122702

 

Tucson, AZ to Redlands, CA

Friday December 27, 2002

     4:47am  We're right outside of Tucson, Arizona. I think we are going to stop for a nap.

                   Okay, the time is about 5:45am now. I don't know where I am. I woke up and Rusty had pulled off again. It looks like there's a big city over there. I'm in a Park-And-Ride. Buses come through here. I have no idea where I am though. Wow, different populated stuff. Badass.

                   Okay, time is now 6am exactly and I am still standing at the Park-n-Ride. I just smoked a cigarette and a little weed. Rusty, the guy I'm driving with, when he was putting my bag in his car he asked me if I had anything illegal in it. He has a big Jesus is Lord sticker on the back of his car. It's a Honda Accord. I think it's an Accord. So, I haven't told him I have marijuana on me, of course. It's not much anyway, like a pinch or two. I haven't asked him if I could smoke in his car or anything. That would be totally uncalled for. He's asleep in his car now and I'm standing outside in the open air, so I put a little pinch in my sneak-a-toke and took a hit. Now, I just realized I could go sit in the car and listen to my headphones. Cool. Man, I think we are almost there.

                   So as it turns out, we are in Tucson, Arizona. I thought we were almost there. We are right outside of Tucson.

                   Approximate ETA to California: around 4-5 hours.

                   It's about 6:25am and if I read the sign right we will be passing Phoenix in about 14 miles. Hopefully, it'll be light outside by then.

                   I was wrong. Phoenix is 73 miles away.

                   Time is now 7:53am. We are driving through Phoenix, Arizona. The biggest city in Arizona. Flagstaff is the capital. I think I lost my Gilligan hat somewhere.

                   Whoa, badass. Rusty overheard me telling you I had lost my hat. He reached back behind my seat and pulled it out! So awesome. I don't have to replace it.

                   We are driving through Buckeye, shit I can't understand that stuff I recorded right here.

                   377 miles to Los Angeles.

     8:21am  Los Angeles, 330 miles.

                   Time is now 9:34am and I just entered California. Rusty just pointed out the thick layer of smog that's in front of the mountains. It's pitiful. It's all so beautiful and we are ruining it all.

                   It's about 11:07am and we are 120 miles away from Los Angeles.

     11:18am  We are passing Palm Drive, Desert Hot Springs.

                     Wow, it's about 11:20am and we are passing all these windmills everywhere. They're humongous. They're everywhere. It looks like a windmill-dealer or something, hehe.

                     Now entering Palm Springs. The windmills at Joshua Tree. Los Angeles, 87 miles.

                     77 miles to Los Angeles.

                     Time is about 11:44am. We stopped at a rest stop. Whoa, I can't believe I'm actually in California. Man, I got here quick.

                     Okay, time is about 12:08pm. Rusty told me, "Okay, this is the end of the line, buddy," and dropped me off. I'm in Redlands, California. I'm going to go find a bathroom. I gotta go take a shit.

                     Okay, I went in the restroom of this restaurant across the street where Rusty dropped me off. I took some of my layers off and I threw a quick shave. Damn, I look good.

                     The restaurant I went into was called Redlands Family Restaurant. The address is 107 and I don't know the name of the street.

                     Okay, I got the phone number to Omni-Trans, the bus system here. I'm going to go back to the restaurant where I used the restroom and ask to borrow the phone.

                     I called the bus and they asked me where I was going. I told them as far West as possible. They told me to walk West to Orange and Fulton and catch the 19. I wrote it all down.

                     Okay, the number 12 bus pulled up and I asked the driver if he could tell me where the stop for route #19 was. He pointed me across the street and said, "Yeah, the 19 and that's going to Fontana." I told him to have a nice day and drive carefully. He had a big smile on his face. Hehe, all bus drivers are the same. San Antonio, Texas or Redlands, California. It doesn't matter.

                     Time is about, shit I couldn't understand the tape right there. Man, my feet are so sore. This guy just walked by the bus stop and asked me if he could buy a cigarette off of me. I told him, "Sorry, I don't sell my cigarettes, enjoy it," and I handed him one.

                     The lady on the phone said that the 19 came at 12:20pm, so I got a good ten minute wait.

                     Oh yeah, I asked the guy at the bus stop what time it was and its only 11:45am. I was thinking it was two hours ahead, because I forgot to adjust my watch to the time-zones, wups. Fuckin' duh.

                     Driver's name is Ernestine, #1201.

                     I was just talking to this one guy on the bus, telling him about my traveling. He told me, "Man, you make me feel like running away now. I want to do that." I asked him what was stopping him and he told me he didn't know. That it was easy living with his parents. He told me he would go with me, but I told him sorry, that this was a solo-trip only.

