Quiet OKC and a Vegas Rampage

My time in Oklahoma City was relatively uneventful. I spent the bulk of the nights trying to find a place to sleep. Only one night was spent couch surfing with a nice group of people with whom I saw "Across the Universe", an awesome movie based on the Beatles' music. The other nights however were spent in truck stop rec rooms and random spots, like an overgrown lot behind a best buy. That particular night I woke up with a snail on my sleeping bag, and a big old spider inside with me.

While I was happy to spend time with Carolina, the time had a prison visitation vibe to it, her school is very controlling about where she goes with who, but so goes religion. Time to leave, and while I contemplated Dallas and Austin, I decided to bus it to Vegas. It would be right on the way to Bakersfield, where I'd like to be Halloween. This is where things get interesting.

On the bus a guy named Jason sat next to me. Jason had just hit the road, traveling in a similar fashion as myself with Vegas as his destination. We decided we'd stick together and try and find a place to stay.

As I got closer to Vegas I was informed that the San Diego crew was all in town. Once in Vegas Jason and I met up with them and had a great night of drinking, beer pong, and I gambled most of the night building up credit to get a comp room, which I was eventually given at Treasure Island. The San Diego crew had to leave early the next mourning. Jason crashed at their place, and I shut my phone off with my voice message saying "I'm on Floor 33, room 023". Jason heard "I'm in room 433", and coincidentally that room was unoccupied with the door ajar. Later on when I called him we figured this out and he came up to the real room, but not after using this random room to shower and wash his clothes and whatnot.

Jason said he had to hustle to get by, he had less money than I did. He said he needed $90 to buy some stuff so he could sell it and then he'd pay me back. I was up big from craps and I gave it to him. He disappeared into the night, and the following day I got a phone call from him. He says he just got out of jail, and I met up with him outside the mirage where he tells me his whole story of trying to sell something to a cop, and his mom had to bail him out of jail. Here comes the scam setup...

He says he told his mom I lent him $200, this way I could keep the $100 he owed me, and he could get $100 for his travels that his mom wouldn't give him directly. The catch is Jason has to leave town right now, so I'm supposed to give him $100 out of pocket with the understanding that western union is on the way. I knew he was scamming me. I gave him the money anyways, I'd won enough playing craps and he could use it more than I.

We parted ways, but it wasn't long before I got a call from him again. He wanted to give me $30, and I had to rush down to get it. I got out of bed and went down to the casino where he told me had some cocaine to sell me for $30, he needed the money. I told him I wasn't into it, and had left my money upstairs. He said $20 was fine, so I gave him $20 in exchange for an empty folded up piece of paper. That's the last I heard of Jason Mills.

After that I decided to start seeing some shows with my free comp power. I saw the Beatles Love cirque du soleil, Mystere cirque du soleil, and some random burlesque show. I also managed to lose all the money I'd won. Then I managed to lose the money I came with. I had a bus ticket out of town, but arrived late to Greyhound just in time to see the bus leave without me. That's the first time I've seen Greyhound on time.

I took my last $70 to the closest craps table and an hour later had only $2. I then decided to walk the 3 or 4 odd miles back to the strip, back to the Mirage that had put me up the last 2 nights. They comped me one more night while I wait until the next bus out of town tomorrow.

So here I am, 14 floors above the Las Vegas strip in the Mirage hotel with 2 dollar bills and a pocket full of change, bank accounts cleared out, credit cards maxed. Tomorrow is Halloween in Bakersfield though, so that's cool. Looks like the day has finally come where I have to figure something out though, odd jobs here and there maybe? Whatever it is I need a couple thousand in a hurry, so it should be a fun time.

13 Rides, Hiking, and a Bus to Oklahoma

After an unexpected good time in bakersfield, it was time to hit the road. Oklahoma city the target, I-40 seemingly the road to get there. I know this road well now.

My new bakersfield friends dropped me off by the highway after helping me sell one of my hard drives for some extra money in my pocket and fewer pounds in my pack. I stood by the onramp with my cardboard sign reading "Barstow", the next biggest city likely to be a target to these drivers.

After some decent waiting a woman in a pickup said she was heading somewhere, I couldn't understand exactly what she said and hopped in the back anyway. I laid in the back with the wind blowing, I was going east.

