http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/blog/hevithan-583622/ LinuxQuestions.org offers a free Linux forum where Linux newbies can ask questions and Linux experts can offer advice. Topics include security, installation, networking and much more. en Fri, 24 May 2013 11:31:22 GMT vBulletin 60 https://lqo-thequestionsnetw.netdna-ssl.com/questions/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/blog/hevithan-583622/ http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/blog/hevithan-583622/on-the-road-4-3988/ Tue, 19 Jul 2011 18:38:25 GMT L.A. sucks. It is a horrible place, I had an alright time there, and I really can't complain ... But it is like eating your moms jell-o (you don't like it, But she loves to make it) you are sure that some people like Cherry Jell-o, and it may even have a fruit or 2 suspended in it that you enjoy ... But deep down, Jell-o sucks and so does L.A.

After that reststop in Las Banos we got a ride (some 200 miles) from a guy in a nice sedan, leather seats, air conditioned in front and back, and listened to a book on tape the whole way (The 5th Horsemen). He got us almost all the way to LA where he let us off at another reststop and we got a ride almost immeditatly from a mexican with a van, Missing it's back seats ... But hey, a ride is a ride, and he was friendly enough. He dropped us off in Los Feliz ... Not to far away from sunset blvd. Now our whole purpose of being here in LA was to meet a friend of Lights who was supposed to have a van and we where all going to go to Arkansas in this van.
So we look for his friend (not that hard we knew where he worked) and it turns out he's got this sweet new modeling job ... His agency buys his house, clothes, car, food, and even his drugs ... So he decided to hang around LA and let his girlfriend take the van. We give her a call and she says to meet her in San Clemente (About halfway between LA and Mexico) day after tommorow, So we hang around LA a bit, and though it sucks I did have a blast. I hung out at a modeling agency, Saw the Oscar-Meyer wienermobile, the walk of stars, slept as close to the HOLLYWOOD sign as you legally can, got to enjoy the nightlife on Sunset and in Beverly hills. But the whole time L.A. just has this feel to it. I really don't know how to explain it, it's an underlying 'vibe' I guess.
LA is the vents for the furnace we call hell, and you can just tell.
We didn't make any money in LA, Other then 1 group of kids (about 13-ish) no one would talk to us -The kids where from Beverly Hills, and pretty damn cool too-, and the noses where held so high in that city that I don't know how anyone manages to walk around with out tripping. But none the less we stayed a couple days caught a bus out (from Beverly hills, To Venice beach, to Compton, to Orange County) and met up with them in San Clemente. San Clemente has the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen, and just standing there we made about $40, and a guy wearing a shirt that said "MERLE HAGGARD IS ALWAYS RIGHT" talked to us for a bit and then decided he needed to buy us lunch. Granted, it was hotdogs and nachos from 7-11, but the gesture remains. Swam at the beach, enjoyed ourselves a little and got into the van when they showed up. 2 girls, Erin and Danielle where our new road companions even if just shortly (Danielle managed to put a dent in the entire side of the van while getting gas, I was mostly the driver). This van will be another story however, I got to drive it with only 3 wheels, So until part 5 it will be just "that" van ;-) ]]> Hevithan http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/blog/hevithan-583622/on-the-road-4-3988/ http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/blog/hevithan-583622/on-the-road-3-3926/ Thu, 30 Jun 2011 06:45:44 GMT This is a little story about drinking and driving, it was scary, it was stupid, and it is a mistake I will never repeat. Shaun, our friend James,... This is a little story about drinking and driving, it was scary, it was stupid, and it is a mistake I will never repeat.

Shaun, our friend James, and I, where on the road hitching as usual. We where on a little used highway that runs through the redwoods, in the pouring rain. Cars are driving by at a steady enough rate for a road of it's size, But no one wants to pick up 3 soaked people with 3 large, and equally as soaked, backpacks so we had been there awhile.

When a van drives by on the opposite side flashing it's headlights and honking. We have no idea what to make of this spectacle, but a few minutes later the same van is on our side of the road (So happy!).
Now this is one of those nice travel vans, It has a raised roof, Lights lining all the walls, koosh captains chairs, and wood inlay on everything ... A welcome sight after standing in the rain all day.

