Check out Part I here

With the ‘Burban road-worthy again, we set off for our first overnight in Conway, Arkansas. At the time, this was where Aunt Bonnie and Lance were living. They put us up in for the night in their comfortable, fully stocked and lovely home. A nice break from the confines of our pickup-truck-with-a-cap of a vehicle.

Go West young man!

After spending the night, Bonnie and Lance filled us with breakfast and we were on our way. I’ll be honest, I don’t really remember what happened between here and Backwoodsville, New Mexico so if anyone reading does, please fill in the blanks. I do know we had grand plans to stop and smell the roses as it were. Those plans went fluttering out the window in our excitement to get out West. Foot to the floor, we drove until we could go no more.

Tapped out, we pulled off the highway as night fell…somewhere in New Mexico. Our basic plan of not having a plan shone brightly that night. We saw one of those blue highway signs with a hotel logo and decided it would suffice. Now, nothing untoward happened that night but the guy behind the counter, the Stephen King-esque feel of the area and the general sense of unease was memorable. You would think that 4 young gentlemen traveling together and sharing a room would have nothing to be afraid of.  You would be wrong. Somewhere, there is a video we filmed, using the night vision setting in our hotel room, discussing that night. I wonder where it went…

Though not a photo from this trip, it sums up the mindset quite nicely.

Our final stop before the Pacific was in Arizona at the Zentmeyers. Much like Aunt Bonnie, Katie and Jess took care us and helped recharge our batteries for the final push. As I write this, it seems like New Mexico-to-Arizona-to-California is not actually very far. But it was a good stop nonetheless. I recall a pool and maybe a party and, uh, probably beer? Considering I can’t recall how old am I when put on the spot, it’s no wonder I don’t recall the details here. But I know we had fun.

I’m going to guess we spent one night and then fueled up for the home stretch – HERMOSA BEACH! Why this town? My cousin Todd was living there at the time. I must’ve been talking to him at some point about a loosely formed plan to spend the summer in California. And he must have suggested Hermosa. Because otherwise I’m not sure we would have ended up in that little slice of heaven. Thank you Todd. Your suggestion became our summer of a lifetime.

Next time, we’ll cover our first couple weeks in sunny Southern Caleeforenyuh. Living with Todd, living at a hotel, eating all the donuts and signing year long leases.