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(Check out the Day 10 Photo Album) Day 10 was our first full day in Los Angeles. The day before we drove in from Las Vegas via Interstate 15, and then got some seafood at Joe's Crab Shack, well, at least I did. Colin, as usual dined on some sort of land creature, usually shaped into, tenders, fingers or nuggets. We were staying at the Crowne Plaza in Anaheim, which is in Orange County, CA, so after dinner we were trolling the local promotional magazines for fun things to do in O.C. I stumbled upon a write up about the Pacific Surfliner. It's an AmTrak train; the tracks parallel the pacific cost from San Diego, up to San Louis Obispo. This sounded like fun! We decided to ride the train to San Juan Capistrano, tour the mission there, grab some lunch, and then head back on the 3:30 pm train. It sounded like a perfect day….
The day was beautiful even at 8:00 a.m., by 9:00 a.m. it was sunny, and already hot., and an air-conditioned train ride would be a great way to relax and see the sights, without having to drive in crazy L.A. traffic. We boarded the train at the Anaheim Angels station, it's in the parking lot of the Anaheim Angels stadium, in, you guessed it, Anaheim, CA. As we waited, the train chugged into the station on time. Our adventure for the day had begun! We settled into comfortable seats and then watched the scenery move past us: neighborhoods, shopping malls, schools, strawberry fields, orchards, etc.
The mission in San Juan Capistrano was beautiful, peaceful and cloistered. It was easy to imagine what daily life might have been like if you were a monk: Lots of prayer, contemplation, bible study, simple food, and simple dwellings. Despite the occasional earthquake or sacking from local pirates, the San Juan Capistrano mission seemed to be the idyllic setting.
We, however, ran into a more sinister element in the town of San Juan Capistrano. His name was Kevin. Homeless, angry, bitter, and most likely mentally unstable, Kevin managed to sour what would have been an ideal day. We became acquainted with him as he panhandled for money at a local Mexican Taqueria called "El Campeon" where we went for lunch. This was not the typical sit-down Mexican restaurant that most people think of. This was hard-core Mex at its greasiest, messiest, dirtiest best. I used to frequent these kinds of places when I lived to Texas to experience true Mexican food. I wanted Colin to have the same experience as me. I ordered for us in my best fractured español, and as we were waiting to pick up our order Kevin appeared, meekly asking for some money. Normally, I'm a generous soul, but I didn't want Kevin to see how much cash we were carrying, so I said that we were just waiting to pick up our lunch. He responded by saying "Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you." He moved on. The next guy didn't give him any money, but he did give him a burrito. Kevin snatched it out of his hand and scurried off, we supposed to eat the burrito. Finally, we were ready to eat our food, so we went outside to find a table; it was too hot to eat inside the restaurant. We sat down and started eating. Kevin could be seen harassing people in a far corner of the parking lot, but as we continued to eat, he continued to make his way back to where we were sitting. He eventually made his way back to the front door of the restaurant and planted himself in a chair, about three tables away from us. People would pass him, he would ask for money, and everyone would say "No." More and more people kept saying "No", and Kevin kept getting more, and more irate. Talking loudly to himself (or maybe so we could hear him) he said things like. "You don't give me any money, I should just kill you! I'm a 5th degree black belt. I've done my time in prison. People make $30,000, $50,000, and $100,000 a year and can't give anything? I should just cut them. Just pull a knife on them."
By this time I was feeling VERY uncomfortable about the situation. Colin looked at me and asked me how I was doing. I told him I was VERY uncomfortable. He asked me what I wanted to do. I said, "I want to go, NOW!" We packed up what was left of our lunch, and set off to find a place that was far, far away from Kevin.
We fled the scene and made our way back to the San Juan Capistrano train station, my jangled nerves still jangling from our weird and scary encounter. Near the station, we found a flat rock to sit on and tried to finish our Mexican food. No sooner were we finished when Mr.Melville, a vertically-challenged, retired, high school history teacher came along and wanted to chat, and chat, and chat, and chat. We finally had to literally pick up our stuff, and walk off mid-sentence…. Gotta go, bye! My mother used to say California was the land of nuts and flakes. Boy! was she so right!
Sorry this was such a long post, but I'm considering it to be written talk therapy. Thanks for listening. :)
- comments
RRkane There are kooks all over but that is more than you needed to put up with. Believe you did the right thing.