I needed to get some paintings to a gallery in Los Angeles, and because one of them is pretty big, I figured it would cost the same to crate and ship as to just go there and stay a night. This way I got to meet the owner of the gallery and introduce myself in person and not have to worry about shipping catastrophes. I got on the road around 5:30 in the morning so I could dodge city traffic on my way to LA. Here I am at a gas station in Quartzsite, AZ filling up and getting trucker coffee and a tube of Pringles so I would have a safer drive.
The paintings I took. The large one is 36" x 22".
The gallery I took them to: Arcadia Contemporary in Culver City. (Not pictured: I ate lunch at Baco shop, a nearby hipster taco place. Fried Chicken taco with peperoncini aioli. It was excellent. They have a softserve ice cream of the day, when I was there it was Cardemom and came topped with freeze dried strawberries, ground peanuts and almonds, toasted coconut and honey... also went to the farmer's market and got some rare varieties of melon, pluot, and nectarine)
This was my first experience with Air BnB. I chose an inexpensive "Bachelor Studio" in Koreatown. Parking was a nightmare and there was no kitchen sink (or stove) so I had to wash my cup in the bathroom sink, just like the first three months of college. I'm pretty sure the host normally lives there, but just stays overnight at a friend's house when the opportunity for some extra cash comes along... it felt a little awkward. From the bed I could see into another person's apartment. I watched awhile but nothing happened so I went to sleep. (Not pictured: I ate at a great hole in the wall steam bun/dumpling place called Myung In Dumplings. I ordered steam buns with pork/vegetables and pork/kimchi, as recommended by Anthony Bourdain. He did not let me down.) The bed was comfortable but I couldn't really sleep. I had planned to go to the beach in the morning, but thought that I'd rather get out of LA ASAP.
I left LA at 4:30 in the morning. Enough time to make it to Palm Springs before dawn. I ate this sensible breakfast while waiting for the sun to get past the point where it blinds you. I learned from the drive out that drinking coffee makes this 6 hour drive much less exhausting.
I've always wanted to go to the Salton Sea, but the timing is never good as I'm usually in a hurry to get to LA or to get home. I took the 40 minute detour and finally made the trip. It was nearly 8am but about 100 degrees and it has an overwhelming smell of decay. That didn't stop me from enjoying my fancy (unpictured) nectarine!
A closer look at the very crunchy "sand" which is all salt-crust, husks of barnacle-like things, and bones.
My hand, for scale.
Shore line, with detritus
There is a line (old shore line?) of carcasses. Many thousands of dried up dead fish and birds. I also saw live sea birds, rabbits, and a coyote.
I cut through some agricultural land on my way back towards the freeway. This oven was just out in an orchard, ready to bake some oranges.
I also cut through Mecca Wilderness park. It had really neat Star Trek-y cliffs and mountains and there was no one around for miles.
Finally, I stopped just to look around. It was extremely hot and I was alone with no cell phone service so I just went a little off the road..... where I found a mostly buried pocket knife, and when I dug it out of the sand, I saw it had a dime stuck in it. This feels like my money-finding sense is really reaching new levels and was a nice ending to my trip! Four more hours of driving, but was home just after lunchtime.
