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Published: April 16th 2010
April 12th I woke up in a camper trailer with a sand dune buggy parked in the back wondering where the hell I was. My hangover from the rum and reggae was in full affect when I realized that I was in Riverside at my friend's place. My buddy Aaron had set me up in some great accommodations, in the drive was his family's 40 foot pull along trailer. The bed was probably better than anything I had slept on since the middle of March!
Aaron was working until the afternoon so I hung out with his sister and her newborn baby, Aiko. He was a really cute baby, I wish I had got a picture of him and his mother Heather and brother Dylan, and Grandpa Gus. Seeing the baby that small reminded me of my sister's imminent newborn and made me sad that I'll probably miss its' birth while overseas. After Aaron got back home we set off on our bicycles and toured Riverside.
It really is a nice city, very clean with lots of young people. Soooo many palm trees it makes you feel like you're on the beach, but unfortunately without the sweet smell of
the sea. Aaron and I got coffee and hung around the coffee shop and reminisced about our previous endeavors in Central America. I met a bunch of his friends who are really cools cats. All of them play some sort of instrument or are in some way artistically inclined, like I said,
cool cats. We ate at a Mexican place that Aaron frequents and ate a cheap $3.50 meal called the Mess. Sorry no pics of that!
After miles of bike riding in a surprisingly cold night, we made our way to the tasty and famous Del Taco. What a treat that was! Seriously, it's really effing good, and cheap too. You can't beat 59 cents for a taco that's better than any soggy crap from Taco John's. (Sorry TJ enthusiasts!). So after demolishing 5 tacos we headed back to Aaron's pad to save our energy for the next night.
April 13th Woke up in the mornin' feelin like B. Mahoney, jumped out the trailer and got my day ready, got on Facebook chat to see what was heavy, then wrote on my blog like I was chillin in Miami. (how do you like THAT Spill Canvas!)
Nevermind, I'll get my coat.
But seriously I woke up on the mornin and did some blog stuff and then organized pics and had some lunch with Aaron's sister. I rode the bike into town to meet up with Aaron. While waiting outside his work I met a nice guy and his granddaughter (pictured walking away), he knew a lot about South Dakota after I told him where I was from. Like that Janklow had laws changed in South Dakota so that credit card companies (i.e. Citibank and Premier Bankcard) could change and hike interest rates. He also knew that Janklow got away with murder....... but anyways, I digress.
Aaron and I rode some more around Riverside and checked out this place called Tio's Tacos. This place was awesome. The owner builds
everything from chicken wire, then fills it with trash and makes statues and mini monuments. Also he has made houses made from glass bottles and concrete. Just check out the photos, you'll see what I'm talkin' about. After this we rode around some more, went back to the coffee chop, and then headed back to Aaron's place.
We cleaned up and got ready to go
out for the night. Aaron's friend was hosting a show for local bands of the Regional Organization of the Creative Kind (www.riversiderock.com). It was at this great venue called the Mission Tobacco Lounge. Oddly enough you couldn't smoke inside though. The bands that played were great, and it was an Indie kinda night.
Here is a video of Making Eyes, an Indie band that played. I drank a couple beers the size of my head and had a good time meeting more of Aaron's friends. I also met a really cool chica named Lerina (pretty name right?!?!) that offered to take me to San Bernardino Train Station the next day, to get back to Dad and Tammy in LA..
April 14th ...as it turns out San Bernardino is only about 30 minutes down the mountain from Lake Arrowhead, where my lady friend Lerina lives. Since we had a couple hours to kill we decided to seize the day and opportunity and we drove up to the lake. What a beautiful drive up there, and how lucky was I to get a ride up there with such an awesome woman! We hung around the lake for a bit, it's a really nice area, very pretty. It reminds me of the
Black Hills. After a while we headed back to San Bernardino, but sadly there was no time for an In and Out Burger lunch....next time though.
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