Reluctantly we left Venice Beach to start our coastal route journey back to up San Francisco. Our hire car this time was a rather swanky white Toyota Rav4 (4 wheel drive). Niiiiice! We made a short stop in Ventura , a quintessential local beach town which is apparently used as a stand-in for Main Street, Small Town America in several films. Hanging around the car park were two drunks sucking each other toes. We had a small stroll along the beach but concerns re...

So Venice Beach, probably my favourite stop so far. I think I can summarise the reason for this as follows; no one would think twice about a 30+ year old man scooting around the show on a skateboard in Bermuda shorts. In fact it's normal! Definitely my kind of place. Indeed, I was ridiculously excited by all the free equipment next to the beach, Basketball/Handball/Tennis courts, skatepark, grown-up jungle gym, footie goals on the beach (with nets!). All combin...

We step off the Metro and we're in Hollywood baby, right on the boulevard. After strolling along the street admiring the celebrity stars along the floor we step come across our hostel; Orange Drive Hostel... amazing location just a few steps off the boulevard. Our room is spacious and nicely decorated, the whole hostel has a vintage 30's vibe, one of the nicest rooms we've had so far. There were supposed to be extra charges for towels and wifi but the nice guy on...

We were somewhere around Beatty on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. And it's a good job I had taken on some caffeiene as the combination of midday Death Valley sun and mercilessly straight roads being driven on cruise control was making me feel sleepy. We had left Stovepipe Wells (or Stovewell Pipes as Mellissa kept calling it) for Las Vegas about eleven o clock. We stopped at some sand dunes just up the road for some pictures, I'm gues...

So after a massive trek across San Francisco with our suitcases and four blisters on my hand later we arrive, dripping with sweat, at the car hire place. Why the hell didn't we just get a taxi?! We were pleasantly surprised to see a shiny, modern Nissan Altima waiting for us, automatic of course. Dom quickly got used to the controls and after losing and finding the car keys three times (yes seriously) we set sail. I was amazed at how quick Dom got used to drivin...