Southern California

California

is a state in the Western United States. It is bordered by Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west, Oregon to the north, and the Mexican state of Baja California to the south. With over 39.5 million residents across a total area of approximately 163,696 square miles (423,970 km²), it is the most populous and the third-largest U.S. state by area.

It is also the most populated subnational entity in North America and the 34th most populous in the world. The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation’s second and fifth most populous urban regions respectively, with the former having more than 18.7 million residents and the latter having over 9.6 million. Sacramento is the state’s capital, while Los Angeles is the most populous city in the state and the second most populous city in the country (after New York City). Los Angeles County is the country’s most populous, while San Bernardino County is the largest county by area in the country. San Francisco, which is both a city and county, is the second most densely populated major city in the country (after New York City) and the fifth most densely populated county in the country, behind four of New York City’s five boroughs.

Once done in Joshua tree I drove to the Dead Sea in the most southern part of California. Slab city was right besides it and I had the somewhat romantic idea of a nice hippie village where I could stay for a couple of days and relax in the desert. I rolled in, my main goal was the shower, which turned out to be a muddy waterhole just outside the trailer park.

It was a bit disgusting, especially seeing the other people who were having baths here as well. They were dirty, a bit too dirty for my taste, as was the whole place. I mean I had been in super-hobo mode, I had lived in the car for almost 8 months but still, this was too hippie and hobo for me. It reminded me of a big junk yard with loads of junkies hanging out trying to make some drug money of the sculptures they build from the scraps they found. I did take the shower though and took a tour through the “city” but left shortly after.

I had seen a picture of the famous “three sisters” a few trees just by the lake or sea, which made a good starting point to take some photos. The whole area wasn’t touristic but rather industrial but they had started to redevelop the area around the trees, they were still there but ripped out of the ground, just lying in the sand. Luckily I found another, similar tree that made for something in the shot other than sky, salt, sand and sea. I slept next to the lake that night, it was somewhat of a relaxing one, as it wasn’t cold and there were no worries of being caught, it was such an un-touristic area, nobody was looking for that.

The next day was set to drive over to the coast, ending up in San Diego or a surf town just besides it, San Clemente. I drove south, all the way to highway 8 and then over to San Diego. It was a full day of driving again and two mountain ranges were to cross. I nearly crashed the car just after arriving to San Diego, the town was very hilly and with my bad breaks it was very difficult to navigate through the dense traffic, sudden stops and way too many traffic lights.

I hadn’t worked in a while, so I needed to find a public library, my first try was the one at the official university of San Diego, but it turned out impossible to figure out how to pay for the parking and I left quite disappointed. Libraries in big public spaces turned out to be somewhat of a fail, because parking was costly and complicated. If I had a chance to get in it was great to use the modern facilities and couldn’t be any better, but parking and the fees mostly killed it. It was for the better though, I picked another library, this time in a wealthy suburb and it couldn’t have been better. A modern building overlooking the ocean, I was actually able to see the ocean from my desk and park for free. Once I left I even felt a bit sad that there wasn’t more to do, working from such a sweet spot was just awesome. These were the moments when I thought “yea… this is pretty cool”
California is the state of the United States with the most tourism, so the authorities came up with the rule of prohibiting to sleep in the car pretty much anywhere. It had been fine in all the other states, but not here. Understandable as so many people would roll up in their sleeper vehicles and junk the place up. They had their space but it was in the west, in the desert, the coast was reserved for the wealthy people. It turned into a problem for me as I couldn’t find a spot to sleep. The iOverlander app didn’t deliver acceptable spots and the ones it came up with had lots of mixed reviews in the comments.

Luckily I found a hostel in San Clemente, one of the very few ones in the United States, the last one I had stayed at in was in Montana, about 15.000km back. The hostel was acceptable, the facilities were not that great, but a lot better than sleeping in the car, especially around nighttime when it was dark. It had somewhat of a good workspace too, but as always in a hostel situation, I didn’t like all the questions.

The people hanging out were quite interesting and a different pack from people that normally hang out in hostels. It was mostly Americans trying to set foot into California, not being able to afford the high rent that living here required, not the usual international travelers that are normally there. So there were quite a few cracky (mostly) dudes hanging around that smoked a lot of weed. I hadn’t smoked since Canada and I didn’t want to, mainly because of having to drive the car. If I was stopped by a police officer for whatever reason I wanted to be confident and have none of that in my blood stream. After all I was a German guy in the United States driving and living in a Canadian plated car with a drivers license held together by sticky tape. Better to keep the ball low.
I had a good time in the hostel, made some friends and relaxed for a bit. It was a surf town and the hostel was referring to itself as a surf hostel, surfing was the thing here. It wasn’t my time to surf yet, the water was cold (it was winter, beginning of December) but I liked to watch, get a glimpse of Californian surf culture and the waves were great.

One of the best things about California are it’s sunsets, every single day the sun will go under with a celebration of the deepest oranges, reds, purples and pinks. Right in the center of the ocean, picture perfect, every time. The last surfers of the day leaving the water, people strolling along the beach, kids playing. Perfect life, sadly quite expensive.

I saw an advertisement for a house that was up for rent. I saw the house and thought to myself that it might be around 2000$, but once I got closer and saw the actual price I couldn’t believe it, the owners were asking 4500$ a month for an average house with kind of a sea view. It was one of the nicest towns on the Californian coast for sure, but it became clear to me at that time that California is only for rich people spinning their wheels.I enjoyed having some company in the hostel, after all I had been quite lonely throughout the trip. Good to tell some stories, exchange opinions and learn about different points of views. I stayed for four nights, managed to get out and shoot sunrise as well on most days. I would walk along the beach all the way to the locals favorite surf spot and just hang out and watch. I must admit the California life, if you can afford it, seems great. Lots of beautiful people on the beach before work, surfing, fitness, having a laugh with friends, pickup trucks, palm trees, sunshine and the ocean. It’s just a bit too dense as it is a lot of people’s dream.