Slab City

    Sorry for the gap in updates, been busy with other things, and by busy I mean didn't have internet. Working in the hostel was alright, nothing special but still not bad. Except that the hostel didn't have air conditioning, which was bad. It took me a few days to meet some new people, but they turned out to be pretty cool. On my third night, me and one of the girls I met name Jolie went with another guy, Nic, to see some records, go shopping and grab some food and such. We split up from Nic for a while, and I told Jolie about my plans to go to the Salton Sea, she thought it sounded awesome and decided asked to come along, which I gladly agreed to.
    That night a bunch of us snuck into a hotel pool for a dip. What we didn't know was that the pool was going to be the location of a crazy Hollywood party that night, which we were grandfathered into. I don't know anybody who has been to a party like this. Although we didn't see any celebrities (that we knew), there were a bunch of young people, dressed in thousand dollar outfits, getting drunk and acting crazy. Fun night.
    The next morning me and Jolie decided to leave to get a head start to the Salton Sea, since she has a flight to catch on Monday back in LA. We took the metro to the Amtrak station and bought our tickets, unfortunately I didn't check the times, and the train wouldn't leave for 5 hours, and wouldn't get us to our destination in Indio until 9:30. So we caught up on some sleep and ate at the train station, mostly just lounged around. Then a train ride and a bus ride took us to Indio. We walked into the Dennys right across the street because we were both really thirsty. After some bad service, we were on our way out, chatting with some dinners who were curious about our gear. One of the guys named Tio offered to give us a ride to the park we planned to sleep in for the night. The short drive around the corner turned into him driving us all the way to a Truck stop out side of Mecca.
    We thanked Tio for the ride, and set out to find a place to crash for the night. We ended up sleeping on the walkway next to a drive through of a Starbucks, it was a hot night and both of us were sleeping in my one man, so I didn't get very much sleep. The next morning we woke at about 6:30 to people driving up to get coffee, and the workers giving a strange look out the window. We packed quick, went into the truck stop to get some drinks and food, and to clean up in the bathroom, and we were off to the Salton sea.

The landscape out here is so diverse, you wouldn't expect it in the middle of the desert

    Our first ride was short, but a fun one for Jolie since both her and the drive spoke Chinese. He dropped us off at a little shop in the middle of nowhere, but still closer than we had started. Not even 20 minutes had passed until we got our next ride all the way to Niland. They were an older couple from Mexico, and spoke only Spanish, which they choose to speak quickly. My Spanish is not as amazing as it could be, and I limped through the conversations (which Jolie could take no part in, still learning English) till we got dropped off in Niland, not 5 miles from the Slab City. We ended up walking to Slab City, getting nice and warm (read hot) in the sun.

    We made it into the "city" around noon and we set up camp pretty quick. Then we introduced ourselves to our neighbors, Randy and Dave, a couple of nice guys who gave us some tips about the area, especially where to get a shower, and gave us some cold water (which I was about ready to prostitute myself for, as hot as I was). Then they offered to drive us to the shower, which we accepted.

This is the most amazing shower in the universe, any shower you have ever had has nothing on this shower, this shower will make you its bitch. 

    After some quick showers, and some fresh clothes, we snagged a ride back to camp, grabbed our computers, and walked in the heat to the internet cafe on the other side of town. Which is where we now sit, working on our respective projects (Jolie has a paper for school and I am working on my Resume). We will probably stay here until Sunday morning, and then head back to LA.


Random Road Thoughts.
    ITS HOT. I am getting tired of it being hot. Between the AC-less hostel, and the desert, I have had quite enough of being hot. Thankfully a storm is rolling in and will cool us off. I thought I would love Slab City, spending literally years waiting to see it, but honestly the unbearable heat had dampened the blow. Apparently this place is much more hip in the winter, when the snow birds come around and the climate is a little less Dante inspired. I think that if I don't get the cruise ship job, or if it is going to take a while before I leave, then I am going to go up to San Fran, or farther, as far as I have to go for things to cool off. Then when winter comes, I will return to this trailer paradise, and stay longer. Who knows what is in store for me.

Another road selfie.