out here.

**ok...so. there's suppose to be pics and such but something's up with google...so. when i find more reliable wi-fi i'll load 'em up...

**also, i'm now in lake havasu, arizona...for those following along.

i love you.

...............

As it turns out – Steve at the Los Gatos chevron really is the man. Nice guy, great mechanic and above all, I believe, honest.

A quick rundown. Los Gatos Acura quoted me just short of 900 dollars to change out my starter. A new factory Honda starter that actually has less of a warranty than a rebuilt one – I dunno. So I left there and went next door to A & M auto parts and they ordered me in a rebuilt starter for 145 dollars. I then went next next door to a Honda joint and they said they’d charge me close to 400 dollars to throw it in. I then, after going to Santa Cruz for a burrito and such, was told by the guys at A & M to go see Steve at the chevron. So I did. And in the end Steve charged me 250 dollars to put it in and I got 60 dollars back for returning the old starter core to the guys at A & M. so all in all I paid approx. 310 dollars for what the Acura douchbags wanted 900 dollars for. Fuck that shit.

Ok.

I actually went back to Santa Cruz after Steve’s and hung out a little and went for a short walk near the cliff where the surfer statue is. I had gotten some groceries at trader Joe’s and after a short stint was back on the road. I didn’t drive too far and, in fact, found a cool spot on the side of the highway just south of Carmel. This morning when I woke-up and was making my coffee a parks dude/cop stopped and told me there were two things he needed to tell me. 1: I was wearing the wrong baseball hat and that I needed to change it to a Giants hat and 2: I wasn’t suppose to sleep overnight where I had. We then proceeded to have a funny conversation filled with sarcasm and what if’s and such. I told him I’d ‘never’ sleep there and that I was just making coffee. He said he saw that I was just making coffee and really, there was no way for him to know how long I had been there. He also told me about some campgrounds and I told him I had just been to tired to continue and that I thought it was safer I had stayed there than to try and carry on. He said that’s what he’s always said when told he couldn’t sleep somewhere. I told him I’d change my hat. He told me to have a great day.

I needed a shower and found a campground near Big Sur and after driving around it a little found a building that had showers for a quarter – a fucking quarter. I didn’t have any soap so I had to drive back to a store on the highway and as I was leaving I came across two parks dudes who asked me if I had slept in the park. I told them I hadn’t but that I’d love to use the showers. They told me I had to pay a park fee of ten bucks but after that I could shower in any park in California – good deal. Quarter showers from now on. Sure it was a showerhead that shot water out like a fire hose but it was warm and I needed it and it was great.

I’ve been moving much slower than I would generally do on the highway. I usually knock off a lot of miles in a day but am taking my time and stopping and walking around, sitting down, eating on the tailgate of the car and just kinda….relaxing. Well, as much as I do. Spike won’t be in Tucson until the 15^th and I need to be away for the length of the games so..slow and steady will win this race. I think. That and a lot of burritos. Although I can’t have more than one a day. Those huge killers fill me up. Sure, I’m a fat fuck but I really don’t eat as much as ya think.

From Carmel I made my way through Big Sur and down to Pismo beach and then just short of Santa Barbara where I took a hard left – well actually a u-turn and then a hard right but it should have been a left if you follow me, and headed towards Bakersfield and am now at a place called Four Corners, California – not ‘the’ four corners, but another four corners. More of a truckers four corners not far from Barstow. I’ll sleep here, shower at the Pilot tomorrow and head to Barstow and beyond.

Have fun. I miss you.

g. xo