Remembering the Drive

Nothing Ever Really Goes as Planned...

One would think that with only one layover in Phoenix, and almost two hours between flights, everything would be okay going home...nothing could really go wrong. Far from it.

As they start announcing the boarding of the plane, I look up to my left and sitting next to me is a familiar face. It took me a second to recognize him, but it ended up being the smart little jewish guy from that show Numbers, the main elf from The Santa Clause, and one of the group of friends out of the Judd Apatow clan. I think his name is David Krum...something or other. Anyway, he saw my laptop up with the open blog, and made a comment about how I needed to include a editorial regarding US Air's asinine $25/checked-bag policy. I told him how I already had it covered, and that US Air is going down. We laughed for a second at which time they called my seating zone, so I got up, told him to take it easy and walked onto the plane. I never said that I recognized him, but I'm not sure that would've been a big deal anyway. Nice guy.

One hour and forty-five minutes later we were still sitting on the plane at the gate, patiently waiting for the maintenance crew to fix one of the reverse thruster engines that seemed to have malfunctioned during their previous landing. It was stuck in the landing position and wouldn't retract, so the plane couldn't possibly fly while it remained that way. So, the crewmen took almost two hours to fix it while we all just sat there, watching the clocks as our connecting flights left Phoenix one by one.

Finally we were on our way, and we got word that a few flights, including my flight to Cleveland, were going to try to wait for us when we landed. I was already sure that I had missed my flight, but as it turned out, we landed in Phoenix at 12:12, just three minutes short of my 12:15 flight to Cleveland. We actually had transportation, one of those little electric carts, but it kept running out of battery and stalling...people walking were moving faster than us, so I just made a bolt for it. And you know what? Phoenix is a big airport. Like, really big. Try running from the C-gates to gate A-22 in Phoenix's Sky Airport with 65lbs of bags and see how it feels. It's like 3/4 of a mile at full sprint. I made the flight, literally as they were closing the doors, but damn. Oh yeah, and don't ever fly with US Air. Not only do they charge for checked baggage, fly broken airplanes, and not charge their transport carts, but they want $4.00 for a glass of water once you're on the plane. Four dollars! Screw that man, I'll just take a drink out of the bathroom sink.

So I made it to Cleveland okay, but am I there now? Nope. I'm in Youngstown. Why? Because I get a voicemail from my dad as I get off the plane telling me that my mom fell down walking the dog, and now she's in the ER. I didn't even walk into my house. I just got into my car (that now has apparently transmitted a faulty ABS system while sitting my driveway doing absolutely ziltch for the past week) and sped to Boardman to see how my mom is doing. Luckily she'll be okay. No cuncussion, just some pretty ugly cuts and bruises over her face and hands. Turns out that Kino darted after a squirrel while she was walking him, pulling her straight to the ground in what looked to be a faceplant of epic proportions. She doesn't even remember it happening. She'll be okay though, just pretty sore for the next few days.

I'm heading back up to Cleveland in a bit to just relax. That's all I want to do is lay down on my couch, put in IronMan with its hours of special features, and chill out for the afternoon. It's been a long long week, and I haven't even had the chance to miss my girlfriend since I've been home. Thanks to everyone for following along on our trip. I know it didn't end in the most calm way, but then again, this would've been a much more boring read if it had. So, until our next road trip, whereever that'll take us, so long and thanks again.

Genuinely,
Brian & Stephanie

Heading Home

I said good-bye to Steph this morning. She dropped me off at LAX around 8:00am and I had to say good-bye to her for the next two months. I'm not scared, I'm not nervous. I'll just miss her. She's the bravest girl I know, and I'm not sure how I'll be able to find my shoes without her...God knows who's going to do the laundry now. ;)

Thing is though, if spending six months without this girl is what it's going to take to spend a lifetime with her, I'll take it. She's my best friend and I couldn't be more proud of her. Though that doesn't make turning around and walking through those electric sliding doors here any easier.

My flight leaves in less than an hour, first for Phoenix, then for Cleveland. Regardless of where I end up today though, whereever Steph is will always be my home.

