Kalifornia Adventure

PD, Yoda and Puma live all in a less than 50 miles radius (if my maps are correct). Airport-hopping on the King would have been a little too expensive and even if my virtual dollars seem to be accepted everywhere, I did not want to push my luck!

Argento and I had an idea, we will rent the Goodyear blimp! Ideal for enjoying the landscape and for a nice relaxed flight from San Marcos to Palm Springs and Riverside. Besides, we ate so much at the Row that we could barely flight the King.

Here's an aerial view of the twisty streets of San Marcos:


And here's the Blimp, ready for takeoff!


The lake near San Marcos does not look too natural. Maybe an artificial lake?


Welcome to Camp Pendleton, a huge military base. I get the feeling the marines aren't too happy to see us flight over a restricted area, by the sound of the radio communications we get.
I replied with an: "Americanski, we mean you no harm" which didn't seem to make them feel any better. Well, PD is to blame for bringing us here!


A view to the Marine's barracks behind the Air Base.


Time to pick up my camera and start taking some pics for my communist friends! Some nice war planes and choppers down there. Loved the AWACS.


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Only then I turned around and saw that PD had brought his shotgun...that, plus the fact that a few F-15 are flying really close to us, convinced me to leave Camp Pendleton and direct our course to Palm Springs:

A beautiful trip through the mountains, passing through Idyllwild and the San Jacinto Mountains.
Now descending to Palm Springs. It's Sizzling hot here in the desert!

Palm Springs International, at last! Yoda was waiting for us. No time for idle chat, though, we still have to reach Riverside before dusk to pick up Puma!


Another short trip and we are already at Riverside. Downtown area, around the Heritage Square and Magnolia neighborhoods.
Mt Rubidoux...

On final to Riverside Muni, some planes are on queue for takeoff:

We found this beautiful P-47 Thunderbolt parked right next to the landing strip!

Another busy day. The mighty Puma was waiting for us at the Airport. Meanwhile, I laughed my ass off with Yoda's comments along the way. He is really funny! Sometimes it was hard to follow his chat with PD, my english isn't that good. As a revenge, Ecap, Argento and me spoke in Spanish. Once the Puma joined us, we went all to have a beer (except me, of course). These crazy merkins surely can drink beer!

I have cruised halfway around the World, from the southernmost parts to the northern hemisphere. Yet, with these three californian guys I feel at home. It's amazing how much we share in common, and it seems that we all can't get enough asking about how the others live. Tales from Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, USA, the situation in Latin America, Bush and, of course, Formula One are continuosly being told. And yes, we gossiped a lot about the rest of you! ;-)
No, I won't reveal what we said in those long discussions we had until dawn, while the beers seemed to come from out of nowhere.

See you soon!