L.A. Inspirational

Hey everybody,  just wanted to post a quick update today, geographically, I’m out in front of the many stories I still have in my pocket about Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, but….

I HAVE NOW OFFICIALLY DRIVEN ACROSS THE UNITED STATES WITH LIBBY AND WE’VE LIVED TO TELL ABOUT IT !!!!

Nate, Melissa and Libby, chillin in L.A. Libby is hoping to be discovered.

I’m now at my son and daughter-in-law’s (Nathan and Melissa)  humble abode in beautiful, downtown Los Angeles and I’ll have a ton more stuff to write about, including a PHONE number and recent public records regarding the half-bro in northern California.

But for now I just wanted to say thank you to each and everyone of you who have literally kept me going until now. It’s taken gas, a certain amount of guts and encouragement which comes in the form of “bleeps” on my iPhone. You cannot imagine what a difference it makes. When I was out on the two-lane blacktop in Texas last week, Day 4782 of triple-digit temperatures, and of course it was a radiant 109 degrees and I’m thinking, “I have officially lost my mind” and I’d hear the little antelope sound of an incoming message, reminding me #1 that there was indeed civilization out there, and #2 that somebody actually gives a shit about what I’m doing! Well, I’d just well up with tears and then say, “Crap, I can’t see.” 

Here’s a clip so you can see JUST HOW AWFUL I LOOKED AT THAT MOMENT !!!!! Pretty soon, I’ll be letting you see me naked. Kidding, I’m kidding.

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Meantime, check out this video clip, which further reinforces the providence of this journey. Let me set the stage: I’m heading west on Interstate 10, about 230 miles east of L.A. when traffic comes to a dead standstill. After about fifteen minutes, of course, people start getting out of their cars. And what do I see? First a guy with a guitar, backlit by the sun, then a guy in white linen pants, the silhouette of his stand-up bass, unmistakable. Then, a third guy, the shape of his harmonica from 100 yards, not so easy to distinguish.

Band practice, I-10, 234 miles west of L.A. The You and Me Thing

Intrigued, I get out, trotting Libby along behind me. Here, ladies and gentlemen is “The You and Me Thing.” Forgive the wind noise, and shaky video, but the lyrics?

“hold on…..sail on…..your dreams will become a reality….”

Of course this is what the lyrics were, what else?

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Have you ever felt the power of knowing that you were at the precise spot on the planet, and precisely the right time to experience precisely what you were experiencing at that time? Have you? This is how it felt to me and it is profound, my darlings. And these kids were adorable. The sun was baking the back of my legs, creating sun flares through the lens of my camera, but they were playing, and I was listening, as the tractor trailer trucks idled, the desert wind whipped around us with cars stretched in front and in back as far as the eye could see.

I felt SO connected to these kids — we were/are very much in the same in our life journey. They’re musicians with day jobs, cutting records, playing gigs in AZ and CA. They were en route to Sonoma, CA, to get a piano. I am a writer, en route to CA to find a long-lost brother. I am just a little late to the party of my own life. I loved these guys. I got in two songs before the highway patrol cleared the highway and we shook hands, with a “right on” and we were gone.

The accident ahead was a fatal, as we used to say in the news biz, white sheets covering other voyagers. That’s all I have to say.