Day 11

Mike-
I woke up at 7:15 and went downstairs to check Alf's light issue. It was still on, so I left Chrissie in bed and drove to the VW dealership 15 minutes away. They were very helpful through all of our (Chrissie and her dad John were on the phone with me and Emily, the service rep) many many problems and questions. Cooling fan #2 apparently gave out on us while we were cruising around in 100+ degree heat. Not a good thing to lose anywhere in July, but especially not in Arizona. Also, we were 12 days and just a few miles out of warranty. The local dealer there gave us a good faith discount and helped cover some of the cost, but the case is still open with VW to see if more can be done. At any rate, we got the issue resolved. Whew.

I picked Chrissie up at the hotel at around 11:30 (they were nice enough to extend our checkout time in view of our situation) and we drove to the Nimbus brewpub for a much needed burger and beer. They were really good. Then it was time to hit the road.

We planned to take I-8 to state road 86 to I-10. We would pass through Yuma and see the Mexican border. Well, we took I-8 all the way to San Diego, since I somehow overlooked the exit for 86. No big loss, because San Diego was beautiful. I saw the Pacific for the first time, and the temperature dropped from 111 degrees (seriously) in AZ to 68 degrees in San Diego. Getting closer into LA (driving on 405, that is) was really the first time I regretted driving the full day. Traffic was not terrible, but the road was super bumpy. We found the efficiency where we're staying at around 10:30, after half an hour of trying to read the house numbers and even getting an admission from a neighbor that she "really doesn't know the addresses around here." Apparently the house numbers in Venice Beach really don't follow any kind of order. At all.

I was about to crash, but we hadn't eaten since Tucson and opted to hit up an In N Out burger in the neighborhood. Well worth the excursion back out into the world. Before finally falling asleep we signed up for tickets to watch the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Tuesday, and are waiting for confirmation as I type this.

No pictures, as it wasn't much of a sight-seeing type of day. Sorry!