I spent a lazy day here working on the blog and watching people back their big campers in and out of their spots. It’s a thing of beauty to see the counter-intuitive action of turning the steering wheel on your vehicle in the opposite direction of where you wanted your trailer to go. I congratulated a guy who put a thirty-foot Airstream in a spot in one try. He said, “Thank you,” and looked at me like I was nuts.
Across the way from my spot I saw there was an ally sporting
a Bills chair, but I didn’t see anybody pull in or out in the time I was there.
While I haven’t traveled much, I am one of these people who loves to tell
everyone I meet I’m from Buffalo, like it’s the center of the universe or something. Most
people have some connection to the northeast in one form or another whether it
be an uncle in Elmira, a grandfather who came west from Syracuse or Annie in
the office from Connecticut. But since this guy from across the way was a
no-show I told myself he’s probably in the 716 for the home opener.
In the early afternoon I took a walk down Nordhoff
where the RV park was located to Tampa Avenue. The In-N-Out was on Tampa as was
a mix of a thousand other businesses. There were both chains like Petco and Costco
and start-ups like the Sit ‘n Sleep Mattress, 85 Degree Bakery, Urban
Doors and many others. It always surprises me to see the endless
amount of private sector stores and businesses and donut shops when I come here. These L.A.
people have a thing for donuts like Spudnuts on Reseda Boulevard in Northridge and other places.
I spent a quiet night at RV Park and in the morning took
another hot shower and then headed toward RJ and Karen’s. I only planned to be there
until Tuesday morning (it was Sunday) so I stocked up on some groceries and picked
some IPA’s for RJ and a litter Kettle One for Karen—pro tip, never show up empty handed. It might sound weird but
shopping at places you don’t have a familiarity with can be pretty stressful.
Back in Buffalo I fly through Key Liquor, Wegmans and Aldi. Here and everyplace
else I’ve been it’s such a chore. I walked up and down the aisles at Vons so
much one of the store employees randomly stopped me and said, “We don’t have
nail clippers, you’ll have to get those at Walgreens.” When I asked how they knew
I wanted nail clippers, the Vons employee said, “Oh, we see a lot of people
like you.”
So without nail clippers I made it to RJ and Karen’s
in Eagle Rock. Like Joy and Andy from the first part of this journey I met RJ
by way of the Paul Westerberg Message Board, “Man Without Ties” back in
2003-04. We kept in touch through various platforms over the years and when Caroline
moved out here, we finally met in person.
Not only did I connect with RJ and Karen, Caroline did
as well. Caroline had an instant bond with Karen who is old school goth. She was one
of the founders of “Hot Topic” and currently is one of the principals of the “L.A.
Comic Con.” And RJ was just cool and low key and very impressed with Caroline’s
initiative and nerve to move here from Buffalo.
After we greeted each other, since it was Sunday we
sat down and watched some football—Karen was out of town till later that night.
RJ is a Saints fan and their game was all but decided when I got there—an ugly loss
to the Bucs and Tom Brady. Then we hated on the Cowboys together, but they
pulled out a win over the Bengals with a back-up QB. Caroline stopped by after
that and we went to dinner at the La Fuente Restaurante Bar & Grill which was
pretty good, but I ate too much.
Even though I really only met RJ for real about a year
ago it was so cool we could sit for hours on end watching football like we
had known each other our whole lives.
Home
How we got here...
An Ode to Fire and Donna
Chronological Posts From The Road
Going Mobile: What We Learned
Our Rig: A Pictorial Essay
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