She dropped me off a ways up the road, and I stood with my sign again as day turned to night in a new town. I was finally picked up by air force guy who'd seen me first when pulling into town to get gas. He told him about Vegas and he told me of a time he'd played blackjack with $200, turned it into $6,000, got up, sat back down again when offered another beer by a waitress, and went back down to $300 losing. His $100 profit felt more like a loss, and he said he learned his lesson. He took me clear to a starbucks in barstow, and even left me with $15 I hesitantly accepted.

I pulled out my computer inside Starbucks, where I was given a free 'mistake' drink, something with caramel. I wanted to keep moving, and headed to the closest onramp in the dark. Few cars came, i counted 11 in an hour. I started looking at my surrounding for a place to sleep. Finally a pickup truck stopped driven by an old mechanic. I wasn't sure where 'Newberry' was, but i hopped in. Turns out it was just 15 minutes down the road at some obscure exit in the dark.

Why he picked me up at all I'll never know, but now I was stuck, no cars would come or go from Newberry. I decided to sleep up in the underpass. It was cold, I didn't like my chances catching a ride out of Newberry, and decided to walk east in the dark towards a next exit. No exits were coming up, and no cars stopped in the dark rushing down the highway. I saw a big patch of trees in the median, and broke out my sleeping bag. It was comfortable and hidden.

I woke up with the sun and the same trucks flying by I'd fallen asleep with, and began walking east again. after several miles i made it to another exit, I was still in Newberry. This was even more obscure than the last, and sunlight revealed the surrounding desert as far as the eye could see. I waited, maybe an hour or more, few cars passed and none stopped. I'd seen a sign saying no exits for 30 miles until Ludlow. I decided to start walking east, again.

The mohave desert. It's slightly hot, but it's the weight of my pack that kept me moving slowly. I still turned around for every car, thumb out and my cardboard sign held high, now it read "Needles", the next big city on the map. I had to stop, had to rest. I continued to work the traffic from a stand still, sucking down the water I had. After what seemed like forever an 18 wheeler stopped 100 yards up the road and I made run for it before he could change his mind.

This guy was a self proclaimed jesus freak, and spent most of the drive across the desert lost in his bluetooth call or his preaching of jesus and the fallacy of evolution. "If we came from monkey's, why are there still monkeys around today?". I nodded in and out of sleep, periodically nodding to his thoughts about jesus along the way. At one point he flipped a switch some bible on tape or some sort boomed through his speakers. "God said 'hear my word', not 'read it'".

He dropped me off at a truck stop in Needles where he decided he would get some sleep. While walking back towards the onramp an old women said hi, recognizing me as the hitchhiker she saw pushing down the desert freeway.

It wasn't long before I got picked up again holding up my new sign saying 'Flagstaff'. The driver seemed nice and even gave me a burrito he'd just bought. He was a meditation expert for soldiers with post traumatic stress syndrome and coming back from a training session or some such. He also talked to me a whole lot about cave diving as we drove clear to Flagstaff where he left me. There was some daylight left and I headed for the onramp in hopes to find my next ride.

After a bit of waiting, an old man picked me up headed to a city I'd never heard of, but it was 100 miles in the right direction. His passenger seat was full of papers, and I sat in the back mostly quiet, answering familiar questions about places I was coming and going from. He would break the silence here and again with stories from his hitchhiking past, like the time him and his brother picked up some runaways from California some years ago.

Hollbrook, AZ is where he left me at a truck stop in the dark. It was late and I was a bit tired, but I tryed flaggin down one last ride for the day. After an hour with no luck I decided to hunt for a place to sleep, and found one behind a concrete guard rail next to the freeway. It was an ideal spot to unpack my sleeping bag, and I slept under the stars, there were so many to see.

I woke up before the sun, cleaned up in the truck stop, and started back to my corner with my thumb out. Dozens upon dozens of big rigs and cars passed me before a green minivan stopped, a well traveled european woman who was jesus preaching on a reservation in new mexico. She had been to places all over the planet and discussed cultures from different regions.

I was dropped me off at an obscure exit up a half hour up the road where I was sure I'd be all day. I was pleasantly surprised when the third car that passed picked me up, it was another windy ride in the back of a pickup truck towards Gallup. They dropped me off right there on the freeway before they took their exit.

I was picked up before I even made it to the onramp by a native american who said he could take me across town to a busier exit. He tryed to convince me to go to a ceremony on the reservation and gave me his email if I make back to town. He said their sand paintings, dancing, singing and other great things I may enjoy. He struck me as a sort of promoter for the whole thing.

