Archie Explores

The Way to Kalifornia

 

 

I became a “surfer guy” in Laguna Beach. In the Virtual Hills and MTV’s Virtual Laguna Beach, my moniker is “PCH”. Anyone who has hung around the RL Laguna Beach, knows the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) is the only path from one side of town to the other- not to mention the way to Dana Point to the south, and Corona Del Mar to the north and beyond. So I thought “‘hmm…  PCH, that’s a cool name.” lol!

 

Back in the wilder days of my youth, I often hung out in LB with my buds at places like Poor Richard’s Bakery Café, Oak Street and Thalia, the 451 Bookstore, or downtown, at the Whitehouse Café- a famous rock and reggae club, and many other spots such as up in Bluebird Canyon, or the Top-of-the-World. So perhaps I’m a little jaded with the false buildings on the hills and no driving on the “main drag” in the VR version, but that’s ok, it’s all just for fun. I’ll get over it. (Y’know, real surfing at the real Laguna Beach is mostly NOT happening…)

  

Virtual Hills? I’m sorry, but in Real Life, the nearest “Hills” to Laguna Beach is Laguna Hills, where we will find the Laguna Hills Mall, and of course “Leisure World”, a vast retirement community, a city unto itself. Dang! Reality can be just so disappointing sometimes… lol!

 Okay, okay, so you probably won’t see “PCH” kickin' around this beach too much. The reason I came to this continent on our great Planet of Theria, was to explore brave new worlds, to go where no non-corporate avies have ever gone before. And this land, my friends, is seriously -  freekin’ -  huge – wow…! 

I rented a TUV and after a few minutes of checking out “Lag Beach” and the “Hills”, and chatting up a couple avies who have never heard of “There”. “What’s that? – How do you spell it?” … “You’re from where?” It seemed to float right over their heads that they were standing on “my” planet, goofing around, crashing into each other in the city streets of the “Hills” and having absolutely no clue as to where they really were. Ah… sweet bliss.

  

Well, my purpose was to set out and see the land, and so I did. It takes a teleport to drive out of town, although you’ll be right there again at the edge of the open land from where you went black in the teleport moment. I headed north and west and soon came to the ocean.

 

You know they have “water” surrounding the entire continent of Kali. It’s about a meter deep and easily drivable. The water is clearish, and it ebbs and flows with oceanic rhythm. (I’m just a jealous There boy)  My TUV was mighty zippy on these coastal waters. I visited and bookmarked at least 7 (was it 8?) mostly big and often hilly islands – that were in very close site of shore, so the land form is no where “exact” to the RL California, …and I’m glad.

 

After about an hour of driving and book-marking all those sizeable islands, I came upon a few beach houses at a spot called Thalia. (A familiar Laguna street name.)  A couple, (guy and gal avies) were standing on the beach chatting. I walked up and asked if they knew where this was. I think I was interrupting something. They tried uneasily to be somewhat kind to me, but they didn’t really know geographically where they were, but told me there was a teleport from the Hills to Thalia - “Oh great” I thought, “and I just drove for an hour to get here…” I explained to them what I was doing out here, researching, mapping, etc.  At least I had an idea where I really was. The girl said “how cute” as I said thanked them and said goodbye, then made my way quickly back to my TUV, thinking that there were no fitting emotes to respond to that “cute” remark - probably a good thing. …‘ahem…

 

After speeding along on the way of the coastal waters, and passing the next couple of points of land, I decided to cut on shore, head east and cruise the width of the land to get the east coast of California. This place is SO BIG – GAWD! Land just keeps coming and coming. Not all that dramatic either. Bumpy surface, but drivable. Not much for mountains, mostly plains and rolling hills. Sometimes the surfaces change to a "sandier” desert-like theme, and then back to “chaparral”. It is big and lonely out there.

 

No trees.

 There must be some plan to do something with all that. I imagine it could become a huge real estate market someday. Right now, however, it’s probably "fifty cents per acre boonies”. 

Regardless, I still love exploring the land. In another venture someday, I hope to figure out where the “Yosemite” and “Death Valley” are. I wonder if the mountains and deserts are more dramatic in these parts?

 

Half Dome, and Red Wood Forests?  

I doubt it, but until I can see for myself, I will wonder if these places will have any vague similarities to the real deal at all. I would sure love to have a Bedican GPS compass over in “Kali-land”. So for now I am just traveling with a simple compass and putting together the clues as best I can.  

I did make it to the east coast (another hour or so of hauling butt over land). I was glad that the edges were finished nice and natural. Before then, I wondered if it would just be a smooth digitally clean cut-off wall, but it wasn’t. Nice job. Its smoothes right out to the beachy, sandy shore line. And that, my friends, is where I left my avie self - “PCH”. On the East Coast of Kalifornia.  

 

Note- for lack of an official name for this place, (Kali-land, “Kahleefornia” ala Arnold Schwarzenegger, or simply “Kali”) I have given it my own “nick-names”, unless someone knows and tells me its proper name, I’ll just use that in the interim.

 

Note, traveling without a hat and sunglasses? Don’t do it…

 

Best,

Archie (PCH)