Day 2 - Flying Solo

Photo/Author unknown

I woke up early on day two feeling refreshed and anew. I was anticipating the Pacific Ocean, a beach or any body of water I could jump into… I love the ocean view.

After getting dressed, I packed all my things ready to hit the road. My goal was to hit as many cities as possible. I wanted to take in as much California sun and fun as I could. So, to start my day off right, the first thing I did was put Starbucks in my GPS.

First stop Los Angeles. I drove over to Leimert Park Village Cultural Retail and Venues. It’s an area in South LA designated to black owned business. You can enjoy RICH CULTURAL EXPERIENCES! From African Art, Book signings, Spoken word, Drummers, Authentic food, Galleries, Performing Arts, and Plays. It’s also were Eso Won Book store is located. I was planning on purchasing books from Eso Won Books but the store unfortunately was not open when I arrived.

If you take a look at the picture below you can see a store called Sole Folks. I saw that the store was open so I decided to take a look, after all, I wanted to support! The retailer carries a variety of African attire, sports wear, oils, soaps, and trinkets. All established by the owner and other Black owned business entrepreneurs. To top it off, the shopping experience was great. When I tell you I had the best customer service… I mean it. The young lady who assisted me in my purchases was part owner. She was very polite and informative. She told me all about the mission of their business and I was just floored. I wanted to buy everything in there, but lets be realistic... I could not do that but I can share with you guys their information, in hopes that you too will go and show your support. If you are in the South Los Angeles area or visiting, stop by. They are located at the 4300 block of Degnan Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90008.

Nipsy Hussle mural was not far away. It’s located at the intersection of Slauson and Crenshaw Blvd.. in the heart of South Los Angeles. Since I was in the area, I thought I would check out the site. During the day, there are other vendors located on Degnan street. Like a sidewalk sale. I stopped to buy some Shea butter, you can never have enough of it. I was having a conversation with a couple of brothers at one of the tents on the street. I mentioned that I wanted to check out Nipsy’s mural site and they basically said “naw sis, I don’t advise you to go over there today. Someone just got shot yesterday.” You don’t have to tell me twice. Needless to say, I did not get a chance to visit Nipsy’s Mural. On to the next stop.

My life is going through a major transition now that I’m over the half century mark. I need to look at life in a different way. The lens through which I spent most of my life looking through had gotten foggy. In spite of that, I was determined to keep my mind open and fog free while on this journey. I was traveling by myself, but I was not alone. Everywhere I went, people would draw to me and just start talking. With my mind not being blocked up with other issues, I was able to engage freely with the conversations coming my way.

I headed down to Venice Beach. Parking was easy and quick, as it was still early in the day. The beach has a bohemian style feel to it. The boardwalk wasn’t too busy but the shops were open. They had everything from nice little coffee shops to martini bars. They had different types of restaurants and food vendors, as well as convenience shopping. Something for everyone, but I was there for the water. I rolled up my pants leg, took my shoes off and walked towards the water. It felt so good to feel the sand between my toes. It was beautiful, except there were a few big birds flying around and I do not do birds like that… I’m just saying. Them birds needed to go. Then I thought, forget about the birds. Enjoy the view. So I did.

I walked out into the water, only about knee deep. Just enough for the bottom half of my pants to get wet, even though I had them rolled up. I then had to make sure my cell phone was put away safely so it wouldn’t get wet. I blocked out the birds… it took a minute, but I blocked them out of my mind. Soon the chatter of people around me would be silenced too. I held my head up towards the sky, feeling the breeze from the ocean across my face and through my hair. With my arms stretched out like wings, I inhaled and waited for the next wave to come in before exhaling. I could hear the ocean speak. I knew the wave was coming before it hit.

It’s ironic how life works in the same way. Our intuition gives us all kinds of signs. It’s how we receive them that determines the outcome. Most times we want to use conscious reasoning to give meaning to what we are feeling. As I stood in the water, I realized “I was alone, before I was alone.” As I said before, I knew the wave was coming before it came. Once it hit, I almost tipped over. I really hadn’t prepared myself for the impact. I had to wait for the water to rescind in order to get my balance. After the ocean had withdrew it’s presence back from the shorelines, I noticed something. The wave had washed away everything. The sand was smooth again, and the only thing I could see imprinted in the sand, was my footprints walking away.

So, I find myself flying solo across the state of California, on my way to the next destination. I made a few stops along the way. Barbeque was filling the air and it smelled delicious. I was thinking about getting me some barbeque until the area started to look a little different. Long Beach is a little tricky, because you can be in one neighborhood, then turn the corner and be in a different kind of “hood.” As I’m driving with the window down, trying to find where the smell was coming from, I see a man on the corner. He has a grill on wheels and he’s selling to the community. Yeah, I was open to trying new things but I was not getting out my car to support this time… I ended up at the Long Beach Pier, where I just set and enjoyed people watching.

I won’t bore you with every step of that day. What I will say is, “flying solo has it’s benefits” and that’s all I’m going to say about that.

LEIMERT PARK VILLAGE CULTURAL RETAIL & VENUES

I hope you are enjoying my journey almost as much as I did. Come back and join me for day 3 and 4. Until then, leave a comment below and share my blog with your circle.

Find out more about Leimert Park Village: http://www.leimertparkvillage.org/

Hey Tuss, what’s your Story?

Your comments are “Valid, Respected and Valuable”. Your opinion is welcome in the comment space below and I am looking forward to our conversations.