OC to Monterey, Day 1 (The hardest hitching to date)

So after Las Vegas exploits (which I would tell you about, but I’m bound by statute 22: “what happens in Vegas…”) and after a sick-day in Orange (was feeling horrible, until Jaeger-bombs and Rock-Band), it was time to hit the road again.

After a brief consultation of Google Maps, I decided that the train was the only reasonable option for getting the hell out of Orange without a car. So I caught the commuter into Union Station LA. I tried and failed to not pay. At Union I assesed options for getting to a thumbable freeway but in LA transport and/or information are shit so I decided to try

AMTRAK

It was nice, I had 4 seats to myself, it cost $21 from LA to Santa Barbara. I met a cool college kid who was going back to school at CalPoly in San Luis Obispo. He was a young guy and I liked him because he thought everything I said was interesting. He was wise with big bright eyes.

Santa Barbara
Attempted to busk, got shunted by security in the mall, then had to compete with the endless beggars on the streets. One example was a couple of guys with a sign that said “Hungry, hungry Hobos”. How is a Simon & Garfunkle song supposed to compete with that?

Getting out of Santa Barbara, THE HARDEST HITCHING EVER
I was at a pedestrian crossing where I had to convince cars to stop, hold up the cars behind them while I got my bags and self into their car. Even I couldn’t believe anyone would do that, they didn’t, I left.

At the next on-ramp there was no room either. From entry to merge was about 20m, and I couldn’t work out how to get a ride without causing an accident. I tried the least busy entry, which had a vague spot where maybe someone could have only knocked over one or two trees while they pulled over. No good. I had to think of a new trick:

THE RED LIGHT TRICK
One of the 3 entries to the onramp was a traffic light where cars were waiting. There was no room to pull over, but enough time to get in and away on the light cycle. I waited, picked out a solo guy who pulled up as the light turned red. I gave him the would-you-mind-winding-down-the-window signal. I told him I was trying to get a lift and that I was stuck, that even a ride just down a few exits would help. He helped.

ILLEGAL ROAD CROSSINGS
Where that photography student dropped me was even worse. The onramp was embedded amongst intersecting roads not intended for a pedestrian to ever reach. I watched traffic for a long time before crossing two roads illegally. Then I was standing in an illegal and moderately dangerours spot, waving my thumb out.

I kept smiling as the sun got lower. It seemed hopeless. Then

A GIRL!
A lovely girl by herself. She gave me a quick test:
-You’re not crazy are you?
-You’re travelling aren’t you?
I must have answered correctly because before long we were rolling along to San Luis Obispo. As we drove we had a taxi-cab like confession session. She told me about her boyfriend troubles, and I chimed in with the occasional ‘Right on sister,’ Then I revealed a restless doubt of my soul (or two) and we literally bonded (literally in the american sense, actually we bonded figuratively)

Then I called up my new college friend
***the bender begins****
and he helped me find a place to sleep where I was able to develop a method of lying flat on a sofa and a single-seater ordinarily too small for sleeping, very handy if you ever end up in college accomodation.