To Los Angeles 29th April

What an exciting day.

We were up at 5:15am to take Amy to the airport. She had a 8:11am flight to Detroit on Spirit Airlines. Sad, as always, to say goodbye to our best friend. Hopefully we will meet again next year.

We headed back to the hotel for a couple of more hours sleep. Had to make the most of our fabulous room.

At 9:00am we hot the road for LA - 420 kilometres away (same as Perth to Geraldton). We stopped at a Lee's Liquor for booze for Ryan. Then to a Post Office to ship the stuff Amy bought yesterday at Trader Joes to Cedar City.

Two and a half hours to Barstow where we arrived at few minutes to noon just Amy texted us to say she had safely landed in Detroit - tired but happy to have the flight over. 

We did a quick drive-thru at Maccas and back on I15 for LA. I love the drive between Vegas and LA, not always pretty scenery but interesting all the same and unlike the drive between Perth and Geraldton at least 2 lanes, usually 3 all the way.

We made it to 100 WalMart trucks. Nowhere near Rayls guess so it looks like Ryan stays the champion.
Once in LA we headed to SewVac in Long Beach to pick up the bobbins for Theresa, all good there.

Then to Carson and the home of Shannon's parents Maria and Charlie. They have kindly allowed us to stay in their home till we leave on Thursday.

A few minutes after we arrived there was an almighty noise of sirens in the area. Police cars tearing down the quiet street that Maria and Charlie live on. Turns out there was a police pursuit from downtown LA to around 200 metres away where the car was abandoned and the baddie ran into the house. A police helicopter and media helicopters flew around for hours. On TV we saw the police raid the house and then fall over themselves to get out when they realised the baddie was armed.

Nice chatting to Scott, Shannon, Maria, Charlie and Shannon's nephew Ethan. Much fun playing with Harley the very energetic 5 year old half Dachshund half Beagle. Lovely dog.

Dinner at Olive Garden and then further chatting when we got back to the house.

Good day, apart from leaving Amy, with some excitement.

We watched the Angels v Oakland baseball game on TV - Rayls and I gave up in the 11th inning but Scott and Charlie watched the game till the end, 2am in the 11th innings. Angels lost.

The dude in the seige up the road gave himself up at 3am. We heard lots of flash bangs throughout the night.

Here is the LA Times report on the incident.

A man who allegedly shot at police during a pursuit then barricaded himself in a Carson home surrendered Tuesday morning, police officials said.
Members of a Los Angeles Police Department SWAT team fired gas projectiles into the home Monday night during an hours-long standoff with the convicted felon, who was armed with a gun, authorities said.
The suspect initially refused repeated commands to surrender after he ran into the home in the 21500 block of Grace Avenue following a pursuit and vehicle crash that began about 2:30 p.m in South Los Angeles, according to authorities.
"It looks like they've launched some kind of gas," LAPD Det. Gus Villanueva told The Times. "He's a felon. They are certain he has a firearm."
The man was seen driving erratically near Broadway and 43rd Street by officers who tried to pull him over. But he allegedly refused to stop and drove south on the 110 Freeway.
He ended up in Carson, where he crashed into a home on Grace Avenue, according to the LAPD. The suspect turned and shot at police, who fired back, an LAPD spokeswoman said.
The suspect then ran into an adjacent home, where his girlfriend lived, police said. She came out with an infant, but the suspect remained inside.
He surrendered Tuesday after talking with police negotiators, a department official said.

To Las Vegas 28th April

Up at seven to finish packing and load the car. Said our goodbyes to Steve left at 8:45am. Amy drove all the way to Vegas with a stop at Mesquite along the way. Nice drive, good chatting, good music and scenery.

We started out in Utah, 20 minutes in Arizona anf then crossed into Nevada where we gained an hour.

In Vegas Rayls and Amy went to a quilt show in Henderson - small but good apparently. I killed time at a Pet Smart, lots of cute puppies that I couldn't take home. Also a Ross's a Marshalls and a Target.

After we all got together, probably after 1pm, Amy drove us to Trader Joes where she bought some food. Rayls went to the next door Ace Hardware, sadly, unlike the Cedar City store there was no fabric at this store.

We then went to the hotel, Sunset Station. Last time we checked in here it was on the quilt bash and we had many many bags and needed help from a porter. It was much easier this time. Rayls and I are in 927, a master suite - we have a bar, dining room, lounge, toilet and a big bedroom with a massive bathroom. Poor Amy is in 1219, just a normal room.

Amy and Rayls shopped some more whilst I had a nap.

Scott and Shannon arrived around 4pm. They are in room 1220. Sadly there is no LA Kings game to go to on Wednesday, some unexpected results have seem the Kings finish 5th and they will travel to St Louis for game one of the playoffs on Wednesday.

We all met up for dinner at 5:30pm. Nice that Amy got to see Scott again and met Shannon for the first time. We ate at the buffet, Scott's shout which was nice of him.

Scott went into the casino after dinner - he was down $40 but recovered to get back the $40 and make enough to cover the dinners he had just paid for. I bet a $1 on th poker machine and played for 20 minutes and was at $1.10 went I got tired of it and splashed it all on one hand, lost and went back to the room to play real cards with Amy and Rayls. 

We have an early start tomorrow so Amy was gone at 9pm. Scott and Shannon stayed and chatted for another 30 minutes and then headed to their room. It was a good day.