The summer after my junior year Began with an adventure. Three of my friends and I had saved up all year and decided to take a road trip all along the West Coast, just the three of us. We spent months preparing, buying camping equipment, and planning our journey. We even made four separate trips to Costco to get supplies. Each of us had to have a minimum of $500 saved up and with the budget we planned out each of us was expected to come out with about 45 dollars left at best. We split the cost of food, campsites, and gas and made everything as fair as we possibly could. The three of us spent hours figuring out how to pack the car and eventually, through some tetris-esque packing maneuvers, we were able to make everything fit.

My two comrades for the trip were Jose and Kristian. The three of us had been friends for years and both of my friends had just graduated from Beaverton. Jose, as my mom described him, was “handsome and exotic”. He was born in Mexico but was just about as much of a gringo as me and Kristian. He had a lion’s mane of hair and dressed like a cross between a hippie, a hipster, and a dad. Kristian, as he described himself, looked like Clark Kent. He had short hair, glasses, and a commitment to working out. Both of them had great senses of humor and the three of us got along really well. 

We departed from Beaverton at 5:30 am on a beautiful June morning, toward our first destination, the Redwood Forest. We drove all day down highway 101, enjoying the beautiful scenery. Dunes and beautiful cliff faces lined the road and we had no choice but to pull off to a multitude of viewpoints along the way. We got lunch in Yachats then pushed on through Florence.  About five miles out of Florence, the car felt as if it were riding on a rough road. “Maybe you should pull over,” I said to Kristian. “No, the road is just really rough, we just need to get past it.” We began to slow down, cars passing us left and right. “Kristian, you need to pull over,” I said with urgency. Then, BAM! our front right tire exploded. Kristian pulled over to the shoulder and we jumped out to see what had happened. We were stranded on the side of the road, the front right tire in shreds around the wheel. Luckily just before the road trip my mom had given me AAA as a birthday present, and we were able to get help with our spare.  

We back-tracked about six miles to the nearest Les Schwab, where we had to purchase two new tires and a new battery just to be safe.  Four-hundred fifty dollars later, we were waiting around for about half an hour while the folks at Les Schwab fixed everything. Before long we were back on the road. We were only five hours in and we were already down 500 dollars.

We stopped in a small town right on the border of California for a rest and some food. Across the street from the McDonalds there was a Goodwill store. We decided to go over and check it and thank god we did. When we got there and walked around we realized we hadn't brought any silverware, plates, bowls, pots, or serving utensils to eat all of the food we brought. We spent another $45.00 on used kitchenware, then crossed the border into California.

The KOA campsite was a crushing disappointment. On the map we looked at when we reserved it, it looked spacious and fairly private. But we were within comfortable walking distance of three other campsites and had hardly enough room to set up our tent. We made do and managed to make the spot somewhat homey despite our poor preparations. Everyone brought their own chair, but Kristian accidently brought a toddler-sized chair that none of us could even fit our hips into; it was hot pink with a Barbie on it.

That night, we hung out around camp then went to bed early after downing bowls of chili. The next day we decided to adventure and explore. We went into town, went to the beach and explored the redwoods.

While exploring we found the most beautiful secluded beach. It was a small hike down from a gravel patch at the end of an incredibly long and unclear dirt road. At the end of the hike there was perfect little swimming hole and beach. The swimming hole was lined with warm, smooth rocks you could climb up and jump off of, and people had constructed Zen rocks all over the beach. Small groups of “Like minded individuals”, as we called them, were huddled up in small groups around the beach drinking and smoking and making the most out of the day. We hung out there for several hours and ate lunch while basking in the sun.

Late that evening we returned to the campsite for our daily chili and then went to the camp center to play ping-pong. We held a vigorous tournament with very high stakes. The winner won two days free of cooking and driving. And seeing as those were our only two responsibilities, winning was extremely desirable.
The competition was fierce, but I won every game by at least five points. Two of the ping-pong balls were split and some feelings were hurt but it was an extremely fun second night. While the tournament was going on we discovered that there was going to be a Gay Pride Parade held in San Francisco the day after we arrived. So we made some minor scheduling adjustments and decided to go.
Laziness consumed my third day. It was June 26th and, having won the ping-pong tournament, I had no responsibilities. The entire day was spent driving from Crescent City to San Francisco. During the drive we were listening to news radio because we couldn't find any decent music stations. While listening we learned that the Supreme Court had ruled that gay marriage was now legal in all 50 states. The three of looked at each other and knew that the pride was about to be more lit than ever before.

