I Love Steroids...

[Scope75]

Just needs some $3 Hookers and some guns and he's G2G.

The days he was down south the hookers where still 2 bucks!!! Lol

[Cobalt]

DON'T FORGET THE VIDJA GAEMS.

Cause we all know that roid users are uncontrollable mad men that do drugs, fuck hookers and play violent video games.

[burlyman30]

Part 10.

I moved to the back seat of the car and let Masa take the wheel while I got some much needed sleep.

Driving to southern California was pretty simple from Oregon. There is one main interstate that runs all the way from Cali to Oregon. Just one. So you can imagine my surprise when, just maybe 3 hours later I wake up and realize we aren't driving anymore. We are parked.

I asked why we stopped, and Masa, who is furiously and confusingly looking at a map says, "ohhh nooo. Sooohhh lohhhhst." Lost? How in the heck does someone get lost while driving in a straight line? I decided to get out of the car and take a leak while we are stopped. I open my door and I hear something brush against the door. It is pitch black out, so it is hard to see where we are, but as my eyes adjust... I realize we are smack dab in the middle of a wheat field. Astonished by this new information, I begin frustratingly asking Masa how in the name of all things good could he possibly have driven us off the road and into a wheat field. And kept driving.

By this time, I was wide awake and partly pissed off because he drove my car into a field, partly stressed out because we are lost, and partly in hysterics because of what has transpired. So it is time to put some fresh eyes on the map to see where we might be and where we need to go to get back on the interstate. It took some figuring out, but eventually we got out of the field, onto the road, and found the interstate once again. There was no way in hell I would be going back to sleep after all this happened. We were already behind the schedule we had set up.

When we arrived in the Santa Monica area, we were tired, hungry and not to picky about how to deal with either of those problems. We found the closest restaurant, a Subway, and got a quick bite to eat. Then we found a cheap looking motel in a shady part of town. It was one of those motels where some people rent by the week or month as well as by the night. We paid very little for the room, but then realized we had no sheets, pillow cases, or towels. We had to go back to the office to get those, and then make our own beds. The place was pretty ratty looking. Dirty, too. When we turned on the shower, the loud screeching sound the pipes made convinced us that someone would call the police and claim a murder was occurring in our room. We eventually settled in and got some much needed sleep. We had lots to do the next day. This motel earned a name from us. We called it the Flea Bag Inn from that day forward.

We happily left that place behind us the next morning and were surprised when we went down to the car and found that it had not been broken into or vandalized. If you saw this place, you would understand. We drove to Venice beach that day. I wanted to show Masa and Steve the Weight Pit on the beach from Pumping Iron. While we were there, we walked up and down the boardwalk. There were cheap Tshirts there ($3), cheap sunglasses ($5), and vendors for all types of things. There was a stage where a guy was juggling chain saws. No Joke. Lots of other people who had a service or product to promote and sell were there. A guy doing calligraphy and creating other words with the letters of your name was selling his service. A quadruple amputee dwarf was dancing on the boardwalk and collecting money for his efforts. And a shirtless man wearing a turban, rollerblades and some wrapping around his middle was rolling up and down the boardwalk while playing an electric guitar. What is this place?? Venice! Where you can do just about anything and find a way to make money at it.

We brought our workout clothes this day, and made our way to Gold's Gym in Venice. My friends were as amazed at the sight of extremely large bodybuilders as I was when I had visited the year before. What was amazing is that I had never seen any of these guys in magazines. These were all amateur bodybuilders, not pros. And I didn't even recognize any national-level guys, so these guys in the gym were "lower level" amateurs, or maybe didn't even compete at all. Steroids were alive and well in Venice. But we had no connection there and were too afraid to approach anyone. So we would just wait until we drove further south to take care of those matters.

While we were there, we all knew we were in a very special place. Lot's of history there. Arnold and Franco trained there. They earned their titles while working out there. They were grabbing the very same dumbells and barbells that we did. We used the squat rack that was used in Pumping Iron. There was a bit of magic in it all. To be so close to where so much had happened in bodybuilding history was pretty special for me and, to a somewhat lesser extent, my friends.

The next day, we worked out just down the street at World Gym. Joe Gold, the original owner of Golds Gym, had sold Golds and decided to start World Gym. It was a very nice, clean, and quiet gym. Quite the opposite of Golds, which was loud, gritty, and sweaty. Though we got a good work out at World and the equipment was of almost endless varieties, my friends and I much preferred the atmosphere of Golds.

We were getting in some great workouts in Venice, but it was time we went further south. It was time continue our journey and meet Steve's cousin, who had used steroids in the past and had some connections as well...

[Coolazice]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to burlyman30 again.

[Scope75]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to burlyman30 again.

Reps sent!!!

Great installment and can't wait for the next one.

[Cobalt]

moar.jpg

How the fuck did the guy drive out into the wheat field anyways?!

[Scope75]

^^^That's what I've been thinking about..
Burly we need more info about the wheat field.

[burlyman30]

How the fuck did the guy drive out into the wheat field anyways?!

^^^That's what I've been thinking about..
Burly we need more info about the wheat field.

Well, I was screaming the same question to my friend. I was asleep, so I don't really know what went into the decision: "I'm lost, so maybe I should pull off the road into this wheat field." It was at street level, so it's not like we careened off a cliff to get into the field and was easy to get back on the road once we knew which way to go. But waking up to that situation ranks as one of my all time head scratcher moments.

[Scope75]

How deep into the field did he drive??
That's more what has me thinking because I'm picturing that he went aways before stopping.

[Rulk]

The picture and questions brought up of driving into a wheat field... Awesome little detail and twist. This sounds like a buddy movie from the 80's. Gotta love the bungling foreigner.

I almost got goosebumps the way you described Golds, Burly. It's probably not the same today as it was back then. Was the olympic bar bent like the one in Pumping Iron?