Venice Beach

We woke up yesterday fairly early, and made our way out the door around 9:30am to head off to Venice Beach, an eclectic strip of shops and wide beaches just south of Santa Monica. Fighting traffic, we got there just about an hour or so later, parked the car, and wandered out onto the the sand. We had every intention of laying out for a while and relaxing on the beach, but we were surprised at how chilly it had gotten through the morning. Steph's apartment in the Valley is a bit misconcieving as it's usually about 20 degrees hotter in the Valley than the rest of LA. Leaving our towels in the car, we decided to take a walk along the boardwalk and take in a bit of people watching. And let me tell you, is this a great place for people watching. Steph's favorite was the guy with a cape. Completely normal looking guy, jeans and a t-shirt...then just this random cape. Oh, and he walked with his hands on his hips, like he was Superman. Let's just say the sights continued to entertain throughout the day.

We had some lunch on the boardwalk, then spent the next few hours wandering in and out of the tiny shops all up and down the strip. Everyone was willing to bargain and there were some great deals to be made. There were blocks of t-shirt shops, surfwear, tattoo parlors (don't worry, mom...I didn't get one) bikini shops, and small eclectic novelty stores filled with imported art and an assortment of oils and scented wares. I specifically liked the wood carvings, but decided not to purchase one as it'd be hard to carry back with me on the plane. They had a very tribal look to them, and I noticed that many of them were shipped over from various islands in the South Pacific. I'll have Steph grab one for me and we'll get it back to Ohio somehow, or I'll just make room for one of them in my bag during the next visit.

We left Venice for home, and fought some of the worst traffic yet on the I-405. It was a good two hours before we made it back to her apartment, and had only a short 45 minutes to shower, change and meet my cousin Kim and their friends' Johnny and Jackie, out for dinner in West Hollywood. We arrived at a neat little restaurant around the corner from Kim called The Alcove only a few minutes later than planned and spent the next two hours eating dinner outside amongst the trees and having a great amount of conversation with their friends. Johnny's girlfriend, Jackie, is a working actress, so her and Steph had a great amount to talk about through the night, as I mostly talked movies and travel adventures with Mike and his Johnny. He was a really interesting guy that is not only a working musician (his call to fame singing holiday songs in mandarin chinese...elevating him to some kind of celebrity god status throughout China) but has also traveled extensively throughout Asia and the Middle East. Some of the stories he told from those travels were top notch.

We said good-bye a little after nine and shot over to Hollywood and Highland to meet Steve and his girlfriend Stephanie by the Chinese Theater. We went to a bar called UWink, and played a few screen games over some martinis and margaritas. After a few short hours and some great laughs, we all decided to take off around midnight, but not before Steph was invited to Thanksgiving dinner with Steve and Steph. They exchanged numbers and we all went on our separate ways, comfortable that three days in, Steph has already made a few good friends, and even more comfortable with the fact that those friends are connected to both Ohio and me...it just helps, and puts my heart at ease.

Exploring Los Angeles

We got an early start yesterday by quickly getting ready in the morning and heading down the street to the Dollar Store. It had a surprisingly large amount of items to stock up on so we grabbed on most of what she needed and headed across the street to Target to grab everything else that the Dollar Store didn't have. An hour later we headed back to the apartment and got ahold of my buddy Steve and made plans to meet him out for lunch in Studio City.

Half an hour later, we were sitting in a restaurant called "Good Neighbors," right down the street from Universal City. Steve showed up a few minutes after we got there and the three of us got to catch up the trip, some recent filming debacles, and different projects we're all working on. Widely know as the Nerd with Words, Steve and I have known each other since High School, and a core group of us have all kept in touch over the years. All that time he's been a filmmaker, from our early Paddleboat movies through his Nitty Gritty films in college, to his experiences in Hollywood today. We've all seen his talent throughout that whole time and with a unique sense of humor and clever writing style (just watch "Birthday Boy," "Rex Dexman, Alone for the Holidays," or any of his other films on The Decking Crew), it'll only be a matter of time before something of his becomes a success.

Following lunch, we decided to take a drive up Mulhulland Drive, just south of where Stephanie lives. The street is a famous, winding road in Los Angeles, known for it's elaborate homes and spectacular views of the city in all directions. We drove up there for a while and stopped at Runyan park, a maze of trails and paved paths that wind through the canyons on the south east side of the hills. It was cool, but you also get a clear (or hazy) view of the smog layer covering the city. Beautious.

