Great people in SLC, a day hitch to Jackson Hole

Everyone I met in Salt Lake City was great, it was Candice's place, I found her through couchsurfing.com, a truly great person. Staying with her was Kayla, a girl enthusiastic about life and the changes happening in hers. Within an hour or so of arriving we were at a bar with great food and a double sided beer menu, I instantly fell in love with these beer loving souls. The whole lot of people were interesting and in love with travel, in love with life.

I decided to stay an extra night to give myself a full day in Utah with everyone, I took the afternoon with Kayla walking around the neighborhood talking about our ideas of life and the way things were going, we were decidedly happy and hungry for more, ideas of hitching from Denver to the east coast sparked our interests.

Kayla went on a cleaning frenzy, and eventually Kayla came home from work, after some praise for Kayla's deep clean (she has a cleaning business back in Rhode Island, so she's pretty good) and a quick smoke, we were off on a beer run, we picked up a couple six packs and some wine. We started with the wine while the beers chilled in the freezer, it was all great. We talked the night away, laughing at one thing and philosophizing about another until we all faded to sleep.

In the morning I woke up early and was ready to go, Candice slept in a bit, it would make her late for work, but it wouldn't matter. I hopped in the car with her on her way to work so she could drop me near the interstate so I could start hitchhiking to Jackson, I wanted to make it in one day, I would. On the car ride we decided a trip all the way down to the lower tip of south america would serve us well come the new year, we talked about the countries we could hitch through, where we could possibly stay, looping back up, our spanish speaking, and the idea that just going was really the thing to do, planning or not, money or not. That's the style I love, it excited her, it excited a lot of people in Salt Lake, it through more fuel on the fire I've been blazing the past year.

I hopped out of the car and said goodbye, her eyes looked back at me something pure, something excited, something peaceful. Eyes like that always get me spinning, so does the beginning of a day long hitch, I floated down the street in search for my on ramp. I'll likely be seeing a handful of these Salt Lake folk in Vegas in a week, my free room there is getting fuller by the day and couldn't be better.

After some weaving through town I found myself thumb out on the I-15 North entrance, it wasn't long before an SUV stopped, a guy who gear to eye doctors. "You're clean shaven, that's why I picked you up!", I have a full beard going, but he knew what he said and I knew what he meant. We made a stop and he got me some coffee and breakfast at a gas station. Back in the car he had more questions about life on the road, "So do you get pussy on the road?!", I started to answer, "Yea, here and again...", he cut me of as he slapped the dashboard a few times, "He's getting pussy, on the road! He's getting pussy on the road!", that was enough for him. He got me a ways up the road and let me out with a ten dollar bill.

My next ride came from a husband wife and daughter in a car seat who sat in the back with me, his english was decent and we talked for a bit, I had some candy from a halloween pumpkin bag and slept in and out of sleep as we cruised up I-15, they dropped me off on the freeway an hour into Utah when they had to turn off. I walked up to the next on ramp and waited for another ride, a cop was the first to stop 30 or 40 minutes in. He ran my ID and asked some questions, the usual deal, then told me passively I couldn't be signally or soliciting rides in Idaho, no thumbing, no signs. I asked if it was ok to walk on the freeway in the shoulder, he said I could as long as I was safe.

Walk I did, careful about thumbing, I didn't want him to drive by again. After a ways of walking and an hour or so ticked off the clock a woman pulled into the shoulder, instantly drunk and out of it, I hopped in and she warned me of the cops that would hassle me, I'd already learned this. She handed me a beer from the center console and I chugged it by the time she dropped me just several miles up the road. I walked some more and a local guy stopped for me, he worked for a company that worked on the engines for a lot of the ski lifts in the area, he got me just a bit more up the road, 45 miles still south of Idaho Falls where I'd want to turn east towards Jackson.

