032314 On the way to LA

Climbing out of DVNP heading to Los Angeles didn't provide a lot of "Kodak" moments.  Just more "rocky" mountains and dry desert.  However there was one serendipitous moment.  I was getting a tad sleepy so we spotted an ATV recreation area on Bureau of Land Management land.  Had a lot of sand dunes to ride ATVs on.  I pulled the truck and trailer in, making sure I stayed on fairly hard sand.  I also noticed about a mile away, a horse trailer and what looked like a tent.

Thinking nothing more of it, I laid down in the trailer.  I may have dozed off for 15 minutes before waking up.  I decided to get up.  About that time an ATV pulled up next to us.  He was trying to draw to an inside straight.  Seems he left home with his horse, ATV,  and headed for the desert.  He was there to provide his horse for a little short film and ride his ATV.

He failed to notice his ATV's rear tires were flat.  Hence his drawing to an inside straight when he came over.  He asked if we had any compressed air or an air compressor.  Lucky day for him.  He needed to go buy a lottery ticket.  I carried an air compressor and two Honda generators cross country with me, should I need to add air to the trailer or truck tires.

We told him if he could get them out of the pickup, he was gold.  I need the truck to be unhitched in order to get them out.  They are in trays that I pull out. I wasn't going drop the trailer to unload the generators.

He was big, strong and did it.  His ATV was soon aired up and he was off.  He did introduce himself early on.  His name is Titus Reynolds and works for his father's company, Gentle Jungle.  He is what they call, in Hollywood, an animal wrangler.  His dad's company supplies animals for movies, TV, and commercials.  He showed us a pic of himself and a tiger.  The tiger was used in the movie, "Life of Pi".  His company has also supplied animals for such movies as "Saving Mr Banks", "Water for Elephants", "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe", and the camel for the Geico commercial "Hump Day".

He gave me his business card so I know he is legit.  Plus I mentioned his name to a guy working on location for the TV show "Revenge" and he knew him.

After this, the rest of the trip was rather mundane.

We stopped for the night just north of the San Bernadino Mountains.  Los Angeles awaited on the other side of those mountains.  I wanted to be fresh before facing LA traffic.

Here are a couple more pics heading in to LA.  This is going down Cajon Pass heading to the LA Basin.



This is the first town after the Pass.  It's at the far end of the LA Basin.  It's also mentioned in a song by Jan and Dean in the 60's, "Anaheim, Azuza, & Cucamonga Sewing Circle, Book Review, and Timing Association".  This is one of the longest song titles ever.

LA to follow in the next installment.