Chapter 13

[Janice – Going to L.A. and San Diego]

The next day, we flew out of Phoenix heading for an airport in L.A. There were plenty of airports and we had decided to play it by ear to determine which one to use for a start.

The first large airport we found was San Bernardino International. We saw a smaller one named Redlands Municipal according to the book. The years hadn't been good to it. We checked it out by flying around it in a circle but went on to San Bernardino and landed. We went through our standard routine of looking around and fueling the planes. We would check out the area once that was accomplished.

The area seemed to be deserted but we were watchful. There was an air of neglect that suggested no one had been here for a long time. After looking it over, we parked the planes in a hanger. We hadn't seen or heard anything but wanted no surprises.

The adults in our party sat down together to truly plan. Bobbi and SJ were watching their younger siblings but listening. Mike started our discussion. "We have reached the L.A. area. We all seem to want a program for exploring. It's a big place and there are many airports we can use. The problem is that landing at an airport means someone has to see us and come though they usually do. There is, however, a lot of territory that will be left unexplored unless we prep a SUV at each location. That takes some time and we or the planes or both could be vulnerable when away from the airports.

"What do the rest of you think? Where would people be? How can we best look and stay safe."

It was quiet for a moment. Mel said, "I feel safe here for one thing. I would ask if there are places that we truly think should be investigated? Also, we talked about San Diego. I was looking at the map. It's only a little over a hundred miles away. Should we include San Diego in our planning now?"

Jen said, "I think we should include San Diego. I would like to see its harbor and we should check out its airport as well as the main L.A. airport for messages if nothing else."

Bobbi and SJ together said, "We want to go to Disneyland!"

Mike said, chuckling, "Put all three on the list. We can't go everywhere though so who knows about L.A. from prior experience?"

Pam said, "I was here for just over three months in two thousand eight or nine. It's big place. Even if we used cars and ran them hard, it would be hard to see a large portion even just to ride by in less than two weeks.

"I would suggest we perform flyovers, stopping at LAX and Disneyland. Then, if we don't meet anyone, we go to San Diego by plane and sort of do the same thing."

"We did the flyovers. We saw nothing and no one. Disneyland was a bust. With no power and upkeep, it wasn't worthwhile. The children were disappointed but understood. It looked like we were the first folks at LAX almost since the Day. We had trouble finding water and felt that that issue made living in L.A. difficult if not impossible. The land was dry and we could see signs that there had been and still was a drought. It took two weeks but we left for San Diego hoping for better results.

We flew down to San Diego. All of the area seemed to be a desert. We had had trouble finding water for drinking and cooking. I thought that living would be hard. If there were people, they would have to live elsewhere. The trip down didn't show any more promise than what we had seen.