Things That Go Kaplooie In the Night

Before I tell you what happened last night i think i should probably go back a bit further. I woke up in Lomita to yet another cool morning I stayed in another hotel as seems to be the mode of this trip. It was pretty nice. I have gotten better at making deals with the clerks at these places. They usually waive the tax if i just throw a reasonable chunk of money at them. which is pretty awesome. I love the power of cash. So much better than credit, and more tangible. My only beef with the place was that it seemed to be in a bit of an internet black hole. There were 3 ports all encrypted.

The next day was fair. Quite nice in fact. I followed the PCH through a number of beach communities. Stopping at a cafe to try and secure the internet. All the open ports there were somehow broken. I couldn't get any DHCP offers. In my paranoia i suspected that it was on my end. I got frustrated and packed up sitka a little to hastily. With a sweeping motion of my arm i knocked my coffee on the floor. It was nothing short of a miracle that it didn't splash all over the lady dressed in white next to me. Her first reaction was I just had this coat cleaned. She seemed a bit uptight. One of those people who always complains about their $4 latte. Thank god I didn't get her with the coffee. I don't think I would have been able to deal with those consequences.

The rest of the morning and early afternoon followed the same pattern that it has been for the past few weeks. I walked, talked, and ate a burrito for mid afternoon lunch. It was late afternoon when I entered El Segundo. Lots of malls there. Lots of big time commerce. As I got closer to LAX the airport The highway became more and more unfriendly to pedestrians. As i passed under a freeway i saw the gapping jaws of a tunnel. I stopped. Tunnels are no good for pedestrains. Unless they are built for them. This was definately an automobile tunnel. There was a cop there giving a ticket to a careless driver. I decided I had better ask him for directions as the speeding cars weren't in a listening mood. The cop was very surly. His reaction to my "pardon, me. I was jus.." was "I AM VERY BUSY RIGHT NOW." so I took a step back and waited. He turned away from me. I waited. He turned again to say"DON'T STAND BEHIND ME." I interpreted this as a sign that he wasn't going to help me. So I gave his turned back the old double middle finger and went off in search of another route.

I pretty much had to circumnavigate LAX. It wasn't very lax. The sun was just starting to set when i started the trip back to the PCH. One positive thing was that the area was pretty devoid of houses and jogging paths. Perfect for an outdoor camp. So I found a nice bush beside the busy road and waited for night to fall. I rocked out to some Punk rock, and thought of ways I could further "The Cure For Cars." I have one really good idea at the moment. It will take a while before the right situation comes about though.

Very Fitting

As the light was fading i set up my tarps and sleeping back. Once again utilizing the camo-tarp to close off the sandwich. It was pretty nice spot. There was a nice soft duffy layer, of dried up algea. the area looked like it periodically floods. I crossed my fingers that it wouldn't that night. The wind was low and there was no sign of rain. I figured I was safe. I slept well, until...

KAPLOOIE... SCREECH, WHAMOO.. silence. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK

I was out of my sleeping bag in seconds. It was most disorienting. My pants fell off. I couldn't see. I heard voices though. One was clearly another driver who had witnessed it. She was checking the driver over. I heard the shook-up voice of the driver, he seemed alright. I crawled back in my sleeping bag because it was cold. The situation seemed under control. I never heard any sirens. There was some more talking going on. I listened to it for a while. Eventually a Police helicopter flew over and shined a light all over the place. It hovered over my tarp for a while. But no one came to check me out. I was still safe.

Another car pulled up about a half-hour later. It seemed to be the Drivers ride. I heard them walk towards me. They were surveying the wreckage. He had hit a telephone pole. The driver was in awe of what he had done. There were a few dozen HOLY FUCK's. He picked up a few pieces of his truck. I heard him laughing that sort of i-am-trying-to-be-happy laugh. Eventually he drove off. So did his wrecked truck in tow of another truck.

A few more hours later. Just before dawn some Hydro people showed up. They were really loud and yelling at each other constantly. things like "GET THE WHOOPIE SLING" and "NOT THE YELLOW ONE, THE RED ONE" followed by "WE ONLY GOT A YELLOW WHOOPIE SLING." I have no idea what a whoopie sling is. It sure sounds important though. They pulled the pole down after about 45 minutes of yelling at each other.

he hit that thing hard

When I woke up this morning i surveyed the wreckage. The pole he hit was a scant 5 metres away from my tarp. The power lines seemed fully intact still. They were pretty high tension. So was I having tried to sleep through the ordeal.

I woke up to frost on my tarp this morning. No kidding. Actual frost. I was amazed. But I guess thats because its so desert like here.

coldy cold