On scene of Endeavour crossing the 405

This weekend the big news story in LA has been the Space Shuttle Endeavour's treck from LAX to it's final destination at the California Science Center in Exposition Park. As I drove home from work on Friday I heard that Endeavour would be parked on Manchester Blvd. for the next few hours while they prepared to switch to a lighter transport system to cross the 405 freeway. I had no firm plans for the evening, and I missed the fly-over last month, so I decided to swing by and take a look.

Toyota, a sponsor of the California Science Center, is participating in the transport by pulling Endeavour on a "light weight" dolly over the 405, using a single Toyota Tundra. Of course Toyota is also paying to turn this feat into a promotional video to help promote their "Made in the USA" Tundra, and demonstrate it's capacity to pull a 150 ton package.

I worked my way through the crowd standing on La Cienega and got a few shots of the orbiter in front of the iconic Randy's Donuts. I happened to be filming as the Tundra and Endeavour started rolling across the Manchester Bridge.

Toyota's Endeavour site

California Science Center | Mission 26: The Big Endeavour

I almost ran into a police pursuit tonight.

I saw the local bird flying ahead of me as I was driving tonight, but thought little of it since it's Saturday night. Then I heard over the local PD freq that a pursued vehicle had just pulled into a cul-de-sac about a block or two from where I was, and the occupants had bailed. I caught a little of the ending on video from a side street, then boogied on out of the way and let the boys in blue do their work.