We arrived at Kristian’s aunts home in San Francisco at 11 o’clock at night. We unloaded all of the stuff we needed for the night, started a load of laundry, then went downtown. The trip downtown was a mission. We missed three different possible exits and ended up lost. But we found a place to park and wandered around town. We came across an In and Out Burger and, since I had never been before, we had to go. We were the last people in before closing and everyone in line behind us either started to harass us, or the manager, to get them food. The manager apologized about the angry people and gave us a free order of fries along with our food.

After we left the restaurant we heard yelling erupt from a nearby alleyway. The three of us turned around abruptly and saw a small bearded white guy. He was about 5'5” and had a scruffy orange beard. He was extremely dirty and even from a distance it was easy to tell he was homeless. Through his beard the man yelled a series of insults at a heavy set, Hispanic guy who was about 6’3”. The guy was walking backwards, trying to get away from the homeless dude, until he got fed up and punch the homeless man in the head.

The homeless man took the hit, looked up and the man, then unleashed a can of whoop ass. Within seconds the little dude was standing over the big guy holding his wallet in one hand and shoes in the other. He threw the wallet in one direction and the shoes in two different directions. Then he slapped the guy one more time, spit on him, and walked away. Awestruck, we continued on our way.

After walking about 20 feet we heard the bigger, now somewhat loopy and discombobulated, guy yell “Yo where do you train?”. The small homeless guy took that as a taunt and then headed back in for round two.

The second round was very similar to the first. The big dude got whooped quicker than any onlooker would have expected and the little guy walked away without a scratch. 

We got home and went to bed at about 3:30 am and got about five hours of sleep before waking up for the Gay Pride Parade.

In the morning we reloaded the car, showered and had a bit of breakfast before heading toward Main Street. We only had access to one bathroom though so everything happened at once. While I showered Kristian’s pooped and Jose brushed his teeth. The three of us went in a cycle until each of us had performed all the necessary activities of the morning.

We got downtown and ended up parking right behind the start of the parade. We walked through all the lined up floats and people waiting to go and ended up at the loading area of the parade. We were behind the Facebook float, which was really just a moving DJ and a guy with a T-shirt gun. There was a huge group we were a part of and we just danced behind the float for three hours We walked the entire parade – we were IN the parade! after more dancing until we glistened with sweat and glitter we jumped over the fence on the sidewalk, which was there to separate the participants and onlookers, and began the move back to our car. Trekking back to the car was rough. It was essentially walking three miles through the most crowded party you can possibly imagine. There were solo cups everywhere, people dancing and singing, and everything smelled like smoke and alcohol and sweat. I was constantly being forced up against naked old men and topless women and people were selling $1 Jello shots on every corner.

About a mile down we passed Pit Bull and a few other musicians going down the parade route. They were dancing like crazy and had almost terrifying dancers surrounding them on the float. The dancers, both male and female, had the most elaborate hair, intense make, and muscular bodies I had ever seen. I watched for a minute but soon something more interesting captured my attention. A group of gorgeous scantily clad girls about our age walked by. I turned to my friend and said, “I dare you to go ask one of them if you can kiss them”.

Kristian gave me a look, took off his shirt, handed it to me, popped a piece of gum into his mouth, and walked straight up to the most beautiful girl in the group. She was slightly shorter than him with long blonde hair, a slim figure and great features. I couldn't hear what Kristen said to her over the roar of the ongoing festivities. But Jose and I watched in awe and utter disbelief and Kristian put his hand around her waist and pulled her close. The kiss that followed is to this day one of the most passionate kisses I have scene. It lasted nearly ten seconds. He said thank you and began to walk back toward us.

Not one to be showed up, I decided I would have to kiss a random stranger also. We walked down the street and looked around for someone to ask. A cute girl soon walked by with a group of friends. She had glasses and tattoos and I was helpless. I asked her for a kiss; she said of course. However, since I was not nearly as courageous as Kristian, so all I went for was a quick smooch.

We finally made it back to the car and headed out to our next location, Yosemite. It was brutally hot and sunny out so the seven hour drive was tough, especially with three six foot tall 17 year olds stuffed into a tiny Impala. We only made a couple of stop for food and arrived in Yosemite at 11 o'clock at night. There was no way to check into a campsite because there were no vacancies. So we began the hour and half drive out of Yosemite Valley. We had no cell phone service and no idea where we were going. We decided driving in one direction would be the safest bet.

About forty-five minutes later we came across what looked like a pool house with no pool in sight, and a lone apartment building in the middle of nowhere. Our original plan was to park in the apartment building’s parking lot and just sleep in the car. But that turned out to be impossible due to the amount of stuff we had with us. So we unloaded everything and kept it under of car. We experimented with sleeping arrangements for several minutes then went to bed.

