Wednesday 3-22-2000

T here were no FMCA activities scheduled until Thursday afternoon, so we didn't have to get up too early today. So it was nice to wake up without an alarm clock. When I finally got up and around, I walked over to the edge of the campground to get a picture of our camping area. I walked up the side of a small hill so I could look down on the fairgrounds. Thousands of motorhomes were spread out before me and there many more due to arrive in during the next two days.

This is only a fraction of RVs present at FMCA convention

Tom and I rode down to the red-striped tent to turn in our emergency notification cards. While there we met a woman who was wearing a badge that had her address listed as "Anywhere U.S.A." She said that she and her husband had been full time RVers for many years. She also said that because of her husband's position in the FMCA, they were never in one place long enough to set down roots. Her husband is the Sr. National Vice President of the FMCA. In that position they are traveling to one FMCA event after another so that they are in one place for only a couple of weeks at a time.

Tom then drove over by the dump stations so we could get a fix on their location. There are a lot of dump facilities available in a straight line in front of the dragstrip grandstand. We shouldn't have too much of a problem dumping holding tanks when the time comes to do so.

When we returned to our motorhomes, Tom saw an unusual sight and suggested that I get a picture. Across from our RVs was a motorhome that was parked next to the camping area. There was a big dog sitting in the driver's seat looking for all the world as if it was driving the big RV. I guess that is a good example of just how easy it is to drive a large motorhome.

Fido in the driver's seat — How hard can it be to drive a big rig?

It was now time to find something to do for the day. So, I brought my computer over to Tom and Nora’s motorhome so I could use my mapping software to help us find someplace nearby to visit. We talked over several options and finally settled on the La Brea Tar Pit. It is a place I first heard about when I was a boy in the fifth grade. I had always been interested in seeing the tar pits, but I never seemed to find an opportunity to do so the few times I was in southern California. So, off to the tar pit we would go, but first we were to have an early lunch.

As we drove out of the campground we saw a strange looking motorhome. It is a Class "A" that is very streamlined with flush fender skirts covering all four wheels. I would later find out that the sleek motorhome was a "Navette" made in Wakita, Oklahoma.

An unusual motorhome design

Rear view of the unusual RV

We went to our restaurant of choice which was the place where we ate breakfast two mornings ago. Today I remembered the name of the place, it is called "La Cabana Mexican-American Restaurant." All four of us decided to try the chicken tostado, it turned out to be very, very good. Tom said, "It was one of the two best he had eaten, no it was THE best tostado."

From the restaurant we found our way to THE I-10 and headed west toward Los Angeles. I emphasized the word "THE" because it is a noticeable difference in the way traffic reports in southern California refer to a freeway. In northern California we would have made the same statement minus the word "THE", but that’s another story.

Los Angeles skyline of skyscrapers

I was impressed by the skyline of LA. It amazes me that there are so many skyscrapers in the middle of earthquake country. After finally winding our way through the LA maze of freeways, we finally found our turn-off and headed north to find Wilshire Blvd. It seemed to take longer than I expected for us to get there. When we got to the La Brea Tar Pit I saw a lot of familiar entertainment names in the area. The "E" Entertainment building was a block away across from the Screen Actors Guild. Also on Wilshire were the offices of Spelling Productions.

"E" Entertainment building

The George C. Page La Brea Discoveries museum was very interesting. First we took a walk around the tar pit and took pictures. There are bubbles and bursts of natural gas breaking on the surface of the water in the pit.

Maury at entrance to tar pit museum

Then we entered the museum and saw a very interesting collection of mammal skeletons. The museum contains way too much information for me to pass on here, so I will just hit the highlights. I highly recommend the Tar Pits web site as an excellent place to learn about the complete story of the La Brea Tar Pits.

The tar pit area has been the source of the largest number of ice age fossils in the world. We found it interesting to see that this area was once home to such a wide range of animal types, most of which became extinct long ago. There were saber tooth cats, lions, horses, giant sloths, very large bison, and the huge mammoths. Even though most of the animals, represented by their skeletons, are now extinct, many distant relatives are still around today.

After a very interesting afternoon, we went back to our campsite on the Fairplex grounds. It took a bit longer going back because we were out on the freeway during the rush hour. It was about 5:30 when we finally arrived home. It was decided we would have a soup and salad dinner tonight at 6:30.

Dinner was very good tonight. Nora made won-ton soup using delicious won-tons made by Chef Tom. Kay made a tossed green salad with a red wine vinaigrette dressing. Dinner was finished off with a tasty macadamia nut and chocolate chip cookie, yummm.

When we got back from our trip today, I found a note from Shannon saying that he and Irene had arrived during the afternoon. The note said that they were parked on the other side of the camping area from us. So, after dinner the four of us got in the car to go find where Shannon and Irene were parked. It was shortly after 8 o'clock when we found their campsite. I knocked on the door and Shannon came out for a short visit. He explained that Irene had turned in early. So, maybe we would see them tomorrow. Upon returning to our motorhomes, we said "Goodnight" to Tom and Nora.

Back in our motorhome we worked on hobbies for awhile, Kay made greeting cards with rubber stamps and I played with my computer.`