Beverly Hills and Uncle Bill

Day 122

The oh so sad face when Eli gets his "Stay Collar". The old chap only gets his leather collar with ID when we are leaving the house and he knows it. His walking collar is a different story. The dog loses his mind when he sees that one come out. Unfortunately for us not everywhere we go is all species tolerable. Today is no exception to that rule. We spent the morning kickn' back in the RV park looking at the clouds and left around noon to go see Katie's uncle Bill. Before we stop over we decided to take a closer look at some parts of LA. We started out cruising along Mulholland Drive on the northwest side. This curvy mountain road was laid out along the ridges of the hills and gave way to multi-million dollar houses. They weren't that impressive, just a normal house with a view of the city. After getting passed and honked at by all these crazy ass LA drivers we dropped back down into the city. Beverly Hills, that's where I want to be.

I popped open Zillow on my phone and started checking the prices. The cheapest house in town was 2.5 million. This was for a 5 bedroom 4 bath villa coming in at 2,222 sq ft. If you happen to not be such a pour schlub you can always splurge for he 85 million dollar manison that's 11 bedrooms and 18 baths spread out across 28,000 sq ft. With our gawking over it was time to hit up the tar pits.

See? Told you we went to the tar pits

Time is short. I'm running the show when it comes to being on time and we've only got 15 minutes before we  have to bail. Kaite requested to see what she could and I lined up the itinerary for the morning. She's been driving through the horrendous traffic and I've been picking out the stops on the way. This place happens to be a natural tar pit. Hundreds of thousands of years ago animals from the ice age walked into these waters and never escaped. There have been 1,000's of skeletons removed from there death hold. The museum on site showcases wooly-mammoths, saber tooth tigers, and rhinos. The air is filled with the thick putrid smell of fresh asphalt and the water continues to boil as a cauldron filled with methane and petroleum.

Time's up. Back to Shirley and 3 miles to the East to get back over to Hollywood. We pull into Uncle Bill's house who just happens to be a couple of blocks from Hollywood Blvd. We're greeted with a smile and hugs, and one ominous warning. "Lock you doors." Wait.. what? We're only a couple of blocks from the walk of fame. We settle in and get to chat with Bill really for the first time ever. This trip has done that for both of us. So far we've each met a family member for the first time. 
Bill makes us feel right at home as we start to relax in the backyard. He explains to us that he's been in the area for 30 years and how his neighborhood is on a path facing downhill. It's a shame since there is so much potential for this place to be booming. We both look at each other like we're nuts. We think he's mad for living in the middle of LA around all the chaos and wearing a sweater when it's 65 degrees out, he thinks we're nuts for traveling the country and calling Wisconsin home, where people shovel snow wearing a t-shirt. A little more time passes by and it's time to eat. Katie prompts him for a suggestion "Where is there a good place to eat nearby?" His response is quick. "You like burgers? Let's go to IN-and-Out. I'll drive." Music to my ears. This place is mad house of traffic.
He makes it look easy. Bolting in and out of lanes and weaving through the back streets of one ways and parked cars. It's beginning to make sense. Less than five minutes later and we're further than I could of drove in 15. The fast food place is PACKED. There are literally cars on the street waiting to turn in. This is normal..... this is the LA life. With dinner down we head back and say our goodbyes. Nice to meet you Uncle Bill, you're a cool ass dude.