In the morning (about 4:30 am) we got everything out from under the car and went back into Yosemite. We got to the general campground around seven in the morning and set up camp. Immediately after the car was unloaded we climbed into our tent and slept until 3:30 despite the fact that there were three people in a two-person tent in 90-degree weather.

When we woke up we decided to go for a quick hike. We made some sandwiches and attempted to figure out the park’s shuttle system. Between leaving and getting to the hike a large number of adventures took place and we met some very interesting people. Sadly, seeing as this is a school safe retelling of my odyssey I will have to leave them out. At the end off it all we had two twenty-something year old hippies named Zipper and Slingshot staying in our campsite with us.

The hike was uneventful and grueling but it was beyond beautiful. There were adorable ground squirrels all over, the beautiful cliffs surrounded us on all sides, the half dome towered above us and we could see waterfalls cascading down wherever we looked. We came back down after going about four miles up and decided to go to the showers.

It cost five dollars to shower but we paid gladly. Each of us was covered in dirt and sweat due to the excessive about of activities in the two days prior. We returned to the campsite and made five large cans of chili so that we would have enough to share with our new hippie comrades. The now nearly doubled population of campsite 12B ate around the fire and chatted. Zipper and Slingshot had been hiking for nearly three months and only had two weeks left. They had traveled all the way from just slightly south of LA all on foot. They had almost no money at this point in their adventure and were getting by mostly from people like us willing to help them out. After eating all of us went to sleep.

On the third to last day of our journey we decided to do an 18-mile hike around almost all of Yosemite. We packed up all of our stuff, made lunches, and took off at 9:30. We hiked for Four miles up the well-named Four Mile Trail until it connected with the Panorama Trail. Which took us another five miles up to the tops of the cliffs. From there we could see all of Yosemite. It was breathtaking and one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life.
The place we viewed it from however, was awful. Going into the hike we had no clue that it was possible to drive up to this place. So there were small children and families everywhere all fresh and clean, while my friends and I had just hiked nine miles and were covered in blood, sweat, and tears. Which we all told each other was just sweat.

From the top we continued down another trail on the other side, which apparently took us to a beautiful swimming area. It was another three miles but it was mostly downhill and went by quickly.

The swimming spot was on top of a waterfall and had natural rock water slides all round it. We stripped off of our clothes, and wearing only shorts, started to swim. The “waterslides” worked very well but at the bottom there were lots of rocks that were nearly unavoidable. These didn't stop us from going down, however we did sustain some considerable damage in the process.

It was nearly 6:00 now and the sun was beginning to set. We still had six miles to go and it was mostly back uphill. We took off soaking wet and nearly out of water to get through the last leg of our trek. We got extremely lost twice and by the time we made it down from the cliffs it was 9:15 and almost completely dark. None of us had thought to bring flashlights because we all thought we would be home well before dark and all of our phones were dead, besides mine.

We ran the last two miles home while I led the way with my phone light. We got onto the very last shuttle for the night and headed out for pizza.

At the lodge we bought three large pizzas for 45 dollars and finished all three within the forty-five minutes we spent waiting for the private shuttle we had called for us. I felt as though I was going to burst I had so much food in my stomach but I was still hungry.

Back at the campsite we discovered Zipper and Slingshot had headed out. 

We took it easy on our second to last night then went to bed early. The next day we packed up all of our stuff and walked it back to the car and headed to the showers one last time before the final drive. We drove all day only making stops for food and ended up in Redding. None of us really felt like setting up another campsite so we decided to try to find a motel, even though none of us were eighteen. We tried two motels and much to our dismay, both were completely full.

The lady at the counter checked all availability in Redding and informed us of the fact that the only hotel with vacancies was the kind of place we should go unless we were “looking to get a prostitute or get mugged”.

So we drove another hour and a half at 11:30pm up to Weed California. We found a Motel 6 and went in to get a room.

On the counter there was a large sign reading, “Must be 18 or older to rent a room”. I pushed on past the sign and acted as confidently as possible. In the end we got a two-bed room. We all took showers and we hung out for a while before going to bed around two. We woke up the next day at eight and headed home. It was an eight-hour drive home and we got back into Portland around 4:30. When we got home we all met up with friends and hung out until ten, before deciding it was time to go home and say hi to our parents.

Our homecomings were bittersweet. It was good to see our families who we had all missed but the come down of the adventure was hitting pretty hard. We made a pact to go on a road trip every summer and we just finished planning the route for RT2K16.