Traveling to L.A.

Flew down to Burbank this weekend for a short stay and see wifey and pumpkin off to Taiwan. Stayed at Eric and Teri’s Friday and Saturday night. The flight was scheduled for 1 AM Monday morning so I took pumpkin and wifey late Sunday night. Couldn’t believe how crowded LAX was at 10:30 PM on a Sunday evening. Long lines of Indians dragging huge suitcases and boxes snaked out of the terminal. On the other side, an equally long line of Chinese passengers waited outside. At 12:30 AM it was time to board. Said goodbye and pumpkin started crying. She had me baobao her for the whole time we were in the airport up until the time we said goodbye.

Now the adventure, so to speak, began. First thing Monday morning my brother dropped me off at Budget rent a truck in Van Nuys. The arrangement was to pick up my mom’s sofa and loveseat and haul back to Gold River. Now I just needed a little help. And that wasn’t hard to find at all. After picking up the truck, I drove down Van Nuys Blvd and headed right on Oxnard. Looking over to my right, a group of jornaleros were running towards me, waving their arms wildly and yelling at me. I stopped and they nearly fought each other to get inside. I told them solamente necesito un par de brazos, nada mas and then a short guy named Jose pushed his way in and said "I can help you" in somewhat broken English. Everything loaded up fine plus some additional items that I didn’t really ask for but mom wanted me to have anyways such as plates and end tables and lamps. Paid Jose a $20 and I was alone to drive back up to Rancho Cordova. First stop was 99 Ranch market to pick up some lunche and drinks. Drove about an hour and a half and made my first stop at bottom of Grape Vine. There is a cluster of fast food restaurants and gas stations right there off to the left and I sat and pigged out for about an hour. The rest of the drive was loud Mexican music all the way. As one station got weak, I simply switched to another station that got stronger. Made it back to Rancho Cordova around 6:30 and called Melody’s husband Jim to help me unload.Ah what a relief. Now I was home alone, literally!