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.

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