Once at the new exit, which was actually far less busy then the one he scooped me from, I waited a while before another pickup truck came stopping, and the guy hung out the passenger window saying "pitch some money for gas bro?". "I have no money... can I hop in anyways?". "sure, we're going to Albuquerque, don't fuck with my shit, hop in back!".

Fine by me, his "shit" was a crossbow and similar gear. I curled up in the windy pickup bed and fell asleep for the 150 miles or so through New Mexico. They dropped me off in town and I once again headed for the onramp. The onramp in Albuquerque was the busiest one I'd come across on this trip, a constant flow of cars, and a huge shoulder which would make it easy for any car to stop and pick me up. After 3 hours not a single car stopped, I had only a sunburn to show for it.

A few people pumped their first "you go man!", woman of all ages smiled or giggled, one guy hung his head out the window screaming "get a real job!". Was I working? I was about to call it quits and head for a starbucks to regroup when a green car finally stopped in front of me.
A mom and her 16 year old daughter, they said they'd passed me and the daughter convinced them to turn back and pick me up. They said they were only driving 15 minutes up the road or so, but to a busy truck stop where I'd have better luck, I was happy to get away from that damned Albuquerque.

Before we stopped they shared a look in the front seats, the mom handed the daughter her wallet. After a minute the daughter reached back and poured 43 cents into my hand and wished me best of luck. "No, you shouldn't have" I said, laughing inside.

This truck stop was no friendlier than the onramp in Albuquerque, I began to wonder if I had just gotten lucky earlier in the trip, or was unlucky now, or if New Mexico was just an unfriendly spot for hitchhikers. I tried every corner, every distance to the on ramp, exits from the truck stop, and even sitting in front of the gas station with my 'texas' sign, asking truckers if they were headed east. Night had come a while ago, I'd spent more of my day looking for a ride than actually riding. It was time to start walking, find a better onramp down the road, feel like I was moving east just a little bit, or at least a hidden place to sleep.

This may be hard to believe, but since i began this hobo deal, through montana, portland, california, vegas - no rain. Not a drop. Now it rained, with the wind. I found a ditch next to the freeway with a couple patches of tall grass and broke out all my rain gear and sleeping bag, I called it a night.

I awoke before the sun as to not be seen packing up, and walked towards the next onramp. The wind was blowing hard from the west making it difficult to face the sparse oncoming traffic. So I stood there. I gazed towards the horizon waiting for the sun to peak out and warm me up. I probably stood there a half hour completely still, ignoring cars that drove past until the sun finally conquered the mountain in the distance. Then, for no particular reason, I started walking towards it, right on the shoulder of I-40.

I didn't know it, but there were no exits for 10s of miles, just fields, no trees even. I walked for hours, stopping once in a while to put down my pack and thumb out cars. No one was stopping. They were going 70 or 80 and I was a guy with a hood over a baseball cap carrying a huge backpack. I was stuck in winding New Mexico. I kept walking, head down towards the sun.

I almost bumped right into the idle pickup truck, I hadn't seen it stop with my head down looking only at my feet walking. I couldn't believe it, I ran up to the window, the guy said he was headed to Amarillo. I threw my stuff in the back and east we went, out of New Mexico.

We killed a roach he had in his ashtray and he told me about historical sites he digs around for work. He even uses his metal detector at beaches once in a while with his kids to find all the good stuff people dropped. He had a lot of ways to make an extra buck, but the way he talked about it I could tell money was not his motivation. One time he was in line at the store and the woman in front of him had paid all in silver dollars, original silver dollars. When he stepped up to the cashier he changed his dollar bills for all those silver dollars, which he later sold for $60 each.

We made it to Amarillo in no time, I stayed and he continued on to Dallas. Once again I found myself looking for a ride. The two previous attempts left my confidence down, but I found a huge piece of cardboard and wrote "OKC" so big you could see it down the road, and had to put my pack on top of the bottom so the intense wind wouldn't blow it away.

An hour or two later and still no rides. I was so close to OKC, I decided to check greyhound since it must be cheap now. It was a cheap ride, but the station was 5 miles or more west. I started walking to try and make the last bus out of town.