My next ride came quicker than the others, a pickup truck with a woman and her son driving on route to take a urine test with his parole officer in Idaho Falls, he was drinking a lot of water and a special "test clean" kind of drink to hide whatever needed hiding in his piss. They were no strangers to hitchhikers, they were sure to get me into town and well onto the next road I needed to be on in a good spot, a small detour for them that saved me possibly hours of walking through town to switch to the smaller road that leads to Jackson.

I walked down the road thumbing the cars, my shadow stretching half way down the block as a reminder that daylight would soon be gone, along with all hints of warmth. A couple picked me up and took me 10 or 20 miles up to a gas station, from across the street I watched the sun disappear as I thumbed the headlights passing me by, the sky was still reflecting orange and pink remnants for a barely usable dim light, the warmth was completely gone now though. 

A car stopped just as darkness was to completely take over, he was headed just about all the way to Jackson. He told me about his oil trucking job he didn't like all too much, he told me about hitchhiking in Argentina where he was from, we sailed over the pass and close to Jackson, he dropped me at Hoback Junction, a spot just outside Jackson. I stood under the street light with my thumb until a guy stopped for me, he handed me a beer and said he wasn't going all the way into town, I was happy to inch closer, he went a little further past his home to get me to a good intersection. From there I was picked up instantly, out of his car and into another before the first pulled away, the driver of this car new my uncle who lived in town, he dropped me just 10 miles or less from where I was headed in Teton Village.

It wasn't long before I was picked up where he left me by a couple seasonal guys about my age working the lifts at the ski mountain, the dropped me right in front of the Teton Club where my folks stay, so I headed up and was greeted by family members I hadn't seen in a while, and it turned out I beat the rest of the family there, hitching is faster than flying as it turns out, but they arrived soon enough. A couple days and turkey in Jackson will do me good, laced with my excitement for the weeks to come, good times yield to great times.

Hopping from Phoenix to Salt Lake City

A lot got done in Phoenix as far Trip Hopping goes, we made improvements on the site and everything behind it, but I of course eventually headed for the road heading north. New shoes too, I've finally retired my well served pair of keens and have slipped into the cheap work boots I bought one time at Larry's in Phoenix when I worked construction with his for a couple weeks. The shoes stench reached an undesirable point, and an attempt to clean them with a high powered pressure washer did them in, their time had come.

I was dropped off at an on ramp at the north end of Phoenix, I stood in my new boots with my thumb enticing the cars the drove by. After a bit of waiting, a woman came walking towards me with a purse and a cup, but as she got closer, I was convinced she was a he, but still can't tell. I'll go with he, he gave me a cup of water and waited in the ditch nearby for his turn to hitch. After a while he requested I pour the water while he rinsed his hands, I did this, he thanked me and tried to grab my ass, then strutted back to the ditch with a 24oz Steel Reserve, "You try another hour, then it's my turn", said sassily as he turned around.

My ride came soon enough, two guys headed to Flagstaff, I'd gotten a late start, but this would be a good ride on my trek to, Salt Lake City, that being the first stop on route to Jackson, WY. We talked a bit, they talked amongst themselves about nothing particularly interesting, I slipped in and out of catching sleep in the back seat until they dropped me off in Flagstaff.

I walked a ways up the connection road, I was switching from I-17 North to 89 North. I thought I'd walk a ways to get out of sidewalk/walmart territory, but my casual behind-the-back-no-look-half-mast thumbing attracted a ride before too much walking at all, a young Renaissance fair worker who had his mom's car and no plans, after a bit of talking he said he'd take me a decent ways up the road to help me out, and a several miles later decided he'd drive until his gas tank was down to half. He'd hit the road around the same time I did, July of 2007 give or take, he smoked me out and we shared insights in stories, he dropped me at a semi-desolate gas station way up the road, a town I later learned was The Gap, AZ.

Although it was dark, well dark, I thought I'd stand in the gas station lights thumbing the few passing cars in an attempt to make a little more distance to guarantee a Salt Lake arrival for the following day. A couple Navajo guys came offering a place to stay and word of pot roast currently underway, I turned it down in hopes of another ride, turns out it could have made for a warmer night. They said they'd be back in an hour and see if I was still there.

