What We Have Been Up To (By Kevin)

Day 3
Current Location: Los Angeles(Still)

Here is a quick update on what we have been up to. (Beware: it is quite lengthy)

Chuck and Ian drove us to the airport at 430 in the morning on Wednesday after a few goodbyes to close friends. We both had to check our bags because they were too big to have as a carry-on. We found our gate and tried to sleep but the airport was super cold so we both read for a little while until 6 when we boarded our flight. I slept a little in the airport and on the planes but Zac mostly stayed awake and read because his legs were cramped behind the seat of a crabby geologist on the plane. Both the planes were cold and we had to ask for blankets because the only clothes that we had with us were white tee shirts and shorts. (Which has pretty much been our attire for the trip thus far.)

We landed in LAX around 11am(Pacific Time) on Wednesday and picked up our baggage and then had no idea how to get anywhere in Los Angeles. We called my friend Madison, who lives in Hollywood, and found out that we could take a bus and a subway to get really close to where he lived so we charged our phones and saw Ice Cube walking through the terminal while we were waiting. We almost got onto the wrong bus but a lady stopped us and asked us if it was our first time in Los Angeles. We said yes that it was and got to talking to her and she gave us her name and phone number and told us if we were in the area of Ventura, California to give her a call.

On the bus we meet a creeper man named Victor from Guatemala City, Guatemala. He had worked for 42 years and was just retired and now was just "looking for the senoritas." This was very true because a few minutes after talking to him a few high school age girls entered the bus and when they walked by he did a couple cat calls...he was a creeper for sure. He repeated his enthusiasm for "senoritas" later when passing a strip club by chanting "YES YES YES" as we drove by.

We got off the bus and rode the metro with some crackheads and some nice poor people as well. We then were quickly introduced to the land of Hollywood. We walked around saw the stars on the Boulevard and dodged people trying to scam us. We ate our first In-N-Out burger(Which is AMAZING). And we saw lots of weed dispensaries. That night we hung out with Madison at his apartment with his Swedish roommates and their friends visiting from Sweden.

Yesterday we rode the bus to Venice Beach and saw the boardwalk, the palm trees on the beach, and muscle beach. We sat for a little while and watched a basketball game, and tried to dodge people trying to scam us again all day. Then my cousin Kelly picked us up back at Madison's Apartment and took us to her apartment in Central Los Angeles. (Los Angeles is HUGE there are 13 million people living here according to Madison.)We stayed up late talking with my cousins Patrick and Kelly and her boyfriend Jon and their aunt Mary. They were all very hospitable and fed us and gave us a place to stay for the night. They were excited about our trip and wanted to know more about it.

Today the plan was to go to Rent-A-Wreck and get a car to drive to Yosemite National Park and spend the night there and then return the car in San Francisco. But then after Kelly drove us all the way there we found out that you have to return the cars in the same place that you rent them so that was kind of a bust. So we have just been hanging out at Kelly's Apartment today doing a lot of planning for this trip. We have been looking up places all over the country to do the workaway thing and also getting some statistics for our trip. Right now the place that we are most excited about is in Wyoming working as Jack-a-Roos herding cattle on a 20,000 acre farm. We called the owner of the farm this morning but he hasn't called us back.

Then as far as the statistics go, we only have to hitchhike 165 miles a day to make it back to Cape Hatteras on June 10th. With this route planned we would be able to see pretty much everything that we want to across the nation in many states.

So for a summary: we haven't gone anywhere yet but we have a greater plan and we will hit the Pacific Coast Highway tomorrow morning, which according to Wikipedia is the easiest road in the nation to hitchhike on. We are both very anxious for this trip and can not wait to start tomorrow.