I spent my morning in LA on my own. My friend Nick had to go to some sort of audition/read through for a pilot he wanted to do. I walked down to a local coffee shop and enjoyed the sunshine drinking my iced chai latte on the patio. I eventually started a conversation with a couple that was going hiking, Mike and Paulina. They were super nice and told me that I should check out Griffith Park before leaving town. Paulina also gave me her card and number in case I had any questions, and Mike gave me his information and told me to contact him next time I wanted to go to Warped Tour. They were both super cool...who says LA doesn't have nice people??? While at the cafe I had also managed to solidify a ride to Sun City West, AZ through Craigslist, and would be leaving the next day at 2pm.
Right after I finished my conversation with Mike and Paulina, Nick rolled up to the cafe in his black and orange Pontiac muscle car, and we cruised around town for a bit. After running a few errands, we decided to go up to Griffith Park and hike up around the observatory there. There seemed to be quite a lot of people out, seeing as it was Saturday it made sense, but the weather and view were both great from the park.
After our trip to the park we walked over to the Hollyhock house, which was originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It's quite a magnificent design, being built at the beginning of the 20th century. It has more recently been designated as a National Historic Landmark by the US Department of Interior. Although they were doing some renovations on the main house, from what we saw of the rest of the complex was interesting. One neat design of the house is that it was purposely positioned in such a way that from the hill that the Hollyhock House is located, you can look across town to a hill where you can clearly see another Wright house, the Ennis House.
In the evening we took the LA Metro down into Hollywood and walked the strip a bit. I had to of course walk along the hall of fame and check out the Chinese Theater. While there I actually got to see John C Reilly who was attending an AFI event at the theater. I guess that would be my celebrity sighting for the trip. I found humor in the fact that a lot of people on the street couldn't remember his name and just called him that "Shake 'n Bake guy."
On the way back to the Metro we stopped for some pizza and garlic knots at a little pizza place off of Hollywood Blvd. The pizza was pretty yummy, and I somehow managed to get a slice for free. Score!
That night Nick and I both crashed out early. My plan was to get up early and take the Metro across town to Long Beach where I'd be meeting my ride to Arizona.
11/6/11
Because I had gone to sleep so early I woke up quite early. It was 6:30am, although because of the time change it was more like 7:30am. As I gathered my things together and for ready for the ride across town, Nick woke up and let me know that he would give me a ride. That was awesome news, because it was going to take me over two hours of commuting to get to Long Beach, plus I wasn't super comfortable riding the Metro across town.
We spent the morning just chatting, and Nick's roommate Andrea made us some super strong, but good, coffee. Eventually we loaded up my bike in the car and drove over to Long Beach. We realized that we hadn't gotten any picture together, so we decided to snap a few shots before parting ways. I had good visit in LA, and actually ended up liking the city just a little bit more than I expected. I expected to kind of hate it there actually.
I met Aaron in a parking lot near the water polo pool. He seemed like a good guy, a Ventura native, maybe 50, driving a Chevy Tahoe. Last I heard there was going to be a woman with cats riding with us, but it looked like that fell through, so it would be just us. Aaron said that he could drive me right up to the doorstep of where I would be going in Sun City West, where my friend Mailman Dave lives. I called Dave as we left Long Beach to confirm that it was still ok that I was coming. He seemed fine with it, and I had talked to him the day before to let him know that I'd be coming through town soon, but I still wish I could've given him more than 6 hours notice of my arrival.
The ride to Arizona was smooth. Aaron had good taste in rock music, as well as a good stereo, so when we weren't talking we were rocking out down the highway. We split the cost of gas, and it ended up costing me $30 to get to Sun City West.
I guess this brings me to why I decided to get a ride in the first place. Well, the truth is that the California coast ended up costing me a bit more money than I had expected. I suppose I spent a little more time exploring the coast than I had expected as well. There is no doubt in my mind that I could've made it through the California desert to Arizona, but I ultimately decided that it would be better to get a ride. First, it would help me make up a little time. I figure it may have taken me a week to get to Phoenix. Second, it would save me money. Seven days on the road with a $25/day average would be $175, so the $30 for a ride really didn't seem like much in comparison. Third, I thought that with the time and money I was saving I could spend time exploring a little more interesting places by bike. Don't get me wrong, I love places like Joshua Tree and the Mojave, but I have been there before and would go there again, but ultimately wasn't super excited to ride across the California desert. I know some people will call that cheating, but guess what...this is my trip and I can make the rules.
In Sun City West Mailman Dave lives in a kind of gated community. He met us out at one of the entrances and it was good to see him. I know Dave from Portland, where we both are regulars at a place called Chopsticks. We call him 'Mailman' because he worked for the postal service for a number of years, but was now retired. We had always just been acquaintances, but about two months earlier when I found out that he was spending his winter in Arizona, I told him about my bike trip and he invited me to stop by. I'm very grateful that he opened his home to me, and I think we had a really good visit. We ended up having quite an extensive conversation that evening, and I feel that we got to know each other on a more 'friend' level.
We had made plans to get breakfast in the morning, and then called it a night. It was nice to be indoors, as the forecast for the evening was rain (first LA then Arizona...what timing!), but I opened the windows wide in the room I was staying in and enjoyed the fresh air and sprinkling as I fell asleep. It reminded me of being outside camping, which is more of what I've been used to. I longed to be back on the road.
Miles: 360 miles by car
RRD: Trash
-D
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