I had such a beautiful day!

It was tough saying goodbye to Josh and Cole. I really do miss them. It’s weird being in one place for so long, nearly growing roots and then to just suddenly leave. Ok, I guess it wasn’t that long. Only eight days. But still.

I loaded up the bike for the first time in over a week and headed out of town. I took I-80 east to Sacramento. This was the first time I’ve headed east on this trip. East is where home is. 3,000 miles or so east, that is. I-80 boringly winds its way to 10 miles north of Lewisburg. But Sacramento, nearly 80 miles after Berkeley, would be where I left it behind.

US 50 was my road of choice. And it starts in Sacramento. From here and for 30 more miles, US 50 is basically an interstate. It’s six-lanes in some places. For the first 120 miles of my trip today, I was on limited access, interstate-like roads. I took not a single picture and there isn’t much to really tell about it.

The first 120 miles are a boring blur. I climbed from near sea-level to 3,500 feet, rode through flatlands and was now climbing higher into the Sierras.

US 50 is known as “The Loneliest Road in America,” but this stretch was anything but lonely. Again, I found myself caught in the middle of a biker gang. I’m not sure how I do this, but this one was nearly 100 strong. None of them waved. None of them. Not even a head-nod. They passed me on turns, they motioned for other riders to pass me on turns, but they didn’t actually acknowledge me.

Traffic was heavy and headed to Lake Tahoe. It was Friday and folks seemed to be getting a jump on the weekend. Good for them.

All along this route, I could what may have been old alignments. This corridor has had many roads through it, all following the same basic path. In 1848, it was the Carson Route of the California Trail. This was a sort of short cut to avoid crappy winters at Donner Pass. In 1860, it was a Pony Express road. By 1895, it was California’s first state road: Lake Tahoe Wagon Road.

In the early days of automobiles, it was the “Pioneer Branch” of the Lincoln Highway (the main route went through Donner Pass on what would later be known as US 40). In 1926, it became US 50. And that’s what it is today.

Many improvements and reroutings have occurred since the 1840’s and the possible old alignments were here and there along the four-lane. However, since I knew basically nothing about US 50’s old alignments, I generally stuck to the main road.

Along some of the older sections of road, granite hand-carved mile markers keep track of distances. These were carved in the 30’s by prisoners at Folsom Prison in Sacramento. Mostly, they follow the old stage coach line, but I’m not sure how exact it is since they were laid in the 30’s.

The towns here were small and it felt more like the old west than California. But this is where many of the pioneers ended up, I suppose. The town of Kyburz was probably the smallest. While it has a post office, the sign in front of the building reads, on both sides: Welcome to Kyburz - Thank you for visiting Kyburz. I’m glad places like this exist.

And here is where US 50 East climbed and kept climbing relentlessly to 7,377 feet. I started the day at sea level. Not three hours later, I had climbed over 7,000 feet. This wasn’t the highest I’ve been on this trip. That would be Glorietta Pass at 7,525 feet above sea level. This was, however, pretty close.

From here, I could see several old alignments, but knew nothing of them. I didn’t just want to wander off. Well, I did. But I didn’t want to get lost.

As I cleared Echo Summit, I could see the literally breath-taking view of Lake Tahoe. I gasped as it came into sight and wished I could pull over to take a picture. The road was amazingly narrow, and afforded no such luxury.

I was able to eventually get a less-spectacular shot.

Pulling the summit was tough, but descending it was even more stressful. The lanes were small and twisty. Traffic wasn’t horrible, but I could have handled it being a bit lighter.

At the bottom, in the town of South Lake Tahoe, I had a choice. I could either follow US 50 to Carson City, my stop for the night, or I could circle the lake. Since I made amazingly good time so far, I decided to circle the lake on California Route 89 North.

