Curve Ball.

Car Troubles

All was going very well until……
We left Catalina on the 7:50 am ferry Friday. We met an interesting couple from Australia while waiting to board. They have done many trips to the USA before. They were great company to chat with and enjoy a breakfast Bloody Mary on the ferry.

When we got ashore we took a Lyft to Long Beach airport to pick up the rental car for this road trip. We took ownership of an Avis car, then went to the storage location (Found on the Bounce App) to collect our large suit cases. All good so far.

Time to hit the road and head to our first hotel stop at the Hampton Inn in Barstow, CA. As we drove east it was funny to see mountains with snow on the tops! The interstate was backed up so Waze took us on some side roads where we passed Moms store. We also saw this vintage car.

This is the view of entering Barstow, well, the exit for the Outlets and the hotel Hampton Inn. Not a lot here. Its a bit deceptive as the old Barstow on Route 66 is on the next I15 exit. Car is still ok.

We went for a bit of a drive about Barstow before we checked in. Here is a first. We found Route 66 that goes through the town. We also found a free train museum at the Amtrak train station. We are not sure if any trains stop there as we did not find anything that really looked like station property or signs. Photos are in this gallery below.

After we checked in at the hotel it was time for dinner. We decided to go to IN-N-OUT burger as Karen has never had one of their burgers so another first for Karen. Karen wanted to know “Is this all they do?” at IN-N-OUT. Everything is cooked fresh here, even the chips (French Fries) are from real spuds, sliced and fried on site. No frozen fries here. Its a good burger and Karen enjoyed it.

We then went to a store at the Outlets that happens to be only a short walk from the hotel. This is where the fun starts.

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Car will not start!

Returning to the car, it would not turn over or start and had the check engine light on! Grrr….

• To make the long story short. We contacted Avis roadside assistance. They had a guy come and try to jump start it but there is nothing wrong with the battery.
• Tow truck guy came and dragged the car onto the truck since it could not be shifted into natural.
• Walked back to the hotel for the night.
• Next day tried to arrange a replacement car from the local Avis desk and phone calls to customer service. No joy. They said no cars but I believe they did not want to loose inventory on a one way rental! This took two Lyft rides with our friend Arthur!
• Enterprise on the phone also said that they did not have cars!
• Karen spoke to our Travel Agent Bob who suggested a greyhound bus to Las Vegas. So here is another first, a ride on a greyhound bus. Took a Lyft, Yep our friend Arthur to Barstow Station to pick up the bus. We think Arthur was the only Lyft operator in Barstow.
• We arrived in Las Vegas by Greyhound (Flixbus) bus. The bus journey was not a horror story as we expected like you see in the movies!
• Today (Sunday) I picked up the second car from Avis at the airport. Fingers crossed, this one will be ok as it only has 3150 miles on the clock!🤞

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Las Vegas

Dinner last night was at Gordon Ramseys Burger joint. The whole place was so noisy but the food was good. If I didn’t have poor hearing already I certainly now have ear damage!

Here are some of our first impression photos of Las Vegas. We have met up with family and they are staying at the Carriage House across the street from the Elara where we are on floor 34. It looks so small from up here.

Karen and I have been here for conference’s before are really here using Las Vegas as a stepping stone to get to Red Canyon, Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam etc.

So, to summarize. Unfortunately as we were on a bus we missed out on some of the road stops we had planned like the ghost town, area 51 etc. One broken car with three firsts (Route 66, Greyhound bus and IN-N-OUT burger for Karen).

Whats next?

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