                     Well, anyway. The time is now 1:17pm. I rode the 19 all the way to Fontana. All this time I was thinking Fontana was a street. It's a city. So, I'm at Fontana now and for some reason I got on the 61. The driver told me he would drop me off at the Greyhound place. When I got off I discovered it was only a gas station that has a contract with Greyhound and some buses stop there. It was a Circle K. I walked in and asked them how much a bus ticket to LA would cost. They told me they had no idea, that I would have to call Greyhound. I'm going to try walking some more. My feet feel a little better from the rest on the bus. I'll just walk a little more and see what happens.

                     I'm stopping at Cherry Avenue. Damn, the traffic here is worse than San Antonio's. Time is about 3:20pm. I just put a new ball on my stick and I'm walking.

                     Well that sucked. A cop pulled over. The time is now 3:57pm. A cop pulled over and asked me questions. I gave him my ID and he told me I can't be walking on the freeway, that it was illegal. So he told me to jump the fence right there, which was a bitch to do, but I made it. He told me I would have to walk like a mile and a half to a bus stop. I guess I'll have to use my money and buy a bus ticket. The time is about 4pm. Later on.

                     Whoa, that was crazy. I got up to throw my bags over the fence. The cop told me to do that first. I left my wallet hanging from it's chain. Now, I keep that little bag of weed in there. I was lugging my backpack to the fence and I felt something brushing on my leg. I checked and it was my wallet. It was wide-open and my little sack of weed was in plain view. Man, if it would've fallen out, I'd be so busted. Luckily, it didn't. I was able to get it and it didn't look like he saw it, because he let me go. Alright.

                     I am sitting here on the ditch on the other side of the fence I just jumped. I'm just chilling out laying down here resting. I found all my vitamins I thought I had lost. A bottle of Vitamin C and some Mega 2000 strength multi-vitamins. I just drank me a Two-Cals and I just had a couple scoops of my Muscle Blast 2000 stuff. I'm going to be ready for this climb up the hill on the other side of the ditch. The time is now 4:09pm.

                     Man, this hill is going to be a bitch to climb up. It's a steep slope. I hope I don't slip. I got like 60lbs of shit on my back.

                     Whoa, this big hill of loose rocks looks like fun. Damn, I'm glad I have these vitamins. I need all the help I can get.

                     Damn, that was excruciating work. The time is now 4:32pm. I just got all the way up this big rock hill. Man, the rocks are all loose and shit. Every time I put my foot down, it would just give way and cause a mini-avalanche. But, I finally, after hard work, got all the way up the hill. I'm really glad I have these boots right now. Hehe, there's a Porto-potty over there. I'm going to go tip it over, hehe. Maybe I'm going to smoke some weed. Yeah, that's what I'll do.

                     Right where I climbed up on the hill, I found a big spool of good string. Hey, I can use that, I'm going to steal it. The time is now 4:37pm.

                     I'm a little past the hill of rocks and I just got to this other part. It's just a huge series of foundations for a big building. It's big. It's just the foundation.

                     I wrote down some directions from the cop on the other side of the fence. Time is now 5:00pm. I'm on Valley Road right now. He told me to turn left, then right.

                     Okay, the time now is 5:45pm. After I walked over that hill and got on the road that led to this place, I came upon some construction machines. You know the earthmoving ones with the big scoop in front? It was perfect just to set down my bag and rest and smoke a cigarette. Then I looked closer at the scoop and thought, "Hey, my feet are so tired. I could fall asleep in that scoop. I'm going to. I'll wake up early and walk to the city and ask around where the Greyhound terminal is." Alright, later on.

                     Ain't that cool. The end of the tape and the end of the day.

                     The time is now 9:05pm. I just got woken up. I was sleeping in the scoop and these construction guys came by checking pressures and shit. Anyway, I got about three hours of rest. I'm going to keep walking. I should've asked them to point me in a direction. Oh well.

                     Okay, I stopped and rested at Etiwanda and Santa Ana.

                     It's about 10pm. I walked to, shit I forgot what the corner was. I said it earlier. It was Santa Ana and something. There was this guy talking to another person in a car and I walked up to them. It was a security guard talking to a friend or something. I asked them, "Hey, which way is civilization?" He pointed the way, so now I know which way is West. right now I'm walking south. If I turn to the left, ill be walking West.

                     The time is about 10:15pm right now. I stopped into this restaurant called Farmer Boys World's Greatest Hamburgers. I gave them my 'ol gasoline for the stomach line and the dude told me he would hook me up. Cool, that line will work anywhere. I ate a yummy burger and smoked a cigarette.

                     Okay, I was walking down the street and a truck just pulled behind me and stopped. I turned around and he was just sitting there in the middle of the street behind me. I thought he might want to help me out and give me a ride, so I started walking towards the truck. But, when I started getting closer to him, he put it in reverse and started backing up slowly. I was a bit confused, so I just turned and walked in the direction I had been. How weird.

                     At first that truck took off when I turned around. But, now it's back right behind me just sitting there with it's warning lights blinking.

Next day..