As I walked towards greyhound my mind wanderd back to walking the desert road in arizona and the windy freeway in new mexico. Both times I had no idea how much further I'd have to walk, just that I had to keep moving forward, east to a far off starbucks in oklahoma city. My backpack somehow felt lighter now.

When I got to greyhound there were delays and changes of course, and it all shook out to a bus leaving to OKC in an hour, not too bad. I headed towards a corner store 10 blocks away for a gatorade, and ran into a man with a backpack trying to get rid of some exstacy, he wanted $10 for his 6 pills. I had no use nor the money for this. I saw him later back at the bus station, he looked away when I recognized him.

The bus driver for this particular ride was out of place. He introduced himself to us passengers and asked if anyone knew how to get to Oklahoma City and the other stops. He really didn't know. One passenger volunteered to be his "co-pilot" and guide him along. Right away he got on I-40 West. Other passengers realized his mistake and shouted him off the freeway to turn around. After a series of stops having to deal with an air leak I still don't understand and 5 or so hours later we arrived at another greyhound station, finally in oklahoma city. I'd made it.

It was around 1am, and the particular starbucks that interested me was 6 miles away. I found an outlet in the station behind the vending machines to charge my phones while I faded in and out of sleep, still standing guard on my charging phones. When 4am hit I started my hike down the road towards starbucks. 2 hours and one bloody foot later I limped into starbucks. Carolina wouldn't be coming in until 5 that evening, but I was happy to finally rest after the past days travels.

Shortly after 5pm I saw her, headed for the entrance. I beat her to the door and opened it for her, standing in her way. She made 3 of the most distinct faces of shock I've ever seen in such a sequence. First, general confusion of who this man was in her way. Second was recognition of who I was, and third was a look of fear and pure shock. Needless to say she hadn't expected me. She sat down for a minute and I gave her some pez, but she had to hurry off to work her shift.

She shot me glances and mouthing words to me from behind the counter in bewilderment of my appearance in her city, along the lines of wondering why I hadn't given any warnning. I've never seen such an interesting sequence of expressions before today, and perhaps that's why I hadn't called ahead. None the less I started to feel a distance, her feeling of being stunned far out weighed any happiness to see me it seemed. She had a look in her eye I didn't recognize when I talked to her, and I'm sure I returned an unfamiliar look in return because of this. It wouldn't be until the next day that I'd feel at ease with her again, and I was happy for that.

I was on the road only 3 days, tossed around, lost, found, stuck, cruising, dirty, hungry, full, freezing, sun burning... and I loved it. Even when I was seeminly trapped in New Mexico getting rained on in the wind, the thought of later looking back as I am now comforted me.

For now I'm in Oklahoma City. I'm happy not knowing about next week.

From Beach Sleep to Bakersfield

Sleeping on the beach was both great and sketchy, venice beach. The first night I slipped down there, avoiding street lights and making my way down quietly, unsure of the legal and general safety of sleeping out there. I'd find out about both.

Although I had no place to stay, the beach seemed attractive - under the stars, sound of the waves crashing, and comfortable sand. There was a lot more foot traffic than I'd expected, just people walking down the beach. One guy stopped after seeing me with my large pack, obviously poised to camp out.

He was a movie producer of some sort, and just shot the shit with me for a little while. He ensured me that I was in a pretty safe part of the beach, away from most craziness and that the law rarely patrolled or really cared about people being out there. He also informed me this was a gay beach and most people wandering about were prone to proposition me. No sooner did he tell me this did we see the outline of two guys in the distance who'd found each other.

I slept well that night without incident, until I woke up with a start at what must of been 4 or 5am. It was the bright head lights and motor of a beach groomer headed right for me, no more than 30 feet away, and here I was cocooned in a sleeping bag. I shot my head up and he must've seen me already, and swerved to his left just barely missing me. He made several more passes, avoiding me each time without stopping to say a word.

I spent the next day wandering a bit, stopping at starbucks here and again to check up on things and charge my phone. Still no solid rides out of town by the days end, just a couple flaky possibilities. I headed back to the beach at nightfall, this time with a loaf of bread and a bottle of wine to occupy myself.

Again there was a good amount of foot traffic, and it wasn't long before an older guy in a baseball cap and hoodie stopped to see what I was all about. He was intrigued by where'd I'd been and my plans to hit the road tomorrow, and sat down for a little bit. Not too much later he said he was to continue down the beach to "get into trouble". As he was getting up, he nudged me a few times with his forearm winking and saying "unless you wanna get in some trouble". I knew what he meant, said no thanks and good luck. He took off, and I saw him pass back my way without saying a word later. I guess he had no luck that night.