The woman in the gas station ushered me in at one point after waiting offering warmth for a bit, "I saw you dancing and rubbing your hands together, come warm up for a bit!", so I did. She offered me sodas from the fountain, I grabbed some water. As people came in and paid for gas she questioned their direction and seat availability for me, it was nice, but didn't work out and there were very few people coming through anyhow. I said I'd brave the cold and try a bit longer on the road, I lasted 10 minutes before coming back in deciding to camp in The Gap, the two guys never came back, or perhaps drove by while I was inside and missed me.

I changed into some layers and took the girls' advice and went across the street to some open space where I set up my sleeping bag. I chewed on some trail mix, a treat Nick gave us in Vegas I still had, and started fading to sleep. The dogs barked at nothing, then each other, then faded and waited for the next round, the two Navajo guys warned me of the "vicious dogs", one showed my a rip in his pants. I met a couple of the dogs, they were cool.

I woke in the morning to the gravel crunching near me, footsteps, I popped up and scared two guys who hadn't seen me, the same from the night before, and they told me as much. One asked if I wanted coffee and handed me the one he'd just bought for himself, they took off promising a return with munchies, I down the coffee, and started packing my sleeping bag back up. They never came back, I hit the gas station bathroom and then the road eagerly awaiting the sun to finish squeezing above the mountain.

An hour went by and a couple stopped, Navajos as well, the woman slipped in the back and I took her place in the passenger seat. They told me of Mike from Minnesota, a guy that worked for several months of the year and spent the rest traveling, they said it was the similarities to him that made them pick me up, thanks Mike!

They dove me clear to Page, even bought me breakfast at McDonalds, OJ and all. We sped over the bridge towards a spot outside town they wanted to drop me at, 100 yards before we got there flashing lights pulled us over, I meant it about speeding over the bridge. The cop took his info and my license when he learned I was a hitchhiker, and then came back with a written warning. Turns out my driver had retired a month or so back the town over after 30 years in the force, ending as the chief. The rookie cop was a bit embarrassed, but laughed it off happy he only gave him a warning.

I waited in the spot they left me for some time, I could see nothing but desert, road, and some smoke stacks way in the distance. It took an hour and half, but someone stopped, they always do. A man, who I guessed was his teenage son, and a younger son in the back with me, my pack on my lap. They took me 20 miles up the road, and said if I didn't get a ride in the next 10 minutes or so that they'd pick me up on their way to keep going to Kanab, another 60 or so miles up and into Utah. I didn't get a ride, and hopped back in with them when they came around.

I introduced myself as Kenny to discover I was one of three in the car. We pulled out a pipe and smoked out the car, except for the littlest Kenny. He left me at a good spot on the edge of town, but I wondered if I should have crossed over to the more busy I-15. That wondering was put to rest when a pickup headed past Provo picked me up, 4 or more miles up the road that would get me 30 miles from Salt Lake. We talked the whole way up, he bought me a subway sandwich when he filled up.

It got dark as we pulled through Provo and into Orem, just the last tint or orange remained by the time I jumped out, in shouting distance of Salt Lake. The on ramp was narrow, but I had to go for it, so I put out my thumb for cars to see pretty much as they passed me. Sure enough, a young friendly couple pulled aside and let me in. They were head past Salt Lake City, they offered to drive me exactly where I was going, so I got directions from my soon-to-be couchsurfing host and they dropped me off right at her doorstep 40 minutes up the road and through the neighborhood.

I can tell Salt Lake City will be a fun day or so before completing the hitch to Jackson for turkey day, everyone I've met is friendly and in a generally awesome frame of mind. Another hitch without a hitch, let 'em roll.

Hitched out of Vegas, Trip Hopping in Phoenix

My last morning in Vegas, I rested leisurely in my room overlooking the pirate ships there at Treasure Island until my friend Jennifer called, I checked out and she gave me a ride all the way to the Hoover Dam. With a good head start, I stood far above the dam watching tourists below me, around me, and driving by me taking my picture out the window.

