More Road Trip

Day 4:

Unfortunately, it's been two weeks, so I've forgotten a lot of the details. Fortunately, my $50,000 creative writing degree will allow me to fill in the gaps by making shit up.

So, when we left me, I was in San Francisco, and I'd just passed out because it was late and I was drunk. Oh, and I'd spent all of Kat's money. The next morning I woke up in San Francisco, but I'd already done that before.

I said to Kat, "Go into my wallet and take out all the money I owe you. I don't want to see it or know how much it is."

She did so. We went downstairs and checked out of the hostel. I remembered that the day before when we went downstairs the song Piazza, New York Catcher by Belle and Sebastian had been playing in the lobby, and that seemed significant because it was Track 1 on a mix we'd been listening to.

1. Belle and Sebastian - Piazza, New York Catcher
2. The Replacements - Waitress in the Sky
3. The Clash - Spanish Bombs
4. The Decemberists - Leslie Anne Levine

I'm not sure how it goes from there. It was a well-rendered mix with smooth transitions and Fleet Foxes, and served us well through southern California.

So anyway we spent all that day driving Highway 101 from San Francisco to Santa Barbara. I drove most of this and it was the most driving I'd ever done in my life; also, I didn't almost kill us even once.

The next 400 miles are a blur. I drove and Kat did something else. Then we were in Santa Barbara, and my aunt Sarah lived in a cul de sac. She criticized me for smoking, tried to park Kat's car closer to the curb, and felt really guilty for not buying us dinner when we went out for food&drinks.

Sarah: The second character we meet on the road; the first not named after a weather pattern. She is 31 and a retired Air Force captain. She was in Iraq for 6 months building an airbase or something and the first thing she did when I arrived was show me her marathon, triathlon, and Iron Man medals. We grew up together in my grandparents' house in Pennsylvania. We did not get along.

Later I was drunk again and we all went to sleep. Fifty thousand dollars well spent.