It’s been eight years since we have had a second vehicle, and for us it was a decision made after lots of thought and discussion. Initially we went on the road with a second vehicle (I had a company car at the time) but after several months of travel I ultimately turned in my company car and we have been a solo truck family every since.

For me this was a huge transition, but rarely one I regretted especially when we were traveling a lot. It wasn’t the cost, we have had friends do studies on this and the savings in gas mainly make the second car costs a wash, but rather the fun of traveling together in the same vehicle from place to place. The times I did miss it were definitely when we were in one place for a length of time. For those times we tried to purchase Ebikes as an alternative but to be honest I have never been really comfortable bike riding in any place that has significant traffic.

Oh and I probably should mention I have had a second car fund just sitting since the beginning which was just enough (with some bonus money) to purchase a second vehicle. Still, we waited and it wasn’t until Lee started picking up some work here in LA that I thought I really need to do this. Yes I can Uber anywhere I want, but paying $18 (one way) to go to pottery every time was really bugging me, and I found myself going less often. I know, it’s actually less money in the long run, but what can I say I have a thrifty midwestern soul. That hasn’t changed!

As things often go for us once the decision was actually made things happened very quickly. Initially I thought I wanted to buy the vehicle in Florida and drive it here. I was going to fly to my Mom’s, test drive, buy and register it then drive it out. My Mom was totally on board with that plan and I found a dealership near her with the make/models I wanted (Hyundai Venue SEL) and started making calls.

Turns out even if you know exactly what you want, dealing with the dealership over the phone isn’t great and after talking to 6 different people on Day 1 (none of whom could answer my direct questions) I finally asked my Mom to go in person and see what they had on the lot. She went the very next morning and sat in the car I had picked (she really liked it) and put me in contact with a salesperson Manny from New York who understood the ins and outs of buying a car and getting it to another state.

I had gotten a quote from a third party vehicle shipper ($1350) and had decided that shipping would be much easier than driving five full days alone cross country. I wouldn’t have minded the drive so much but I would have to take vacation to do it and I wasn’t interested in that. When I asked the dealership about shipping I got multiple answers from “we don’t do it” to “it will cost $2K” and pretty quickly realized the shipping would be on me. That would be OK though because Mom was going to go pick up the car for me and take it to her place until the shipping company came.

The next and most important question then became about registration. When I say we couldn’t get a straight answer I mean that. I was fine with flying in and staying through the registration process but needed to know how long it would take so I could book my flight. I got answers ranging from “we do it all” you drive off the lot with real tags to “I have no idea” and after two calls to the DMV and looking at websites it still wasn’t super clear. Heck I am still not sure to be honest I got so many competing answers.

Still I was ready to make this all work especially after Manny verified there was one vehicle on the lot in my chosen color and make. This mattered to me because only the middle tier SEL has a sun roof and the top tier Limited had features I just wouldn’t need or want. So we found the car and I received the first quote via text. All the nonsense in the quote for additional fees didn’t bother me nearly as much as they quoted me $2K over sticker. Look, I am old school. I was not trying to negotiate some fabulous deal here, but I certainly was not going to pay more than sticker. That’s just dumb. Oh and did I mention the price jumped from $23,850 to $30K with all the extras? Seriously.

So I am super annoyed and trying to do all this around conference calls, but I redlined it and said I absolutely wouldn’t pay above sticker and after some nonsense about how the salesperson called in a special favor because he liked my Mom I got this quote back.

This quote was in my price range and although I knew I was still getting screwed I was like fine I will go test drive one here just to be double sure and then I will put down a deposit. Oh, I forgot to mention that the dealership will take your deposit to “hold” hold the car but was very honest about the fact that if anyone walked in they would sell it out from under you. Why the deposit then? Well they would move it off the main lot but if anyone wanted that specific car they were selling it. OK then well what was the point of flying in? And all the extra fees you see above were supposedly the cost of doing the entire transaction remotely. Since it would save me $700 or so on a flight I thought it was a wash but it still bugged me especially after the over sticker price initial quote. Basically I had no trust in their pricing, but at least it was in the ballpark.