The occupants are 2 older (I would guess 45ish) women, who bear a slight resemblance to Courtney Love (When she is high ... and if she was beaten up a bit) and they are super stoked to be giving us a ride. Immediately they start hitting on James (To which me and Shaun just laugh of course), and they offer us a drink of a newly opened bottle of Canadian Mist (whiskey for those who don't know) ... I'm fine without it, But James and Shaun are all about it, So they take a few shots, and we continue on our ride.
Well, They get off the highway and explain we are making a stop and then they will drop us at the next exit. We stop at a pleasant enough little house, are welcomed warmly and invited to watch a movie with the guys that live there. The women disappear for 5-10 minutes, and we go (I still haven't finished watching 28 days later to this day.)
So while they where gone those minutes mentioned above, we learned they where doing shots (Not to forget a few from the bottle offered us earlier) and prior to that (and picking us up) they had drank an entire HALF GALLON of whiskey to themselves. We drive roughly 5 miles or so, and the driver starts to swerve, and I put my seatbelt on (This is possibly the smartest thing I have ever done) ... Just as the seatbelt goes *CLICK*, The van hit a guardrail, and being as coordinated as the driver was the guardrail just caused more swerving.
Ultimately, We ended up in a field, upside down in a stack of brush, and I was the only one wearing a seat belt. My friends hit the roof, all of our stuff went flying (save my guitar, it was in my hands), and the passenger hits her face into the dash harder then any other force I have seen in my life.
We all pile out any door we can find, and the passenger is going nuts. She is crying and hysteric, and covered with blood. I have my first aid/CPR certification so I felt a responsibility to at least feel around for breaks or anything major (anything I would be able to notice anyway), and as I was doing this she slips a bag of marijuana into my pocket (Which goes un-noticed until Colorado 3 months later, where I was arrested, and police found it in my pocket INSIDE the jail ... Thats another story) and says "keep this, the police are gonna come, keep this." ... I pay it no heed, look at my friends who are clearly thinking the same thing ... They already have their packs on, It's time for us to go ... Hitchhikers don't stick around for s**t like this.

Having no idea where we are because these ladies took us off of our route, We need directions, and all that is around is houses, So we pick the nearest one, and I am voted (great thing about 3, Voting always works) to go ask. So I walk to the door and knock, and this little girl (maybe 11 or 12) answers and just stares (I am filthy, shaky, and have some of that woman's blood on me from checking her) and turns around and yells "MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!" and her mom comes, and what do ya know? That same stare! ... I explain we just got in an accident in a field,told her where, and asked if she new the way to the freeway we where on. She politely told me a few ways to get there, I thanked her and we set off. we weren't even walking 5 minutes when a pickup stops, pulls along side us, and ask where we are headed, we tell him and he takes us to the exit. He buys us coffee,breakfast,food for later, tells us places around here we can sit and eat (maybe even sleep) and explains jesus in one of the nicest ways I have ever heard. He said "Jesus was a traveler, and you boys needed a ride. I don't want to force this on you, But I want you to know that I picked you up because Jesus has been in your situation, and he would have wanted help too. People love you and you are loved, I hope to see you later in life." and we parted ways.

And that is the end of part 3. I will never ever get in a car with anyone who has been drinking, even if I just suspect it. And no matter how bad stuff gets, I always remember, I could be in a van with 2 drunks, hanging upside down, in the middle of a field, in the pouring rain. ]]> Hevithan http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/blog/hevithan-583622/on-the-road-3-3926/ http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/blog/hevithan-583622/on-the-road-2-3916/ Sat, 25 Jun 2011 22:10:00 GMT Have you ever been to Los Banos?

If you have been to a Mexican restaurant, You'll remember the sign Banos from The Bathrooms. Los banos itself is a city, However the part of it that Interstate 5 runs through (below)



Is nothing. Imagine before that truck, is a freeway ramp. Up this ramp you expect there to be civilization ... That's why it is there.
-WRONG-
There are 2 buildings on this ramp. 1 - A shell gas station (Not one of those traveler ones either, small one, Where they connect the bathroom key to a spare tire so you can't take it) 2 - a plywood fruit stand. Ending up in Las Banos was a fun experience. By this time, Shaun and I had picked up a third (I like to hitch in 3s) guy named Light (yes, his name was light), We where supposed to be going to L.A. to meet a friend at the LA Modeling agency, who was going to give us a ride to Arkansas (Thats a story for later). So we're hitching down and a guy in a white van picks us up about 50mi north of Banos, We get about half way and he says he needs gas. So we pull up to a TA (This is a big travel fuel stop), and just start talking to people. These nice guys who where on business from japan see us and start chatting, tell us about them and vice versa, We explained our situation and almost simultaneously they bust out their credit cards and ask which car. So they fill the tank, Must have been 30 gallons or so ... and this guy drives us 25mi to los banos, gets a call from his dealer and says he has to go pick something up he's leaving us here, he'll be back (he never came back...I guess drugs'll do that).
The only place to sleep around here is a vineyard right next to the freeway, so we crash there, wake up with the sun and start holding out our thumbs.

