Urban Idiot

Monday June 6^th 2015

                Yesterday evening I moved in with the host family Deb & Paul, who are extremely caring and helpful people.  Their son and daughter in law just had their first child a day before we moved in, so they were both excited & exhausted when I arrived. Deb had a list of all things within walking distance for us, as well as information of bus routes. The beach is about 2.5 miles from us, which I decided to run last night- not bad at all after walking 10-15 miles a day with a 45 lb pack on my back. 

Playa Del Rey Beach

Due to a conflict at the office & with her childcare schedule, I was unable to go into shadow Dr. Guthrie today. So, I decided to take full advantage of the day off in cali by going to check out the Santa Monica pier.  This included trying to learn the bus transportation system for the first time. Keep in my mind how my luck has already been on this trip so far. To start the day off, I got onto the wrong bus which took me into downtown LA. I realized I was on the wrong bus as I watched a bus on the opposite side of the road drive by with the words “Downtown Santa Monica” across the front of it.  Luckily, there was a girl on the side of the road at the station that was willing to help me out.  Finally, I got onto the right bus & arrived in Santa Monica about an hour later.  In downtown Santa Monica, there was a multitude of shops, where I was able to pick up some souvenirs for the family.   I was even able to hang at the beach for a few hours and ride the Farris wheel on the pier, showing a spectacular view.  Unfortunately, while on the beach, I stepped in some sort of black tar, which seemed to stick to the bottom of my foot as bad as gum sticks in hair. I instantly reached down to remove it & it quickly branched onto my fingers.  SO, not only did I have black tar on my foot, but now all over my hands! I couldn’t even touch anything! I had to get a cup of ice in order to freeze it to scrape it off.  After hours of effort, the tar finally came off.

-Life was much easier on the trail.