I was committed to driving the car one more time though before pulling the trigger and if I couldn’t drive the exact vehicle I wanted to drive one just like it. I also wanted to see the colors in person before finalizing because some colors don’t look the same in person. So Lee found the exact make and model down in Long Beach which was an hour drive but worth it in my opinion. This experience was MUCH better. Lee chose that particular dealership because of the 10 he contacted, it was the only one willing to tell him if they had the car we wanted on the lot, and/or what the final “out the door” cash price was.

The young man we worked with was very nice and gave us a quote which was beautiful in its clarity.

Even though the taxes were a little more expensive the lack of a million other fees more than made up for it. At this point I jettisoned the idea of getting it from Florida and instead we started to explore just getting the vehicle registered here. Part of that was the Florida dealership refused to go below $27K and part of it was these folks were much nicer to deal with. I have been buying Hyundai’s since 2000 and like most of their dealerships and this was a good one.

This is where things started to get a little weird though and instead of working against us the dealer and his team worked with us and spoiler alert it all worked out. Let me walk you through it though. Basically we had two choices. We could drive the car off the lot and then remotely register it in Florida. Since the tax in California was slightly higher (7.25% CA versus 7% FL) we would not need to pay tax again and we would just need to wait until we received the title and then get a Sheriff or dealer to validate the VIN and register remotely, or we could register in CA.

Since we are getting closer to becoming CA residents we ultimately decided to go that route, but then we needed an address to send the title and tags to. That was a problem because our RV park doesn’t allow regular US mail sent to it (in order to stop us from declaring residency here) so we could use a PO box but needed any CA address on the form. They don’t validate the address so we could use any place but I was surprised that in a place that has so many homeless an address was a firm requirement.

Secondly we had to have insurance of course, and I thought this might be an issue but it turns out Progressive at least makes it easier to have a car insured in a separate zip code from your main. I also did some research on establishing residency and because of remote work husbands and wives can establish separate state residency because it follows the individual and not the couple. So essentially we decided to have Lee start the process of establishing residency for himself (and we put the car in his name) and I would maintain my separate residency until such time as we move into an apartment. The whole thing is a little goofy but I think we will be OK long-term.

The other weird thing was that even though we paid cash we had to get a credit check, which they called an “identity check” and fill out the full contract just like we were getting a loan. That slowed things down considerably but I sort of get why they needed to validate the money was coming from a clean source. Anyway 3.5 hours later we were done and started the loooong drive back with the new car. It took 2-1/2 hours to get back which is the worst traffic we have been in since coming here (5pm on a Thursday) but I now have a beautiful brand new car!!

Quick note for you car enthusiasts who are curious what you get for $26K. The car is their middle tier trim for this model, and has a sunroof which oddly the top tier does not. It also has lane notification which beeps if you are crossing close to someone (which I like) but not driver assist which moves the steering wheel, which is fine. I hate that, it freaks me out. It has a light on the mirrors when you are changing lanes and someone is too close which is great and key assist program where as long as the keys are on you you can lock or unlock doors simply which I love.

All this stuff is new to me because our truck is 2014 so its pretty cool but I didn’t want or need too many bells and whistles. The seat does have a manual way to make higher (good for me) but the seat adjuster is manual as well but again not a big deal. The back seat goes down in a 60/40 split (which I care about) and a backup camera. Anyways its done and I am excited especially the gas mileage which is 29 city and 31 freeway…hooray!!! Since it costs about $200 a tankful in the truck here that savings will add up fast!

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

• You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
• You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes

It’s no secret that I wasn’t very excited about an extended stay in LA but the one thing I was excited about was the food. For over 15 years I have been watching food shows (Top Chef Primarily) and hearing about the fantastic food scene in Los Angeles. When so many experts say the same thing over and over I believe it and combine that with Michelin Stars and other Food ranking systems and LA seemed like a target rich environment to try some great chef meals.

