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Days 153 to 156 - The Finale Begins in LA

Los Angeles was on fire. I drove into LA three weeks ago-- the city where Adam Watson, close friend from high school and Hollywood videographer lived, and the city of a guy's weekend before hiking "the finale", the 200-mile, world-famous John Muir Trail through the high Sierra Nevada mountains, the beautiful range of light. 

A stop at Adam's house for pre-hike laundry, camper conversion and bro catch-up was preceded by a trip to The Getty. Museums make cities pretty again. 

Zoli Brown, high school bud and big-tobacco-turned-public-safety law defender, arrived the next morning and Bob Massengale, high school bud and landscape-designer/artist/social-activist arrived that night. We reminisced over drinks and great food all night. 

Then we went for an LA adventure best described as strangely beautiful. We hit up an LA swap meet in search a wide-brim hat for Bob for the hike. Bob found his hat while I landed some elderly-ific sunglasses and a Mexican guitarist CD for mood music. 

Then on route to our next destination, the birthplace of Mr. Ed, we saw a palm tree burst into flames on the 101 highway. What?!  Drought. Foreshadowing?

Then we saw this...

Mesmerized by randomness, we continued on to a giant orange grove inside the city, where we encountered a hundred frogs in a small lake and a duck under a bench. Adam took a Facebook cover-worthy selfie with the animal. 

Not satisfied with such hilarious moments, the four of us continued on to the Shrine of Yogahanda, a famous guru of the self-realization institute- the guru to Steve Jobs and many others. We visited In-n-Out, the delicious west coast burger joint, and Santa Monica, the packed beachside haven of roller skaters everywhere.  Blade Runner was watched and a dive bar visited. A jam-packed LA day. 

We visited Venice Beach the next day and were amazed by the warm water. We rode the waves for a half hour. People buzzed around. 

Then Bob and I had to leave. We did a gear check that morning- we had most everything-- but Bob's pack would be heavy. Then Bob and I drove three hours northeast to Lone Pine, California. We checked into our hotel, did a final backpack packing, and went to bed. We had to catch a 6:15am bus the next morning north to Yosemite and our 200-mile adventure. Excited but nervous, we fell asleep. 

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