Part 1.
I started this last chapter with absolutely nothing. About 8 years ago, I was determined to try to be an agent in Los Angeles. I was obsessed with the show Entourage and was dedicated to trying to be an Ari Gold (though a nicer one, maybe).
I saved up $900 while waiting tables in St. Louis, where I am from, and figured that was enough to make it to California and go after this dream. However, I made a long stop in Fort Collins to see a friend and wasted away most of the money, only having $300 left after my time there.
I told my friend there that I would have to go home - $300 was not enough to make it to California - And I’ll never forget, he asked me to come sit on the roof with him. We sat on the roof and smoked a joint and he said ‘Adam, you’ve already gone home and restarted. You will always know you can do that. But, if you go West from here, that is the point of no return. Go west.’
So I did. I remember being in Reno, Nevada and writing down that I had $37 left to my name. I was at the end of the rope with no job and no one to give me any money. So, I made a post on Facebook about my situation and had a friend tell me his brother had a farm I could work on. I went there for a month and did hard labor to save up $300 so I could keep going. I remember I was sleeping on a futon when he threw the money on me. I woke up and realized that was enough and started packing immediately.
I was still in Northern California with this $300 and had quite a bit of driving to do. I remember camping at Big Sur during these times. I could never afford the $50 campsites there so I would just hang out in the parking lot by the Big Sur River Inn and talk to locals to try to figure out where I could sleep. One local reached into a mason jar and handed me a huge handful of weed, with a big smile on his face. Another local heard the trip I was on and offered to buy me a beer.
To this day, that was still one of the best beers I had ever had. I didn’t even have enough money for food with the beer but I didn’t care.
This was one of the first experiences I had that really taught me true joy.
I would allow myself $5 a day during these times. That was only $5 I was allowed to spend on everything - Food, water, place to sleep, etc. I would scrap together whatever food I could (usually just more ramen packets) but, in an attempt to keep my morale up, I would give myself an indulgence. The Big Sur River Inn had a market and, every day, I would let myself buy a $1 can of Dr. Pepper for my treat for the day.
I would get that can of soda and sit in the river each day. You could have told me that can was worth a million dollars and I would have believed you. I looked forward to it every single day.
I also noticed a very small island out in the river in Big Sur that was in between two peoples properties. I figured no one owned this island so, EVERY NIGHT (when it got dark so no one could see me), I would pick up my tent, blankets and water bottle and I would trudge through deep water to get to the island. I would pitch my tent, go to sleep and wake up at sunrise to break it back down so no one ever saw me.
I left Big Sur and headed south and finally, I made it to Los Angeles with $27 left. No job. No opportunity. I had one pair of nice pants and one button up shirt (both that were badly wrinkled at this point) that I would have to use to go out and get a job as quickly as I could.
Thankfully, my sister lived in Los Angeles and offered me a couch to crash on for a short time. I will never forget getting to her place, where she cooked me a chicken quesadilla, which was the first meat I had eaten in over a month.
This is where it all started.
