My first test run with weight

For those of you who don't know I'm spending three months traveling Japan. It's something that I've wanted to do since middle school, so it's a dream come true.

It was a lazy Saturday in Los Angeles County when I decided to go for a brief hike. I got dressed in clothes I didn't care about, plaid shorts, an ironic tee, a green A's hat, and hiking boots with long socks. Will said I couldn't look any more like a gaijin tourist, which I took as a compliment. I stuffed a sleeping bag, ground pad and 20 pounds of free weights in my REI bought gregory backpack and went for a walk in the Hollywood hills. Griffith is a small park nestled in between the 101 and five highways where out of towner's go to hike to the Hollywood sign. I had placed the 20 pound weights, not in the middle of the bag as the instructions specified, but on the very bottom, so as to make my life harder. As I was leaving I remember my roommate Blake saying, "if you can't do this hike, there's no way in hell you can make it in Japan." Indeed, but I had broken in my boots in Austin at South by South West, so I thought the hike would be easy.

It was a typical southern California day, not a cloud in the sky, hot as swampballs, and smoggy. Who's bright idea was it to hike during the midday sun? I walk up the first incline and put on a big smile because I think for the first two minutes that this is how it's going to be the entire time I'm in Japan. Sunny, comfortable, and breezy. I decided to be nice to everyone who passed hoping that a kind word would be returned, but to no avail. The people I encountered either looked at me as if they had just eaten something distasteful, or pretended they didn't hear me. The only people that responded to my hearty, "how's it going there," were the people who looked like freaks. Freaks are apparently the nicest in LA.

I had stopped for a brief rest at the top of a hill, and was contemplating returning to my car when I asked a nice women if I could make a loop back to the parking lot. She seemed pretty confident that I could, so I decided that I would follow her to the Hollywood Sign. Little did I know that there was no way to get back to the parking lot, the trail that I thought would lead me out was actually leading me to the other side of the canyon. I was running out of water and patience, so instead of going back the way I came I decided to forge ahead and walk back to the main street, cross over and come up behind my car. This took a lot longer than I had anticipated, and to make matters worse I felt my feet surrender to pain.

A bit of reprieve was administered by a well placed upscale diner. I was soaked to the bone with sweat, ordered up a tall glass of water and a ham sandwich. There's something about a lot of exercise that enhances the taste of food, and this was no exception. It was the best damn sandwich I have ever had. After the diner I finally made it back to the main road, crossed over and walked back another mile to my car. In total I walked five miles with about 25 to 27 pounds on my back with shoes that turned out to not be broken in, but I was happy because with each step that I took I felt like I was getting closer to Japan.