oh gorilla...

i like to think i have manners. my dogs...not so much. Gorilla is horny, what can i say. He found the clay pot and realized it made a perfect humping companion. A lot of my mornings here begin with 'gorilla, get off the pot..."

la casa...

Judy redid the house a couple years ago and has transformed it into a vibrant, airy spanish style home. most every day in L.A is sunny and warm so i know i'll be spending a lot of time outdoors...
my bedroom is in the converted garage...

Judy's House

I'm staying in Burbank, California and the road to Judy's house used to be an orange grove. Her house was once the caretaker's home and maintains a lot of its charm and character. I look at the house and realize i may have left my cute casita in Santa Fe, but this runs a close second.
The land is fertile and as in many yards in California, full of fruit trees...she has avocado, lemon, apple, tangerine, lime, and oranges...so cool

I made it!

Finally, i arrive at Judy's house. As bad as the highways are in L.A., there are a lot of great, quiet, beautiful neighborhoods ...either in the canyons, just off the busy road or around the bends. I entered the valley and the skies returned to vibrant blue. I turned onto my friend Judy's road, and my tension slowly faded. I remember the great parts of California, because there are so many... I park the car, 10 and a half hours after my day began. It's finally over...
The dogs remember it and run around like mad. i conk out on the swing for an hour...

Nearing the City of Angels

The one thing i was quickly reminded of was how aggressive the driving is in Los Angeles. About an hour and a half outside my final destination, the highways widened, the bright blue skies turned to smog, the amount of cars tripled and my hands tightened against the wheel. I didn't take one picture. Drivers in LA are the most aggressive i've encountered...people speed up and cut you off, swerve into your lane, ride your bumper, beep their horn at every chance, tractor trailers race by you...i was so tense and tired. Of all my good driving days, the final one proved the silent killer...it left me tense, angry, annoyed, frustrated...my santa fe peace was like what the map said, hundreds of miles away...

Mojav

We reach California without incident. (i didn't even seen a welcome sign...) So my homecoming was a big blur without cause for celebration, much like the terrain i was entering. The mojave desert. The only memory i have of the mojave was when I was doing an MTV shoot years ago and a not so bright model called this desert the "Mojav" as if the j was pronounced. She was not kidding.
Overall, i like the route i chose to drive to L.A. But this desert marks the only exception. It's a good 2-3 hours of pure desert. It's hot, it's long, it's boring, there are 80 miles between exits...and when you do pull over, there's only a gas station and a dairy queen. A dairy queen with 80 people in it, fighting for bad food and super size cokes...
It's hard to be healthy on the road, at least this one...

long, boring drive

I made a misjudgement. Because Phoenix is just 6 hours from LA, I thought Flagstaff would be too, or maybe 6 and a half. it was almost 8. and with all the stops we make, it was going to be a long day when i was hoping it would be short. The dogs are a little tired of it all, and try to find new ways to get comfortable. reminds me of myself on a long airplane ride..