{"id":2280,"date":"2023-10-05T01:19:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-05T01:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=2280"},"modified":"2023-09-16T12:58:27","modified_gmt":"2023-09-16T12:58:27","slug":"chap-19-leaving-l-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=2280","title":{"rendered":"Chap. 19 – Leaving L.A."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chapter 19<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leaving L.A.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     We\u2019d been in L.A. for almost a week and it was getting tiresome always trying to have something fun happening for our followers.  They liked our pranks but weren\u2019t so keen about starting a \u201cRump Legislature.\u201d  Most of us thought we should shelve that idea for now and get back on the road.   Meanwhile, the Dodgers were in the final round of the play-offs and heading to the World Series, so Skip wanted to stay and get the free tickets his San Luis friend had promised, little<\/em> knowing<\/em> there<\/em> was<\/em> a<\/em> plot<\/em> underway<\/em> to<\/em> blow<\/em>–up<\/em> Dodger<\/em> stadium<\/em>.  \u201cI\u2019ll catch-up with you guys later.  It\u2019s kinda nice living at Rosie O\u2019Donnell\u2019s place – I mean palace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u201cYeah, me too,\u201d said Sally, \u201cI\u2019ll invite Pirate Jack to come stay at Rosie\u2019s and try to keep our Rump experiment going.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Now, with only five on the bus, there were open seats.  Traveling around L.A. those last days in our newly decorated Land Yacht, courtesy Nordstrom\u2019s paint department, we were getting honked at all the time.  One graffiti artist had painted a big belt buckle on the Land Yacht\u2019s sliding door with the words \u201cPeace To All Who Enter Here.\u201d  Huck was all for enticing some of the fairer sex to get on board.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     By now, Sunshine and Peaches had caught up with us.  Our last night in L.A., we were back at our Walmart spot.  Hearing our plans to leave town, Peaches grinned and said, \u201cWe were gonna follow you for a while, but now that you have some space, might as well park ours and climb on board yours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cSorry, those spots are filled,\u201d Patty said, which we were grateful for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Huck complained later, \u201cWadja mean those spots are filled?\u201d Patty explained she just had a weird feeling about those two, \u201cPeaches just seems creepy, looking like a friggin\u2019 Jack-O-Lantern, and Sunshine \u2013 what can I say?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

     We left L.A. for Tucson, under the too-hot sun, no clouds, with a four-hundred-mile trip in front of us.  Traveling west on I-10, the scenery soon turned desert-like – and boring – so the group settled-in with pillows and books, but not before recounting our several recent disappointments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     We weren\u2019t so bothered about the failure to launch a Rump Legislature, but Patty hadn\u2019t snagged that movie advance she was seeking, being told, \u201cNow why would I pay money for that when the whole world is watching for free on your blog.\u201d  (He was referring to our latest Santa Monica caper.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWorse,\u201d Patty said. \u201cI really wanted to bait that Santa Monica cop into actually busting us \u2013 I always hated that creepy song, \u2018Every Step You Take\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Here\u2019s what the producer guy claimed the whole world had watched:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Choosing the grassy area leading to the Santa Monica Pier, at the intersection of Ocean Avenue and Broadway, where jugglers juggle, hula-hoopers hula hoop, fire eaters eat fire, Patty had us jumping out of the Land Yacht shouting, \u201cWe\u2019re the Rumpkins 1-2-3-4-5-6-7; come with us and get to heaven,\u201d while Huck and Steve ran to a grassy area, rolled out a blanket and began kissing<\/u> each other.  Sure enough that same cop had<\/u> followed us there. Skip then, with a Trump mask on, saunters over where Huck and Steve are now fondling<\/u> each other, and yells at the top of his lungs, \u201cNobody<\/strong> gropes<\/strong> in<\/strong> public<\/strong> without<\/strong> a<\/strong> permit<\/strong>.\u201d  We all wore baseball caps painted to say \u201cMake Love Great Again,\u201d and with Huck on guitar we all started singing \u201cWhat the world needs now is love, sweet love . . .\u201d  Not only did the cop do nothing to stop us, we couldn\u2019t even get any passers-by to clap or join in.  The only applause came from the fire-eater, who said, \u201cNo one thought you were acting, it all looked pretty normal for around here.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chapter 19 Leaving L.A.      We\u2019d been in L.A. for almost a week and it was getting tiresome always trying to have something fun happening for our followers.  They liked our pranks but weren\u2019t so keen about starting a \u201cRump … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2280"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2280"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2768,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2280\/revisions\/2768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}