Saturday, September 24, 2011

Long Beach with Joe and Marsha

Sept 24th

Today we were up early so we could get to our appointment with Advance Auto Glass in Ontario. They were going to replace the windshield that was cracked in Burlington as we were starting our trip. Surprisingly, after we noticed it and got advice on how to deal with it, the crack grew about eight inches on the way from Burlington to Lakewood. 

Tina put a black ink mark at the end of the crack when we were at her mothers. The crack only grew another three inches while we drove from Lakewood to San Dimas but we didn’t want to run the risk of having a serious problem with all the rough roads we still had to travel.

With directions in hand we prepared the rig for travel, pulled out of our site, towed the dolly over to our new site and dropped it off then with me in the lead and Tina following in the car we headed for I-10 E. I had googled the directions a couple of days ago but in double checking them last night, I got a slightly different location and directions. 

Twelve miles east on I-10 we exited the freeway and were quickly on the road Advance was located on. Except, they weren’t there and we were at a construction dead end. Tina called the place and it turns out the first set of directions was correct. Go figure. Fortunately it was easy to turn the coach around and get back on I-10 for the correct exit.

Getting off the freeway again, we got on the correct street again and drove to the shop entrance. Only the shop was located in a big ”Travel Center” diesel stop. Luckily, the shop tech came and got us and showed us where to go and park the rig. Once the paperwork was handled, I called my buddy Joe Ganem and gave him an update on our schedule.

We left Ontario heading west on I-10, picked up the I-605 S, the I-105 W and the I-710 S pulling in to Long Beach in about 55 minutes, meeting Joe in front of their place. He took us around to the underground parking area and then showed us around their new condo. Very nice, right on the corner of 4th and Long Beach Blvd. We visited with Joe and Marsha for a half hour then headed out to a new Mexican Restaurant they found over in Marina Pacifica called Enriques Mexican Restaurant. 

The food was really good and Joe introduced me to Ceviche (http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/ceviche/), an appetizer made with fresh snapper and shrimp that has been marinated in lemon and lime juice and tossed with diced tomatoes, onions and cilantro. This was topped with a Habanero dipping sauce from a separate small dish. Ummmm, ummm, ummm – so good with a real in your face kick!

After lunch we sat there and visited for a while before heading over to Belmont Park to do a little shopping and strolling through all the small shops lining the street. All too soon it was time for us to head back to Ontarion to pick up the coach and return to Eastshore RV Park. The trip back wasn’t near as quick, but we managed to get to Advance Auto Glass by 4:30 PM, checked out and got back to the park and in our new site by 5:30 PM. 

A very good day but no photos - everybody forgot their cameras. We’re going to try and get together later in the week so we’ll have another opportunity.

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