Time Travel, Mustangs & Desert Sunsets

After saying goodbye to Tokyo, we crossed the Pacific and somehow arrived in California… before we left.

Add time travel to my list of achievements 😂

> First Impressions of LA

After a couple of hours’ rest on the plane, I looked out of the window and saw it…

An immense urban landscape stretching as far as the eye could see.

Endless blocks of industrial warehouses, sprawling suburbs, clusters of high-rises… all sliced through by wide, multi-lane highways.

As we descended, mountains appeared on the horizon, slowly growing larger as we dropped in altitude.

Then came the cloud cover… thick and heavy… wrapping around the plane and streaking the windows with rain.

What other wonders would the next few days bring?

> The Mustang

Passport control and immigration were surprisingly seamless and soon we were on our way to collect the car.

After quite a walk to the shuttle bus (made much more enjoyable by a very cheerful and helpful driver 😂) we arrived at the rental lot.

Here we were given a choice of colours:

Black, white, red… or blue.

No need to ask what my vote was 😂

The staff member agreed…clearly the correct choice… and handed us the keys to a Ford Mustang coupe.

Blue. Sleek. Fully loaded.

Now this felt like America 🚙

> Hitting the Road

When we left the UK, the weather in LA and Orlando had been similar to home…

Not anymore.

We stepped out into temperatures in the early 30s°C ☀️😅

Luckily, we’d had our Singapore training 😂

We set off along the vast concrete highways of California, passing signs for places we’d only ever heard about in films and TV shows like Pomona and Palm Springs.

Along the way we ticked off some classic American sights:
• Wendy’s
• Home Depot
• a seemingly endless freight train
• and even a Tesla Cybertruck flying past us on the highway

I truly am in the USA 🇺🇸

> Roadside America

Our first stop was a quick bite at Jack in the Box in Pomona.

A fairly standard chicken burger and iced coffee… nothing special, but enough to keep me going 😂

Next stop… something far more memorable.

The famous roadside dinosaurs at Cabazon Dinosaurs.

Huge, colourful and wonderfully random.

There was even a kids’ dinosaur park… but we decided we were probably too old for that 😂

> Into the Desert

From there we continued towards Joshua Tree National Park, arriving at our base for the night… the High Desert Motel.

A quick nap in the blissful air conditioning (thank the Lord 😂) and then it was time to head back out.

> Sunset at Joshua Tree

We drove into the park to a popular viewpoint just in time for sunset.

And what a view.

Stretching out before us were:
• the San Andreas Fault
• Coachella Valley
• Palm Springs
• and even the distant Salton Sea

The landscape was painted in shifting tones of gold and brown, constantly changing as the sun dropped lower.

As we drove back through the park, we stopped at a few more viewpoints, watching the sky transform… pinks, purples and blues blending together above us.

A constantly changing piece of art.

> Dinner, American Style

Dinner took us to a lively local saloon… buzzing with activity and full of character.

We grabbed a seat at the bar first with a cider, which felt like quite a contrast to the refined cocktail bar in Tokyo the night before 😂

Once our table was ready… it was time.

A full rack of ribs.

Within seconds I had sauce on my top… then my hands… then my arms… and my face too 😳😂

Exactly as expected.

The meat was so tender it practically fell off the bone, rich, smoky and completely irresistible.

The fries and coleslaw on the side?

Mostly decorative compared to the main event 😋

A fantastic first day in America… vast landscapes, iconic roads, unexpected sights and very messy food.

A strong start to the next chapter of the trip 👏Read more