Departing Henderson, Nevada around 11am, as planned, we got on the highway. My poor car hating Vince, me, and life in general, she managed to keep up the pace despite the heat, weight load, and trashed front brakes (from mountain driving). Delilah was pretty quiet after getting us onto the highway while Vince and I had our way with the remainder of the beef jerky he had purchased in Page, AZ.
I've noticed, as the days progressed, Vince and I became quieter and quieter. We were, as Agent Smith in "The Matrix" would say, "delaying the inevitable." California was getting closer and closer, and the end of a chapter was drawing do a close...enough of that emotional crap right now...
We tried to hit up In-N-Out, again, for lunch, but the line was out the door, so we hit up the "BK Lounge." I was slowly starting to lose my appetite, not just for fast food, but in general. The nerves began to kick in; looking for work, living arrangements, and new friends. I tried not to dwell on it, but it was in the back of my head, and still is.
Furthering into California, I made some phone calls and got some semblance of a schedule formed for the week. I still haven't heard back from Tim, my friend in West Hollywood, who was going to be letting us crash on his and Laura's (his girlfriend) couch. I set Tim & Laura's place on Delilah's destination point and she took us right there.
En route from the highway, I gave Vince a short off-the-cuff tour of Hollywood from the car. He saw the "Hollywood" sign in the hills, as well as the Guitar Center on Sunset, the Capitol building at Hollywood and Vine, and the Kodak theatre on Hollywood and Highland.
Getting to Tim's, we parked by his house, got out, and walked around West Hollywood for a bit. I was getting worried, as I hadn't heard from him still. So I called my friend, Mo, who's pretty close with Tim and he said he hadn't heard from Tim in 3 days. Mo continued to text or call Tim and called me back. He got a weird text from Tim that neither of us understood, so I just figured we'd better find an alternate option.
My friend, Devin lives in Studio City, and he said it was cool if we crashed at his place, but from the sound of it, he or his roommates weren't too keen on the idea, let alone it was very last minute. We asked Delilah to help us find some motels in the area and she did. $70 per night at "Studio City Inn" on Ventura and Cofax. Needless to say, we were both nervous to stay in this joint, and didn't feel confident in sleeping, so we did the next best thing: drank. We went to a mexican joint down the street, "Mexicali" which was pretty decent. So decent, in fact, that it was a 40-minute wait to get a table. Asking for 'first available' we ended up getting a table outside on the sidewalk, and immediately ordered a pitcher of margarita. We both ordered 2 kobe beef tacos and they came pretty quick. After we were each one taco into our meal, we looked up and without blinking an eye, we ordered a 2nd pitcher of margarita.
If the booze didn't help us sleep, I don't know what would. We giggled and staggered back to the motel. Vince got a phone call from Tony, so he took it and walked down the street to Long's drugstore to get some bottles of water. He got back and we were both still sort of awake and bored--not to mention buzzed--so we took the walk back to Long's. Vince bought a bottle of $5 champagne, which I questioned all the way out the door. Illegally, j-walking across Ventura, due to the hilarity and sheer rebellion of it, Vince popped the cork on the $5 "instant hangover". We were drinking it all the way back to the motel and for the next hour or so.
Vince kept on it while I slowly fell asleep between hiccups and giggles. I had a bottle of water next to me which I'd started on just to insure no hangover would ensue. Needless to say, I was fine today, but Vince was an utter mess....
...read more about his splitting headache, barfing at a gas station, and our day at Venice Beach.
Rock & Roll!
-Uncle J.
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