L,A. Fadeaway

Day 46

Miles Traveled since Last Blog: 110

Miles Traveled Total: 1866

This sprawling city that has become the dream or ideal of so many Americans during our the past century's media boom has really invited me in with open arms.

This place gets a pretty bad rap for being crowded, loud, polluted and shallow. Maybe its my perception or I've just listened to "Why'd You Want to Live Here" by Death Cab for Cutie one to many times. However it is my second night here in LA and I've had a great time thus far. I just wanted to emphasize that preconceived notions about a place do not always affect judgment.

After Santa Barbara I camped that night at Carpenteria State Beach. It was a nice place and camped with the legendary "3 Amigos", who are a trifecta of friends who used to be fire fighters doing the same route every summer for 25 years. There was good crew of people at the site and it was a nice place besides being right next to the train tracks.

From there I made it all the way into LA and more specifically Santa Monica It was a long day but the terrain leveled out a lot and the traffic picked up especially from Malibu on. Right as I got in LA city limits I ran into the three guys from the UK (picture above). It had been since before San Francisco since I last saw them and it was great to catch up and I rode with them into Venice Beach for a while before I met up with Jimmy, my cousins friend from high school. We caught some free music down by the pier (pictured below) and had a nice night out on the town.

Couldn't really decide what I wanted to do today but when checking my email this morning I found one from someone who had caught wind of the blog through someone who met me earlier down the road at San Simeon after Big Sur. A nice woman Alicia offered a place to crash for the night in Highland Park and older neighborhood east of Hollywood. I couldn't turn down the offer of exploring the city and took her up on it. So I made my way through the city and saw UCLA and Hollywood before coming here. Alicia and her boyfriend Chris have been great hosts and it is nice to receive such hospitality from people who are essentially strangers. I am currently at their place getting ready for a comfy night on a couch ready to head south again to Orange County tomorrow. It is nice to know that in a place that is rumored to be vacant of heart there are nice people willing to share their home. Thanks a lot!!!

(UCLA)

(LA river)
It was really nice exploring the city today and I am excited to check out more of it tomorrow. The cars are nice for the most part and the weather flawless. I couldn't ask for more. This has been a pleasant suprise.

slow & steady wins the race

-TE