The Amazing Adventures of a Zoobroker and a Sentiographer
The trip starts for me tomorrow ... and the way it's scheduled, I'm on the road for 30 days straight. The official road trip doesn't start until the 11th ... look for updates starting around then ...
In the meantime, enjoy this tip of the day:
Eggs Mushrooms Strawberries Pieces of Banana Boiled Potatoes
Apples Zucchini* Raw Potatoes*
*Not actually tested, because it broke on the apple.
Eddie's should have been one of my first Road Trip Worthy posts. This place serves the best breakfast in California, hands down. The homemade sausage is very nearly the best sausage I've had anywhere in my life. The service is impeccable. This is a local's place, and city slickers and their Priuses (What's the plural of Prius, Priui? Priuae?) are sure to get a cockeyed-glance or two. It gets pretty busy on weekends, so plan on a small torturous wait as you smell what Eddie has cooked up.
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Woke up with hell ringing red, cracked bells in my ears, furry monsters using my tonsils for trampolines and foreshadowing deserts of thought, flat and hot in my mind, waving in the distance like unreachable oasis. Also, our mirror was satanic. I swear. Fogged after showers, it made one's own eyes look like pitiless halcyonic pits. And it was not the hangover. Zoo suggested I write out my goals for life. It was a good exercise, even if I didn't complete it at that point - it was important to start thinking about it in those terms.
Los Angeles had done me well.
Zoo drove the whole way to Vegas... I was in no shape to drive. Now is a good time to mention that he only drinks top-shelf tequila gimlets or shots and grande sugar-free vanilla mistos. I may be wrong about his exact coffee drink, but it's something like that. And, we made our Starbucks quota by stopping for his fuel often. I'm a Grande Mocha man, myself, but switched up and got some regular drip once in a while. Enough about coffee...
As previously mentioned, we drove out of LA northeast to Vegas through the Mojave desert. Stopped for Jack in the Box in Barstow. Mmmm. First time at the Jack. Got me a hangover-killing burger and crappy onion rings. Filled up on gas at 7-Eleven and drove on into the desert.
Wow... Outside of being in Vegas 17 times in my life, I've never been IN the desert. I was drooling. How fucking cool. Ow, my head...
Zoo telling me that he is surrounded by tarantula holes... getting skittish.
I brought five cameras with me, plus a battery-powered flash pack with a softbox and a tripod. What a getup. Glad I focused on enjoying the experience as opposed to actually using all of that gear... (hehe).
First off, it rained a lot on our journey:
And there was traffic. We fought through an 11-mile backup because of an accident by the NV border and flew into Nevada. Why do they have casinos so far away from Vegas? Is it for the elderly? They are so silly, standing alone out there ont he highway...
And that part sucked
But we skipped going to a Ghost Town
And I must admit that I had a headache/hangover that lasted until we sat down for dinner in Vegas. Fortunately, it was not here:
The man in action:
Spammer says: Someone should have told me the back of my head looked like a careworn teddy bear.
Storm in the distance:
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I flew in from the East Coast the previous day to LA to experience something new and happy on the heels of a long, drawn-out confusing unhappy situation. I had made it over the hump and this was my first day to relax, start to feel human again and just plain let off some damn steam. Whether you believe it or not, I deserved it. I look like a deer in the headlights, right?
So we headed out for a bit of LA sunshine. I got a haircut. You know, fresh beginnings and all that crap. Then eventually we made our way over to West Hollywood and eat a fantastic dinner, complete with margaritas delicious-o at Spanish Kitchen on North LaCinenega. Highly recommended if you're going to head over to the super-secret bar after that.
So, we walked uphill to that bar we won't mention because it's so awesome and we don't want to share... but we'll post a photo anyway and if you figure it out, then go enjoy yourself.
I was deliberately ready to get trashed. I admit it. I needed to forget a whole bunch of things and I did get trashed... But while running headlong down this path, we met some so-LA people. I was tossing back Hoegaardens and Zoo was drinking his Tequila Gimlets. I think we was keeping 2 for 1 in front me, swell gut that he is :)
We sat at long table. I slapped down my audio recorder and camera. I turned on the recorder and after a few minutes of chatting with our neighbors, this fella who had no neck fornwed and asked if I was recording the conversation. I relied, "yes."
"Why are you recording it? Are you a reporter?"
"Yes, of a sort," I replied. "I am reporting on my life."
He grabs the recorder, starts rattling off his name, his agent's name and the fact that this was an unauthorized recording. No joke - it's LA. Passes it down the table and three or four more people do the same. He hands it back to me and says, "let's party, man." And we did. Turns out he and his gal were from the same area of NJ I was living in at the time.
So our table was decorated well...
And our neighbors were a hoot. LA hoot, that is..
Zoo made some friends (I was so gone at this point, I am surprised I could aim a camera...)
(thinks that guy... Yes!!!! It didn't!)
I love you, too, LA.
Seems like everyone was looking for a salt lick that night.
