Day 3 (10/22/2004) Stop 11
Driving Around L.A.

Once we arrived in Los Angeles, it was time for the tours to begin. Driving into California on Interstate 10 (San Bernadino Freeway) from Arizona, we took the Hollywood Freeway (Highway 101) northwest towards Hollywood and Griffith Park (#1 on Map - Photos Two pages ahead). After driving up the mountain for photos from above Los Angeles, we just started driving, A True California Tradition! I don’t know remember which freeways we took, but I do know we ended up in Hollywood, South Central LA, and finally settled the night in a motel in Anaheim at the Disney Resort (#2 on Map). Once we secured a room, it was time to drive around LA at night. We drove the 30-45 miles out to Newport Beach (#3 on Map) listening to "Kiss 1027", "KOST 103" & "KBIG 104.3" for 80s and current dance mixes while driving I-5 and the Costa Mesa Freeway. I walked out into the Pacific Ocean water. I have now been in the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. See the next page for Friday’s Los Angeles Escapades.

NOTE: While we had a GPS and a Map of Los Angeles, in this city I felt constantly lost. Working on this page about a month after returning home, I cannot recall which of many freeways we were on and on what sections we were on. In truth the GPS helped me many times determine exactly where on the map we were located. What took me by so surprise is just how enormous and spread out Los Angeles was. What messed us up so much was that the city which is about 80 miles wide and 60 miles across, the maps did not show miles of streets. What looked on the map like 3 miles away was 10 miles and so on. Being from Atlanta a large and growing spread out city, I was used to traffic, aggressive driving, city driving and big city life in general, but LA was a little much for even me. Many have said Atlanta may be the LA of the South: It may be time to leave while exiting is possible.

Paul J. Lossner

Driving into L.A.

Driving through L.A.

The LA freeway system was like a dropped bowl of spaghetti. HOV lanes would start, expand to two lanes for three miles, and then abruptly end for no reason two miles later. We expected to see many sights during our 36 hours in the city, but the excessive traffic greatly limited our enjoyment of the sights. Also be careful in LA about gas, unlike the East where gas stations occupy every corner, you my drive 20 miles without seeing a gas filling station. No urban planning at all, commercial, industry, housing, schools and retail may all occupy the same block without any clear defined barriers between the different land uses. As you can tell I was truly taken off guard by the sheer size, lack of design and spread of the city.