Oh the abandoned buildings oh my!

So I mosied myself out of my parents home and gave my aging geriatric cat some excessive amounts of petting (I think he was in total bliss during several parts), and took off for Barstow.

During the trip I found out that the Truck stop I had found a pinball machine (Yes, I know, I am a freak) at had been remodeled. There was no pinball machine. If any of you ever see a “Creature from the Black Lagoon” let me know. I had to drown my sorrows in Taco Bell (I know, I must really hate my body).

I then just drove on, eventually hitting Las Vegas. At this point, I tried to contact an old friend of mine, Jerad, but was unable to find him. So instead I went to gas up and got lost. Thank goodness to my natural sense of direction I was back on the Interstate forty minutes later.

As I passed into California I found a lot of old memories coming back. There were new things (spooky abandonded water park, in the middle of the desert, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!?!). I got stopped coming into the state to make sure I didn’t have any non regulation fruits or vegitables.

Getting closer to Barstow, my excitement peaked. Then I was in Barstow.. The city has changed, but very much stayed the same. I proceeded to drive around until I found my old chapel, the place I lived at (in the ghetto, so in the ghetto) the elementry school I volunteered at. The hotel I am at is right across from the Supermarket that went under and we bought enough frozen food at 50 percent off to last us a good month (we were so proud of that). Memories of walking by the four square church, the marine recruitment station.

I brought one of my mission journals, and was looking for some names of those I baptised. What I did find out was that one of the guys I knew was on Mission.net but that the girl I figured he’d married, well, he didn’t. She was one of the must fulfilling stories of my mission. So Debbie Martinez, if you every google yourself here, let me know.

I then proceeded to eat at all the little areas I remembered (Carrows, Fosters Freeze). I am planning on gaining like 20lbs during this outing. Ohhhhh I will be slathering myself in In-N-Out Hamburgers soon.

Later on today I’ll be heading to church and then journeying to the Island Empire to take some more photos and live some old memories.