L.A. Livin'
Our last night in the Chino area we got to enjoy another meal with friends from the day before, along with new friends—John, Anne, and Steph. It was a great night of good food and conversation. Tuesday morning, after a stop at the hay lot to say goodbyes, we got the bus back on the open road. Well, the road wasn’t really open, more clogged and congested, but back on the road nonetheless. Thank you, Ontario/Chino people; it was a very memorable visit. The hardest part about this journey has been saying goodbye to a place right when you get to know it. You all made it hard to leave!
Oh boy, back to big city life. Big cities are good for some things—I like all the activity and opportunity, and excitement of a big city…. but not for too long. Life in these hectic, fast-paced parts of the world can get old for me—especially when you call a school bus your home. As we headed for L.A. we drove into a cloud of smog and that was the first indication that we were going to be a little out of our element for the next few days. We were headed into Los Angeles with no real plan or connections. Throughout the course of our journey I have learned that I am a small town kind of guy. I like the places where people know their neighbors and the air is so fresh you can taste it. I like a slower pace of life and this doesn’t seem like the right place to find it. L.A. is a rather famous place—I’ve heard about it my entire life and it has never been appealing to me in any way. So far on this journey, my perceptions and stereotypes of places have been consistently shattered. Well, It’s time for me to experience this place for myself and see it in person. For now I will put up with traffic jams and impatient horn-honks and dirty air. There has to be some good reason why 10 million people call this place home.
Yesterday we went on The Price Is Right—I’ve got to say it was a pretty fun time. The whole process was much longer than I had anticipated, but in the end it was worth all the waiting. Standing/sitting/walking in line for hours with a bunch of strangers was a cool opportunity to get to know some of them. The show was a lot different than I expected—it was cool to see it in real life after watching it on the TV so many times back in the day. Drew Carey is a pretty hilarious man, which kept it fun. None of us got up on the stage to win that new tow-behind car, but that’s okay. Our friend Alicia, who we hung out with in line all day, got up and played Plinko. It was exciting stuff. The show will air on March 7th, so check it out. It will be worth it to see Daniel trip up the stairs, or Alicia shatter the light bulbs, or the three of us making fools of ourselves.
We watched the taping of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno yesterday. The tonight show isn’t even at night… it was at like 4:00. Wow, I have been deceived for a lot of years on that one. All this time I just imagined he was staying up as late as I was. It was cool to be there at the show, but I’ll be honest, we were pretty far away—I found myself watching the TV monitors more often than the real life action. Glad we did it, but I wouldn’t need to do it again.
I did not expect to find hospitality in Los Angeles—I imagined everyone here being so caught up in the rat race that we wouldn’t meet anyone. Well, Brinn and John made quick work of proving me very wrong. We parked our bus in front of their home and in no-time Brinn and Sophia were out to greet us. They invited us over for dinner and made us feel more than welcome. We took them up on their offer and they were so kind to us. Mi casa su casa was the main theme of the night. We ate a tasty meal and talked. They have both been very involved with the entertainment industry here in Hollywood—it was really interesting to talk with people who are in that world that is so foreign to me. Thank you, so much.
Today we will be heading to The Dream Center to work with them and learn more about the wonderful things they are doing in Los Angeles. I couldn’t be more excited about this organization. Check them out…
http://www.dreamcenter.org/about-us/#!prettyPhoto/0/
They are showing the love of Jesus to people here all day, everyday. I am so encouraged by what’s going on there, and I can’t wait to go be a little part of their efforts.