Route 89 wiggles its way along the shores of the lake, sometimes making several successive hairpin turns. The scenery is constantly beautiful. The elevation hovered around 6,000 feet as I made my way into Tahoe City. And from here, 89 continues north, moving away from the lake towards Truckee, also known as Donner Pass.

And Donner Pass was definitely something I wanted to see again. I saw it in 2004 with Nikki and Ashley. But first, I rode around Truckee. It’s a neat little town and very “wild west.” It’s one of those places that would be fun to stop if you were with other people. But since I wasn’t, I took a few (too few) pictures and rolled on.

Donner Memorial State Park isn’t where the Donners were. Members of their party stayed (and died) there, but the Donners were a mile or so to the east.

In 2004, we found where they were. It’s a lovely little meadow… now. Then, it was 22 feet of snow and not such a great place to be. There were 89 people in the Donner Party when they set out from Missouri in May of 1846. They got caught in a blizzard in October right where I was standing. 39 members died and the survivors resorted to cannibalism to make it through.

The Donner Party is famous for the cannibalism, but the cannibalism at this site didn’t start until late-February, after the first rescue party had reached them and left with 21 of them. The first cannibalism within the party happened when 15 of the pioneers set out on a 100 mile journey to find help in mid-December. They became lost in a blizzard and four of the party died. The rest resorted to cannibalism to keep going. By the middle of January, they had reached help. That’s where the rescue parties rallied from.

This is a wonderful story and one of my favorites. I wish I would have been able to spend more time there. If you’re interested, you could spend hours here, and I suggest you do!

I rode through Truckee, taking a picture of an Amtrak Train heading east - just like me. The engineer sounded a friendly “hello” to me with two short honks of his horn. And while I’m headed east, this hardly feels like I’m headed home. I’ve got so much more to see!

Since Carson City was my stop for the day, I headed south, meeting back up with Lake Tahoe and US 50. From there it was 15 miles to Nevada’s capital. My motel is on the western side of the city, so I haven’t actually had a chance to see any of it.

That’s why there is tomorrow.

Here are my pics.

Miles today: 285
Miles total: 5,272

I’ve discovered that I’m not good at writing about people. Except maybe in poetry (though those who have read my stuff should really be the judge of that). Since I’ve been staying with Josh and Cole, I’ve not had much to write about, except for the things we did.

I guess it’s still writing about people, but it’s more so writing about things people are doing. Like visiting San Francisco or going out to eat or visiting the San Andreas Faultline¹.

Today was lunch. Not just lunch, but Long Life Veggie Place. It’s the Chinese place that I adore. It’s got $5 lunches and they fill you up. I love it. Cheap and good. Good vegan Chinese is nearly impossible to come by. Around Lewisburg, it’s pretty much nonexistent. Peking Garden has crapped out on us, the place in Milton has a new cook who doesn’t get it and the other place in Lewisburg … well, they have really good spring rolls.

I parked my scooter and then attempted to withdraw monies from my bank. I reached for my back pocket and no wallet. Crap.

Oh crap!

Cole and Josh spotted me the $5 for foods, but I was worried. What if I lose my wallet? All of my cards are in it.

There was a pretty good chance that I just left it back at the apartment. So after lunch I rode back there only to find it. And find it I did.

Since I’m here and Josh & Cole are moving, I was the helper. It’s great to help people move… you know, spread a little of that “help move” karma around. That way, when it’s time for me to move, people will help! It works, right? Let’s hope so.

We tied stuff to the roof, packed the van full of other stuff and drove stuff 1.2 miles to the new place.

The new place is great. Really nice, actually. And it makes me long for a place of my own. Right now I’m traveling and will be for another sixish weeks. And then I’ll be back in Pennsylvania, staying with my parents. And of course I love my folks to death. Best parents a fellow could ask for. But at 32, nearly 33, living with them… well… let’s just say that I don’t want to buy THIS many comic books and be living with my parents, ok?

Of course, come autumnish I’ll be moving and between then I’ll be traveling. But still, I really miss having my own place.