It was a bit of a wait, a cop stopped at one point early on, "Hitchhiking here is illegal", I asked if there was a better spot for me to be, "I've told you it's illegal, but when I drive away you do what you gotta do". Police are funny. I kept my thumb out until a pickup truck stopped and hopped in. 

The guy took me 30 minutes down the road, he was a welder working on the Wynn, a premier hotel/casino on the strip. He was also an ex-racing champion who held a track record in Vegas since 1992. He also found one of the only rhodium mines in this country, it was a big secret where it was, he's waiting for the price to go back up before he starts digging some up, but top scientists are apparently going ape-shit about his find. He wore many other hats that came up in our conversation, he finally dropped me off in a spot he said he's seen hitchhikers before where he guaranteed my good luck.

Just 10 minutes of thumbing yielded me another pickup truck, Jose was heading all the way to Phoenix. He even had me put my seat back to catch some sleep when he saw I was nodding off a bit. As we got closer we stopped and he gave me money to by a 40, I chose Steel Reserve and drank that into Phoenix where he dropped me off. From there I called Larry, his brother was in the area and picked me up.

Now I've been in Phoenix a few days, it's been about catching up on some Trip Hopping things, that's the rideshare site Larry and I are putting together. One night we checked out some roller derby girls, and we went to a couchsurfing picnic get together one afternoon, but when we're at his place we're usually in front of the computers knocking stuff out or discussing different ideas and issues with the site.

My next weeks future is shaping out, Jackson Hole in time for turkey day, and a hitch down to Vegas where I'm hooked up at Mandalay Bay for the sunday and monday nights the weekend after. Kimmie is flying in from Vancouver, and we'll hitch to LA that tuesday.

Vegas Treats Me Well

This was my sixth trip to Las Vegas in about a year, more casino comps, more good times, more friends to share it with. The first few nights I spent couchsurfing a little ways from the strip with Linsey, the next couple were with a couchsurfer named Mandy, also the stage manager for the show Jersey Boys, and finally the trip was rounded out at my complimentary room in Treasure Island.

I'd hitched in with my Mandie and Charish, Kelly flew in, and the three girls went to the grand canyon, but Kelly came down with a case of shingles and flew back to California. We spent most of our days and nights on the strip, Mandie and Charish enjoying getting free drinks playing the penny slots, as did I, and we enjoyed Nicks company as well, who recently moved to Vegas.

Of course, I had my fair share of throwing dice, I bet on a couple basketball games, and even played a sit-n-go poker tournament. As is par for my Vegas gambling, my money went up and down, but after all has been tallied, I am up. I was able to to share the wealth, taking my friends to a comped meal at the buffet in Treasure Island where we also stayed for free. While surfing with Mandy, not to be confused with Aussie Mandie with whom I hitched in with, we went to Red Rocks and checked out the beauty of the desert, a nice distraction from the bright Vegas lights I'm used to.

Every night had excitement and different levels of intoxication that were fitting. Tomorrow I try to escape. Jennifer, a girl I couchsurfed with in LA about a year ago, happens to live in Vegas and saw my post online looking for a ride out of town, I met up with her tonight (after extending my stay one more night) and went to a show off the strip, in the morning she said she can help get me to a suitable on ramp headed out of town, Phoenix bound.

It feels good to be up overall after having a great time, and it was great to share it with friends. Mandalay Bay has offered to put me up in a Suite at their hotel, the kind that has multiple bathrooms and a living room, so the thought is to come back to town after Thanksgiving and enjoy the luxury over there with as many friends as possible. I haven't booked the room yet, but it may be in the cards, of course all are welcome to come and stay. Never a dull Vegas, but now, on to the next trip.

Couchsurfing Settled, Group Hitchhike through Bakersfield to Vegas

I stayed at BaseCamp, Couchsurfing's headquarters in Berkeley, for a few more nights after Halloween night. By the end it was decided I wouldn't be working for Couchsurfing directly, but we left it open for Couchsurfing and Trip Hopping to potentially work together in the future with some specific ideas.

