The day we left Las Vegas was probably one of the most interesting days we have experienced on our adventure, and not for good reasons. When we went up to the Hoover Dam it was hot, around 36°, and off in the distance we could see storm clouds. Our destination for the day was a resort near LA, so our planned route was down the I15 to the Mojave National Preserve (Desert), then down towards Joshua Tree National Park. That was the plan but nature had other ideas. From the Hoover Dam we had to go back through Las Vegas where we stopped for lunch and a drink before getting on I15, when we came out after lunch the storm clouds were closer and we weren't too far from Vegas when we pulled over and put on our wet weather gear which was good timing because soon after the storm hit. Before we had left Nevada we were in a traffic jam caused by a car rollover on our side of the highway, then a little further down the road on the other side there was another rollover and then a little further there was a truck jackknifed, all this within a couple of miles! As we crossed into California the sides of the road were flooded and there were warning signs advising to watch for water on the road. When we arrived at our intended turnoff to the Mojave Desert we were thwarted by a river running down the road we wanted to take, so we were forced to stay on I15 all the way to LA. But the weather wasn't finished with us yet, before we left the Mojave area the temperature was back up into the high 30s and we were riding through a dust storm and strong side winds. We decided to stop at Baker to take off our wet weather gear and to get a drink. As we were approaching Baker we could see Willie Willies (Cockeyed Bobs) off in the distance, some of them quite large. We pulled into Baker and stopped at a stop sign as a Willie Willie approached from the opposite direction and it was BIG, as it entered the intersection it turned and hit us resulting in us being blown over, I just couldn't hold the bike up against such a strong wind, fortunately help was close at hand to right the bike again. Next stop was our resort near Corona. We had decided to treat ourselves to a resort again, we needed wi-fi and needed to do some washing etc. We had planned on only staying for a few days, but realised that the coming weekend the last long weekend on the American calendar for summer, so there was no way we would get into any campground without booking. With this information we decided to stay at the resort until after the long weekend. On the Tuesday after the long weekend we headed towards San Diego via Joshua Tree NP with a Canadian we had met in the resort, also riding a BMW. Joshua Tree NP had incredible scenery like nothing we had seen before and the Joshua Trees are very unique also. We left our new friend after Joshua Tree and headed to a campground he had recommended near San Diego and it was very nice. The next day my Step-Father whom we hadn't seen in 28 years came and picked us up and took us on a tour around San Diego. It was a lovely city and an excellent day, we had ideas of returning the next day, but decided not to and headed north along the coast towards Long Beach where we needed to arrange the shipping of the bike to New Zealand. On our way north we stopped at a couple of the beaches but were not impressed by how hard it was to get to the beaches, a lot of the coast is inaccessible due to private estates built along the coast. That night we spent in a hotel because we couldn't find a campground. After sorting the bike shipping we continued north and had a look at Venice Beach and Muscle Beach, two beaches that we are told are "must see" places. While we would suggest that if you are in LA you should visit them, we were not that impressed, we did think they were unique and very different, but not our scene. We had intensions of staying in the Santa Monica Mountains, but it was the weekend again and there were no sites available, so we rode through LA peak hour traffic back to Corona where we knew we could get a site, not that was an experience! The next week we headed out again up into the San Bernardino Mountains and Big Bear, we loved it up there in the mountains, the scenery and forest were great. The next day we stopped in the San Gabriel Mountains, here we stayed in the quietest campground we have stayed in in America, it was just wonderful. The campground host said that some locals that stay are scared because it is so quiet! Now it was midweek we were able to stay in the Santa Monica Mountains which were lovely. We visited the site where they filmed M.A.S.H which was interesting. We spent a day riding around Hollywood and Beverly Hills, something you do while you are in LA. Now we are spending our last days in our resort where we are being treated as kind of celebrities before we fly to Melbourne. I will right a summary of our US travels later, but I have to tell you about this guy we have met in the resort, his name is Dave and he has just started a two year walk across America with a view to meet as many people as he can while doing it. He is documenting his whole adventure with a view to create a documentary at the end. He is calling his walk "Walking To My Friends", check him out at www.walkingtomyfriends.org. We wish Dave every success in achieving his dreams and completing his adventure.