We bid adieu to our courtesy parking hosts, Don and Gail, and hauled the Airstream 100 miles northwest to its storage spot in the hills. On the drive, I reflected on our uncommon success at finding courtesy parking this month in California. One night in Chico, two nights in Amador City, three nights in Visalia, two nights in Los Olivos, two nights in Ventura, and three nights in Riverside. That’s 13 nights in the past month.

Not only did we meet a bunch of really cool new friends (and solidified our relationship with others), but we saved about $300-500 on campgrounds. Courtesy parking is great! Some of the folks who hosted us will visit us in Arizona later, and we’ll cross paths with the others again somewhere on the road.

The Airstream is now tucked away in “an undisclosed location” as the Feds would say, with the furnace set at 45 F in the unlikely case of an extended cold snap and several precautions taken to make it very hard to steal. We left the refrigerator running because it is still full of food. The solar panels will keep the battery topped off so there’s no concern about coming back to a dead battery, but there is some small concern about coming back to a dead vegetable, so Eleanor stripped the fridge of virtually everything that could rot and brought it with us.

From there we drove another 70 miles down to an airport hotel in El Segundo, along the southern edge of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Being a former advertising copywriter, I can’t help but notice the opportunities for billboards and slogans offered by the airport’s designator. Here we are, re-LAXing in the spacious comfort of the Embassy Suites (the room offers more than twice the space of our Airstream). It LAXs for nothing; we have a microwave, refrigerator, couch, easy chair, dining room table, two huge flat-panel TVs, and a fine view of two runways at the airport.

This transition from Airstream to hotel marks the official beginning of our vacation.   We haven’t been in a hotel since …. hmmm… I think almost two years ago (January 2006), when we took a night in San Francisco at Fisherman’s Wharf.   It’s a neat thing to do once in a while, but I wouldn’t want to make a habit of it.   It took Eleanor about six hours to pack for herself and Emma, and the entire Airstream was turned inside-out until late last night.   I’ve said it before, but I’ll say again: What a pain it is, packing for a family vacation.   I’m glad we don’t have to unpack and repack every time we go somewhere in the Airstream.

Tonight we are feasting on fridge leftovers: a massive salad made of lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes, artichokes, sesame seeds, cucumber, croutons … Eleanor forgot the shredded cheese, and thankfully left the other items on the side: croissants, grapes, cookies, etc. This is what happened the last time they flew somewhere, except now I’ve got help eating the fridge leftovers. Good thing, because it’s a lot of roughage. Could have a LAXative effect. (Sorry, but I had to write that. It was just too tempting.)