The night before I planned to hitchhike to Vegas with Mandie, things changed a bit. I went on to the porch to find her with Kelly and Charish, two girls volunteering for Couchsurfing, they were none too happy with their situations working and living here. The organization and communication amongst CS employees and volunteers is not the best, they had their own complaints and concerns, they were airing them out. "Why not come to Vegas?" was my thought, and they were on board.

In the morning we were good to go, Kelly wasn't ready in time, but had found a cheap plane ticket and planned to fly, so Charish, Mandie and I got a ride to the I-5 to start hitching. Vegas is a 9 hour drive from Berkeley, so we were aiming for Bakersfield for the first night where we could stay with my friend Kindra for the night.

We never split up, we just hitched as three, we got a short ride to a place called Patterson, and then got a longer ride from Joe the Drummer, just a cool guy who pulled up with a Corona in his lap, "Don't mind the beer do ya?", not at all. He had a blunt ready to go, and took us as far as he was going.

Our next ride was a trucker, a generous guy headed to San Diego. We traded taking turns in the back and catching some Zs, he bought us food at one of the truck stops where he took a shower. He decided to go out of his way a pinch and take us directly to Bakersfield, we jumped out of the truck and headed to the bar closest. We had drinks and watched Obama be elected president while we waited for Kindra to get off work, she met us there while McCain admitted defeat.

We had some pizza, beer and wine with Kindra back at the place catching up. Kindra made us a great breakfast in the morning, I watched her dog Igby kick the soccer ball around a bit and we all hopped in the car. We picked up Mandie phone at the bar she'd forgot, then Kindra dropped us at the on ramp headed east to Vegas.

It took a little while until our thumbs brought in a ride, while we waited a car broke down and we helped push it to the gas station, and finally a truck headed through Barstow stopped. We piled in and plowed down the road, I caught an intermittent nap on the bed in the back. He dropped us in Barstow, we stopped at the starbucks there and hit the on ramp again, the sun was on the downturn. We weren't having much luck, and headed down to the freeway itself, before long a car was pulling into the shoulder and we ran for it.

Tommy was the driver, Eric the passenger, the three of us hitchhikers in the back barrelling towards Las Vegas where they lived and we wanted to be. Tommy used to be in the military and was now in real estate, he offered to buy us a buffet dinner when we arrived, he was awesome. We rolled into Vegas, my sixth time, and went into the South Point casino where he first led us to the bar and bought us drinks. We then went to the great buffet there, we were shortly joined by Kelly who'd flown in, Nick who just moved to Vegas, and Elvire, a short term CS volunteer we'd met in Alaska.

After we feasted and parted ways with Tommy, Elvire decided to buy a room, we already had a couchsurfer who was to pick us up after she got off work. We hung out in the casino playing the penny slots getting free drinks until Linsey called, our couchsurfing host. We met her at the door and the 4 of us piled in her car and headed to her place.

Once there we settled in, she asked if we minded that she smoked a little before sleep, so I offered up my jar of greatness, we all smoked and the other girls faded into their sleeping bags, Linsey and I sat talking and keeping them awake as our conversation tilted towards the outer reaches of the universe until we hit the wall of space, wondering where it all ends, wondering who has $100 million to afford a commercial flight to the moon, things that two high strangers-no-more would talk about at 3 in the morning.

The girls went to the Grand Canyon today in a rent a car, I figured I'd be rolling by it again soon and passed, slept in. Linsey went to work and dropped me at the UNLV campus where I write this. I'll be in Vegas about a week seeing various people living here and passing through, I'm sure my fair share of partying and gambling is coming. Some of my money from trimming will be going towards getting my brother flown in for the christmas holiday, some may go to a camera to replace the one lost on the northern california roads. Vegas, round 6, go!

Pounds of Pot and a San Fran Halloween

After a car ride I found myself at another growers house, I'd be there for three weeks trimming branch after branch of the best pot I've seen. The days blended together, everyone woke up around noon or later, some breakfast and coffee, then clipping away, joints circling around every so often.

