Breathe easy. It's all good.

I write from San Diego now about two miles from the 15. Chris has a friend down here, who was a climbing companion when he climbed Mt. McKinley. Chris's first attempt at one of the Seven Summits was up in Alaska, but he didn't accomplish the goal and get to the top. Knowing Chris, he wasn't phased by his failure and will try the summit again later down the road. His friend, Ed Earl, did make it to the top.

Yesterday proved itself to be a day of uniqueness. Traveling with Chris is a wonderful experience not only for its events, but also for the personality and life experience that Chris possesses. I have learned much about Chris today as we traveled down the 1 on our way to San Diego.


Chris and Vaughn organize some drugs that will be used to prevent Chris from getting any foreign illnesses or diseases while in South America. 

One thing about Chris: He's incredibly laid back. He is taking his groovy time with his world-wide expedition; there is no hurry for this man. Before actually setting out on his route, Chris made a few stops to various places: AAA (Triple A, if people didn't understand AAA - I mean, I could have been talking about batteries, ya know!), a gas station, and Adventure 16, which was an outdoor store full of crazy cool adventurey outdoor gadgets and gizmos. After about an hour and a half of errand-type activities, we set out for Venice Beach.


Chris shows Roman his Land Rover. Roman works at Adventure 16 in LA. 

When I said Chris was laid back, I meant that Chris was laid back. He'll cruise down the roads at pretty slow speeds to enjoy the sights and make sure he doesn't miss his turns, which made for great contrast to the Southern California driving here in LA. Impervious to honking and glaring eyes, Chris would brush off the anxious drivers. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of pissed off LA residents. We all need to take a lesson from Chris - we don't need to live such hurried lives. I'm sort of ill thinking that millions of people live their lives with such anxiety. Kick back and relax.


Driving through the streets of downtown LA, Chris makes his way to a nearby AAA office. Because his Land Rover is shipped from London, he drives on the right side of the cabin. 

We saw sights of Venice Beach and cruised down the 1. Chris didn't realize that the 1 is not much of a highway and it passes through a lot of cities and towns. A lot of stop lights and low speed limits made for low miles traveled per hour. It was rather annoying to Chris, but he flew with it.

Because of the late summer days, all the beach camps were bursting at the seams with happy campers, so Chris had to park at a Vista Point on the 5 in order to get some rest. We put together some chicken salad, watched Pulp Fiction, then went to sleep. His Landrover is amazing, and words cannot do justice to how insanely supplied it is; thus I won't bother with the effort.


Chris looks out to the Pacific at a vista point along the 5 south of San Clemente and north of Riverside. 

The San Diego Wild Animal Park provided us with Saturday's entertainment. Once we reached San Diego in the late morning, we had time to burn before Ed returned to the apartment. Seeing the different animals from all over the world was fun, and it gave me more respect to the place when I found out they had helped breed endangered species and redistribute them into the wild. I'm glad they do more than just stick animals in glorified pens for humans to see. Good for appreciation, but it somehow still feels wrong.


While at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, Chris walks through the giant bird house and videos as he passes. 


At the park, Chris was able to take the one hour train ride through the grounds to view the African animals kept there. 

Many photographs have been taken the past couple of days. I must admit that it was exciting to photograph Chris and his interactions with people and places; he makes for great subject matter...well, him and his Landrover.