I was so exhausted after leaving the farm in Escondido that I just needed a few days of nothingness to regroup. I definitely got that at my couch-surfing house in Redondo Beach. I was glad to get a ride from one of the other WWOOFer at the farm. He was going to go back to his home in San Fransisco. I was happy to car pool with him, but dang that was a harrowing ride. He sure needs some driving lessons. Especially in California. Anyway I got to Meagan’s house before our agreed upon time so I just dropped my stuff off by her apartment door and went to replenish my clothes at Goodwill. Found lots of good deals. Best finds were two pair of very comfortable yoga pants and a soft zip up sweatshirt.

When I got back to Meagan’s she was there packing for her Memorial Day weekend trip to her mom’s. She was extremely generous in giving me her home for a few days even though she was going to be gone for the first two of them. Affording me the perfect opportunity to do nothing but relax. Great!!

As soon as Meagan left I crawled into bed with a book and read till I fell asleep. The next morning I got up and went for a walk on the greenway with my coffee. Back to the apartment. Read a bit and then did a bit of “thank-you” cleaning, and took a long shower. When I got out of the shower my friend Janet called and said she was going to come up and hang out for a few hours.

When she got there we went to eat at a cute, but way expensive, Italian restaurant. Janet wasn’t feeling good so we ate a bit and then just got the rest to go. When we got back to the studio we just put in the first season of How I Met Your Mother and relaxed. Once Janet left I went back to bed. My life is oh so hard.

The next morning I got up and got some coffee and then headed to the beach via the bus. I didn’t know there was a street fair going on at Hermosa Beach till I got on the bus. Had a great time there. Saw lots of local art and ate lots of local food. A couple of hours later I was getting really sunburned so I went to a local pizza place to have a pitcher of beer and play on the computer. Met a bunch of random locals and had fun. The place was slammed and I think the owner wasn’t really prepared so he was a bit pissy with his workers which was a bit uncomfortable. As was his constant arguing with his wife, but I did see the draw of the place, the staff.

Once I was back at the studio Meagan had come home. She is so sweet. We chatted for a bit and she blew up the air mattress. We made plans to go to breakfast the next day before I left for my next couch surfing place in Manhattan Beach.

The next morning we got up and decided on a local place for breakfast. Nice walk  and fun conversation only to realize that it was Memorial Day and the local places were closed for the holiday. We walked back and got the car and drove to Denny’s. On the walk back we were on the greenway and she explained that the city had put in motion sensors that caused the upcoming street’s pavement lights to flicker to alert oncoming traffic so that the walker/runner/bicyclist didn’t have to stop or slow down. Also there are solar panels on top of poles to power the lights on the path. So cool.

Back at the studio we waited for Lynn, my next host in Manhattan Beach, to pick me up and chatted about all our travels both past and future. She is such a sweet and honest and refreshing person. I am very lucky to have been able to spend time in her home and with her.

My next stop Manhattan Beach…