training.

last night i spent the evening in the company of eight strangers at a plethora of locales in the 3-block radius of a small hotel on the corner or mission and 7th streets. we congregated around the long tall table at the heart of the good hotel's bar, hailing from utah, southern cali, new jersey, tennessee and florida. i was the local contribution. we exchanged the common garden variety conversations - where are you from, where have you traveled, what is your go-to drink at a bar.

later - at a stylish hole-in-the-wall brazilian restaurant, we toasted caipirinhas to emily's birthday. she smiled and clinked, sharing the tale of her year-long on and off romance with trekamerica. for this is why we were here -- trekamerica. a business making a living showing adventurous travelers the good ol' u. s. of a.

after another pitcher and palate-teaser of delicious spicy skewers, we paid up and headed across market to a small empty taqueria. david proceeded to order and converse in perfect(ly accented) español. my carne asada taco was filled so full i had to separate it to form 2 smaller ones. christine busted in the door with her quick wit and sarcasm just before we all headed back in the direction of the hotel.

quick stop at the liquor shop and now i had in my possession a tall-boy pbr in a classy brown bag. at the hotel, we talked, drank and played the getting-to-know-you game. as i was about to leave, i instead followed the flow as we wandered across the street to the best western. lost from the group, christine, kale and i ended up on the roof with a nighttime skyline view of my beloved city. i snapped a photo for posterity. in my room, i texted my love and slept awaiting the inevitable alarm not even 6 hours away.



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the first day of training started early and with a multitude of yawns. we studied cdl questions as we crammed into the 15-passenger van with our new bosses - jen and jd. two hours later, we arrived in santa rosa - our training grounds. the morning was filled with papers, reading and slideshows. the afternoon, full of gear, setup and cleaning in the bleary hot california sun. i set up an assembly line with christine and matt as the dishes crew - a job in the shade with the sweet cool of water.



the long day concluded with a drive to our new home-away-from-home -- an old boy scout camp in the woods of occidental, complete with 5-bunk cabins, fire pit, shared bathrooms and outdoor kitchen. a walk in the evening with rick revealed old boarded-up cabins, dilapidated mess halls, a strange fenced in circle pit with nothing in its center (my guess: for the alien landings) and the remains of a church altar - almost hidden in the woods, the stones engulfed in moss, the embedded cross covered in vines.

i write now from the bottom bunk. outside, the crackle of fire. the voices of leaders. of trainees. stories of good food. and bad. random travel. and things yet to come.