I logged a few miles today without Shay. Shay has walked from Santa Monica to downtown L.A. in preparation for walking with me. So, as far as I’m concerned, I’m catching up to miles she has already walked. Therefore, as she caught up on personal+joint business, I went alone to the crosswalk we both left off at in West Hollywood, on Santa Monica Blvd., and walked a circuitous path through Sunset Blvd and Hollywood Blvd until ultimately dropping back down to Santa Monica Blvd and Normandie St., where the rain began pouring as I awaited the bus with a half dozen other locals. (Thank goodness for streetside awnings!)

I’d once been told by L.A. expats that, unlike Portland and Vancouver, locals here simply do not talk to each other on the bus. Well, boarding the bus with signs saying “WALKING ACROSS AMERICA” must drastically twist those social norms. Three separate conversations presented themselves to me as a result of people seeing the signs– despite the fact that I’d taken them off before boarding the bus back to Dan’s– tonight’s host in Santa Monica.