09:45: The Cloud 9 Shuttle is picking us up at the Hotel and at 12:30 we are leaving San Diego towards LA where we board Swiss flight LX041 to Zurich.

Returning to San Diego we enjoy some beautiful sunny days – the typical nice weather in fall in Southern California. We take some relaxing walks at La Jolla shores as well as Torrey Pines beach. Unfortunately, on October 26th the city of San Diego as well as its country side were hit the worst fires in centuries. For days we could hardly get out of the hotel room because of the bad air and smog in town. Many highways were closed. Therefore, we couldn’t escape to the country side either. Towards the end of that week life in San Diego returned to normal again and we started to explore the areas hit by the fire. Luckily the firefighters were able to save downtown Julian. However, Scripps Ranch, Otay area as well as Cuyamaca and Laguna mountains were basically devastated. We try not to think to stay relaxed and to not worry about our return to Switzerland too much. But, for now it seems unavoidable.

We return to the factory outlet where we bought our cloths on the way up to return a pullover.
In the afternoon we head south towards LA, where we see the big fires in Rancho Cucamonga. We take some pictures and continue to San Diego. We get a room again at the Extended Stay of America and are happy that those fires didn’t reach San Diego.

We leave Page on Highway 89 south to Flagstaff. Shortly before Flagstaff we take a turn right and follow another gravel road uphill where we have seen some bright golden spots that we need to see from close to determine what it is. We soon find out that it’s from the golden leaves of some trees (birches). After another oil change incl. the transmission oil for our car we continue from Flagstaff to Barstow where we arrive late.

Odometer: 116… (about 30 miles more than yesterday)
Marco again didn’t sleep well and is getting up early. I’m getting out of bed slowly once Marco returns from his first breakfast. We take it easy today: at around 10:30 we go to the beach until about 1:30, then we have a Javalanche and later we take a nap. For dinner we have a delicious prime rib at Peppers.

We enjoy a few more relaxing days in Page and around Lake Powell.