To La Jolla for the final part of my stint in California and the luxury of Rancho Valencia where the manger Simon Chen and his staff looked after me like a king. La Jolla is a pretty fishing village with fantastic seafood and plentiful supplies of fruit. You can stop at the roadside and buy 25 avocados and a crate of mangos for ten dollars. Heaven.

From Vegas to Yosemite National Park , said to be the grandest of them all and attracting four million visitors a year. Your ears pop as you climb and your jaws drop at the sheer size of it all. I stated at The Narrow Gauge Inn with its own fire station and vintage fire engine, checked over once a year just in case it is needed. At one time all the local residents had to be trained fire fighters. The Inn's restaurant has a collection of shotguns behind the bar as...

To Las Vegas for the first time ever, a place about which I had heard and read a great deal. It was no surprise yet full of surprises. I knew everything would be done to excess but had no idea of the magnitude of the excesses. The sheer scale of the buildings , each trying to out do the other with vast casino halls, Eiffel Tower ( see my photograph ) and Statue of Liberty reproductions, dancing fountains and monorails. Food and drink in vast quantities is every...

I spent the day yesterday in Palm Springs where even the down and outs say 'good evening sir 'and yesterday drove to Death Valley National Park in California stopping at Peggy Sue's, a retro fifties diner,for lunch. The music , the staff and the look were like stepping back in time. Death Valley is the result of volcanic eruptions leaving over 5000 square miles of amazing rock formations of different colours complemented by sand dunes, salt flats , thermal spr...

Arrived safely in Los Angeles. Hired a lovely Ford Mustang convertible and drove late at night to Newport Beach. Off jogging on the beach before heading to Palm Springs.