I guess this is a good thing. Or maybe not. Maybe staying in a house for what will be eight days has made me soft. Maybe once I hit the open road again, I’ll be all like “never settling down!!”

Ok, probably not. I do really want my own place. And a garage. How domestic of me. But the garage is for more scooters, ok? Stick that in your white picket fence and choke on it!

So to sum up, I wish I had my own place.

Anyway, we moved stuff all afternoon and then Cole came home from work and we moved a bit more and then hit Herbivore. But first, Founder’s Rock.

Berkeley was founded by college students and they did so here: at Founder’s Rock.

From here, they could see the whole bay below. They could see the little town of San Francisco and decided to name Berkeley after an abbot or bishop or something.

From here now, you can see a couple of buildings.

But from there, we went to Herbivore, an all vegan restaurant. I got a vanilla milk shake. It was pretty good, though the ones at the Chicago Diner are a tiny bit better.

The food was lovely and it was nice to not be moving stuff.

The night was capped by Dead Like Me. It’s a great show that I always try to get people to watch. It stars Mandy Patinkin² and is about grim reapers. It’s quite good, so please see it.

There’s a movie coming out, straight to DVD, but I think it should be good anyway. Trailer is here. Sadly, Mandy is gone.

It’s a shame he won’t be in it.
See?

And

Great show.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say today.

Here, check out my pics.

1. Remember the weird post with the Great California Sky Whale? That was from the San Adreas Fault… so I guess I’m not always very good about writing about things people have done. Sometimes I just make stuff up. [↩]
2. Who? [↩]

Hello and today was moving day. Well, it was the first part of moving day.

Cole and Josh are getting a new place and since I’m here, I can help a little bit. We (mostly they) packed up much of their stuff and loaded the boxes of it in Josh’s van.

I think much of the small stuff (clothes, kitchen stuff, etc) made it into the boxes and are at the new place. Today is the day for the larger stuff. Things like the bed and couch (my bed) will be moved today.

Tonight we’ll all be in their new place.

After a bit of moving, they took me to the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Garden. It’s pretty small and not a lot going on there, but it was nice. Ginsberg lived across the street in a cottage that is long gone, replaced by an apartment complex or something. The garden has a little pond and some rocks. Would be a fun place for a poetry reading.

From there, we went to Pegasus book store. It sounds like it would be a sci-fi store, but it’s not. It has an ok selection of graphic novels and I finally found the Jeffrey Brown book that I’ve been scouring the bay area for.

Yep, I finally found Cat Getting Out of the Bag! Really cute book.

And I also came across a nationally published local author named Ariel Schrag. She did a couple of books that chronicled her time in high school. I bought both, there is another coming out in the fall.

I will eventually stop buying comic books and finally send home the ever-growing box of stuff.

And then came the vegan pizza at Fellini. They use Follow Your Heart vegan cheese and it was indeed amazing.

The day was capped off (it’s true, my days lately have been short) by watching Josh discover what ghost riding a car is (this was pretty funny, he had no idea it existed and that white people liked it so much). We watched a bunch of them on YouTube.

I discovered the amazing blog called Stuff White People Like. It’s a hilarious and makes a mockery of over-privileged, self-righteous liberals. Brilliant. I’m surprised it’s not banned in Berkeley.

To finally drive the stake through the heart of Tuesday (sorry, reading WAY too many Buffy comics), we watched the final three episodes of Flight of the Conchords, Season One. They were sort of a let down, which is a shame. The first 10 are pretty great. But the last two are fairly disappointing. There are some great jokes, but they’re few and far between. Oh well, you can’t always be on your game.

And that is what I call my day. And this is a fun house.
Thanks!

Oh, and I won’t be leaving tomorrow, I’ll be leaving Friday, taking I-80 to US 50 in Sacramento to Carson City, Nevada where I will nest for the night.

Another good day in Berkeley, dear readers.