I knew enough about myself to know I wasn’t going to like all the kinds of food the city has to offer, but after extensive research I have a very long list of restaurants that were run by people I had seen on TV. When I say research I mean research. I went back and looked up every contestant who ever appeared on Top Chef and then tracked down the restaurant they were currently working at. Since lot of restaurants closed during COVID this wasn’t that easy of a task but after several hours I had my first pass. Then I looked at the menus to make sure I felt the food wasn’t to far outside of my personal. One of my favorite chefs for example is running a vegan noodle restaurant and although I appreciate where he is going the food isn’t my jam. Certainly not Lee’s!!

Lastly I looked at the restaurants seating and hours of operation. Many restaurants are open limited hours and the additional seating areas are outside which makes them a bit weather dependent. After adding up all of these factors, I had a smaller but still healthy list and we started knocking these out one at a time. Keep in mind that most of these meals were $200 or more plus parking but that was ok because I wanted to experience what I thought was the Pinnacle of culinary experience.

I am not going to list every experience out here but I will say that so far I would only return to one restaurant. They were all overpriced, which everything is in LA, but the food itself was supremely disappointing in almost every case. The sole exception to the food was the deserts were really good in every restaurant, but for me at least the starters and mains were supremely disappointing and in some cases not food I was willing to eat. I can count on one hand the amount of times I pushed food away in a restaurant but I have done that too many times here.

I should say the food is absolutely beautiful, delicately plated and a visual spectacle and the service that provides it is outstanding and consistently the best of anyplace I have been, but the food itself is either incredibly bland or over spiced to the point that you can’t taste the food itself. Let me give you an example. Recently we out to a Michelin star rated restaurant run by an Icon n the LA food scene. The chef herself was there that night and the first course was a Red Belgian Endive Caesar. It was gorgeous. A lovely tower or greens with a very good Caesar dressing and two (yes that’s right) lovely croutons. The problem was the bitterness of the Endive was so overwhelming that unless it was coated in sauce (which there wasn’t enough of) I couldn’t eat it. Ultimately I had like three pieces and pushed it away. Since this was a $19 salad I was obviously disappointed.

Now you could say, and it’s probably true, that I have an uneducated palette and there was nothing wrong with that salad but like all art you either like something or you don’t. In this case I didn’t and I don’t think I should have to apologize for that. By the way Lee ate his but wasn’t interested in eating the rest of mine. The next course Lee got was a braised pork shank. Again it looked absolutely beautiful and it was cooked perfectly, but it was incredibly bland and only had the slightest taste of apricot. When we asked for one of the side sauces, the chef herself we were told whipped up a tamarind sauce which was also extremely bland.

I should be clear here, the food is always perfectly cooked. If you ask for medium rare that’s what you get and the individual components are always at the right texture and temperature, but the seasonings are always off and since what you are paying for in a high end restaurant is the expertise in seasoning (at least I am) that’s incredibly disappointing. The one exception to this was Playa de Provisions where the seasoning was fantastic and each bite was a surprise and a little explosion to my taste buds. THAT is what a $150 meal (per person) should taste like and I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect something close to that.

Most importantly I find myself asking why? Is it me? Is it them? I know I am making myself crazy but it’s a good question. It’s not like I am super picky. I grew up in Columbus which had great restaurants and every meal I have ever eaten in Chicago has been fantastic. So maybe it’s just my Midwestern palate. One of the coolest things about the LA scene is they have every cuisine in the world and I do mean everything. But I am not going to Ethiopian or Bhutanese restaurants (yes they have them) but restaurants where I think there are things I would like are on the menu.

So what is it? Well on the cruise we learned something interesting from the ships tour that I think might be part of the problem. The tour guide stated that all of the food had to come from the US on the cruise leaving from an American port but the European port cruises’ food was much better because the raw materials were better. According to him so much of the American food was genetically modified and you could really taste the difference.

