Day one (11-8-17)
Morning flights are the worst. You have to roll out at an ungodly hour just to get to the airport in time for the TSA check, and for your flight; you have to drink coffee just to wake up, and then you can't sleep on the plane .. Actually, I love travelling, so I'll wake up at four and shrug my pants and shoes on, and shoulder my bags, it's worth it.
We'd packed one of the rolling suitcases fat with books to sell at the show. It's heavy! It's about eighty pounds. The suitcase is a well-built Coach knockoff, solid as a refrigerator, suited for getting a whole library of minicomics from one place to another in good condition.
So we hacked all the luggage down the stairs and waited for our 4:30 Lyft .. and he was right on time, a guy named Faisal in a black Prius, who cheerfully drove us to the airport. He dropped us at the Alaska gate, where we had a brief confusion about our flight, but discovered that we were actually flying Virgin (the latter has just been acquired by the first). Noel rhapsodized about how great the flight would be. "IF there as good an air carrier as they are a record label and cell phone service provider, we're in good shape," I said.
Yes, and we were prechecked through security, so the TSA agents just waved us through the checkpoint, we didn't even have to remove our shoes. We had arrived with a half hour to spare, so we got breakfast bagels. Within no time they called our group to board, and we took our seats.
The seat backs all have small screens. I quickly turned mine off, but as we started to taxi onto the runway it popped back on to show a video on air safety -- a cadre of dancing flight attendants sang a silly song about making sure your air mask was secured before helping small children if the cabin lost pressure, that sort of thing.
The plane took off. I turned off my screen, shut the window cover (the sun was bright and shining directly at me), and we napped a little sitting up. The woman in the seat ahead of me was watching a romantic comedy; the woman at the end of our aisle was watching a Will Ferrell comedy. We learned that if we wanted drinks, we could touch items on the screen and they'd be brought to us, so we got sodas. We slept more. When I woke, the woman in front of me was watching a narcotelenovela (rough! People were gettiing their heads blown off) and the woman at the end of the aisle was watching a romantic comedy where a woman ruined a wedding by stumbling into the table with the cake.
We landed, waited on the runway for a gate. Noel had to use the WC so got up and went, and the flight attendant (who looked like a thinner John Lydon) scolded her for getting up while the seatbelt light was lit. Eventually we got to the gate and off the plane.
Welcome to LA! We immediately got iced mochas at a coffee stand near the gate -- the barista put the ice in the cup, poured the chocolate over it, then added the milk and then the shots -- wrong --
Got our checked bag at the luggage carousel and caught the shuttle to the car rental place. There was some confusion about our reservation, which was because I thought we'd rented from Payless but we'd rented from Fox (they've just merged). Despite Noel's reluctance to drive a red car on LA freeways, we wound up in a sharp red Hyundai.
She was also apprehensive about finding the 405 from the rental place, but there was a sign above the check out gate with lucid directions. Within minutes of leaving, we were on the road to Bakersfield.
My memory of riding on LA freeways was one of endlessness and boredom. Today I was happy watching all the signs and buildings, and surprised when, just after we passed near Burbank, the buildings melted away and hills started to appear. Soon we were in hilly terrain like that outside Reno. (I was momentarily thrown into confusion by signs for Pyramid Lake -- there's one in California, it seems, not the familiar one in Nevada.)
We drove until we needed to stop. Noel found a rest area, and we stopped to rest. She found a vending machine with ice cream sandwiches, and we were going to get some, but we didn't have any money, and the card reader was busted. Drag! We vowed to get ice creams on the trip back.
We got to Bakersfield in record time. We stopped at a Target store to get some supplies. Then we were feeling peckish, and Noel wanted to go to In-&-Out Burger, so we hunted one up and went there. It was amazing, I had a great burger, the fries were fresh, and the smiling cashier gave us stickers! I'm going to put mine on my sketchbook and deface it.
So we drove to North Bakersfield and found my mom's house. Her zany little dog Dingo greeted us with much jumping and tail wagging. I hadn't seen Mom in ten years so it was a shock to both of us how old we've both gotten, but it was so good to see her again. She met Noel, and we both met Emilio, her husband, who is a great and kind hearted guy. While Noel and Mom talked about gardening and cooking, we guys bonded in the age old ritual of Mexican men, that is sitting on the couch watching Univision news and futbol and V Me nature documentaries.
Mom was boiling chicken. Dingo eats some of the chicken meat, but she made the rest into delicious fried burritos. We walked in the back yard, and Emilio gave us oranges from their little orange tree. Mom showed us the garden: the struggling little nopal, the fruit tree that produces both peaches and nectarines, the roses.
Noel wanted to stock up on foods for the next day, she's planning a feast for the folks, so we carefully got the car out again and found our way to Albertson's in the dark. We both talked ourselves out of indulgences (I had my hand on a liter bottle of Senorial, she almost got a box of Little Debbie cakes), stayed the course and got foods for breakfast and dinner, and got home safe.
We concluded the evening with the usual watching of "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune", then turned in. It was warm, a balmy night, so I just stretched out instead of taking my share of the dog-hair covered comforter. BIG MISTAKE, by midnight the room was cooled to refrigeration levels. I had icy dreams.
