Day 50 (June 8): Los Angeles -- 0 miles biked

(Written from Tim and Sherry's house in West Los Angeles)

Miles biked: 0 (1,794.8 overall)

Unfortunately, I don't have too many exciting stories to tell from my first full day spent in the city of stars.

You can blame my lack of planning and the hugeness of L.A. for that.

A city like L.A. is tough for me to navigate, because I like to explore major cities by foot. Also, unlike your typical tourist, I don't come to a city with a predetermined plan to see A, B and C. I just kind of wing it as I go.

That kind of thinking, unfortunately, didn't get me very far Monday.

A brief summary of my day spent, mostly, walking or on buses:

1. I bussed to UCLA's campus, not far from here, hoping to see the inside of cozy Pauley Pavilion, where the Bruins play. Of course, the arena was completely locked up and I couldn't find a way to get in.

UCLA's campus is nice, the buildings are interesting and all that jazz, but I've seen many cool campuses over the years. It didn't exactly get me dancing.

2. So I walked north to Sunset Boulevard, where I hoped to catch a bus -- I'm not sure which one; all I knew was that L.A. has hundreds of buses -- to Hollywood and something, you know, cool and hip.

But I didn't see any bus stops during a long walk on Sunset, and when I reached an intersection with Beverly Glen -- right by the entrance to Bel Air, by the way -- I decided to hook a right and head back toward West L.A. where I was sure I could catch a bus down to Santa Monica and the ocean.

3. I walked, and walked and walked a little more. It wasn't the worst walk, however, and was made more interesting by beautiful, large houses and by trucks I'd see almost every mile sitting idle on the street.

What were they? I'd never seen 'em before.

What I soon realized was that I was looking at portable Mexican restaurants, sent out to the streets to serve all the Mexican landscapers and menial laborers -- and others -- who worked on the upper class' homes.

It's a great idea, really -- bringing lunch to the workers. I must have seen about 10 of the trucks, and many of them featured different logos. One, sitting by a park, drew a decent line of hungry men. I guess it's become quite the competitive business.

4. Anyway, after a few miles of walking in the afternoon heat, I finally made it back to Pico Boulevard and, after 16 minutes of waiting, caught the Big Blue Bus (No. 7) down to Santa Monica.

I walked along the touristy pier for a little bit and looked out at the blue ocean and the sun rays hitting it. Fishermen tested their luck below me. A musician tried to entertain a few hundred feet behind me. Kids screamed for cotton candy. Moms said enough sweets.

It was your typical pier, but still enjoyable for a few minutes.

After dismounting, I walked along the edge of the "bikers only" path for about a mile until I found a lonely cafe located between the beach and the streets to the north. I got a late lunch and then headed back toward Pico and the bus ride north to Tim and Sherry's.

They fed me a healthy, filling dinner and entertained me with some only-in-L.A. stories.

Day 2 totals from my stay in L.A.:

-- Bus rides: 3
-- Money spent on bus rides: $1.75
-- Estimated time on buses: 1 hour, 17 minutes
-- Approximate number of miles walked: 4.25
-- Percentage of the city I've seen (rough guess): 0.12

I guess I'll be getting around on Tuesday, my last day in the city.