First, Cole, exactly one-half of my gracious hosting party, made some lovely and vegan rice crispies treats.

Were these delicious? Indeed. They had chocolate chips AND peanut butter in them. Amazing. So that was a lovely start to the day.

Josh returned from work around noon-thirty and we milled about until leaving for an afternoon and evening in San Francisco.

Our first stop was Golden Era Vegetarian place. It’s basically a Chinese/Vietnamese place that is 100% vegetarian and “99.99%” vegan. Also very good. Today was a day of good food.

I ordered a beef dish. Cole ordered a chicken dish and Josh did as well. Very good stuff. The flavors were wonderful. We went to this place in 2004 as well.

Josh had to give a speech somewhere and so Cole and I went to the Mission district. Mission Street smells like urine, so we went to Valencia and took in some bookstores.

I was looking for a certain book by Jeffrey Brown, but found another one instead. I think I have all but two or three of his books.

I’m glad that I’m able to go into bookstores without having bookstore flashbacks. The ones on Valencia were really nice. They had a lot of weird and independent releases. Things I wish I could have carried, but Lewisburg just wasn’t as cool as it wanted to be.

Cole and I walked about 4,000 miles and it got cold, as San Francisco does. So we went to a coffee shop and sat around reading and waiting for Josh.

He arrived and then we drove back to Berkeley.

Upon arrival, we watched three Flight of the Conchords episodes and I got sleepy, so we went to bed.

And folks, that was my day. I’m sorry these aren’t more fun, but here it is - live! (Well, almost).

As for what’s coming up. I’m leaving Berkeley on Thursday morning. It’s doubtful that I’ll have internet access much until I get to Salt Lake City, four days later - on Sunday night.

Anyway, here are my pics.

Thanks!

Today was a true day off. Except for the laundry. Which I did. The morning we watched episode six of Flight of the Conchords.

See?

Laundry was a fun thing for sure, but during all that fun, we hit the comic book store again. I bought even more Adrian Tomine books (Optic Nerve 9-11). And some Buffy comics. Oh and some Serenity Comics. I again spent too much money.

After, we went out to Herbivore with Josh’s family. Again, super fun times. They’re just swell folks.

Cole was going out to see Sex and the City so Josh and I stayed home and watched post-punk and rap videos.

Here are a few for your listening/viewing pleasure.

Radios in Motion by XTC
I’m the Man by Anthrax
Bring the Noise by Public Enemy & Anthrax

I used to listen to a lot of rap when I was in middle school. And while I couldn’t relate to the black experience, it did give me a lot of insight into how different it was growing up black in the city compared to growing up white in the country. I couldn’t understand it, but I definitely respected it.

I think I’m going to do a post just about that soon. But until then…

We had planned on leaving early for to see the redwoods, just north of here. But something caught the eye of Josh. He was reading my blog entry from yesterday and discovered Hulu.com. And from there, something incredibly magical happened.

He and we discovered….

Oh yes, Time Tunnel, starring Tony and Doug. Sure, yes, their names are unassuming and incredibly boring and white¹.²

Anyway, we were delightfully distracted by Time Tunnel. This was the episode where Tony and Doug got captured by aliens in the year 1883. It was amazing.

So that was our morning.

Finally, around 2pm or 3pm we got ourselves together, hopped in the 9th Street Limo that I had waiting for us and departed, first stopping at Whole Foods for some unwhole foods. We live for irony these days.

After vegan snack buying, we headed for the wilds of The Area Just North of Here. We were in search of the Big Tortoise. The Big Tortoise once terrorized Berkeley proper, but then fled, leaving a trail of death and destruction in its wake.

We ran through the briers and we ran through the brambles. We ran all the places where a rabbit wouldn’t go. But we did run through the places where the Big Tortoise would go.

Along the way, though the danger was great. We saw many creatures.