I broke out my wine and bread, and started to chow. Soon enough another guy looking deep in thought stopped walking close by and was starring out into the ocean for a bit, pacing around. He'd been there for some time, and looking pretty troubled, and when he was within shouting distance I offered him a drink from my bottle which he gladly accepted and came to sit down. Turns out he was troubled, but only in the way the man before him in the baseball cap was looking for. He was very hesitant to leave, standing up, looking around. Saying he was leaving, but holding his stare towards the waves and feet planted. After what seemed like forever he offered to suck me off, saying if I closed my eyes it would be fine. I politely declined, he pushed a little more, but quickly realized it wasn't going to happen and awkwardly left. I went to sleep.

Again I woke up to start in the middle of the night, and not to the beach groomer (they came later but expected to see me as I did them). This time I awoke to rustling noises, the rustling of my pack. I turned around to see a dishelved man (wearing a cape) starting to go through my bag. He was more startled than I, jumped back, asked if I had a cigarrette, I said no, he started walking away and that turned into a sketchy run into the darkness. I think he got away with a slice of bread.

The next mourning was full of canceled rides and wasn't looking great, and I would have headed to the onramp to hitchhike if it wasn't for a ride towards san francisco I found at the last minute. I hopped a ride late with a really nice guy, and was dropped off in bakersfield. Less than hour of arriving in bakersfield I got a call from a couchsurfing host I didn't expect to get, saying I was free to stay with them.

I found myself at a travel center gas station 20 miles from her house, trying to thumb a ride towards town at 11:30 at night. This particular stop didn't have too many drivers headed towards bakersfield, only one person actually stopped but weren't headed my way.

I called the girl in bakersfield and let her know it wasn't working out, and in my head planned to find a good bush to sleep the night or continue to look for a ride elsewhere. She insisted it would be no problem for her to come to where I was and pick me up, which she eventually did. I was happy for that, as she's turned out to be a great person living in what seems to be a pretty interesting (and apparently haunted) little town. She lives in a haunted house herself, only 6 houses down from the famous Lords Mansion (the politicians who play with children all kinds of nasty house).

While I planned to turn around the next mourning and get back on the road, I decided to stay another day and experience some more of the good vibes I was getting. We went up by the kern river and checked out a car show, and later that night watched clockwork orange, my first time. Michael lives here too has around 70 arcade games set up at the mall. We went there and played for a bit which was a blast playing off free tokens.

What I thought would be a quick overnight has been a really great unexpected time meeting a couple really interesting people, and now I should be getting back on the road. I'm not sure where I'll end up as always, but look forward to it.

Hungry? Go Hitchhiking

It turned out I'd be couch surfing near Santa Monica with two music school girls. I was not in Santa Monica, and I wasn't up for a 30+ mile hike, not with my pack at least. Time to give hitchhiking my first shot, and not the craigslist variety.



I still hadn't eaten, but having never hitchhiked like this before I figured I better get started now if I were to get to where I wanted to be in time. I picked up a sharpie and some loose cardboard, and made my way towards the closest onramp I could find. Within only a few minutes a guy slowed down and made eyes, said he was going pretty close. Good enough for me, the woman in the passenger seats moved aside so I could slip in and get to the back, that's when I realized what kind of truck this way.

A kitchen on wheels! I was in the back of a damn chimmy trucks. He immediately asked if I was hungry, at which point the woman stepped in the back and started whipping me up a sandwich as we stormed down the freeway, complimenting my sandwich with a nice cold drink, I think it was a "squirt". Sergio was the man's name, he said he'd been driving the truck around 25 years without 1 week of vacation. They dropped me off fairly close to where I wanted to be, I jumped out of the truck and told him to find a way to get some time off, he promised he'd find a way.

With my belly full and getting closer to Santa Monica, I walked a couple blocks to the on ramp to see if I could get lucky again. I held up the sign for maybe 5 or so minutes this time, and in the 4th or 5th chunk of traffic at the light a van full of guys saw me and pulled over so I could get in. They were ready and willing to drop me off at any address in Santa Monica, but not knowing exactly myself I had them let me off right off the freeway near santa monica blvd.

