Okay, wow. things have gone down rapid fire like. Where did I last leave off? Oh yeah, I was sitting in McDonalds... again.
At some point I decided it was time for some productivity. I probably forgot to mention I was right down the street from a truck stop. Perfect. I filled my water bottles and started hoofin' it that way. I walked up to the first person I saw who looked legit and asked him if he worked there. He did and I asked if I could look for a ride. He gave me a chunk of cardboard to make a sign and pointed me where I should stand.
My Sign
Now it was getting late in the day so I was kind of just sitting there doing nothing when a girl rode up on her bike. Now I say girl, but not a little girl on a bike with training wheels, no. This was a girl on a ghetto little bike around 30. She had track marks and scars all over her arms. Her clothes were torn an ripped and she didn't look like she had much. Her teeth looked like meth and it was sad. But regardless, she was so amazingly kind. She told me she knew what it was like to be stuck somewhere and how much it sucked, how she hated it and all. She told me about her dog, her boyfriend, and her mother. Then she gave me her boyfriends number (she didn't have a phone) and her mothers number too. Pointed me where she lived and told me I could stay on her couch for the night. Now honest to God, this was a wee bit sketchy for my taste. But how is it that the poorest of people are always the kindest? Her name was Taylor, and her boyfriend was Tom. She was just a really kind girl. It made my heart happy knowing there are cool people out there. Anyways, I watched her waddle away on her bike and about 10 minutes later a trucker pulled over next to me. I ran up and after reverting back to the basics of language (he didn't speak English well) I was in a truck on my way to West LA. Alberto was working honestly illegally. He'd snuck over from Mexico. We quickly became friends, mostly because I fed his craziness... I learned a lot of things from Alberto though. First off, did you know there are aliens that live inside the Earth? They live in the 7th dimension and are so incredibly smarter than us (we are only in the 5th dimension) AND they control the government too! You can get to them through a giant hole in the North pole, and you know the Northern lights? That's really just their sun shining from inside the Earth! Pretty awesome right!?! Needless to say Alberto taught me TONS, but he was still super nice.
Alberto
He dropped me off somewhere in West LA. Almost out of the city, but not quite... At this point night was coming fast and I was ready to pass out. Plus I don't hitch in the dark. I knew there was a park near by and I walked over to it. On my way a nice homeless guy told me the best place to camp and he was spot on. The perfect spot! I set up my tent and passed out exhausted from my first day of real hitching :)...
Stealthing in LA
Mah tent
I woke up and no one was the wiser I had been there all night. I groggily walked out of camp, asked some dude for directions, and took off walking to get to the 101. A couple minutes down the road Ray (the guy I asked for directions) drove by and picked me up to take me to a good spot to hitch from. Now I'm not gonna lie, I was propositioned (if you know what I mean) during this ride. But I respectfully declined and Ray dropped me off to start hitching again.
Ray
I was in a terrible hitching spot because I was still in the city. But honey badger don't care. 10 minutes later I was in the car with Rob (not to be confused with Ray) who was driving out to do some mountain biking! Exactly the ride I needed to get me out of LA once and for all.
Rob
Rob dropped me off outside of town and my spirits were high! I was out of LA! Maybe I could actually make it to San Francisco from LA in one day after all. I stood on this corner for exactly an hour before Jen finally picked me up on her way to the beach. She had moved over to Cali in order to divorce her husband because it was socially unacceptable in Japan. Crazy.
She left me at a pretty good spot where Christian, a surfer dude, picked me up and took me all the way past Santa Barbara. Christian was pretty awesome. I really liked him a lot. He dropped me off past the city (per my request) and I put on my best hitching face. And no one picked me up. And no one continued picking me up. And I was getting bored. And defeated.
Until!!!! At long last someone pulls over to get me. And I meet Jim. Jim is amazing. Jim is awesome. Jim is so nice and so kind. Honestly, I was kind of worried at the beginning because no one is this nice. Jim took me into his car and decided he would take me with him to San Francisco! ALL THE WAY!!! Wooo! I got the ride!! He gave me a cliff bar, bananas, and we enjoyed sushi along the beautiful drive. He drove me about 300 miles and we didn't stop talking the entire way. What a genuinely amazing person. Jim, you're awesome. You're freakin' awesome.
He dropped me off in the middle of San Fran. I said goodbye to my new friend and wandered over to the BART (or whatever it is), which is like their subway. I used the $4 I was given yesterday to get a $3.75 ticket to where my friend Obie was gonna pick me up. I know Obie from the Appalachian Trail and she is so generous it's not even funny. What a great gal. On my way to meet her I did get a little lost though and met Kaley and Joe! They are from Oregon and we hit it off pretty good! Newly Facebook friended we parted, hopefully to meet again in Oregon!
Kaley & Joe
I found my way to Obie (pictures to come) and that is the end of the story for now! I made tons of new friends, got propositioned by a gay guy, and learned about the aliens that live in the middle of the Earth. And I made it to San Francisco. Hells to the yeah.
Be happy y'all,
Beacon
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