Woke at seven, roosters crowing next door. I sat out in the garden, i'm sitting there now, watching unfamiliar birds roosting and flitting, hearing garbage trucks in the distance, feeling the sun and morning chill. Am in heaven.
We'd packed one of the rolling suitcases fat with books to sell at the show. It's heavy! It's about eighty pounds. The suitcase is a well-built Coach knockoff, solid as a refrigerator, suited for getting a whole library of minicomics from one place to another in good condition.
So we hacked all the luggage down the stairs and waited for our 4:30 Lyft .. and he was right on time, a guy named Faisal in a black Prius, who cheerfully drove us to the airport. He dropped us at the Alaska gate, where we had a brief confusion about our flight, but discovered that we were actually flying Virgin (the latter has just been acquired by the first). Noel rhapsodized about how great the flight would be. "IF there as good an air carrier as they are a record label and cell phone service provider, we're in good shape," I said.
Yes, and we were prechecked through security, so the TSA agents just waved us through the checkpoint, we didn't even have to remove our shoes. We had arrived with a half hour to spare, so we got breakfast bagels. Within no time they called our group to board, and we took our seats.
The seat backs all have small screens. I quickly turned mine off, but as we started to taxi onto the runway it popped back on to show a video on air safety -- a cadre of dancing flight attendants sang a silly song about making sure your air mask was secured before helping small children if the cabin lost pressure, that sort of thing.
The plane took off. I turned off my screen, shut the window cover (the sun was bright and shining directly at me), and we napped a little sitting up. The woman in the seat ahead of me was watching a romantic comedy; the woman at the end of our aisle was watching a Will Ferrell comedy. We learned that if we wanted drinks, we could touch items on the screen and they'd be brought to us, so we got sodas. We slept more. When I woke, the woman in front of me was watching a narcotelenovela (rough! People were gettiing their heads blown off) and the woman at the end of the aisle was watching a romantic comedy where a woman ruined a wedding by stumbling into the table with the cake.
We landed, waited on the runway for a gate. Noel had to use the WC so got up and went, and the flight attendant (who looked like a thinner John Lydon) scolded her for getting up while the seatbelt light was lit. Eventually we got to the gate and off the plane.
Welcome to LA! We immediately got iced mochas at a coffee stand near the gate -- the barista put the ice in the cup, poured the chocolate over it, then added the milk and then the shots -- wrong --
Got our checked bag at the luggage carousel and caught the shuttle to the car rental place. There was some confusion about our reservation, which was because I thought we'd rented from Payless but we'd rented from Fox (they've just merged). Despite Noel's reluctance to drive a red car on LA freeways, we wound up in a sharp red Hyundai.
She was also apprehensive about finding the 405 from the rental place, but there was a sign above the check out gate with lucid directions. Within minutes of leaving, we were on the road to Bakersfield.
My memory of riding on LA freeways was one of endlessness and boredom. Today I was happy watching all the signs and buildings, and surprised when, just after we passed near Burbank, the buildings melted away and hills started to appear. Soon we were in hilly terrain like that outside Reno. (I was momentarily thrown into confusion by signs for Pyramid Lake -- there's one in California, it seems, not the familiar one in Nevada.)
We drove until we needed to stop. Noel found a rest area, and we stopped to rest. She found a vending machine with ice cream sandwiches, and we were going to get some, but we didn't have any money, and the card reader was busted. Drag! We vowed to get ice creams on the trip back.
We got to Bakersfield in record time. We stopped at a Target store to get some supplies. Then we were feeling peckish, and Noel wanted to go to In-&-Out Burger, so we hunted one up and went there. It was amazing, I had a great burger, the fries were fresh, and the smiling cashier gave us stickers! I'm going to put mine on my sketchbook and deface it.
So we drove to North Bakersfield and found my mom's house. Her zany little dog Dingo greeted us with much jumping and tail wagging. I hadn't seen Mom in ten years so it was a shock to both of us how old we've both gotten, but it was so good to see her again. She met Noel, and we both met Emilio, her husband, who is a great and kind hearted guy. While Noel and Mom talked about gardening and cooking, we guys bonded in the age old ritual of Mexican men, that is sitting on the couch watching Univision news and futbol and V Me nature documentaries.
Mom was boiling chicken. Dingo eats some of the chicken meat, but she made the rest into delicious fried burritos. We walked in the back yard, and Emilio gave us oranges from their little orange tree. Mom showed us the garden: the struggling little nopal, the fruit tree that produces both peaches and nectarines, the roses.
Noel wanted to stock up on foods for the next day, she's planning a feast for the folks, so we carefully got the car out again and found our way to Albertson's in the dark. We both talked ourselves out of indulgences (I had my hand on a liter bottle of Senorial, she almost got a box of Little Debbie cakes), stayed the course and got foods for breakfast and dinner, and got home safe.
We concluded the evening with the usual watching of "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune", then turned in. It was warm, a balmy night, so I just stretched out instead of taking my share of the dog-hair covered comforter. BIG MISTAKE, by midnight the room was cooled to refrigeration levels. I had icy dreams.
Woke at seven, roosters crowing next door. I sat out in the garden, i'm sitting there now, watching unfamiliar birds roosting and flitting, hearing garbage trucks in the distance, feeling the sun and morning chill. Am in heaven.