Space Shuttle Endeavour moves through Los Angeles and I’m there.

I will be very honest, I enjoy going to these impromptu events like seeingthe Shuttle Endeavour being moved through Los Angeles. If it is something note worthy, I will make the effort to claim my little piece of history. I watched the space shuttle land at Edwards Air Force Base in Mojave as well as Endeavour at LAX, visited Ronald Reagan’s casket viewing and countless other events that may be considered a part of pop culture history. I also have a 4 year old son and I like many other parents want to offer him the chance to experience everything that presents itself. Sure it sounds a little over indulgent, but heck he’s my son and my only child. Those factors can lead to severe over indulgence problems.

It passed right over our heads, it was amazing.

So the news is filled with the shuttle being ferried through Los Angeles and I was going to make sure and be there for a little bit of it. Being a very freeway savvy “Angelino” (I hate that term too)  I was able to get to good locations and avoid much of the traffic jam hell that was occurring. We had gone to the Manchester bridge crossing but due to time conflicts we were not able to watch the Toyota commercial, and never one to be satisfied with a good try, I had to make it right. Saturday was a crazy busy day for me, Programming class at 8am at USC and Oktoberfest that night. The Shuttle was supposed to be at its destination by 6pm. I figured it would be late and it would conflict with my Oktoberfest plans, but as things turned out, Oktoberfest was not to be that night. So I told the wife to pack the car and tell Wolfie to grab his shuttle toys, we were going to chase the shuttle down.

Do not block, this sign got more pictures taken than the shuttle

California Science Center; Next stop

TV had been broadcasting the shuttle movement and I had a map of where it should be. Problem was there was numerous delays. How about a total of 19 hours late. I have no complaint about that, in fact, I am impressed how smooth it all went, moving something of this size across Los Angeles is not going to be easy, no matter what they tell you. Back to my now getting very long story, so I decided to not hit the freeway, assuming that it would be crowded with all those people who have nothing better to do that chase around Space Shuttles through the night and clog up the streets. I have an excuse, uh, well, no, not really, I’m as bad any other out there. I apologize to the citizens of Los Angeles for making their traffic nightmare that much worse.

Dinner on the dash

McDonald’s
3602 S LA BREA AVE
LOS ANGELES CA 90016-5312
(323)295-0137

Knowing that once I parked being able to eat or even use a rest room would not be an option or at least very difficult, before we came to our final destination we stopped for food, being in a hurry, a neighborhood you are not familiar with and one could even say out of their element, we chose a McDonald’s for that meal. Actually, we went drive through and then sat in the car and ate. Why? Seemed easier and I was in a hurry.

McDonald’s Angus Beef 1/3rd Pound Mushroom & Swiss Burger

McDonalds has a new burger, their Angus 1/3rd pound mushroom burger. I also got a Filet-o-fish, a 20 pack of chicken McNuggets and a strawberry shake. Yes, I was hungry. I shared the nuggets but still ate about 10 or more of them.

The burger was good, it was a thick patty. It comes in at $4.69, so it is not cheap. There is plenty of cheese and the mushrooms were also plentiful. It is comparable to Carl’s Jr $6 burger. As far as flavor, it definitely is the best McDonald’s burger I have ever had. It does retain the familiar McDonald’s flavor and it is a good size. I have to say I really liked it and it filled me when I really needed to chow down.

How does it compare to the others? It absolutely does, and with that McDonald’s flare we all love. If you love McDonald’s you are going to love this burger, no doubt, this is the best McDonald’s burger will have ever have and I rate it favorably with its competitors.

2:22am and the shuttle finally rolls again

The shuttle was parked where they had the celebration at the Baldwin Hills Center. Not sure why, but it took nearly 8 hours to get it back up again, apparently there needed to be work done, including welding.

The level of anticipation was feverish, people were wanting to see this so bad. You could walk 100 feet up the street and see Endeavor, but people wanted to see it roll by. Myself included. I had been there since 9:30pm and I was not about to leave yet. I walked up to a police officer and asked him, “any best guesses?”, and he said, “They are telling me 15 minutes.” This is the best news of the night, and with in the hour, it was rolling. And it was worth it.

That is how close it got, it passed over our heads

The whole night I kept looking at the trees and poles and wondering how they were going to fit it in between. Finally it started to lumber up, sirens were blaring, people were clapping and cheering. It went right up to the tree with in a few inches and then walked around it. It was truly a technological treat to see this massive machine maneuver as it did. People were in awe.

The night went well, the crowds were great, Krispy Kremes stayed open to let people buy donuts and coffee. The line was about 100 people deep at any given time and they were only running the walk up window. The LAPD and LAFD did a great job and really treated everyone nicely and with respect, even relaying information as to what was going on and when to expect everything to begin.

Once the shuttle started to roll it literally passed directly over our heads, as you can see in the photos below. My son loved it and has been talking about this non stop and telling anyone who will listen. Maybe we should have rolled out the shuttles once in a while during the program, instead of waiting till it was over. I’m really glad I was able to witness this and be part of the party atmosphere and a little bit of history.