So, before Wednesday the 24th of October I'd never really been on a road trip. This past summer I took a NW trip, that took me to Seattle for Potlatch and the 4th, then backpacking with Alison and her friends, then finally to Vancouver, WA to visit my brother and his family. It was a sweet 2 week trip, but there was far to much hanging out time compared to driving time, and there was no crazy all night drives. Well, two weeks ago I took a real road trip.
The seeds of my trip were planted last summer when Miles promised Matt he'd find a way to visit him in Santa Fe this semester. This promise developed into the idea of Miles and I road-tripping down to visit Matt for his birthday. We then combined this idea with visiting friends in Claremont and vwala, a road trip was born.
Still, the magnitude of the trip was not yet clear to me. The unpredictability of a trip with Miles was exciting, but when Robin decided to join us I was elated. Robin really knows how to party, and having a second competent driver was a relieving prospect (I'll get back to this point).
Our initial plan was to leave Santa Cruz the morning of Tuesday the 23rd and stay at USC with Miles's high school friend Hans. In order to add Robin to our trip roster, we had to scrap this plan and instead postpone leaving until Wednesday. It was disappointing we couldn't visit Hans, but it was nice that we would have another travel partner, and we'd cut down on the total trip time and money spent. So, we scraped this plan and came up with a new schedule.
Our schedule became leave Santa Cruz in time to pick up Robin at 12:00 on Wednesday. Drive to Claremeont, and stay there Wednesday night and all day Thursday. Party Thursday night and leave Claremont for Santa Fe at 6 a.m. Friday morning. Arrive in Santa Fe in time for dinner and a Friday night party. Chill Saturday, then hit up Matt's birthday party Saturday night. And finally, recover on Sunday and leave at 5 p.m. so we could get back to Berkeley by noon Monday when Robin had an office hours appointment with a professor. It was a tight schedule and looked like one of a real road trip.
So, Wednesday came and we were on our way. I picked up Miles in town at 10:15, we then proceeded to Mountain View so Miles could sell some comics and get money for the trip. From there we went on the B-town to pick up Robin. After picking up Robin we got some gas, a disposable camera, and Miles donated $5 to breast cancer so he could get a plastic pot for a Man Fern. (Okay, quick sidebar, Miles really wanted to get a Man Fern for Matt as a house warming gift. He was planing on digging one up while in SC, but never got to it. As such, he was on constant lookout while we were on the road in case he spotted one and we could dig it up and take it to Matt. Anyway, the quest for a Man Fern was a constant subplot for our trip).
Our drive down to C-mont was painless and quick. I feel like a pro making this drive by now, it flies by. Also, I made a new I-5 playlist for this one, 6 sweet hours of hip-hop, old school, and dance music. We got into Claremont around 7 and split up. Miles and Robin went down to CMC to figure out where they would stay that night while I went to find Shy and chill out for the evening. My Wednesday night was chill, Shy and I went and got some brew at Vons then proceeded to watch footage from club regionals and last year's Brains doc. Jay came to join us for the footage watching, then we all went to the Mudd Hole. Over all a chill night, and what I was looking for.
My experience was far from what Robin found at CMC. From what I gathered, Robin was trying to avoid ending up in an ex's sweet/bed and wound up falling asleep on the CMC baseball field. He then encountered camp sec and went to the apartments, winding up on the couch of said ex. Well, he claims it was a positive experience because he wound up with home cooked muffins in the morning.
My Thursday was pretty mellow and real sweet. I got some China Star with Case and the Markstein brothers (unbeknownst to me, Miles' younger brother David joined us in Claremont, he's a UCSD student and didn't have classes because of the wild fires). Then I had my fantasy draft with Jay, and finally I went to Braineaters practice. Honestly, I was nervous that Weston would just shut me down, and I wouldn't be able to get open, but luckily I had success cutting. Still, Wes is clearly improved as a defender, and got a pretty nice lay out D on a dump cut I made (I wasn't expecting the throw because I was setting up another cut, but yeah, excuses are the nails that built the house of failure). Anyway, after practice I hit up dinner with the team, then went to chill with the NL kids. I wound up taking a bunch of stuff from the Mudd network before heading down to CMC to drink and live it up. I managed to have a pretty mellow Thursday night, playing some root, hitting up a little dance sesh, then a TNC after party before going back to Mudd and getting some Carl's. I wound up sleeping about a half hour before having to leave at 6 a.m. and start the second and more epic leg of our journey.
Part two coming soon (hopefully late tonight).
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