We perchanced to catch a quick glimpse of the wateraccoon. The wateraccoon is half raccoon and half fish. They dwell in the deepest, darkest parts of the forests in The Area Just North of Here. I was only able to capture the raccoon part of the wily wateraccoon. And even this was amazingly rare.

It was then that we spotted what we believed to be Big Tortoise. He was sitting on a log, unassuming. Some turtles aren’t bothered by anything. Even flying saucers. And there he was.

All I managed to capture was a blurry picture. This was horrible. We wanted so badly to not just capture a picture, but the Big Tortoise himself!

But all of a sudden a Great California Sky Whale swooped down from the heavens!

We cowered in fear! Josh and Cole ducked for the cover of the brambles. I picked up a large pointed stick to defend the cowering couple from almost imminent danger!

The Great California Sky Whale first attacked me with his dorsal fin, knocking me back several yards. I regained composure and struck his fluke³ and he let out a frightful bellow!

It was then that the Great California Sky Whale picked up Josh in his sharp teeth, and tossed him to and fro, eventually nearly impaling him on a nearby wooden fence that was built in 1903!

We all screamed! AH! And Cole, in her most daring display of heroinism yet, jumped into action! She grabbed the pointed stick from my hands and did battle with the Great California Sky Whale and the Big Tortoise. She was momentarily helped by the wateraccoon as he splashed his deadly water at the Great California Sky Whale. The Great California Sky Whale retreated as Cole chased him over the nearby hill to his super secret hideout - The Barn with Two Things on Top of It.

Oh what glory! With Josh and I nearly spent and defeated, Cole was the hero and the Great California Sky Whale would bother us no more! Huzzah! And huzzah again!

Here is the historical picture of the historic holy ground where the great battle was waged. It is considered one of the most sacred places in The Area Just North of Here. For it is here that the only victory in the great war against the Great California Sky Whale had been achieved.

It is here that three warriors stood/slumped victorious!

And they have renamed this sacred soil, which was once called The Area Just North of Here… Bear Valley! For what is more ferocious and mighty as a bear⁴? And what is more serene than a valley? Here, in this most serene of places, the great bear of a battle was waged and won, saving the good citizens of The Area Just North of Here.

Upon fully realizing our triumph, we were carried on the shoulder of small, furry creatures to the Forest of Endor where we were worshiped as god and the golden one told the story of our previous victory at the Battle of Yavin where we lost 90% of our fleet, but managed to evade their turbolasers to fire proton torpedoes into a two-meter wide exhaust port. Everyone said it was impossible, but it’s not. I used to shoot womp rats back home and they’re not much bigger than two meters.

This is all a vastly different story, so I digress.

Anyway, it was an incredibly lovely day. I even conquered a Great Stump on my way out of Endor.

We then went back to the 9th Street Limo for our journey back to Berkeleyland.

Upon the reaching of Berkeleyland, we watched the first five episodes of Flight of the Conchords and then took rest.

And you should take rest too.
Good night.

1. Sorry to anyone named Tony and/or Doug - but it’s true. I know it’s not your fault. It’s your parents’ fault for naming you Tony and/or Doug. But it’s true. [↩]
2. Oh, and for you parents out there who have named your children Tony and/or Doug - unless you’ve named them this in honor of the 60’s sci-fi TV show, Time Tunnel… shame on you! [↩]
3. Which is totally not even vegan. [↩]
4. Except, perhaps the Great California Sky Whale. [↩]

What started out as an ordinary Friday, ended in a blizzard of weirdness by the time midnight rolled around.

Again, this morning was all about not doing much. And I could really get accustomed to not doing much. Aside from showering, the only thing I accomplished was changing the headlamp on the scooter. All works just fine, by the way.

But around 1pm is when the day started in earnest. I again rode to downtown to hang out with Cole. I’m getting used to riding in this town, which is vastly different than riding in other towns. I’m not really sure why.

