Yes, I did just reference an Early November song in my title.

Since the last time I wrote one of these, I drove down the Pacific Coast Highway (terribly overrated drive), spent two nights in Los Angeles, took a detour to the Salton Sea, and spent a very quiet night in a hotel room in Phoenix, and drove to Albuquerque today. I’ve now stayed at both Best Westerns in the ABQ.

The stay in LA was wonderful. I found a room on Airbnb (use it if you haven’t), with a couple who were just a joy to be around. Granted, I spent most of my full day outside of the house, doing some eating, walking, hiking, driving, and sitting, but my interactions with them were just great. If you’re going to LA any time soon and want to stay in a super comfortable room, in a nice house in the Silver Lake area, with two people who will laugh and talk and just be great to interact with, let me know.

I ate at one familiar spot (Yuca’s) and two unfamiliar spots while in LA. I hiked Runyon Canyon. I walked up to the Silver Lake Reservoir (which I found to be totally unremarkable). I sat and people watched (including watching two guys next to me roll giant blunts at 4:00 p.m.) at Echo Park Lake. And, on a total whim, I drove to the top of Mount Wilson, which sits 5700 feet above sea level and offers great views of a distant Downtown LA and, at the time I was there, the sun setting in the west. Also, three bears.

All in all, LA was as good as it was when I was there 6 months ago and as good as I expected it to be. I got a beautiful weather day and I (mostly) relaxed. LA remains at the top of my list of places I’d like to move to one day (soon).

Notes:
New states: Hawaii, Missouri, and Arkansas. I’m going to do a wrap-up soon, but I’m just perplexed as to how I still haven’t seen a Kansas plate.

-On that same track, I saw an inordinate number of Minnesota license plates. In fact, there was one road in Arizona, highway 377, on which I don’t think I saw a single Arizona license plate. Lots of Minnesota. Lots of Virginia. Lots of Colorado.

-I haven’t seen a DC plate since Maryland. I have seen a few people give me some stares as they pass me, though. Taxation Without Representation. Learn about it.

-I passed a billboard for thegreatestpresident.com, which I would suggest you visit for some giggles. Or, if you agree with what you read, it’ll let you know that you should see a doctor.

-Last night, while driving north through Arizona from I-8 to I-10 (in what felt like the middle of the night, but was in fact, 5:45 p.m., which is what happens when you don’t believe in Daylight Savings Time), I experienced a 10 degree temperature drop, followed by a 5 degree temperature increase, in a span of 15 minutes. That seemed really cool to me, but I had also been in my car for 8 hours.

-I posted a video over on Facebook from my trip to the Salton Sea yesterday. If you are unaware of the Salton Sea, read about it here.

-I don’t foresee writing a new post each of these next few days. I’m going to be driving a lot so that I can get home and hug Amanda as soon as possible. There’s really no way to account for the lack of familiar human interaction on a trip like this, even after spending 6 days with my family in the middle of the trip.