A Pirate Looks at 10 (years)
On Friday, August 27, 2004 I awoke on an Aero bed on the
floor of a one bedroom apartment in Studio City, CA. The previous day my dad, my best friend Mark
and I had arrived after driving all the way from our homes in Jacksonville, FL.
OK, Dad joined us in San Antonio but still that’s not bad. Mark and I made the
trip in exactly 7 days, travelling over 3,000 miles. I was giving acting a
shot.
As luck would have it I-10 (known as Interstate 10 in Jax,
The 10 in LA) started a short distance from my parents’ house in the Ortega
neighborhood of Jacksonville (the Westside is the best side).
The journey got off on a bad note. Stopping at JAX Navy
Federal Credit Union off Roosevelt Blvd, I discovered to my horror that I had
misplaced my ATM card. So I did what any college graduate would’ve done. I
drove back to my parents’ house to hit my Dad up for some money. He also handed
me my green comforter. Even with care and cleaning that comforter finally got
thrown away some time in 2013. What can I say, I’m a pack rat.
Sadly right before we left my computer’s hard drive had been
damaged and all the mp3’s I had were lost forever. I was left with whatever had
been burned onto my many CD’s. I figured this was for the best. If I’d never
bothered to put any of those other songs on CD they must not have been very
good songs. But back in the day they were free and no one felt particularly bad
about not paying. It was all about volume. So I went to either a Borders (RIP) or a B&N and bought 5
or 6 CDs, mostly Greatest Hits albums. At the checkout the clerk looked down,
then looked at me and said, “Road trip?”
I packed as light as I could. There was said Aero bed, a
large suitcase, a smaller gym bag with clothes for the trip, a box of glassware
that my new brother in law JP had insisted I take, and my small TV with built
in VHS. Yes, I said VHS. Mark and I were outfitted with walkie-talkies and
deemed ourselves ready for travel.
Mark, being smarter and more organized, kept a “Captain’s
Log” of the trip of which I will sometime post a sanitized transcript version
of on here. As I recall it was an old fashioned tape deck. Oldie but a goodie.
I was driving my 2003 Honda Accord, “champagne” colored and named Thelma after
my grandmother. Before leaving I made sure they put a tape deck back in
the car even though they had been discontinued by that point. Look, all my many
audiobooks were on cassette so get off my back. :-)
The trip itself is worthy of a separate entry but here are a
few high points. The first day we were so pumped up that we drove all the way
to Beaumont, TX and its lovely Best Western. We stopped to see Mark’s
grandmother who fed us peanut butter sandwiches and told Mark to follow his
dreams. I got no such advice so I’m stealing his. We split up briefly in TX and
reconnected to pick up my Dad who was flying into San Antonio to join for the
rest of the trip. He made known his dislike of Coldplay and put my new Best of
Bruce Springsteen CD on continuous loop until even I had to ask to listen to
something else. I’m not proud of that. We stopped at Carlsbad Caverns (The Bats!), The
Grand Canyon, and Tombstone, AZ (complete with OK Corral reenactment) to name
just a few. We also, at my insistence, drove an hour or so out of our way to
briefly visit the Tanque Verde Ranch near Tucson. The reason? It’s where they
filmed “Hey Dude” my favorite childhood TV show. We didn’t know this at the
time but what few buildings remained were actually a mile or so away from the
actual ranch. But we spent a few minutes walking around the pool and corral
area. It was worth it.
We awoke on the 26th at the Grand Canyon and
drove into sunny California. Through a college buddy of mine we had already
lined up an apartment which was a huge blessing. Of course we had no idea what
it would look like but good ole’ #110 at Bluffside Gardens served us well, even
if we didn’t yet have a fridge. We made our first Ralphs run, got take-out from
a place called Fat Jack’s (RIP) and watched Swingers. My dad’s reaction, “Bud,
I’d be thrilled if you were Goofy.”
We did some sightseeing: Hollywood & Highland (where I
complained about all the tourists), a tour of the Sony lot and several more
trips to Ralphs. We watched Ocean’s 11 and Wild Bill. I remember driving through
my new neighborhood listening to Woody Nelson and Ray Charles’ duet of “Seven
Spanish Angels,” Elton John’s “I Guess
That’s Why They Call it the Blues” and James Patterson’s audiobook of “Kiss the
Girls” read by Robert Guillaume and Chris Noth. Funny how random things like that come back to
you.
So I awoke today in my condo in Van Nuys, nursing a double
ear infection and blissfully happy because it didn’t really flare up until
after I’d filmed a scene for “Criminal Minds” on Monday. Yesterday, the anniversary of my arrival, I
drove past Bluffside Gardens and snapped a few pictures. Even went to the same Ralphs.
All in my Hyundai Elantra named Carl after my grandfather (Husband of Thelma). Today
there will be a few more brief stops.
Are there most personal, heartfelt memories from this life
changing trip? There are many, but they’re all mine. Sorry.
Mark took a picture of the sunrise at The Grand Canyon on the morning of the 26th. Driving home from set on Monday I had to pull over and snap a picture as the sun started to set.
Sunrise. Sunset.
I always told myself if I made it to 10 years I’d give a
good hard look at what I wanted to do next and where I wanted to do it.
My conclusion? I’m staying. It’s time to begin Phase 2.
Ben
August 27, 2014
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