After fooling around at starbucks and staples looking at some feather weight hard drives (the ones I have now are starting to be a burder, super heavy), I called the girls and made my way to their nice little place, greeted by some stir fry and a couple of their cats. Not the crazy kinda gracie cat like aaron's, although they did nibble a bit. Had a good night's sleep on an air mattress and made my way towards the beach now.

My ride out of LA was canceled, and the girls are going out of town, so I find myself once again looking for a place to stay and a ride out of town. I think I'll enjoy staying around for a few days though, and I like the idea of sleeping on the beach, not sure what the legalities are there and what the enforcement is like, but not too worried.

From Vegas to California

50 hours of no sleep, that's what happens when you're broke in vegas. While I couldn't find a decent place to sleep I wandered up and down the strip, slipping into casinos and walk around a bit. I used my final dollars to sit at the penny slot machines to sit and have a beer or two and a place to sit. When starbucks opened I'd head their and read a bit, play with mobubble, and things like this.

I decided to make one last stand with a $100 atm trip, probably around hour 36 of no sleep. That was the best move I made the whole trip. In only an hour I turned that $100 into $1400, and not a minute too soon. Feeling a bit more comfortable, I played quick games of craps up and down the strip, leaving each game when I was just $100 or so up or getting my fair share of beers along the way.

At hour 48 of no sleep, about 9am, and up a few more hundred, I went to the check if I could score another buffet. I was literally falling asleep while walking, sleeping in half block increments. This is why I was happy when Treasure Island offered me another comped room. Even though I knew I would be leaving that night, I took it anyways, checked in an hour later, and passed out for good 6 hours.

Waking up around 5 or so, I headed out for another free buffet at the Flamingo. After filling my belly I decided to jump on the craps table, still waiting for my ride out of town to call, which rang about 20 minutes into my game. I cashed out exactly even, down to the dollar, and headed back to treasure island to check out and grab my pack.

My ride to LA was fast, my driver had been coming to vegas once a month for years and years, and liked to drive 100mph the whole way. He was an interesting guy, everything was calculated. He knew the odds to everything, from blackjack, to poker, to the chances of him getting a speeding ticket (only two in his years of zipping back and forth to sin city). We talked about poker, gambling, and everything vegas has to offer, and finally he dropped me off in LA just past 1am in a strip mall on Topanga Canyon Blvd.

I walked a mile or two down the road to a nice little park where I rested up against a tree to doze off. I woke an hour later to the unexpected cold, and whipped out my sleeping bag and warmed up. I enjoyed the sleep and the smell of sap and some kind of berry from the tree. I woke up, packed up, walked another mile or two down the blvd and have no situated at a starbucks as usual while I line up my next set of rides, couches, and some fun while I'm in LA.

Vegas Stripped Me

Made my way to vegas and have been here almost one crazy week now. I've been up huge, down low, up decent, and down more again.



After having no luck with couchsurfing, I spent the first night pulling an all nighter playing craps and eventually heading to a 24 hour starbucks. I went up pretty big gambling, so after still not getting any responses for a couch I decided to get a hotel room for $40 a night.



I was all over the strip, going to every casino and getting players club cards dropping all kinds of cash on the craps tables. My luck changed pretty quick, lost all the money I won and more, and still had a hotel bill to pay. I left the hotel at that point with the few dollars I had left, and decided to see if I had enough comp dollars to get a free buffet or something. That's when my luck changed again.

Maybe it was because of big ole' pack, or my dishelved look, but the lady at the players club booth offered me not only 2 free buffets, but 2 free nights at the Bellagio, which is apparently the most "prestige" hotel in America and third most in the world, and here I was thinking I would be looking for a 24 hour starbucks again.



I had a few more ups and downs with the little money I had left, but after my two great nights overlooking vegas were done, I've settled on $6. I'm here now at a starbucks taking advantage of a place to sit and an AC outlet. No rides are showing up on craigslist, least of which the free variety. My comps are tapped out, all but maybe one free meal I'll try later. Sleeping probably won't be too big of a problem, I'm sure I'll find a bench or a bush or something (still now couchsurfing luck which is surprising), but I'm looking at my options for getting out of sin city.

Update! While I was writing this and waiting for my vegas pictures to upload I got a response on craigslist, someone's willing to give a free ride to LA probably monday or tuesday. I guess I won't be trekking across the desert afterall. You can't have this kinda fun staying at home, hobo lifestyle rocks.