Day 66 - Santa Monica - June 10
In the morning, I slept in a little since the bus doesn't come until around noon. I signed Giggles tent and said goodbye to her gang for now. I went to the library to do a little research about the conditions ahead and the car rental options. The price of a car rental had risen dramatically since last night. Plus, I realized that the area around Tahoe still had significant snow. I considered skipping up to Ashland, but there were so many variables and I needed to include Chris and Kat in my plans.
I joined them at the coffee shop, we called Mouse on speaker phone and they convinced me to stick to the original plan. We could handle a little snow, at least the river and stream crossings will be better than the High Sierra. We caught the bus to Bakersfield and walked over to the Enterprise. They didn't have any cars for us. We walked to the McDonald's across the street and used their Wifi to research where to go. I called Budget and they quoted me an outrageous price. I looked online and it was the same. Finger Guns tried the German Budget website and got a price almost 1/3 of mine. Great. I'm going to need to learn German to get a good deal on car rentals now. They booked the car. We took an Uber to near the airport and walked in. After waiting for a little bit, we got our car. They had made us wait longer than necessary, so they gave us an upgrade! A Nissan Rogue SUV. It was very comfortable and had plenty of room for packs in the back. Finger Guns drove towards LA.
We stopped at the Aldi in Santa Clarita for picnic food for tonight. Aldi is German and they were excited to see some German products they'd missed. They got some sparkling apple juice and German chocolate. On to LA! We only had a few hours, so we went to the beach in Santa Monica. Driving in, it was like coming into a whole nother world, looking at all those clean people dressed up. The pier was so crowded it was overwhelming, but that's where the bathrooms are.
We ate dinner at sunset on the sandy, trashy beach watching all the people. It seemed like they gave us a wide berth, like we were homeless. Maybe we should put out a hat for money. We're just hiker trash, people.
The car seemed more restful than that beach, so we went back and just sat there in the parking deck. I had to pee and I didn't want to go all the way down to the pier. What to do? I walked around the street until I found a busy bar, just walked in and out.
We started driving to the airport, but Mouse's plane was stuck behind another with flat so it took him a little while to get to us. That airport is so huge. Finger Guns drove to Mohave. We arrived at the Motel 6 at 1 am and got two rooms so we could all get showers.
I joined them at the coffee shop, we called Mouse on speaker phone and they convinced me to stick to the original plan. We could handle a little snow, at least the river and stream crossings will be better than the High Sierra. We caught the bus to Bakersfield and walked over to the Enterprise. They didn't have any cars for us. We walked to the McDonald's across the street and used their Wifi to research where to go. I called Budget and they quoted me an outrageous price. I looked online and it was the same. Finger Guns tried the German Budget website and got a price almost 1/3 of mine. Great. I'm going to need to learn German to get a good deal on car rentals now. They booked the car. We took an Uber to near the airport and walked in. After waiting for a little bit, we got our car. They had made us wait longer than necessary, so they gave us an upgrade! A Nissan Rogue SUV. It was very comfortable and had plenty of room for packs in the back. Finger Guns drove towards LA.
We stopped at the Aldi in Santa Clarita for picnic food for tonight. Aldi is German and they were excited to see some German products they'd missed. They got some sparkling apple juice and German chocolate. On to LA! We only had a few hours, so we went to the beach in Santa Monica. Driving in, it was like coming into a whole nother world, looking at all those clean people dressed up. The pier was so crowded it was overwhelming, but that's where the bathrooms are.
We ate dinner at sunset on the sandy, trashy beach watching all the people. It seemed like they gave us a wide berth, like we were homeless. Maybe we should put out a hat for money. We're just hiker trash, people.
The car seemed more restful than that beach, so we went back and just sat there in the parking deck. I had to pee and I didn't want to go all the way down to the pier. What to do? I walked around the street until I found a busy bar, just walked in and out.
We started driving to the airport, but Mouse's plane was stuck behind another with flat so it took him a little while to get to us. That airport is so huge. Finger Guns drove to Mohave. We arrived at the Motel 6 at 1 am and got two rooms so we could all get showers.
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| Finger Guns has a car. |
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| Santa Monica Pier |
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| Santa Monica beach is overwhelming. |
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| Look at all those clean people. |
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| Leaving my mark. |
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