When we woke up in the morning I just had to take a pic of the beautiful surroundings of the Skylark motel. Here’s the view from our door:

Rick had promised to try and help us to get the Pontiac to run a bit better, and we adjusted the carbs, points and timing. It runs a bit smoother now, and has better power on low revs.

We went to Lakeparts (owned by Ricks sister) and bought a new coil, oil, octane booster, tools and whatnot. Amazing when you come into a car parts store in a strange town in America, and you know two persons behind the counter???

We both felt bad about leaving Lakeport, I think I saw a tear in Leifs eye :-)

The road from Lakeport was something to behold, steep hills and beautiful views. The drum brakes really had themselves a work out!

We had a hamburger with really good fries in Cloverdale, and continued in the general direction of San Fransisco.

Later we stopped to have some gas and an apple pie with ice cream, double for me, please.

After that we only had a half hour drive to the hotel, which is just a few miles north from San Fransisco.

We were in California. We found Pam on the strand. Leif sprang in the sand. "Make my day" said he. She did. Make our day.

(Blend of swedish and english, not to be taken seriously. Really.)

We slept in a bit to drive towards the Golden Gate bridge after the morning rush hour. That seemed to work, but the weather didn’t cooperate.

The fog was so thick, that all you could see of the famous bridge is what you see here behind Leif.

When we were driving over the bridge, we couldn’t see much of the city of San Fransisco, just a white wall of fog. Kind of an anti climax, as I’ve looked forward to this moment...

Of course the weather improved, and we had to stop for ice creams. We bought them from a very nice guy in this cool bus, and sat down to enjoy ice cream, coffee and sunshine. A moment almost too perfect.

Later we stopped at Morro Bay, and found a nice Motel close to the California Route-1.

This is the view from our door at the Motel.

After breakfast at the Motel in Morro Bay we drew a deep breath and went out into the cold misty morning. We’d heard and seen a coupla cool rods when we ate, and went looking for them.

The coupe seems to be a Chrysler product with a distinctively Moparish engine. Different. The roadster was extremely low and I think it was a Model A. The rodders were probably having breakfast at a diner, so we just took a few pics and left. Steering out on US-101 south bound.

We felt good being on the road again, and before long we reached Solvang, and turned off the highway to have a look at the very Danish town. The names on most of the signs had a Dansih ring to them, as did Olson’s bakery, where we sat down and had pastries and coffee. Tasted just like they do at home!

Yummy! We had ALL the calories! Most of the flags en the city were red with a white cross.

As we continued on our way to Los Angeles, we stoped for gas and a Mc Flurry, and "Leif Dundee from Finland" found a colleague, who let us take a pic of Leif in front of his tanker.

The highway widened and soon we had five or six lanes in each direction, and we were arriving in Los Angeles, and at the LAX airport where we found our hotel.

Here’s the wiew from our window. Not a picturesque view lake in Lakeport, but amazingly enough very well insulated, so we hear no noise from the airport. Airplanes taking off and landing by the truckload!

After eating a nice breakfast we rented a Toyota Corolla (Yuk!) and headed out on some driving around in Los Angeles. First on the agenda was California Pontiac Restoration. I forgot the camera in our hotel room, which wasn’t a good idea... The Pontiac got a big bag full of goodies, and a traffic light prism for the Essex.

We then continued to the Wheel Smith, bought trim rings for the Pontiacs new wheels. The co-owner, Bob told us he’s half Finnish, and he gave us a couple hats.

Mooneyes was next, and there we bought a bagful too, and Leif Dundee had soon talked himself into a shop tour. He got a signed book from the son of the founder of Moon, Dean Moon jr! Real nice people there, and they had lots of time for us!

So-Cal Speed Shop was next, but that was a bit of a disappointment, mostly clothes, and not a very friendly welcome, to tell the truth.

The Pontiac had to be shipped today, as it's Friday, and we won't have time to ship it on Monday.
Leif seems to be telling the Shipping agent how to best stow the car in a container...

Here's the last we saw of the Pontiac. Hope that it comes to Finland without trauma!

Leif had to try out Mikes Peterbilt. Seems to fit him good, eh?
He's a bit obsessed with Scania, and says that they're better. Should we believe that?