We arrived in Oceanside, CA at about 8am after an overnight bus ride from Merced via LA. Joel and I were there to catch up with a couple of guys, Jason and John, that I played with in the Australian team up in Canada. They were staying with Dave, a local surfing photographer. We found out Daves address and walked there from the bus station. At first glance Oceanside seemed nice, quite, right on the beach, nothing bad could happen to two happy go lucky blokes from Australia ... or so we thought. We got to Dave's and unloaded our shit. There had been no swell for days so Johnny was pretty keen for a few drinks to celebrate our arrival, so we headed for the pub. It proved to be a constructive session, 8 or so pints of Guiness, conversation, a bit of spanish was learnt and quickly forgotten. Good fun was had by all. We had learnt of a club offering drink specials, so that was our next port of call. The fun continued unabaited long into the night. But there came a point in the early hours of the morning when a thought took root in the depths of my mind. The feeling grew until there was only one option left open to me. It was time to go walkabout. I am not really sure but there was walking, a freeway, a fence and a fall. And then there was a police officer. He had recieved a call about a man in a blue shirt wandering the streets carrying a gun. I tried to explain to the officer that my shirt was not blue but, alas it had blue stripes on it so he told me. I was patted down and given a seat on the curb. More police officers arrived and each one took delight in patting down the drunk Australian. At first I could not remember who I was staying with or where they lived. But after prolonged questioning I managed to give them a vague address. I was then cuffed and escorted to the free taxi back to Daves house. After the initial shock of me in handcuffs being escorted up the stairs by one of the biggest police officer that I have seen wore off, Dave and Jason saw the homourous aspect of the situation. It turns out that I was wandering into one of the seedier parts of town. A place where bad things happen to drunk white boys walking by themselves, but I prefer not to think about that. Meanwhile Joel and Johnny were still at the night club having a bang up time. Some local girls had decided to show how comfortable they were in each others company and also ours, with some dancing. After a walk along the pier once the night club had closed, they were kind enough to give the two Aussie's a lift home. They gave Johnny their numbers and left. By now it was about 6am, Joel and Johnny decided to retire for the night, with Johnny having to get up in two hours too work.
The following day was uneventful but the day after that was Saturday, a day when legends are made and broken. Daves brother Chris was planning to celebrate his 29th birthday. Joh, Joel and myself decided that it would be unAustralian of us not to assist him in his time of need. Word on the street was that the Violent Femmes where playing as part of the the San Diego raceday festivities, so that was were we entreped travellers headed. For US$5 we saw their greatest hits playlist, not bad if thats your bag. Then it was back to Oceanside for a night of chuckles. Sunday followed, the hard work for the weekend was done so over a few hands of cards and a couple of cold Mexican beers we releaxed and reflected on memories past and future prospects. As is its nature, this innocent Sunday session led us to the bar. The night went along smashingly if not uneventfully - chatted to a few of the locals and had a few cheap drinks ($1). The umpires pulled stumps and it was a around that time that things started to go pear shaped. It seems that Joel had unwittingly managed to piss one of the local boys off. Not a bad effort since he didnt talk to the guy, but obviously he didnt like Jozzas style, which as many of you would attest is fair enough. Anyway we were standing at the ATM outside when this dude came charging across the street and made a V-line straight for Joel. There were pushing, punching and a bit of wrestling thrown in for good measure, until secrutity broke it up. I ended up with a piss-weak black eye and Joel copped a few in the back of the head. I think we did alright though.
We left Oceanside and headed for Los Mochis, Mexico. We went out three nights and incidents occured on two of them. I am not so sure that I like those odds.
Rees