The quest for Basas

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Waking up in Vegas is always hard. This morning was especially difficult not because we went to bed when the rest of the time zone was waking for work, but because we had to part from the third member of our road trip duo, Matty J Stipe.

After finding Richard Hughes between the slot machines of the Imperial Palace, we headed to McCarran airport to deposit our friend for his 10am flight.

From then, still half sleeping, J and I head back on the 5 towards my Uncle and Aunt's house in Las Vegas. Stomachs still mad at us for all that we consumed over the course of well, our lives, we were happily welcomed by some homemade Filipino food. The rice, eggs and longanisa were well welcomed by our bodies and J drifted to a nap shortly afterwards. The thought of putting a CareBear (TM) tattoo on him while he slept crossed my mind, but I decided against it as J's next task was to meet the rest of the Basas in LA.

Time went quickly as my Uncle told us stories of how my dad would wake him up in the early morning hours after being at the bar all night

to ask him if he "wanted girls?" We ate again, as Filipinos make sure you do when you arrive and depart a place, and headed to make our deadline to LA to see my cousin Leigh and her boyfriend Eugene before they head East.

We made it to Los Angeles in time, thanks to holding back the urge to follow the burrito truck we saw on the highway. J was driving, which was for the best, I may or may not have peed my pants again as J maneuvered through the 5 sometime 7 lanes of traffic of LA.

We caught Leigh in time to visit for a few minutes and then moved on to Glendale to meet more Basas (we are everywhere). At Glendale, we were welcomed by Tita Josie and Uncle Jun and in true Filipino style, delicious food.

As J tried to keep the names and titles straight, I walked outside on the deck and caught the smell of the Angles fire just over the mountain. I will always remember the LA fires, not because they might be the largest recorded fire in history, but because they were burning as I was realizing how nice it is to have family.

Tomorrow we see what LA has in store for us.

jb