I parked in the same spot as yesterday, next to a Bajaj and an older, probably early 60’s Vespa.

That mostly just made me miss having an old Vespa. I’m hoping this doesn’t translate into me getting another old Vespa. But I’m betting it will. My scooter plans and herd must not expand beyond my means.

Or I have to have a garage. In which case, the scooters will breed like rabbits.

We ate at Long Life Vegetarian Chinese Place and again it was good. Josh joined up this time and we had a lovely dinner. I got Soy Chicken & Tofu in Spicy Sauce, and though it’s not very spicy, it is pretty good. Not as good as the Veggie Beef though.

And when we were finished feeding, we walked over to Comic Relief, the poorly-named, but awesome comic book store. I bought too many comics, but regret it not.

The jewel in the crown of my purchases being Incredible Change Bots by Jeffery Brown, possibly my favorite writer at this point. The book is a parody of Transformers and it made my day.

I also picked up Summer Blond by Adrian Tomine and Only Skin by Sean Ford, which is turning out to be basically amazing.

My problem with me and comics is that I don’t live close enough to a good comic book store to really keep up. For example, I was reading Buffy Season 8. I read the first five issues and haven’t been able to get to a store to get the rest. Now they’re up to issue 14. I can’t just jump in and read it without reading 6-13. Sad. The same goes for the new Firefly comics. The same would go for Angel Season Six, but I never saw Season Five, so it just didn’t matter much.

Speaking of Firefly, I was telling Cole about the fanfic by Steven Brust called My Own Kind of Freedom. I’ve not yet read it, but I’ve heard it’s great. So if you’re a fan of Firefly, check it out. And if you’re not a fan of Firefly, why aren’t you? Seriously, go watch it! All of the episodes are available for free (and legally) online at Hulu. You will thank me later. There is also a movie you’ll have to rent called Serenity. And then the fanfic. Which is here.

We staggered home eventually and Cole and Josh made us breakfast dinner. Pancakes, french toast, sausage and bacon (all vegan). It was magically delicious.

And that brings us to Bowie, doesn’t it.

Last night, we watched The Man Who Fell to Earth. It was a huge slice of weirdness ala 1976 starring David Bowie, Rip Torn and Buck Henry. And it has to be seen to be believed. Now, I’m a huge fan of weird. Give me a weird movie and I’m all over it.

But this one was unbelievably tedious. Though it clocks in a bit over two hours, it seriously felt like four. And I’m also a fan of long movies. I’m the only person in the universe who liked The Postman. Long movie? No problem! Weird long movie? That’s ok too! Man Who Fell to Earth? Oh my…

It’s definitely got a 2001: Space Odyssey feel to it. Yeah, it’s sort of like if 2001: Space Odyssey was a softcore porn staring a very skinny David Bowie for eight or nine hours. Should it be watched? Yeah, probably. More than once? I don’t see how.

The movie looks good, very late 60’s (though it was from ‘76). It was shot almost entirely in New Mexico. The plot is meandering and basically pointless, but I’m guessing that the plot wasn’t the point or something.

Anyway, if you have a burning desire to see David Bowie or Rip Torn nude¹ , then you pretty much have to see this. As for me, I’m just glad that it didn’t give me nightmares. Very glad.

And then I went to sleep. I nodded off a little bit during the Bowie movie, but not enough to actually miss anything. Sad, really.

Miles today: 5
Miles total: 4987

1. We were delightfully spared the sight of a naked Buck Henry. Thank you. Thank you SO much. [↩]

Having not much to do is a wonderful thing. This whole trip has been pretty tough. Long days, waking up early (which I do anyway), pretty strenuous stuff. It takes its toll, so it’s nice to have nothing to do sometimes.

And for me Berkeley is almost that.

But around 1pm, Cole, the mysterious heroine of this post, calls and I ride over to near Shattuck Street and park the scooter next to a 2005 Bajaj Chetak. I think motorcycle/scooter parking might be free in this town. Hard to say.

