well nothing quite went the way we planned. and that is usually the case with life, travel, and the sorts. travis, lauren, and i left chicago on the tenth of january hopeful for a warmer life out west. after an amazing going away party my friends threw for us, we hit the road. we picked up this kid named will. will is a 22 yr old art school drop out who for the past three years has been traveling by any means possible. from freight trains to craigslist ride shares, he has seen it all. and we were happy to have him along.
so as some of you may know, travis, lauren, and i all bought a $900 dodge caravan to get our things out west. travis already had a car. a 96 volvo stationwagon. against my initial better judgement, we ended up taking two cars. thats why we needed a fourth driver (enter will).
with a late start, we aimed to get to wichita, kansas. a lofty goal, but i was hopeful. we ended up just staying the night in a cheap little motel in kansas city. so not quite our goal, but it would do. the next day we aimed to drive a long distance to albuquerque, new mexico. my friend hayley offered to set us up at her parents place out there but we didnt quite make it.
in a small town called liberal, kansas (just outside the Oklahoma border) we had a little bit of trouble. travis did a silly thing (if you know him, ask him about it.. its funny. if you dont know him email him at travis.irvin@gmail.com). so after this little bit of chaos we drove some 20 hours straight until we couldnt go any further. we stayed the night in the cars on the side of the highway in a rest area. cold too. the desert gets mighty cold.
the next day we drove a good portion of the day until we were a few hours outside of Las Vegas. Then suddenly on the highway Travis pulls over as his Volvo chugs along. The motor then blew up. (see photo above… notice Will waving happily as the Volvo pours oil from under her hood). Yup, totalled. His car was junked and we were stuck on the side of the road. After a little tow into town, and staying the night there, he scrapped his car for $40 and we rented a car and drove to Vegas.
We had hoped to see the Grand Canyon but the road Travis was told to take via his GPS brought us deep into the desert, not quite seeing the Grand Canyon. As night fell upon us we turned the cars around and drove right to Vegas.
Now, I’ve been to this little desert misery town a few times and I always feel the same way about it. Its neat to pass through but it offers very little in regards to culture and interest. But it’s this gateway to the west and usually you have to pass through it on road trips. So once again, I find myself in Vegas. We spent very little time here though. We bailed on that city and drove through the night til we got to San Francisco.
So, please understand… I am making this journey seem much shorter and much easier than it was. I have traveled a fair amount and I’ve been on piles of road trips. Never in my life have I been on a worse trip than this one. Truly, I am trying to keep this light for the children’s eyes, but dang this trip was misery. Good folks, but miserable times.
Finally we make it to San Francisco. We had hoped to live here for a few months but due to ultra tight housing markets, all the neat places are rented and nothing is affordable. Apparently SF has some of the best tenant protection laws so once you rent in SF you dont want to leave. So not much is available. We stayed at my super good friend Melle’s house. She is a Chicago native as well and she is a darling. We were completely taken care of by that angel and I am very certain that not many people like her exist in this world. Also, huge shout to Mona (the owner of Melle’s place). She let us wreck her place and we even stayed for a root beer kegger. Good days over there.
So you’re wondering what happened to Will? We dropped him off in downtown SF and he seems to just wander about from there. I spoke with him a bit but dang I was bummed to see him go. He was a good addition to the trip. I hope to travel with him a bit soon. Maybe even on the freights??? Oh, and check out his tattoos that he has either done himself or by a friend with a method he calls ’stick-and-poke’. pretty dang gnarly.
San Francisco didn’t work out and we tried for Oakland. That was a bust so we went up to Berkeley. That almost worked but we were all so tired and over it that when it wasn’t coming together we scrapped the whole plan and moved to San Diego. So with only the van now, we threw away lots of stuff and re-packed all our gear. We headed south to sunny southern California.
Once we got to San Diego we stayed with my friend Eli. He is the brother of a good good good great friend of mine named Croyde. Croyde is currently kicking it overseas with his pretty little honey but he went above and beyond and set us up with his brother. Eli showed us love and affection and let us crash his spot for a few days.
Then, yesterday, we found our own home.
1468 Missouri St
Apt #6
San Diego, CA 92109
Its a spacious one bedroom and yes, we all piled in. Its illegal so please dont tell anyone. If you send mail, it should get to me here though. we are in a super hip lame trendy spot called pacific beach. it’ll do for now though. we are only 7 blocks from the beach!
That is all I have to say now. Sorry for the novella, but some of you may be interested in the latest happenings of David Kulacz. Well, 1000 w0rds later you now know it all. Or almost all.
Thanks for reading. And be warm!
oh and one last photo of lauren because she loves photos of herself.
