It’s Monday morning. If you’ve been following my posts, when I let the cat out of the bag I said I would be going to work today. I thought I would be traveling to Valencia to work as a consultant for a VW dealer opening there. Last Thursday I was informed that the ownership change ( a buy/sell in auto dealer jargon) fell through. I don’t know if that particular buy/sell is postponed or cancelled completely. So my streak of 635 consecutive nights sleeping in our RV will continue unabated.

We had beautiful weather on Saturday, but I spent most of the day relaxing and watching TV. The Red Wings playoff game against Tampa Bay was a disappointment – the series is now tied at 1-1. After the game, I took a walk along the bay on the west side of the park. Mission Bay was very active with ski boats, sail boats and personal watercraft going in every direction.

Busy weekend on the bay

The beach at Campland had plenty of sunbathers and people braving the water.

Beach at Campland

After my walk, I returned to the TV and watched the Formula One qualifying for Sunday’s race in Dubai.

I was up early on Sunday and watched the Formula One race (warning – this post contains F1 and Moto GP spoilers). The last two laps were very excting as 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikonnen drove his Ferrari past Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes to take second place behind Lewis Hamilton.

The race ended at 9:40am. I turned off the TV and immediately hit the road to pick up Donna at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. She was expecting me to be there at noon. On Wednesday, the trip to the Westin took me two hours and ten minutes. I thought it might be a little faster on a Sunday morning, but I didn’t want to take any chances. I always prefer to plan a little extra time instead of sweating it out at the last minute.

The drive was actually a little tougher than mid-week. Traffic slowed from San Clemente to San Juan Capistrano and came to a full stop a couple of times. From there, it was smooth sailing until I reached Norwalk. It was bumper to bumper from there through Santa Fe Springs and Downey until I reached the 101. I arrived at the Westin at 11:55 am.

Donna and her friends Ingrid and Angela were waiting in the lobby. We managed to shoehorn four people, three pieces of luggage and five boxes of books into the Ford Focus rental car. We were giving Ingrid and Angela a ride to the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

I asked the bellman what the best route to LAX was. I thought I would have to take I-10 to I-405 in Santa Monica then go south to Century Boulevard or maybe take the Harbor Freeway (CA110) south then take Century Boulevard through Inglewood. He told me the best way was to take the Harbor Freeway south to CA105 west. CA105 ends at the airport! I didn’t know this route because CA105 didn’t exist when I used to drive in this area back in the ’80s. It was planned in the ’60s but didn’t open until 1993.

This turned out to be an excellent route and we made it to the airport in about half an hour. We dropped off Angela at Southwest Airlines at terminal one. Then we slowly made our way among the cars, limos and buses to the Tom Bradley International Terminal to drop off Ingrid at Aeroflot for her trip back to The Netherlands.

The drive south on I-405 from there was easy. We stayed in the carpool lane and sailed along doing about 70 mph. When we reached Oceanside, we pulled off at Harbor Drive and found public parking near the south harbor. There are restaurants and shops along the south and east side of the harbor. We sat outside at Harbor Fish and Chips and enjoyed a plate of fish and chips.

Fish and chips at Ocenaside harbor

It was a nice break, enjoying good food out in the sun. Donna saw a seal in the harbor behind us.

Oceanside south harbor – I didn’t get a pic of the seal

While we were dining, another couple sharing our table told us about RV overnight parking near the boat ramp. We took a look before we left. There are large parking stalls for vehicles with boat trailers near the ramp. You can park an RV at the end of the lot away from the ramp for $8/day. Overnight parking is allowed for a fee of $20. The parking stalls are tight – a big rig with slide-outs would be problematic. Also, getting a big rig turned around to exit the lot would be difficult at best. We decided it wouldn’t work for us although we saw a number of smaller RVs there.

We drove south along Harbor Drive then Pacific Highway, but the traffic was maddening. After a few miles, we returned to the interstate and came home to our coach at Mission Bay RV Resort.

While Donna went grocery shopping, I watched the Moto GP race from Argentina. It was a cracking race. Marc Marquez broke away early and built up a lead of more than four seconds. It looked like it would be a race for second place as he was so far out in front. Nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi made his way from sixth on the grid to second. Then he reeled Marquez in and made a pass for first place! Marquez tried to strike back immediately and made a mistake. He contacted Rossi mid-corner, then his front wheel made contact with Rossi’s rear wheel and Marquez hit the pavement. Race over for Marquez. Rossi won by a few seconds over Dovizioso. Valentino Rossi leads the championship after winning two of the first three races at age 36.

Donna has a few errands this morning. I need to take our old chassis batteries to a recycling center. Other than that, we don’t have much on the agenda for what looks to be another fine day in San Diego.