After about 6 or 7 hours, C.H.P (california highway patrol) pulls up, doesn't even step out of the car. Get's on the PA and starts yelling "Turn around with your backs to me, hands up" as we are raising them we hear - "Don't move, hands up" ... so we are there just standing for a minute (maybe not even a whole minute) that feels like forever, it's hot, we're irritated, and now we're in 'the position'. Cop get's out asks for our ID's (Which I didn't carry at the time), Runs our names (Clean!) ... And informs us we can not hitchhike on the road, or ramp we have to try the gas station (That's 1/2 of the local structures!).
So we tell him how we ended up there, ask if he can let us slide; "Nope, If my supervisor or colleagues drive past, I already called you in." (understandable) we ask how far to the next rest stop. 8 miles ... At this time my backpack (Huge hiking pack) weighs about 80LBS and Shaun and Light had close to or over that. So we ask for a ride ... Cop says "no .. uh ... well ... I dunno.", Looks around ... Scopes down the road at all 3 cars, and finally says "all right." So we load us 3 (And all our stuff) into his cruiser, He drives us down the road (Nice guy) to the rest stop, get's out when we do ... and just before he gets in his car, he takes out his wallet and gives us $12 (The entirety of his wallet) ... we says our good byes and sit down trying to get our next ride.

This rest stop was a god send, After the cop left, the vending machine guy comes to change out the products (2 days before expiration if you can believe it.) see's us hanging around, and bestows the contents unto us. We had cookies,candy, and chips for days. This rest stop also led to a 200-mile ride, But that (much like LA) is another story. ]]> Hevithan http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/blog/hevithan-583622/on-the-road-2-3916/ http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/blog/hevithan-583622/on-the-road-in-america-part-1-3915/ Sat, 25 Jun 2011 14:41:59 GMT Well since this blog option is available, I may as well utilize it. I was thinking I would chronicle my time I spent hitch-hiking the grand ole...
Well since this blog option is available, I may as well utilize it.

I was thinking I would chronicle my time I spent hitch-hiking the grand ole US. Roughly 4 years, in which I saw plenty of states, met tons of people, and did things most people have only read about or dreamed.

During this tour of adventures I was banned from National Monuments, stuck on a mountain at 11,000 feet with no more then a $20 tent from wal-mart, spent $3,000 dollars at a convinence store, and found myself purchasing a scalped greyhound ticket (Only $8!).

I guess I should start at the beginning (by that logic I should finish at the end.)

About 6 months before my 18th birthday, my friend Shaun came back to Washington from California. When he came back, He told about what a fun time he had in Humboldt County. Now I was born and raised in WA, and had lived here and never left in almost 2 decades. So it only made sense that when Shaun left, I went with. Our first ride was kind of a cheat (in that we didn't hitch), We went to Craigslist and used ride share, Which landed us a ride all the way to Cali for about $15 each, with a guy who was delivering dirt bikes to San Diego.
We got dropped off in Arcata, Northern California at about 9:30 at night, in the parking lot of the Food Co-op. the layout of Arcata is so tiny I can do it here:
|________| | [co-op] town sq = town square
|town sq.|--| | dons = 24 hour doughnuts and smokes
|________| | | bar and co-op= Well, as they say
[bar] | [dons]
-------------
So we are at the co-op, almost 10PM and we walk toward Town Square. We are almost there when this lady starts screaming for help.
Now Arcata is a little lacking in the street light department so it is creepy dark, Like Halloween creepy , and here is this poor woman yelling ... So of course Shaun and I go towards the yelling, and out of nowhere people start pouring out of Dons and the bar ... and suddenly what was a deserted street is now a mob. Turns out some guy was trying to take her purse. Us and about 70 other people are all slowly walking towards him, he drops the purse and turns tail and starts to run. A little mini-mob of about 10 people or so took off after him and we continued on our way. Arcata is a mostly hippy town, and it is filled with traveling kids, So we hung out mingled and eventually found our way to the redwoods to get some sleep.

That is my first out-of-state experience, and I loved it. Things only get weirder from here ....
]]> Hevithan http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/blog/hevithan-583622/on-the-road-in-america-part-1-3915/