7th day - 17th February 2022

The first night in my huge room was without any noise disturbance. Despite being close to the interstate, you can hardly hear anything here, and my neighbors were also peaceful. However, the breakfast has deteriorated a lot. Four years ago, there was at least an industrial omelette and sausages - now everything is limited to toast and cereals. But at least the seating is nice. And if someone wants something more luxurious, there is a Denny's 50 meters away. Open 24 hours.

I leave a tip for the maid, which you should give at the beginning to get better service, and I walk the 15 minutes to Tom. The street here is as wide as the highway at home. On the way, I encounter a few strange figures, but that's normal here. Sometimes they mutter something as you pass by, but ultimately they are harmless. Being a man also makes things a bit easier, as a woman I would feel much more uncomfortable.

At Tom's place, I meet Gia, his pug that he has had for two years. You really have to love these dogs, otherwise you might think they are a different species. Just the sounds alone, it sounds like a soundtrack from The Walking Dead. But Gia seems happy to have visitors. She wags her curly tail.

In the past few days at this time, we were always on the move, today we take it easy. A family day, so to speak. Mike will also arrive tonight. And it will turn out to be quite extraordinary, as we will later find out. After some time, we set off and want to visit Tom's son Ethan at his workplace at Walmart. Rose hasn't seen her grandson in two years, and I haven't seen him in four years.

The traffic around San Diego is unbelievable. How calm and peaceful it was in Georgia and South Carolina. A five-lane highway runs through the metropolitan region, but Tom is used to it. For me, it's nothing. The first Walmart we reach is the wrong one. But there are really too many here. How are we supposed to know where his son works? We have better luck at the second one. Ethan is in the Electronics Department and recognizes us right away. He hugs his grandma and I also give him a heartfelt hug. My God, he has grown so much. He's much taller than me and hardly reminds me of the little boy I met in England back then.

We make plans to meet for his lunch break at a grill where we can grab a bite to eat. For eight dollars, you can get a really great snack here. The differences in food are significant when you consider that it tastes just as good as the $50 meal. But that may just be my opinion. We agree with Ethan that he will come to Tom's tonight. Normally, he lives with his mother by the sea, and since I am staying elsewhere, there is room for him.

Refreshed, we drive to Coronado Island. I had already seen the peninsula of the rich with a view of the San Diego skyline four years ago. Back then, I saw it by bike, today we walk along the beach and the Coronado Hotel. The sun is shining and the temperature is more than 20 degrees Celsius. We sit in the bar of this historic hotel, made famous by Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like It Hot", and have a drink in the glorious sunshine. Life couldn't be better.

Since Mike will soon land in LA and wants to drive to San Diego with a rental car, we set off at 6 o'clock towards El Cajon, where Tom lives, and want to go shopping before his arrival. Just as we are in the supermarket, he calls. He can't get his rental car. The reason is that he doesn't have a credit card. Rose used to take care of everything for him, but she's not here now. Instead, she's with us. We manage to order an Uber for him, which will take him from the airport in LA to Tom's place. The journey takes about 2 hours. I think the price of $150 is really cheap. His driver is a Chinese man named Seonchung, and we make jokes about him having a "Chinese" too - because we also want to order Chinese food. Through the app, we can see exactly where the vehicle is, and we tell Mike, who is on the other end of the line, how far his vehicle is. It's totally weird. We're in the supermarket and we can see what's happening in Los Angeles. Finally, he gets into the car and drives off. The app tells us all this.

Back at Tom's, we then order our Chinese food. It's incredibly tasty and a huge portion. While we enjoy our meal, we track Mike's journey on his lonley trip with a Chinese chauffeur to San Diego. And exactly at the predetermined time, he actually stands in front of the door. Now we are all together. Mike doesn't have a car, but he will get one tomorrow somewhere. He tells us how the driver communicated with him through a translation app on his phone. Apparently, he can speak very little English. We laugh about it because we had joked about exactly that before.

After a few stories about his trip, Mike eventually gets tired and I also feel a certain fatigue. So I set off on my 15-minute journey back to the motel. Since my card no longer works, I have it renewed at the reception and fall quite tired into bed. Note: in America, a credit card is pretty much essential for survival.