It was great to help out, I had my own room, the fridge was always stocked with beer, and I never went hungry for even a moment. The giant majestic dog wandered around too, sometimes knocking branches off hangers with his tail, sometimes scouring the floor for a quick high or begging for a loose bud to chew on. He'd beg to sit on the couch, he'd have to be told yes a few times before he'd sit down and relax.

Different people came on the scene to trim for a pinch of time or longer and then go. I was the last to leave, just about the whole crop had been trimmed and was either bagged or drying on the branch. All of it was going to different clinics, once you get a medical card you're allowed to legally grow a certain number of plants depending on what county you live in.

I finally left with some cash in pocket and a jar for the road. I spent a night just north of Berkeley, and then got a ride right into the city the next day, Halloween, to couchsurfing's base camp. I spent the afternoon talking with Weston, the head of the tech team, and my Trip Hopping partner Larry. The idea is to find a situation that works for all of us, we're still talking on it.

Everyone was going somewhere for Halloween night, I stuck with the group that hadn't a plan, they were just going. We took the BART into the city, me the drunken pilot (not much of a costume, just my favorite shirt), Jessica Rabbit, an 8 ball, a pimp, and cupid. We picked a stop and found a bar to get some irish car bombs and a beer, then heard about a rooftop party in walking distance. After a little while there we heard of another party at some mansion, we stumbled in there and kept drinking, I found myself making out with cupid next to a foosball table.

It was decided we were headed home, we walked a good ways in search for a cab, the BART doesn't run past midnight. Cupid passed out in the cab, she was carried to bed. I still had some night in me, I sat talking to Jessica Rabbit, who was actually a lawyer in LA, and finally sleep.

The next step I know about is Vegas, I'll be hitching there with Mandie, the Aussie I met in Alaska and hitched through Canada with. I've got a couple nights booked on the strip, free room comps, but we plan on getting there a few days before that and couchsurfing and hiking with a friend who lives there. Good times keep rolling.

Wedding and Change of Direction for Trimming

I didn't have to hitchhike to Sacramento, I got a ride on Couchsurfing's San Fran group. I relaxed most of the day at Couchsurfing Base Camp, enjoyed a great dinner, and Dan came to pick me up around 10 or so, turns out he'd been to Base Camp and met some of the people there, even donated the Foosball table I'd been enjoying. We made a quick stop at his friend's place for a beer and to give someone else a ride home, then we were on the road. We rolled into Sacramento just after midnight, I caught up with Aaron at his apartment talking over a Guinness until sleep took over.

More friends and family arrived came to town as the wedding came closer, I drank some new beers along the way, always a good thing. Things like picking up our tuxedos happened also. Thursday night a group of us gathered at Aaron's apartment for the liquor filled bachelor party, by the time we picked up to head to the bar most of us had a fair share of shots, luckily Ryan, another groomsman, was able to drive. We jumped to a few spots in town, the sand bar first where I got dragged away by bouncers threatening to do worse, I'd tried to walk back in the bar on the way out to find a friend left behind and they wanted me to get back in line to do so, I drunkenly mocked his memory, I had just walked out, they didn't like that.

Jessica, Aaron's bride, and the rest of the bachelorette party were at the next bar we came too. I talked to a couple girls there unaffiliated with the party, that resulted in one of them sending me her powerpoint presentation the next day on the aurora borialis, drunken conversation leads to such things. The night ended at Denny's, as any good drinking night should.

The day before the wedding involved rehearsal at the church, I sported a bow tie and a shirt the woman at mens warehouse made me get with a gift card that had been kicking around in my bag for over a year. We went to the reception hall to set up, filled the fridge with beer, and attempted to set up a complex canopy. Andrew, a friend from San Diego, was up on the ladder for hours hooking it up, but we ended up tearing it down after all of it towards midnight.

