any vehicle. Central L.A was as far away from that fantasy as possible.
The day started at 6:40AM. We tried to stay in bed for as long as possible and we did manage an extra 30 minutes, but the time change was too much. We made breakfast, the same cereal as we had the night before, and ate outside.
It’s hot. Might be too hot. I get changed from my regular shorts and short sleeve t-shirt to my rugby shorts and a vest. After unpacking the suitcase and doing usual morning bits and bobs, we set out for Hollywood.
I’m buzzing, like really freakin’ excited. I feel like a pro driver. I could take on the entire world. Martha the navigator and me the pro RV driver.
I was a little worried about parking so it was a relief to find a decent sized spot on the road that leads to Griffith Observatory. Traffic getting there wasn’t the best, but that seems to be normal for L.A.
We set off on a quick hike to see the Hollywood sign. Empty stomachs and the fact that it was absolutely scorching prevented us from completing the hike, but it was only to get closer to the Hollywood sign. Its not like it was going to change if we got closer to it. It literally says Hollywood. Big letters on a hill.
Done.
Sadly, looking back at the photographs, I should have asked Martha to use her phone to take photos of me with the sign in the background, because I’m out of focus in all of the photos on my camera. All of the pictures of her are perfect though. So that’s nice...
“Well, the sign looks good”
-Marths, 2019.
The observatory was cool, but we didn’t stay long as even though we didn’t finish a 4-mile hike, we still hiked over halfway, then had to come back. Only so many hours in a day.
Now on to the Hollywood walk of fame! We got back in the RV and set off down the road. Due to a fresh breeze and repetitive slamming noise we realised the RV’s side door was open.
All secured and lessons learnt we set off again . Could have been nasty.
We closed the door and set off again. It wasn’t long before I found myself driving the biggest vehicle in the whole of L.A. A 25ft RV isn’t designed to be in this part of town. So, I guess it’s only natural that I should smack my right-wing mirror off in the process…
We were genuinely 2 minutes away from the Walk of Fame, according to google maps, yet here we are picking up bits of wing mirror off the busy streets of Los Angeles. I borrowed a pen and paper from some lovely bystanders, who were enjoying the commotion and left a note on the truck I’d hit.
After my slight nervous breakdown, we called Cruise America to get some advice. Crashing is bad enough, but in a strange country on a busy street, with the whole of America watching you, it makes it so much worse.
Amazingly, from where we were, Cruise America’s base was about 30 miles away. However, in L.A traffic that was about 1 hour and a half away, and in my current mindset that equated a lifetime.
Even more amazingly, Cruise America they were actually already aware that some absolute melon was driving one of their RV’s around downtown Los Angeles. Possibly due to a complaint from the previous vehicle I’d hit. I forgot to mention that. Oops.
Without a wing mirror, driving an RV is very difficult. Especially in busy traffic. I could no longer see anything on my right-hand side. Nothing at all. To make up for this, I held onto Martha’s ankles as she leant out the window to tell me if I could pull over into the right lane.
The cab of the RV was quite a lot smaller than the main body, so Martha had to stretch her entire torso out of the window to see around the RV. This wasn’t 100% successful, and the occasional beep from a terrified local was quickly followed by Martha’s screams of ‘No, NO! Go back. Sorry! I’m so Sorry!’.
At this moment, I couldn’t help but remember what Martha’s Dad had said to us before we left. “Look after eachother”. As I sat there, one hand on the steering wheel, the other hand gripping tightly onto Martha’s feet, I couldn’t help but wonder if we were doing something wrong?
“Look after eachother”
After a very, very stressful journey, we made it back to Cruise America. My man Brian was chilling there. Again, he was an absolute legend and made me feel a hell of a lot better about my amazing driving. The RV gets fixed up in about 15 minutes and we set off back to our campsite. Ridiculous day. Thank God we paid for that extra insurance.
It had been a ridiculous few days to be perfectly honest. With the amount of stuff we had lost on the first day and my driving today... It’s been eventful.
Back in the safety of the campsite. We both figured out how the propane stove worked and cooked ourselves pasta. In bed by 9 PM. Ready for a relaxing day tomorrow.
