Part 11

First thing in the morning I hopped in my Jeep and navigated my way out of L.A. I had a good drive ahead of me, straight north to San Francisco and Berkeley. The quickest route was Route 5, which I was told later is the "ugliest highway in California." To a foreigner it was a glorious, magical highway, smelling of sweet flowers and surrounded by the greenest earth I have ever seen. A truck full of oranges passed me, it made me smile. Later I saw a truck full of lemons. I even caught a shot of a biker gang cruising on the sun-kissed highway.

The land changed and became more flat, and huge fields of nut trees lined the road. They were all flowering with little pink blossoms, and they made the air smell like paradise. I was mesmerized by the colors, the smells and the perfect sunshine.

I stopped somewhere near Bakersfield at a fruit stand. They had amazing hand-painted signs all along the highway for their fruit. I brushed my teeth in the parking lot, then wandered inside to browse the vibrant produce selection. The guy behind the counter gave me a little slice of some sort of magical delicious orange hybrid, of which I bought 2. I also got a couple blood oranges, some postcards, and a handful of "mandarinquats"- a mix of a mandarin and a kumquat, which makes it a tiny sweet little orange fruit. You can eat the rind and everything. With my treasures I hit the highway again, anticipating the city ahead.

I got into Frisco around 4, panicked once I got over the bridge and just parked my car wherever. I walked around for about an hour, looking for the famous Haight Street. I didn't find it. I had no appetite for food, so I just wandered and looked around. It was too much, I couldn't take anything in. I saw a killer metal art sculpture of a giant woman with her head raised to the sky, chain-link hair swaying in the wind. That night I stayed in Berkeley with two very cool University students. They took me to see "The Vagina Monologues" at the college theater, where we got to watch from way up in a secret balcony. We cooked breakfast together the next morning and I headed on my way for a short 1 hour drive.

Part 10

The highways in western Arizona were beautiful. The sun was out, the sky was clear, we were so close to California. When we got to the state border, there was a checkpoint where all cars and trucks had to stop. Rich and I wondered why, as we pulled up I gave the guy a big smile. He asked us where we were coming from? “Today, you mean? Ha-ha…” I told him we were headed to L.A. He asked me if we had any plants in the car. No, no plants I told him. He asked, "Are you sure?" and looked past me to the inside of my car. I was laughing, I told him no again... and then realized that the petrified tree I had picked up in the desert was sticking straight up behind my head. I told him what it was, and he sent us on our way. California!!!

We stopped for gas just over the border and decided that we would take our sweet time getting to L.A. Rich was headed to a friend's house in the city, I had nowhere to be. We pulled off the highway a few miles later to meander around the desert again and take some pictures. A CA state trooper came to see what we were up to, decided we were harmless and told us to enjoy our day. The mountains in the distance were a perfect backdrop for the quiet tracks and abandoned lot. We threw railroad spikes around and looked down into snake holes. It was so beautiful... and I could hardly believe where we were. Finally.

This is the only picture I got of Rich.

One we'd had our fill of the dry sunshine, we hit the highway again. The earth was so bumpy and strange, like nothing i'd ever seen before. The mountains had been cut away in places so the highway could go through. We got to L.A. just before dark and walked around for a while. We ate fresh hot samosas from an Indian grocery store. The guy behind the counter gave me a little piece of green square dessert to be nice. It was so scary looking I couldn't eat it. I stayed the night at a way-cool artists collective/establishment. I admired the courtyard, the spiral staircase, the flames painted around the fire extinguishers. I watched some of the guys painting graffiti in the back of the house, it was ridiculously amazing. The place hardly felt real. I slept the night on a cushion on the floor, crept out early in the morning to sunshine and dew on my windshield. Headed north, to Frisco!

Part 9-LE GRAND CANYON

So the Grand Canyon is 80 miles off the highway. We got off of Route 40 near Flagstaff and headed straight north. The scenery was not what I expected from Arizona, then again it was February and north of the desert. The ground was still covered in snow. It changed to flat, dry grass, but I could feel us rising in elevation. Every so often a little green sign would tell us we were at 5,000 ft, 6,000 ft, 7,000 ft...

It took about an hour and a half to get to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park. It was glorious. You could see into the veins of the earth, it went on forever. A well-organized gathering of alto-cumulus brushed along the top of the canyon. It didn't seem any more real in person than it does in a photograph. Every picture was a postcard. We walked along the edge for a while, maybe a couple hours. I tiptoed through the slush and puddles and weaved through the tourists. This is a big deal, The Grand Canyon. People travel from across the world to see it. I could see why. I would have stayed for the 3 days and camped if it wasn't still so damn cold. We left just before sunset and headed back towards the highway.

I pulled off the highway in Ash Fork, AZ. It was right on old route 66. The main street wrapped around the little town. We drove around it at least 10 times. There was a strange rickety motel that looked interesting enough to stay in, but they didn't have any vacancies. Down the street to the only other hotel in town. The sign said "ASH FORK INN 29". 29 what? Dollars/night. I should have known. I got two fuzzy tv channels, a shower and a good nights sleep. I was so glad for the bed, and Ash Fork had a strange, campy small-town feel to it. I liked it. Tomorrow, California.