4/7 – Getting to El Cajon
Well Greyhound is how real people travel. If you were 4 feet tall it might be comfortable. I transferred smoothly in downtown LA to the San Diego bus. Near the station, several folks were napping in the street, making me think how I’m going to be sleeping in the dirt soon, not so much different from these people. The almost empty bus to San Diego was a nicer ride. I could actually see things, it being daytime now. I was impressed but also creeped out by a Kaiser billboard I saw: “someone alive today will live to 150.” Something to ponder during the coming days. . . The bus stopped in Oceanside, my buddy Guy’s home town. Looks like a cool surf town kind of like Santa Cruz but not as hip or drugged out.
At 10 am I arrived across the street from the Orange Train, which I would take to El Cajon. While waiting for the train, I was entertained by the transit cops who were busting a guy for not paying. They hassled him, gave him a ticket – more than the $2 for the train, no doubt. A big huge guy asked me if I’d paid –but didn’t give me a hard time.
On the train an old methadone addict lady named Beverly asked me to help her move her bag off the train at El Cajon. At El Cajon, Beverly moved so slowly the train took off before we could unload. The train had only one more stop before it changed direction, so we arrived back to El Cajon a bit later. The conductor walked back through, and the Beverly gave him hell for not stopping the train long enough. In El Cajon, we disembarked, and I helped her carry her bag across the street to the bus station (back in El Cajon). Beverly was nice and grateful and I gave her some coins.
Got to the hotel around noon where I’d planned to stay. But they wouldn’t let me in the room yet. So I went up the street to another hotel that was a real shithole, but they let me in the room. There I got my gear together. I lost the cap to my toothpaste in the hole in the sink. Then I looked into how was going to get to Campo. I got mixed signals regarding the schedule for the bus to Campo and whether there even was really a bus. So I contacted 3 trail angels via email to see if I could get a ride. One guy was cool enough to call me. While he couldn’t give me a ride, he assured me the bus would depart at 8:45 am for Campo (a 2 hour ride).