I'd arranged to catch up with another old friend, Oli G, who I've known for years mainly via a mutual appreciation of obscure rave music. We've DJ'd together, written and produced music together, drank many beers and eaten many pizzas and kebabs together, often combining all of the above.
Back in 2005, he made the wise decision to ditch the glitz and glamour of England's Midlands in favour of the sun, sea, sand and silicone of California. He's also had what you could call a slight career change since I last saw him, as he now works for Space X, a private space exploration company. To my excitement, he was able to give us a tour of their building in downtown LA, so this was where we met up when we arrived back in the city.
Space X design, manufacture and launch their own rockets, primarily for the purpose of space transportation. Their Dragon spacecraft was the first commercial vehicle to attach to the International Space Station and return cargo to Earth.
Their ultimate aim, however, is to colonise other planets like Mars. I'm not kidding, and if you know anything about their CEO and Chief Designer, Elon Musk, you'll believe me. Very fascinating guy and quite an enigma, he's rumoured to be the inspiration for Robert Downey Jr's portrayal of Tony Stark in the Iron Man movies. He was also a cofounder of PayPal and when he sold it in 2002 for $180 million, he was already a rich man having previously built and sold another internet business, Zip2.
But he didn't just retire at 32 and sit back and laugh as PayPal turned into the pointless vehicle for eBay to hit users with extra charges that it is today. He started a commercial space exploration business and, later, a company designing and manufacturing high-end, all-electric cars (Tesla Motors). Two very risky, make-or-break ventures that are both well into their second decade of business and potentially on the brink of changing the world. So it was intriguing to get a look "under the hood" at one of them.
We walked in to the main building and were immediately warned off taking any photos inside, this being classified US technology. Don't expect any sneaky ones on here either - I did as I was told. I assume the NSA has a good look through the contents of my phone on a regular basis and I have no intention of "doing a Snowden" (is that a thing yet?).
The interior of the building was satisfyingly similar to how I imagined it, with pieces of rockets literally all over the place in various stages of construction and a large, glass-doored control room full of people staring intently at a huge wall of LCD screens. I did shudder briefly as I passed a smaller room and repressed memories of a past life surfaced as I caught sight of a PowerPoint presentation on the wall panel. Two minutes later though, we were outside enjoying free frozen yoghurt and I thought: "This Musk guy's alright!".
When we visited, their Falcon 9 rocket was just a few days away from being launched, and engineers were bustling around in focused preparation, doing a pretty good job in their casual work attire of covering up the fact that their intelligence probably surpasses mine by a factor of ten.
It's incredible to think that space rockets are designed and at least partially assembled here in downtown LA, opposite a Lowes hardware store (Homebase basically, for the benefit of UK folks). Oli's role there is to aid the production and transport process by designing and building various pieces of equipment that support, suspend and move pieces of rocket around. That includes solving the problem of carrying million dollar pieces of space tech to launch sites in pressurised containers on the back of trucks. Very cool stuff. I'm not sure what his official job title is, "Chief Clever Bastard" or something.
Over the next few nights we hung out for a while with Oli and his girlfriend Suzie and we got used to sleeping on the streets of LA near Oli's place (in the RV, obviously). I'd been apprehensive of this but it was actually fine; the most activity we saw was when a couple of kids sat on an upturned shopping trolley in front of our vehicle to smoke a bong in broad daylight. Contrary to what the "war on drugs" may have told you over the years, no-one has ever smoked a bag of weed and then violently trashed an RV looking for a fight with someone who's twice as big as them, so we left them to it and they moved on of their own accord.
On the weekend, Sharon and I went to the "Outlets At Orange" shopping centre. I'm not exactly known for my love of shopping, but a lot of the stores were already having sales as Thanksgiving was approaching. Anyway, I guess I must have blacked out for a while, then suddenly I found myself walking back to the RV with 5 new pairs of jeans, a load of shirts and a new pair of trainers. I don't think Sharon even bought anything so no idea what happened there!
While we were there we went to the cinema to see the new Hunger Games movie. Not really sure what it was about; something about being stuck in the jungle with no KFC for miles in any direction. Quite happy to sit there and look at Jennifer Lawrence for a couple of hours though!
As a Brit, going to the cinema in America is pretty amusing. Back home everyone basically just stays quiet and watches the film. The only noise you'll hear is the crunching of popcorn and nachos (why do they sell the world's noisiest snacks at the cinema?) or the occasional clown who thinks it's a good time to make a phone call. In the US, everyone gasps, claps and cheers their way through the movie. I think there may even have been a minor standing ovation at the end!
While we were in town we also had the privilege of going round to some friends of Oli and Suzie's, Cat and Dylan, for Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone brought a side dish or dessert and the hosts prepared two huge turkeys, one traditional and one basted in lethal amounts of hot sauce. One word - awesome!
On the weekend, Sharon and I went to the "Outlets At Orange" shopping centre. I'm not exactly known for my love of shopping, but a lot of the stores were already having sales as Thanksgiving was approaching. Anyway, I guess I must have blacked out for a while, then suddenly I found myself walking back to the RV with 5 new pairs of jeans, a load of shirts and a new pair of trainers. I don't think Sharon even bought anything so no idea what happened there!
While we were there we went to the cinema to see the new Hunger Games movie. Not really sure what it was about; something about being stuck in the jungle with no KFC for miles in any direction. Quite happy to sit there and look at Jennifer Lawrence for a couple of hours though!
As a Brit, going to the cinema in America is pretty amusing. Back home everyone basically just stays quiet and watches the film. The only noise you'll hear is the crunching of popcorn and nachos (why do they sell the world's noisiest snacks at the cinema?) or the occasional clown who thinks it's a good time to make a phone call. In the US, everyone gasps, claps and cheers their way through the movie. I think there may even have been a minor standing ovation at the end!
While we were in town we also had the privilege of going round to some friends of Oli and Suzie's, Cat and Dylan, for Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone brought a side dish or dessert and the hosts prepared two huge turkeys, one traditional and one basted in lethal amounts of hot sauce. One word - awesome!
With about 16 people in attendance, there was a serious amount of amazing food on offer. We added some rocky road brownies (expertly crafted by Sharon) to a huge and varied table of desserts which, frankly, could probably have led to diabetes being classified as a weapon of mass destruction.
A few beers later and after getting to know people a bit more, we headed back to Oli's, no doubt leaving Cat and Dylan to ponder what the hell they were going to do with all the leftovers.
The next day, with Mexico in our minds, we said our goodbyes and started heading south again. We had a couple of nights virtually camping on the sand at nearby Delaney State Beach before moving on.
Cheers to Oli and Suzie for your hospitality and for driving our pikey asses around, and to Cat and Dylan for our first ever proper Thanksgiving!
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