From there we decided to do something touristy and headed over to Universal City. What actually caught me offguard was that the entire place is a big mall, with the Universal Studios themepark imbedded inside. We didn't actually do the themepark (it was around $100 each...no thanks) but the shopping area was pretty cool. We got to hit up a lot of interesting novelty stores and restaurants, most of which were overpriced, but fun to walk through.

It was a long day, and the sun was on its way down, so we battled rush hour while Steph took me through the area of town (again, fairly close to where she's living now) where she had her actor's workshop. We then drove back up to her place, chilled out in her living room with some pizza, and watched the first half of the Vice-Presidential debate. I was struggling to stay awake around 10 or so (I think I'm still hanging on to east coast time), so I headed off to bed, looking to struggle yet another night with the ever-deflating air mattress.


Today I think we're heading to the beach. I'm not leaving here without at least touching the Pacific.

Steph's New Home: Los Angeles, CA

Our trip down to LA yesterday was a fairly uneventful one, as most of the drive consisted of the arid Mojave Desert, a 200-mile, bleak stretch of sand and rock that services maybe two rest areas that actually contain services.

We left Hurricane, UT at about 8:30am Mountain time and curved our way down through a few mountain ranges, the northwest corner of Arizona and through Las Vegas. I said yesterday that we talked about stopping there and throwing a coin in one of the slots, but traffic was really heavy going through the Innerbelt and we just decided that instead of dealing with the hassle of getting to a casino for the next hour, we'd just pass through and get to LA as soon as possible. Our timetable put us into LA at about 3:00 or so, just in time to miss the beginning of rush hour. If we made any unnecessary stops along the way, we'd be stuck in LA traffic...something we weren't willing to deal with after four days of being in the car.

As expected, we got into LA just around 3pm and met up with Bryan, Steph's LA roommate. He's an aspiring actor as well, fresh in LA from Philadelphia, so he and Steph will be able to help each other out with networking events and getting to know the area. We took a quick look around the apartment, which was surprisingly spacious for the price, then immediately started unloading the car. A short while later we had the air mattress inflated and her clothes put away in the closets and trunk space. It's a perfect size and aside from a small hole in the inflatable bed, it's perfect for her to use over the next few months.

We hung for a bit around the apartment with Bryan, then met up with my cousin Kim and her husband Mike in West Hollywood for some dinner and a few drinks. They brought us to a really nice little Italian place around the corner from their condo, where we were able to relax over some beer and wine, and just unwind from the trip. Hopefully we'll be able to see them again before I leave, but if not, Steph knows exactly where they are if she needs anything, and it helps that they're fairly close to her neighborhood...only a short trip out of the valley from her apartment.

Today will probably consist of shopping, including a few trips to Target and the Dollar store. Steph has to pick up a bunch of things still so we just want to get that out of the way as soon as possible. I think we're also planning to meet my buddy Steve for lunch, but other than that, the day is wide open. I'll be sure to continue the updates throughout my stay here, as I don't leave for Cleveland until Saturday morning.

We're Here!

States Visited: Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California
Distance Traveled: 410 miles
Time: 6.75 hrs, with break

Well, we finally made it. About 3:30 this afternoon, pacific time, we pulled up to Steph's new apartment in North Hollywood, CA. I haven't had a chance to upload the new photos yet, and I'll probably have to wait until morning since I'm practically falling asleep while I'm writing this. Steph has most of her stuff put away and set up, aside from a few little things here and there. I'll save the bulk of the day tomorrow, but for everyone following along, we're here safe and sound. Welcome to Hollywood, Stephanie Ford.

Vegas, Baby!

We're about to check out of the hotel in a few minutes, then head south towards Las Vegas. Steph and I talked about stopping for a few minutes, just so she can throw a quarter in the slots and say she did it. At the least, we'll drive down the strip. Since she's never been there, it'll be cool to check out while we're there, although neither one of us are gamblers, so aside from the initial appeal, I doubt we'll spend much time hanging around the city.

We talked about stopping by Hoover Dam, but we've both seen Transformers...so, yeah. Unless you have the time to do the underground tour of the dam, it's just sort of big and there. Plus, at this point in the trip both of us are pretty eager to get to her new apartment, so it just makes sense to spend as little time in that area and just head off to LA before the afternoon traffic hits. As it goes now, we'll be there at about 3:30. A few short hours and we'll be there...