Arrivato

My train rolled into the smog soaked LA sunrise this morning at 7:30. It was about 26 hours after I had departed Denver. It was not a long trip, but a meditative one. I could have sat there another 26 hours probably and watched the desert mountains roll by and think about the past and the future and the meaning of the west. You start feeling the gravity of the global city at about San Bernadino, when at 4am there is enough traffic to fill a couple belt lines. Black mountains loom above the line of white and red lights that flow, at least for the moment, peacefully. From there industry builds until finally you're surrounded by people and languages from all over the world. From the union station in LA I hopped on the bus to UCLA, a 45 minute ride down Wilshire Blvd, a road famous for its theaters and fashion shops. The stop let me off only a couple blocks from my apartment, and I landed at about 10 this morning. I had a wonderful day walking around the campus and surrounding neighborhood doing little errands and explorations. Everyone's as friendly as pie - not like what they say. Steve the donut shop owner even walked out of his store down the block with me to make sure I walked in the right direction. When he saw my luggage the bilingual bus driver asked where I wanted to go then told me where to get off (in English). He said if they let him retire right now he'd put the bus in park and walk home right now. But he was still friendly to everyone. Lucky first day I guess. My roommate studies math, buys massive (to the point of hilarity) quantities of dry food, and is an intelligent political thinker. The only things he has hung up on his walls are two maps - one of the world and one of the USA. We'll get along. I got a free bag of food courtesy of Whole Foods upon my check in to the apt, so now I'm eating 365 brand spaghetti and sauce - it's damn good what those hippies can pull off. I ate an incredible lunch at a place called Jerry's Deli on Westwood Blvd. Rare roast beef sand. w/ lettuce and mustard and a Coke. The RB was stacked so high I had a hard time getting my jaws around it. Definite Dillo stop over.

Here are some quick vids from Colorado.

The view from the pad of the Brothers O.

Rollin' in CO