Much like whats-his-name in the Night Before Christmas, I awoke to see what was the matter... only to find the_bald1 waddling about around 6:45am, somewhat confused. It's a fine day to be a duck, I think to myself. Being the planner that I am, I'm already ready to roll, as are the others to make the trek home (bstB and hal97). After some final loading, checking out of the hotel (at a cost of $3 for dial-up internet to post updates), we were off at 7:01am. Not bad for making plans meet reality, eh?

We popped into the Chevron and Terrible's for gas and snacks, respectively, and were on the road shortly thereafter. Essentially, with the exception of the_bald1 driving, the car was largely sleeping for most of the trip. There was some brief conversation about where there may be a place where photons are not present, but I will confess I had no idea what a photon was, so I kept quiet. And upon looking it up in the dictionary, I will further confess I'm not sure how the presence of light particles applies to the conversation I heard, relative to the comment about the presence of an individual would mean photons are present. I suppose there are virtually billions of things in the universe I am not intended to understand.

Some stuff happened, Pepsi was purchased while the others slept, and we arrived in Studio City, California (250 or so miles, 4 hours and change) to meet belinda, who couldn't go to the Vegas trip. Having heard nothing but good things of belinda, it didn't surprise me to discover she's gives delightful hugs.

The five of us went out to Venice Beach to wander about, which was nice enough. (Temps in the high 80s, clear sky, perfect for shooting an episode of The Gilmore Girls. We got to hear the guy in red call "cut!" and the cop to tell people to walk around, and even to see the rainbow-hatted brunette (behind the olive drab jacket guy with big hair) sit on top of the guy all in black... and as you'd expect, the picture didn't come out as well as I'd hoped.

There were countless shops along the walkway near the beach, some open and others closed, at least one that I was surprised was ever allowed to operate, a Roswell alien sort of moment, and cop cars (and cops) that look nothing like Baywatch-esque models and props.

On the way to drop belinda off at home, we saw someone doing a bit of sky-writing in vague phrases -- aviad.com -- which bstB correctly speculated was an airborne ad company (per their web site). With that, more hugs and a goodbye to belinda, and we were on the road again. bstB and hal97 fell asleep, and I remained alert to ensure the boy stayed awake, as well to see if I could do funny things with the hair of those who were asleep. I did, but choose to preserve their dignity and not post the pictures. ;)

We touched into town at 7pm -- only 12 hours after setting off, minus the 3 1/2 hours with belinda -- and after a quick debrief, set about to let hal97 continue on the balance of his journey (another 50 miles or so). All in all, I had a great time, and with implied mention of another gathering, I'm ready to show up and crash that one, too... maybe with a webcam, hmm...

Go back to Day 3