Once back at Aaron's place there was only one thing on our minds, cold beer, and we had good options. Aaron headed to sleep after a bit, he had a wedding in the morning, Andrew and I stayed up until 4:30am drinking cold and smooth black & tans and Smithwicks from the irish 18 pack he'd got earlier. We talked about America, road trips, the state of our living. We both agreed we'd have to some time soon hitch from New York to Jackson Hole, he'd been there the first time on his road trip cross country from San Diego to NYC and seen what it was all about. Jackson's a great place on the planet, I have loose plans to be there on Thanksgiving.

The first thing I heard in the morning was Dave Matthews exploding from the speakers, "Wake up fuckers!" laughed Aaron as he handed us each a glass of champagne, the tone for the wedding day was set. For the first time in almost two years I shaved, clean shaven with a razor, we all showered and suited up in our tuxedos while polishing off the champagne bottles. Aaron had earlier given us flasks with our names engraved, an awesome gift we now filled with brandy and put in our tux flask pockets.

We got fired up with good music on the ride to the church, once there we enjoyed many toasts with our flasks and got our photos taken in and around the church by photographers that looked like they should be getting their photos taken instead. The ceremony was brisk enough, the knot was tied, and after some more photos we made our way to the reception hall across town. We enjoyed plenty of beer and good food until it was time to go, most of us changed into comfortable clothes and headed to a bar in town filled with karaoke where we closed out the night, I wound up staying at Ryan's house that night.

In the morning we headed to Aaron's for football and good times, Maeve made great chicken wings and I drank from a 36oz vase, at one point we headed to the store and I grabbed a bottle of Lagunitas Maximus, a great IPA. At some point I passed out, apparently missing a much debated irish car bomb, the drinking continued, we went to sac brew across the street for a drink after a chili cheese dog, back at aaron's place my vase turned into a strange green drink, the night is foggy after that. At some point in all of this I got a phone call from Yossi who I'd met in Willits with Kimmie, he just said to come to Willow Creek for work.

Andrew got a ride to the airport in the morning, I slept in a bit and then had breakfast with some folks in a distant hungover state of mind. I said my goodbyes to Aaron and Jess who were off to honeymoon in Tahoe, I got a ride to I-5 by the airport. The day before I'd planned on heading and an hour and a half south back to base camp in Berkeley, now I was standing on the north on ramp with a day of hitching ahead unsure of where I was exactly going.

It wasn't long before a car stopped, Sweet Home Alabama blasting from the stereo. The guy told me stories about his ex girlfriend flight attendant that enabled him to travel the planet for peanuts. We stopped once where he got me a burger and a pepsi, he finally dropped me off at a fairly desolate exit. I stood there for a little bit until deciding to walk along the shoulder of the freeway. A little hike later a car stopped, an audio nerd going all the way to Portland. The thought of going all the way there crossed my mind, but I kept to the path I was on and jumped out in Redding where I had to pick up the 299 to head west.

I walked several miles through town towards a suitable hitching spot past all the sidewalks and shoulderless area I was in. I waited in one spot towards the edge of town until a woman in an SUV stopped for me. She took me within 60 miles of Willow Creek where I was headed, she told me about her home off the grid powered by hydro and also of her travels around America and the world. When she let me out she left me with a 20 dollar bill and a smile on my face, I bought a drink at the gas station and started walking to the edge of town, it wasn't far, but the sun had disappeared. I called Yossi, he told me a bar to go to once near town if I could catch another ride.

I waited under a street light, after a while of waiting a car stopped, a young guy who whipped down the windy roads as if he'd done it a hundred times, we didn't talk much, the music blasted, the wind whipping through the absent rear windshield. Soon enough I spotted the bar and hopped out, I ordered a beer and used the phone there to call Yossi and let him know I'd made it. The people in the bar were friendly, I talked to a woman from Portland and a couple girls who were working in town gave me some pizza, I wanted to stay and talk with them more, but my ride showed up so I finished my beer and hopped the car and got to the house where Yossi was, trim and the type of work I'd be getting into all over the table and floors.

I'm not sure how long I'll be in town, but I'll start doing whatever it is I'll be doing likely today, I had a decent nights sleep and am up for anything.