After Erin and her family left Ohio on Wednesday, June 9, 2010, I had just a few nights to scramble together my packing necessities before embarking on my third week-long adventure of the year. The culmination of this trip would be the 17th International Sons of the Desert convention in Sacramento, which was scheduled to begin on Wednesday, June 16. Bob and I had originally planned to begin in Seattle and head southward to the convention. The main reason for this was to visit with John Babcock, the last surviving Canadian soldier from World War 1. He was living in Spokane, but unfortunately, although we had pre-arranged a meeting, he passed away in February.
So we changed our plan. Instead of heading southward from Seattle, we decided to begin in Los Angeles and head northward, seeing some fun stuff along the way and making a few side ventures. The flight was scheduled to leave disturbingly early on Saturday, June 12 at 6:10am. In fact, I had to get up at 3:30am in order to get to my Dad’s, and then to the airport by 5:20. Good news was that I flew through security, and then the flight was slightly delayed anyway, waiting for a group of soldiers who apparently were all running late. I sat next to an old man who appeared to be eating a shriveled-up cigar.
The flight was short to Chicago. It was scheduled to get there at 6:18am (gaining one hour), but was a bit late. This was fine since the departing gate was right next to my arriving one. More good news was that I was next to an empty seat. This flight left late also – this time due to mechanical trouble. It hardly phased me as I had already nodded off listening to my iPod. Along the way, I realized that I had once again forgotten my camera battery charger, and this time also forgot my iPod charger. Ridiculous.
My flight was scheduled in at 9:16am, and I got there almost on time. I still had to wait for just a bit for Bob to get me. He arrived around 10am, and I broke the news about the battery charger. He said “ugh”. We began the trip on an upbeat note by stopping off at the Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park Mortuary in Thousand Oaks at around 11am, 40 miles northwest of L.A.
There were three graves here that we visited, bandleader Artie Shaw, actress Virginia Mayo, and the one that excited me most, Donald Dillaway. The latter of the three was the most unknown, but he played the pivotal role of Eddie in Laurel and Hardy’s Pack Up Your Troubles.
With Artie Shaw, swing clarinetist from the 1930’s, who after eight marriages, survived until 2004
One grave, hold the Mayo
“Are you Eddie’s father?”
We drove about another 50 miles before stopping for dinner in Carpinteria at a nice little place called the Siam Elephant for some delicious Thai food. I had the chicken satay, with spring roll, friend wonton, and fried shrimp appetizers. But the most memorable item was the chicken coconut soup, which was so tangy and delicious that it made my knees buckle.
Getting the inside scoop on the best food at the Siam Elephant
You can’t see it, but my knees have buckled already
We hit one more cemetery that afternoon as we made our way into Santa Barbara just about ten miles west of Carpinteria (passing through Summerland, object of one of my favorite Everclear songs). It was named, simply enough, Santa Barbara Cemetery. Here we saw silent screen star Ronald Colman, Fess Parker (known best for his portrayal of Disney’s Davy Crockett), Duncan Renaldo (The Cisco Kid), Natalie Moorhead (who had a bit role in Our Gang’s Washee Ironee), and Vera Ralston. Vera meant the most to me, as I had spent time with her during the 1992 Sons of the Desert convention. She starred with John Wayne and Oliver Hardy in The Fighting Kentuckian. We spent most of our time trying to locate that elusive Cisco Kid.
Detective Satterfield gathers clues on the whereabouts of the graves in Santa Barbara Cemetery
Ronald Colman has the right to remain silent
He wasn’t buried on a mountaintop in Tennessee
After much searching, Ceeeesco!
Her roles in the Roach films were almost as small as Natalie Moorhead’s name on the grave
Vera would give her birth year within the range of 1919 thru 1923. The latter was the year that ended up on her grave marker.
I was hoping that our next stop in nearby Los Olivos would be more exciting. This was where the Neverland Ranch formerly owned by Michael Jackson was located. Although the property contained zoos, amusement park rides, a train statues, and lots of decor, none of it was visible from the road that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Only the ‘No Trespassing’ signs among the tumbleweeds indicated that anything was there at all. We did locate the front gate, but that was the best we could do.
The unexciting entrance to what I’m sure is a most exciting place…Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch
We drove through Solvang, a neat little Danish community full of bakeries, restaurants, and stores, but we didn’t stop. Instead we moved onto Buellton to have an afternoon snack at Pea Soup Andersen’s. I hadn’t been here since 1997, and I always enjoy a good dish of pea soup. I had the Traveler’s Special which was all-you-can-eat of soup and bread. One bowl was plenty. Especially when adding the free cheese samples in their shop.
Bob and I help prepare the soup at Andersen’s
What did I do all night? Pea green soup.
It was after 4:30pm when we headed out and headed further north. We found a Best Buy in Santa Maria, where I would purchase the exact same stupid battery charger that I had once purchased in Las Vegas during the other forgotten-charger incident. And like the other incident, I’d end up getting my money back on this one too. Bob picked up some restaurant gift certificates around Nipomo for some friends of his who lived in the area.
Our final destination of the evening was at the Motel 6 in San Simeon. We had traveled about 250 miles up the Pacific coast. It was nice enough, but the internet connection only worked in the lobby, so I didn’t bother with that too much. We went out to eat at a nearby Mexican restaurant known as El Chorlito. As a soup buff, I was tempted to get the Menudo soup until Bob kindly informed me what the main ingredient was: animal stomachs. Of course, had I not known, I may have liked it just fine. Nevertheless, Bob will insist that I now owe him one. I substituted the chicken tortilla soup and the shrimp taco. The food was just mediocre.
After narrowly escaping the cow intestine soup
We headed back to the motel at around 8:30 and turned in relatively early. Being in a new time zone generally conks me out and this was one of the first times there wasn’t much of a reason to burn the midnight oil. Bob and I would have three-and-a-half days on the road before getting to the convention…with plenty to see and plenty of fun to have.
Northern California will continue…
Bypass the road trip and jump to the convention…
Bypass the entire trip and continue with 2010…
I remember driving up north and passing all the signs: 20 Miles to Andersen’s Pea Soup, 10 miles to Andersen’s…1 mile to Andersen’s. We got there, I tried it and…it was pea soup. I guess the best pea soup in the world is about as exciting as…pea soup. It’s like driving 20 miles out of your way to try the world’s best oatmeal.
Jim Harwood
July 28th, 2010