Days 9 - 14

I have typed all these up a while ago, and am just now posting these...

Day 9 Wednesday 10-07-09

I waited in the SFO airport all night, and realized I was in the wrong terminal mid way through... Weird. I flew out with Alaskan Airlines provided by American Airlines. So I tried checking in with Alaska, but they made me go to American. I boarded the plane, and fell asleep for a little bit of the hour and a half flight. Then got free wifi with a free trial... Next time I will use another email and get another free trial. I arrived at LAX, and rode a bus to Union Station, then took a MetroLink train all the way to Covina, and was then picked up by my friend Sarah. She took me to her dorm at Azusa Pacific University. I met her a lot of her friends. I went slack line walking with Carmen, but it was difficult with a blister in between my big toe and the toe next to it. I eventually got better. I threw my stuff into her friend Riley's room, he is from Newburg, OR so we talked about Oregon stuff. We then met up with some other people and went to Tooti Fruiti for some frozen yogurt. Then we went to the roof of Trinity Hall and watched Sweeny Todd, then went to get donuts around 3 am, and then watched School of Rock.

Day 10 Thursday 10-08-09

So I went to bed around 5 am and woke up around 6:30... Hooray for little sleep in the last 2 days! I went with Sarah to the Long Beach to pick up her sister Kiara from Salem. I hung out with Kiara while Sarah was in class, and we walked around. I then decided to head out. I missed the bus from Azusa to the MetroLink, so I walked the 2.5 miles to get there. I then took the MetroLink to San Berdarnino, and from their I walked to Colton to I-10 (another 12 miles) to try to get to Slab City, the whole reason I went on this trip. I was meeting people from a group online, everyone hitch hikes, train hops, and travels from place to place. There was a festival starting on the 8th, so I wanted to be there when it started. I tried for a few hours to get out, and then got a call. The call was from a guy named Joe from the group, and he was heading out from Long Beach on Friday. So I decided to head back to MetroLink, this time I took the bus to the MetroLink station, instead pf walking. I went back to Azusa and met up with Riley, Sarah, and Kiara. Riley had to leave, but invited to a YoungLife thing, So Kiara and I went to the YoungLife thing, but it was something looking for leaders for the local area, so it was boring. I then went back to Riley's room, and slept. It was a lot warmer than the night before.

Day 11 Friday 10-09-09

I woke up around 7:30 am, and sat up. My face was all wet, I touched it, and my hand turned all red. I have no idea what happened, but I got a really bad bloody nose. Oh well, I ate breakfast with Riley at the cafe, and we took a lot of food for my travels. I wanted to get to Long Beach by 1:00 pm, but just barely missed the bus, so I had to change my path. I looked on my iPhone and got a route that would get me there at 1:31. Sweet. It took me $5.00 to get to Long Beach, but like 3 hours. I met Joe at the Transit Center, and we walked to his car and met DJ. Then we were off to Slab City.

It took us 6 hours to get to the Slabs, but we got a cool tour of the Palm Desert area by DJ who grew up there. We got there at 7:30, and I met a few people. The place we camped at is an old sewage treatment place, and we slept in the tank. The guy who lives there is named Moth, and he was a crazy dressed guy. He looked like a hippy, but was a total dirty kid (punk squatter) at heart. A group of 20 left for the hot springs, then 50 ft away it was 10 people, then as we got closer it turned to be 5... The water was really hot, it felt relaxing. Then we head back to go to bed.

Day 12 Saturday 10-10-09

In the morning, I was actually able to see people. I met Max, Murt, Wes, Matt, Mike, Whistler, Brendan and a bunch of other people that I have talked to online. There was a ratio of 25 guys to 1 girl. I went to town 3 miles away, and helped fill up the water jugs, and then came back. I stayed in the tank most of the time because it was so hot outside. Some people wanted to go get some food from town, and Joe let max drive his car... Max was driving around, and didn't see a concrete pit, and got the car stuck. It was resting on 3 wheels, and the 4th was hanging over the pit. We had to wait for Builder Bill to come by with his van to pull it out. The car came out fine, which is good because it was my ride home.

Another Matt came by, and he wasn't a part of the online group, but some one put a note on his car to come by. He was a photographer from New York who came out to get his grandmothers car from California, and he heard about the Slabs and decided to come out. He had a blast taking pictures of the group in the tank, with the street art and all sorts of things. I can't wait to get some of the pictures.

That night, we went to The Range, a music venue that Builder Bill built. It was open mic night, and two bands came with our group. Some of the local bands were really awful, but they were like 70+ years old. Builder Bill's group was amazing, and they had a theme song about the slabs. Then Black Sparrow Press played an amazing show, and Joe and DJ did a great show too. Afterward we wondered back through the desert, with no light, all the way back to the tank.

Black Sparrow Press did another set there by the fire, and Murt cooked up some steaks. Great night. I headed to bed.

Day 13 Sunday 10-11-09

In the morning my ride was leaving at 10:30, so I had to pack up, and cram in to the car. There were five full sized guys in the car, Joe, DJ, Wes, Max, and I. About a half mile up the road, we had to stop at a border security check point. The guy looked in the car, asked us where we were coming from, and Joe said the Slabs. The guy asked if he could search the car, and we let him, nothing to hide. Apparently a car before us coming from the slabs had like 2 pounds of weed. The guy brings out a drug dog, and the dog smelled weed in the car, but that could be from a small bag weeks ago. So the border patrol asked us if we had ever been arrested for possesion, we all said no. He asked us if we had anything, we said no. Apparently, a previous owner of my bag had some weed in it, and the dog sensed it. But they didn't find anything, so whatever. It took about half an hour to search, but they packed up the trunk nicely.

We dropped Max off in Palm Desert at his house, and continued on our way (with slightly more room). We went to Santa Ana, and went to DJ's house, and helped them prepare food for Food Not Bombs, and served it in the park. Joe then took Wes and I to Cal State, Long Beach Campus. Where he goes to school. I get on the bus which takes me to the Long Beach Transit center, I get on the Blue Line, switch to the Red Line, and arrive at Union Station. I then get on Gold Line, and get off in Pasadena, and take the 187 bus to Azusa. I get there at 9:30, it took 11 hours to get back.

I hung out with Riley and met a guy named Pete. Pete let me stay in his room on a pull out couch. Sweet. Pete and I went dumpster diving on campus but didn't find anything good. Got to bed at 3 am...ish.

Day 14 Monday 10-12-09

I sat around and did nothing for most of the day, everyone was in class. I went to dinner with the guys hall around 5:30, and got some more fruit for my travels. I then went with the girls hall to go bowling for Jocelin's birthday. I bowled a 67... Then when I got back, I helped Riley figure out how to record his guitar on his Mac. Then went to Taco King with some guys from the hall.