Tag Archives: travel

A Day-Plus In L.A.

We left the hotel in Chicago on Sunday morning around 6:30AM for our 8:40 flight.  We made sure that Michelle’s mom would be able to get dropped at the bus stop for her return trip to Milwaukee, and hopped into the queue for United.  It was LONG.  In the course of the time we spent in that line, we discovered that Michelle’s bag was a bit overweight (about 58 lbs.), so we were shuffling through the line with our bags open, redistributing toiletries over to mine to even things out.  By the time we finished that process, we noticed Michelle’s phone was missing.  Fortunately, it had been quickly picked up by one of the airline employees and it was back on her podium.  One disaster averted!

As we finished getting through the security line, it turned out that we missed one item in Michelle’s carry-on: a brand new, 4.5 oz tube of Aveda hand lotion.  Although it was tough for Michelle to let go, it had to get tossed in the trash.  Cuz, y’know, if they let you keep your hand cream, the terrorists win.  Stupid terrorists.

We flew on a tiny jet to Oklahoma City.  Even the woman checking passes at the gate thought that L.A. via OKC was the dumbest connection ever.  But it was cheap.  We landed in OKC with only about 20 minutes to catch our connecting flight– which we quickly discovered was at the same gate, on the same plane.  So that was easy.

We made it to Wordy and Jessica’s place without incident– I like their new apartment.  It’s nice, roomy, conveniently located; I told Wordy it was my favorite place that he’s lived in here so far.  Sunday afternoon, the three of us went to In n’ Out for burgers while Jessica was at the spa.  We were thinking of taking a ride into Hollywood, but decided to rest up for the evening concert at the Hollywood Bowl instead.

We saw Ray LaMontagne, Jenny Lewis, and one other opening band whose set we mosted missed.  They sounded good, though.  The show was great– by the time it was wrapping up, Michelle and I were utterly exhausted after our Indian weekend and our travels, so we both caught a couple Z’s.  That fact was NOT indicative of our enjoyment; we really enjoyed the show, the venue and the company.

More to come on our full day in L.A.– sorry these posts are about 24 hours behind, but we’ve got to travel again, and Monday was exciting, so stay tuned…

They'll Come to Iowa, for Reasons They Can't Even Fathom

Even though I am currently in Nebraska, I am just barely in Nebraska. The vast majority of my day I spent traversing the great, flat, corn-infested state of Iowa. It certainly is a state. And there is certainly a corn-infestation, make no mistake.

As you descend into the expansive, flat plain that is the Hawkeye State, you come to wonder if corn-based ethanol might actually be the best idea for an alternative fuel, ever– after all, how could we in America (or hell, even in China) use up all this motherfucking corn? It is everywhere. People in Iowa do not have lawns. It seems that every spare swath of flat ground not occupied by an interstate highway or a barn or a Wal-Mart is covered with corn.

Two interesting things that I noticed about Iowa, both of which I attribute to its uncanny flatness:
• I continued to listen to WTMJ as far as Cedar Rapids. And it was clear. Just west of that booming metropolis, it was quickly trumped by another signal on the same frequency nearer by. Otherwise, I have a feeling I could listen to it here. After that, I “SEEK-ed” the AM dial for a good portion of my trip, picking up signals and stations from cities as far off as St. Louis, Kansas City, Sioux City, Oklahoma City, Boise, Wichita, and Tel Aviv.
• At the rest stops in Iowa, there is totally free wifi access. At every single one. It’s pretty sweet, but it is also slow as shit. I imagine that this has something to do with its freeness, so I don’t think a person really has license to bitch. I suppose the lag in speed might also be because of all the people parked at the rest stop, hunched over toward their passenger seats, probably downloading porn or something to try to stave off the boredom of Iowa.