The plans for Michael Jackson's funeral remain uncertain, but that did not stop Desiree Crossley and her family from camping out for hours outside of his Neverland ranch.
Reports that the King of Pop would be laid to rest at his sprawling fantasy estate prompted a near stampede here to the rolling hills of Santa Barbara wine country, with hundreds of media satellite trucks parking outside the gate.
As newscasters broadcast live in multiple languages and traffic crews hurriedly erected no-parking signs, Crossley waited with a friend in foldable chairs, her two daughters sitting in the car.
"There've been mixed messages about what's going on, but you've just got to be patient and wait," said Crossley, 49, who drove up before dawn from Lancaster in Los Angeles County, 250 kilometers (150 miles) to the south.
"We're just trying to enjoy the atmosphere. He was the King of Pop," she said.
Further down the road of cattle ranches and elite estates, Belen Morales and her two brothers from Los Angeles spent the night camping out in a tent. For breakfast, they had Lucky Charms cereal with milk from their cooler.
"It was really cold last night. But this is definitely worth it," said the 14-year-old girl, wearing -- aptly enough -- a T-shirt for Michael Jackson's song "You Are Not Alone."
Hotel owners said that their phones started ringing moments after reports that the 50-year-old pop icon could be buried at Neverland, a 1,050-hectare (2,600-acre) ode to childhood that once had tigers, giraffes and an amusement park.
With hotels booked up, some local entrepreneurs smelled business.
Debbie Pollard, who works at a nearby grocery store, drove through the packs of journalists with her window down, offering a "guesthouse' on her property for 500 dollars a night.
"I've never done anything like this before, but with so many people here it certainly seemed to be a good opportunity to make a bit of tax-free money," she said.
But she might be disappointed -- the rush of visitors could leave as soon as it came.
The Jackson family has stayed mum on funeral plans. But the Los Angeles Times reported that a service would instead be held in Los Angeles due to legal hurdles burying the pop singer on private property.
The Neverland ranch's gates -- with the inscription "Once Upon a Time" -- mysteriously opened at regular intervals, a taciturn man in sunglasses directing fans and media to stand aside for entering vehicles.
One van brought construction workers who smiled bashfully for the cameras but declined to explain why they had come. Then came a large moving truck from Los Angeles.
Inside the ranch, a man cut the grass with a large lawnmower, a sign that the Jackson family is at least aware of the waiting guests.
The Neverland ranch was named for the fantasy island of Peter Pan, the character who inspired Michael Jackson by refusing to grow up.
But the estate also had a dark side. Jackson was accused but acquitted of molesting children on the property and animal rights activists complained that the animals were neglected as his personal travails worsened.
The entire property was reportedly on the verge of foreclosure, prompting speculation that Jackson's mother Katherine, his estate's guardian, may try to turn it into an attraction along the lines of Elvis Presley's Graceland.
But such worries were not on the mind of fans, who left a pile of flowers, candles, teddy bears and handwritten signs expressing their sorrow.
Jessica Saunders, 16, was visiting universities in the area with her mother, Laurie, and decided to stop by to pay her respects. Jessica, a dancer at her high school in San Diego, said she was inspired by Jackson.
"It's really too bad that he wasn't here to see how much people loved him," Laurie Saunders said.
