Last week of L.A.

So, tomorrow we plan to pack up our "Urban Assault Vehicle - UAV" and depart the second most populous city in the USA and head to the wilderness of Sequoia National Park.  I'm excited to get back to nature, while my girls are a little hesitant to leave all the shops and stuff of the city.  We've all enjoyed our time here.  I, in particular, was very skeptical about L.A.  I had a lot of preconceived notions of this area, based upon what I saw on T.V.  over the years.  Yes, it is expensive and it can be very "left leaning" but, like anywhere, you usually find what you are looking for and we went looking for the "good" and guess what...we found it! 
"Good" does not imply trouble free, however!  This week we had more maintenance problems.  Our towed vehicle (1998 Saturn), had brake calipers seize up so, I had to fork out nearly $300 to get them replaced.  That was something I did not see coming and the timing was as Murphy's Law would dictate....right after I purchased a new a/c and couches for the UAV,  plus splurging to take the family to Universal Studio.  Uggh! Oh and my "retirement pay" is now in effect.  Perfectly planned, Mr. Murphy!  I hate your laws!  Ah, well...just an opportunity to sharpen my outdoor cooking skills, because we will have to put a halt to dinning out...for quite sometime.
A real high light of this week was getting to see Bear Grylls of "Man vs Wild" fame.  We went to hear him talk at Saddleback Church on Saturday.  He was talking about his new autobiography called; "Mud, Sweat & Tears".  What struck me was he seemed to be a down-to-earth, people oriented kinda guy. For those that don't know Bear Grylls' background, here is a short list of his amazing feats.  He was educated at Eton, passed the mind-boggling selection course for entry into the British Special Forces SAS, survived a horrific parachute accident in North Africa that broke his back in three places, recovered and went on to be the youngest Briton to summit Mt. Everest. Oh, he also is the youngest ever to be selected for the position of Chief Scout in Britain.  And if climbing up to the summit of Everest was not enough, he flew over Everest in a motorized parachute!  Impressive, is an understatement for a guy, who at one time was in doubt that he'd ever walk again.  He is also an unapologetic Christian, who came to a relationship with Christ through the "Alpha" course. Bear says that he used to think that Christianity was for folks not tough enough and for those that needed a crutch.  He says now, that he is unafraid to say that he needs God's help and is not afraid to admit that he gets scared. Here is a quote from him; 
"The man in the mirror, though, is the husband to Shara, father to our boys, and just a regular guy with all the usual struggles, self-doubts and flaws that tend to go with life. And those are plenty. Trust me."…
"Then there are heights. Sometimes when I am climbing, or hanging from a helicopter, I get struck by this all-consuming fear. But no-one ever sees. I hold it inside. One minute I am fine, the next I am shaking like a leaf."
I am looking forward to reading his book.  If you want to know more about Bear you can read at his website: Bear Grylls
We also met  another great guy out here who is riding in honor of veterans who have been wounded.  If you'd like to sponsor him, his name is Bruce Ross.  You can go to his website here:http://www.rideforvets.net/


We plan to come back to the California coast in a couple of weeks.  The next time will be farther up north around Monterrey.  Till our next blog.  As Bear Grylls would say;


"Those that don't get carried away, should be!"

The girls take a gander at the Pacific Ocean and realize that the water is very cold right now!  You can see Hailey's face after she just had her feet get over run by a wave.  You can see the ocean receding from that toe-numbing wave! 

Hailey puts it in chalk!  Come join us and if you don't have an RV...sleep on our newly installed sleeper couches! Live life, there are no dress rehearsals!