On The Road

Quick Note From The Previous Post:  I realized the day after I posted that, that I did indeed forget to mention that I was able to successfully blow up the Death Star.  So you may all sleep well tonight.  (Before the show Josh took me to the arcade not too far from his house and I blew up the Death Star but was unable to defend myself in a weird soccer/paddle type game against Josh.  Oh well, it was a lot of fun anyway.)

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So the next morning we kinda lounged around again.  Well, actually, I lounged and Josh slept.  Eventually we were both up and about and it was time for me to go and pick up McKenzie at the Burbank airport.  So I headed downtown on the bus to catch another bus that would take me all the way to the airport.  Then I picked up Kenz and also picked up a rental car to make the rest of the trip a bit easier.

When we got back to Josh’s we helped finish preparing the food for Food Not Bombs.  After the cars were loaded up we headed down to Pershing Square.

As we walked up into the square with the first armfulls of stuff to feed the homeless I saw tons of people in fairly simple dress clothes, long beards and some were wearing hats.  The Amish! (I thought)  The crowd of them had dispersed by the time we got set up but we would later find out that they were in fact Born Agains from somewhere in the south.  But they would have blended right in in good old Lancaster, PA.

Anyway, after feeding the homeless there we headed down to Skid Row.  Whenever I go to help Josh out with Food Not Bombs, Skid Row is always an interesting place to visit.  I would kinda call it the headquarters for homeless people on the West Coast.  There’s also been a lot of reports lately on how the cops and hospitals dump people on Skid Row when they don’t know what else to do with them so there are people there that really shouldn’t be but there are also some really interesting people that are more than willing to talk to you (especially if you have red hair as Kenz found out).
This visit to Skid Row was better than the others because the supposed Amish people were already there right in front of the San Julian mission where FNB always serves food.  They were out there with mics and amps and singing away.  They actually had a pretty good chorus and a lot of the people down there liked it too.  (I had to chuckle though cause they were singing about religion and being good to each other and we were the ones actually out doing something.)

Well, after we finished up there and I was done pouring gallon after gallon of water for all the thirsty people we headed back to Josh’s to clean up everything.  Then Kenz and I headed inland to Upland to visit Grandma!

There’s always a lot to do when I visit my Grandma but I was pretty tired when I got there so I didn’t get too much done that first night but I started my gardening early the next day.

Josh had given me two tomato plants to take and replant at my Grandma’s.  Since I pack light, I only had one pair of pants, the one’s I was wearing.  That meant I had to do chores around the house and yard and try not to get them any dirtier than they already were because I still had to look neat and clean for my stand-by travel home.  I was able, with the help of Kenz, to pot the tomatoes and move the large pots to a sunnier area and help water all the plants without getting too dirty.

Before I left CA this trip I was determined to make it to the Vans outlet store, so after the yard work we all went to Ontario Mills so I could buy yet another pair of vans (for super cheap).  I also got Little Jake some, I think he likes them.  After the shopping there was just enough time to eat at my Grandma’s favorite mexican restaurant, pack my stuff, and head to the airport speeding along on the often treacherous Pasadena Freeway.  Well, that’s what everyone says anyway but I don’t think it’s all that twisty turny compared to the PA Turnpike, but that’s just my opinion.

I made it to the airport in time after wandering around looking for a gas station, got my seat assignment, and headed back to Provo after another successful super fast trip.  Not too shabby if you ask me.

Well, it stopped snowing cause I left Utah.  After staying put for nearly a month I just happened to get a three day weekend from my boss so I decided to go somewhere. I figured Los Angeles would be the best use of my time since there’s not too much time spent on planes or in airports.  (If it was a four day weekend I was going to try a trip to Belgium.)

I tried to leave on Friday evening at eight o’clock but the stand-by gods frowned upon me and I was the only stand-by left in the boarding lounge as the plane pushed back.  Oh well, that just means my chances would be better the following morning.  So I crashed at Brooks for a quick four hours and headed back to the airport very early on Saturday to catch a six o’clock flight.  This time I made it.

I got in to Long Beach airport, grabbed a cab to the nearest Metro Station and made my way to my brother’s.  I thought I was going to surprise him by showing up at his front door without him giving me the directions on how to get there from the Metro station (thanks to the google maps app on my phone).  I was wrong.  Instead I got to his house and called him for over an hour and a half waiting for him to wake up and let me in.  I tried knocking but no one answered (odd for a house with twelve people living in it).  I wandered around his neighborhood (Silver Lake) for a while and got something to eat at the farmer’s market down the street and continued to call incessantly.  Eventually I gave up and started walking back to the Metro station.  I figured I could go find something more exciting to do somewhere else in the city.  Luckily he called me just before I got to the station so I turned around and went back.

It was clear by this point that it was going to be a lot hotter than Utah on Saturday.  We walked around a bit and got some vegan food but then went back to the shade and shelter of the house after a while.  We kinda lounged around during the hottest part of the day and he showed me the garden behind the house and a vacant lot behind that where there used to be another garden.

In the evening we went to an art exhibit down by where he used to live just off of skid row.  The event was called LA vs. War.  There was pretty cool stuff to see and there was a group silk screening images onto whatever you wanted.  After that we went to a show in a part of L.A. I don’t think I’ve ever been to, called Atwater.  The show was interesting and it was the first time I saw someone rock out on an electric banjo.

After that I was pretty tired and had a nice sized headache so around one I called it a night.