LA Traffic

So today I flew to the US. A full day at work, then on a plane to Auckland, and the overnight flight to LA. Went well, and I even got a few hours sleep as I was in premium economy. Nice!

And then it started ... the "US experience". We landed at 12.15 local time, I eventually left the rental company at 3.15pm. 2 hours of that was getting thru immigration. The computer system had failed ...

And then to cut a long story short, 6 hours to get to Anza Borrego State Park. Only 157 miles, but traffic! At one stage I was 3 hours for just over 80km. Pretty nuts. In hindsight, should have gone north and skiing at mammoth, next time maybe. Of course, to make matters worse, my GPS failed, so I stopped and bought a new one. Essential driving here!

But I was really keen to see park after visiting Joshua Tree last year, so onwards. Yes, got there at 9.15. Totally in the dark, GPS had the wrong position for the campground; but eventually found it. And there was no one there! Which was funny as thought it would probably be full ...

Anyway, setup tent, still 30 deg C, had a beer, enjoyed the peace and quiet, and the stars. And then bed after a very long day. Sadly, no Theramarest matters (so a tad hard), no torch, and a few other camping essential. Oh well!