the Gallery

KEENE WEENE GEE AND OCHA MOCHA JOE

ADVENTURE 19

by Tom Gaines

Well the kids and dad are still on the road. Their dad checked with his company and they said that it would be another week before they would need him, so keep having some fun.

We last saw the kids and dad heading for San Diego. They still had about 150miles to go and part of it was right through LA. They got over to hwy 5 again. That was the hwy that would take them all the way to San Diego.

Now as they were headed for San Diego. They had decided that it would be their last stop before the headed home. They were all getting a little tired of being on the road for so long. They had lots of adventures and covered lots of miles together but they were all getting a little home sick.

As they were driving they found themselves driving through some very large hills. When they saw signs they told them that it was only 5 miles to LA. They came over one of the hills and there before them was the LA basin. All they could see was miles and miles of houses. Off in the distance they could see the big buildings of down-town LA. Boy was it something to see it made anything they had ever seen look small, even Washington DC. The map said that they could stay on this freeway all the way through LA and then head for San Diego. They first had to drop down to the massive town and the road would take them where they wanted to go.

When they headed into LA they found themselves on the hwy which was sometimes 8 lanes wide. They stayed in the middle lanes(it seemed safer there) Since they were not getting off they wouldn’t have to worry about getting off).

As they were heading along Joe said “IM starting to get a little hungry”. They realized that in all of the excitement they hadn’t stopped for Breakfast. So they would have to stop anyway.

They started looking for signs telling them where to get off. They noticed that at each off ramp there would be signs saying what was off at that exit. When they saw one for a breakfast they got into that lane and took it. When they got to the bottom they saw the restaurant straight ahead. The sign said BREAKFAST SERVED ALL DAY. After they got into the Restaurant they sat down and ordered their food. it came( it was a lot more than they would be able to eat.) Well they got right into the breakfast. It was great. They each had something different and it was all good.

It was time to head out again. They were all full and it made everything look a little better. They got back on hwy 5 and headed south again. For several hours all they saw was houses and stores. Man what a town. They all decided that it would be terrible to live there. They loved where they lived. Wide open spaces and not many people.

After what seemed like a long time they finally started to see signs for some towns south of LA. That was great with them, they had seen all of that city they needed to see ,it was just too big for them.

Finally they were getting out of town. They saw on the map that they still had about 75miles to go. That was ok with them they had been traveling so long the it didn’t seem so far to go.

The kids got into the back of the Van Camper and started playing some games. One of their favorite was trying to see how many different state licenses they would see on the cars they saw. They would keep score in their heads to see who got the most.

Now as they started the game Joe saw a car from Nevada and Keene saw one from South Dakota. As each one saw a license from some different state the other also would see one from another state.. So far it was a tie. Now it was getting into the afternoon and while their dad was driving Keene and Joe laid down and took a short nap.

It felt just wonderful to lay down on the soft carpet and think about all of the things they had seen and done on this trip.

It turned out that they sleep for almost three hours. That was when there dad woke them up and told them the they were getting into San Diego.

Well the kids started looking out of the van windows and “sure enough” they could see a city straight ahead. “San Diego”. Dad asked the kids to try and find that mans address on the map and they would go over and say HI. It only took the kids a short time to find the street he lived on. It was almost on the water.

The kids started telling Dad what off ramps to take and what streets to look for. They made a pretty good team. Two checking the map and one driving.

Now it took another half an hour to get to the area where Bill lived. The houses were all quite large and the kids thought they all looked like Mansions. Now when they got to Bills street the started looking for the address. It turned out that his house was one of the Largest on the street. It was so large that the u shaped driveway even had a pond and some trees in the center of it.

They pulled into the driveway and rang the doorbell. After a few minutes the door opened and there was Bill. He was really excited to see them again.

He opened the door wide and said to come on in. When they got into the house they were amazed. The house looked even bigger than it had from the outside. Bill took them to the main living room and opened the curtains. They were just standing there looking at the Pacific ocean. It was only about three miles from Bill’s house.

Now Bill asked them what they wanted to drink? They decided a little water would be just great. The kids and their dad went over to the window and they were looking out on the ocean. Again it looked just peaceful.

Now when Bill got back he said what did they think about the view.

They told him that it was absolutely beautiful. He said that he had lived there for almost ten yrs. He then told them that he owned a fairly large Marina and boat repair shop. He then showed them the marina down in the bay. As the kids would say “ it was huge”.

Bill then told them that he had started a small computer research company. It had really taken off and when he got the chance he sold the company to a larger company. He said the they had given them enough to never have to work again.

He told them that he had this house made for him and then he started the marina. He said that he really loved the water and the marina had turned out to be another big success.

He told them that if they wanted to then tomorrow he would take them down to the marina and arrange for them to go for a sail. He also told them that they were going to stay at his house as long as they were here. When their dad started to say “no” bill said that it was final. They would stay with him. Their dad finally said OK.

Now bill told the kids to explore anywhere around the house that they might want to see. He said that was for both the house and also the grounds. He also told them that they would all take a swim latter in he pool.

They all had a great time at Bills house but it was time to get some sleep and see what tomorrow would bring.