Early Bird.

     This morning is my second to last day in LA for a while.  I had spent Monday and Tuesday in San Diego, then took the long road, nice and slow, making it up to Los Angeles by 6pm to do some skating with friends.  Early this morning when I woke up with the sun shining and the wind on my arms, I decided to hit all those Los Angeles hilltops that had been intriguing me for as long as I'd looked out on them.  They were the eastern hills and I'd never been into those neighborhoods before.  So without the modern technology of a map that I usually reference to get where I want to go, I just went.  I went towards my goals and explored those neighborhoods and hills.  Winding around the narrow streets admiring the cozy houses, scanning for any hilltop opportunity, I could see just how much culture there was.  It's predominantly hispanic.  Chickens and chihuahuas litter the landscape.  I took any and every neat old dirt roads winding canyon sides.  I once asked a large gal walking her small chihuahua if the dirt road split I was on was the one that reached the crest, she said in a friendly manner "Yes, we call that 'Flat Top' and you don't want to go up there at night." The look on her face indicated it gets pretty sketchy up there.  I gave her a "thanks" and I was back dodging large rocks and potholes, on this sunbaked dirt road.  I rounded a sharp bend and ascended along the ridge I was hoping for, the Los Angeles panoramic view off to my left.  To my right was the large modern house on the hill, boarded windows behind industrial chain-link fence.  Looks like an abandoned build.  You can't tell what kinda shape it's in from where I always saw it from.  But now it all makes sense.  I wondered if anyone I knew had ever been up there, or even cared to explore those hoods, but it was magical.
   
     I was getting hungry so I headed to the other end of "Flat Top" and into an adjoining neighborhood.  It brought me out at Lincoln Park where I found a small corner Mexican sidewalk eatery.  I ordered a machaca, egg, potato and cheese breakfast burrito for $2.50.  I thought I'd crossed the boarder.  It was the best thing ever.  I sat out front at a circular table with a blue umbrella.  A neighborhood dog laid protectively next to my moto.  This morning was perfect.