West Coast Beach
Chapter 6: The Start of the trip.
There was a national holiday coming up, the fourth of July. This holiday made it easier for the members of the group to schedule the same time off.
Judy: We have a holiday weekend coming next week, That should make it easier for us all to schedule next Saturday off.
Mike: Good point.
Dave: So, we’ll try to target next Saturday for taking our trip to the beach.
Dave: All in favor of targeting next Saturday for our trip to the beach, raise your right hand.
The group members unanimously raised their right hands, the date of the trip being Saturday was set.
Everyone raised their right hand and Saturday was chosen as the day the group would make the trip to Black's Beach. Now they had to get lucky and all be able to schedule next Saturday as not having to work.
Fortunately, they were all able to schedule time off at the same time during the fourth of July weekend. The next weekend came around, and Tom said, “We might as well travel in style with this Mercedes the car dealership I work for loaned me.” They loaded up in Tom’s loaner car and started their trip to “Black’s Beach” early morning.
Judy: Did everyone free up this Saturday for our trip?
Sally: It worked out well that the fourth of July fell on the same weekend that we planned the trip for.
Rafael: Yea, that helped out a lot in us being able to schedule the same time off.
John: Since my bicycle was stolen, it has been very easy for me to manipulate the health club work schedules.
Phyllis: Why’s that?
John: They feel guilty about my bike getting stolen right under their noses in their bike rack.
Tom: Not only did I get Saturday off, but I got a Mercedes-Benz loaner car from work that we can use in making the trip.
The rest of the group assured each other that they had scheduled Saturday off from the places they individually worked at.
It was early in the morning, about 4:30 AM PST. Then the group loaded up in Tom’s loaner Mercedes-Benz SUV parked in the driveway of the house.
They felt a cool breeze from the night air. Dawn started breaking as the moon began dipping lower on the horizon. Simultaneously, the Sun slowly showed more of itself.
Phillis: Is everyone here? I know most of you don’t get up this early.
Rafael counted heads and determined that all members of the group were present.
Sally: Should we pack some sandwiches for lunch.
Dave: I don’t think so. We don’t want to be bloated as we get to the beach.
They drove down a couple of residential streets to a gas station that was on their way. Once at the gas station they topped the car’s gas tank with gas, they also checked the car’s oil and other important fluids to make sure they were prepared.
Mike: We’re doing this surfer style. Does everyone have their beach ware underneath their street clothes?
After the group members unanimously answered affirmatively, they once again loaded up in Tom’s loaner SUV.
Dave: I call shotgun.
Tom: You don’t expect anyone to fight you in riding shotgun do you? Everyone is more interested in taking a nap during the ride, than riding shotgun.
Judy: Quit talking. Let me go to sleep already.
They were to traverse several more residential streets before hitting federal highway 10. Federal Highway 10 is one of the main east-west arteries of the nation. The freeway stretches from I-95 in Jacksonville, Florida to the Pacific Ocean at State Route 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) in Santa Monica California. It is used quite heavily near Los Angeles. It is also on one of the paths to get from Pomona. California to Black’s Beach.
Just as Tom had said, as soon as they entered the freeway, the majority of the friends went to sleep. The morning traffic had yet to crest on the freeway. An advantage of traveling this early in the morning was in escaping the heavy traffic and the smog that followed it.
As they left Los Angela county and entered the less populated San Diego County, the surrounding landscape transitioned from steel buildings and concrete highways to surreal-looking rolling hills. Compared to the wooded landscapes of the east part of the United States, the current landscape looked cartoonish.
They continued their journey towards Black's Beach, sitting along a beautiful part of the rocky La Jolla coastline. Being below the Torrey Pines Glider port and just north of La Jolla Shores, it’s become a beloved surf spot for locals and remains pretty famous for its defining characteristic as a nude beach in San Diego!
Chapter 7: An unexpected problem happened. (Coming soon)