Nomad Life - Day 79

With my trip to Southeast Asia completed, I was ready to resume my Nomad Life.  This morning, I woke up at 0500 (alarm) in my hotel room in El Segundo and started teleworking.  There was plenty to keep me busy after three weeks out of the office and I worked steadily throughout the morning.  As a result, I skipped breakfast.  Along the way, I made plans with Kevin and Deborah to meet up for a late lunch (or early dinner) and made reservations for a week of lodging at the Naval Base at Point Mugu.  I'd hoped to be able to coordinate coffee with Ashley (Chris' daughter) but that wasn't possible.  Other than that, I didn't take any breaks.  At 1300, I checked out of my room at the Cambria Hotel and, after packing and organizing my Subaru Outback, I drove a short distance to the restaurant where I planned to meet my cousins.  During this time, it became clear that my car's tires had deflated a bit (sitting so long in one place) so I had to try to find a place to reinflate them.  It took a bit of effort but I eventually located a station at the approach end of the LAX Airport runways with the appropriate kind of machine.  Next, I parked at The Proud Bird restaurant, a famous establishment built in the 1960s to allow patrons to watch arriving aircraft while eating their meals.  Kevin and Deborah were supposed to show up at 1400 but I was a little early - I spent the time walking around looking at the aircraft that were displayed on the property (lots of legendary types and stories or wartime heroism).  When my cousins texted that they were going to be much later than they'd planned, I ordered a light lunch (loaded tater tots) and sat down to wait (1355).  The food was good but unsettled my stomach - not surprising, I guess, since most of the food I've been eating during the last month has been of a much different variety...  When Kevin and Deborah finally arrived (1435), we all ordered food together and sat down in an area with a good view of the runway.  I had some chicken tenders and waffle fries (the former were not very good) and filled up on some soda - this ended up constituting an early dinner.  We had about 90 minutes of conversation and catching up - it was a nice visit!  After saying goodbye to them (1600), I departed Los Angeles and headed towards Ventura County.  The traffic on I-405 wasn't too bad (although there was a slow down when I tried to get off) and I was able to reach the Pacific Coast Highway (CA-1) before too long.  From the end of I-10, though, there was a bunch of construction with a (ridiculous) speed limit of 25 mph - that made it slow going for the next 30 to 45 minutes.  One benefit of the slow driving was that I got some great views of the Los Angeles County beaches, including those in Malibu.  There were lots of surfers and I got to witness the start of a beautiful sunset (the end was ultimately blocked by terrain).  I was surprised at how early it started to get dark (1700!).  After finally getting up to speed (55 mph) again, I had no more difficulties and arrived at the Las Posas Gate for Naval Base Ventura County.  Ultimately, the distance between LAX and the Base was only about 55 miles - sadly, it took me nearly 90 minutes to cover this distance.  I was able to check in at the Navy Inn quickly (1735) - the clerk told me she hadn't had anyone else try to get a room all day  I was a little taken aback by the comment "the room doesn't have air conditioning" but I figured that the cool weather might work in my favor.  After having some trouble with the set of key cards I'd been given (this required a bunch of walking and driving to resolve), I was in my room.  The building (one of several on the old "CBQ Block") was almost completely empty but had plenty of amenities for me (e.g., free laundry machines).  I spent about an hour getting organized for my full week on Base before heading out to try to log the rest of my 10K steps for the day.  The area where I was staying was very conveniently located, close to the Gym, a restaurant, the NEX (I picked up some snacks there at 1920), a Navy Federal ATM and a car wash (that might be good for Nessie...).  I was finished with my walk by 2000 and returned to the room.  I spent the next several hours watching movies on my tablet before heading to bed (2215).  It was an interesting day, full of work, adjusting to the Pacific Time Zone and getting settled back into a normal routine.  I'm excited to resume the Nomad Life!