That was interesting to me and I started thinking about how California cuisine had always relied on relatively simple preparation with the freshest of ingredients to create wonderful taste. It was a true movement starting in the 70’s and the idea was to let the food shine through. As a person who has had the opportunity to eat many meals with locally grown food I was all for that and indeed prefer this way of eating. We have had local herd beef in Texas, fresh seafood from the gulf coast, and crab legs in Alaska that have led to extraordinary meals in our travels. We have also of course had many mediocre meals but they didn’t advertise themselves as being the best of the best.

So maybe it truly is the raw materials (personally I have found the produce in the stores to be much worse than from Texas here. And I would say the same for the meat as well. Which is surprising because 40% of the nations fruits and vegetables come from California but maybe its all mass production. Restaurants in other parts of the country that don’t have access to the freshest understand they must do other things to elevate the food which may be the difference. Maybe the chefs buy into their own marketing and have lost the ability to be objective about their own food.

Or maybe it’s me. Either way I am going to stop with the high end restaurants for awhile and go back to what I really like which is small “hole in the wall” restaurants. Even if they are disappointing at least its easier on the wallet and who knows I might end up finding some nice surprises along the way. m

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

• You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
• You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes

We arrived Christmas day in Mazatlan and thankfully our Zip Line shore excursion was not cancelled. Several people learned of a last minute cancellation due to the holiday and were scrambling to find something to do but we got lucky. It was interesting cruising into Mazatlan first thing on a holiday morning because the port was almost totally silent. I could actually hear roosters cawing from the hills behind the port and I thought I would never get to see the town so quiet except for this day.

Because we were at dock it was MUCH easier getting off the boat and we got on the tour bus and headed into the mountains. It was nice seeing the countryside and unlike Cabo this city was less about tourists. When we arrived at the location we got a safety briefing and they zipped us into the harness. I went zip lining in Puerto Rico many years ago but this was Lee’s first time. Since it was Christmas Day I brought extra cash for tips and when the guide or put us together received a $20 he was genuinely grateful. Later we learned that $20 is considered an outstanding tip[ and $5 is the minimum. Throughout the day I gave $110 because I really appreciated them giving up their Christmas for us. 

We rode up a dirt path to get to the base of the hill and climbed a steep path to get to the top. That final stretch was no joke but we were warned this was strenuous and they weren’t kidding. At the top we got another safety briefing and then waited in line for our turn. We were near the back of the line and it took almost 45 minutes to get to us but once it started it was really fun. I will say this was a bit harder than when I did it 15 years ago but the basics were the same. 

We were high above an agave farm and there were huge saguaro cacti directly beneath us at some points. Intellectually I knew if I fell I was screwed anyways but the cacti freaked me out a little. The team did a nice job and we ended up with a small group of people which included David, Cori, and their 12 year old son Finn. Finn was fearless and such a great kid, I can only hope my grandsons are like him. Actually one of the best things about the excursions is you meet people and later on the ship you see them. We saw Finn almost every day after this trip and he always had a smile for us.

The only part I didn’t like was at the very end they had us repel down a big tree. It took a long time and I didn’t feel nearly as safe was when we were on the zip lines.

Afterwards we had a “snack” of an apple and 1/2 a cheese quesadilla which was delicious but not super filling and then we went to the Tequila ranch house. Because it was Christmas they didn’t do a tour and this part felt like an after thought. I did do a tasting and bought a couple of bottles and purchased a couple of souvenirs but it was a bit anti climatic. The best part was when we got back to port there were tons of shops open and they had by far the best prices we saw anywhere.

I should probably mention sunsets here because one of the cool thing about being on a boat is you can watch the sunset every night. We liked going to the Helipad because we had a 360 degree view but we ended up watching them from all over. I haven’t seen sunsets this gorgeous since we were in Tampa Florida many years ago. They were amazing. None of these photos are color enhanced in anyway and don’t come close to capturing the beauty.

We very much appreciate your support of our blog.

• You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
• You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperback version on Amazon or buy the Apple version on Itunes