Back to LA

After some preliminary calculations, it looks like I've already traveled about 3,700 miles since Aimless Leg 2 began on June 23. I've only walked about 50 miles thus far, so there's a lot of work still ahead of me if I want to match the 340 miles I walked during Leg 1. At about 10:00 AM, after Travis dropped me off, I walked about 2.5 miles out of City of Industry before catching an LA-bound 484 Express bus on Valley Blvd at 11:20. I rode it all the way through downtown, arriving at Broadway & I-10 at 12:30. From there I walked down Venice Blvd west to Figueroa St north, by the LA Convention Center & Staples Center. East on 7th St from Figueroa. (Missing Persons was wrong when they said "Nobody walks in LA." It's not like New York, but there are plenty of people walking here in LA.) At 7th & Hope I stood for several minutes, wondering if I should pay $1.25 to ride the Red Line of the
subway to Hollywood; I'd like to, but I don't think so. That's today up to 1:47 PM.

Lot lizards

The ho show was indeed interesting last night. Travis and I sat outside the truck with a few other people on Party Row for most of the night until midnight or 1:00, watching the prostitutes strut around. Every once in a while the Ontario Police would show up and try to round 'em up, but the ladies had plenty of cracks and crevices in which to hide. It was an interesting game of cat and mouse. The cops may have nabbed some of them, but if they did, I didn't see it happen.

Travis and a couple of our neighbors, particularly Joe Durocher from Tully, New York, provided commentary for some of the things I taped last night, like the ho business in action and the horrible parking skills of some of the truckers, most notably a Stevens Transport truck that took at least seven minutes to back his truck into a spot. The guys had plenty of insider acronyms for the Swift drivers, who apparently are not very respected among the industry for a couple reasons: 1) Their trucks are governed at a maximum of like 60 MPH, maybe 65; and 2) They ain't exactly the best drivers around.

A couple of those acronyms: S.W.I.F.T. - Stop Whining I'm Fucking Trying; Swing Wide It's a Fucking Trailer. I don't think the second one is all that funny or interesting, myself. The guys had some better ones when they were brainstorming last night. Some of them were made for dyslexic folks (TFIWS), but I can't remember any of them. In fact, I didn't remember the two examples I just wrote; I asked Travis for his two favorites.

Although it was interesting to sit around outside and watch the prostitutes do their thing, I actually found it more interesting to listen to the CB while it was going on. All kinds of commentary there. Some of it was very funny. I think I'll have to make it back to the Ontario West TA sometime in the future to get some more footage, especially of the CB chatter.

We are currently at Heartland Farms in City of Industry, where Travis is picking up his final load to take back to Iowa, so we'll be splitting up here in an hour or two. I hope I can find a bus that will take me straight into LA or Hollywood, but if I can't, I don't mind walking all the way. If I do walk the whole way, I won't be in LA tonight; it's like 25 miles from here. I could stay with Travis and make it to Vegas (or anywhere between here and Iowa), but I think I'm going to use discretion and stay in California. Vegas isn't going anywhere, and October will be a much better time to show up there, although my pal Gomez (a Vegas native who lives in Seattle) will be there I think until tomorrow. It's OK if I don't see Gomez in Vegas, though, because I'll probably make it to Seattle on this leg.

Well, it's about time to go. I'll probably be back in LA before you hear from me again.

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Aimless
The Quasi-Aimless Trailer
If you'd like to contact me, call me at 614-738-3867.