We head to Herbivore for a bite to eat. A guy who looks a bit too much like Prince takes our order and I get this amazing wrap thing.

It was pretty delicious.

I wanted to check out some record stores, so that was next on the agenda. I got the new Elvis Costello album, a David Gilmour/David Bowie 10″ of them covering a couple Pink Floyd songs and a TV Personalities remix 12″. The Elvis Costello album came with a little card that sends you to a website so you can download mp3s of the music. The whole album, actually.

Listening to it now. It’s called Momofuku. Not bad at all! It’s a good purchase. I think I’d definitely buy more music if it were on vinyl AND you get free downloads. Woo!

I can’t listen to the other stuff because Cole and Josh don’t have a turntable right now, but I’ll just ship them back with the rest of my stuff.

Outside the record shop, I discovered a new level of bike locking security. Duct tape. It was amazing. If I were a bike thief, I wouldn’t mess with this simply out of respect. It’s brilliant. Check it out.

All of this was taking a lot of time, but that’s great. The weather was good and the time flew by.

That Cole girl wanted to head to the farmers market and so we did. Lovely. Wonderful place. Lots of fresh organic stuff. They even have apple cider out here! Weird!

While we were getting some bread, a little kid of maybe seven years asks the guy for a muffin. The guy gives the kid the muffin and replaces that muffin in the display stand with another. He then said, “Like magic!”

The little kid sort of freaks out and says “No it’s NOT!” The kid’s mother (who was carrying a canvas bag with The Nation logo on it) then had to explain that he didn’t mean it that it was really magic.

I would pay this mother ten whole dollars to hear her explanation of why her kid freaked out at the mention of magic. Just what is she doing to her children? Strange folk round these here parts.

On the way back to get my bike, I came across two instances of poetry. The first was the Poem Store. The Poem Store is simply a guy with a typewriter who, upon giving him a certain amount of money, would write you your very own poem. I didn’t have much money, so I skipped this feature. However, what a fun job. I think I want to do this.

The next instance of poetry came from an older fellow named Mathew H. Lares. He was selling a few poems for $2. I decided that since I had only two dollars, he would get it. I bought them and do not regret the purchase. Not my style really, but good writing and a good cause. There should be more poets hawking their stuff on the street. Again, I want to do this.

Oh so then, I ride back to Cole and Josh’s only to discover that I brought the wrong house key with me. I can’t get in their apartment. So I ride to where Cole is nannying to get her key. But she gave her key to Josh because he gave his key to me. So there I sat, locked out.

I decided now would be a good time to get a start on changing the headlamp. My scooter keys and my tools are all outside. So I did that and such things were fine. I still have to finish it though.

We ended the evening by watching the Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode, Beast of Yucca Flats.

Good day? Sure was. I slept well!

Miles: 7
Total miles: 4983

My first full day in Berkeley, California. It’s weird to not have to load up and ride 200 or 300 miles to wherever. It’s a culture shock.

So I woke up and just sort of milled about. Played on the internet and talked to Josh and Cole before they left for work. Josh bought cinnamon rolls (VEGAN cinnamon rolls) for us and they were delightful.

They both left for work and I decided to shower and watch American Gladiators online. Guilty pleasure much? Sure, but who cares? It’s Hulk Hogan and a bunch of people getting the crap kicked out of them. How can you not like this?

With nearly every show being shown on TV also being shown on the internet, I’m trying to figure out the need for TV (meaning cable or satellite) if you have a good internet connection. Now, wherever I end up moving, they’re sure to have some 3-in-1 deal where you get internet, phone and tv for $100 a month. It’s hard to beat that and I would probably take it. But seriously, TV on the internet is the way to go.

Cole called and asked if I wanted to meet her for lunch. So I rode out to where she was nannying, and we walked downtown to Long Life Vegetarian Chinese Restaurant. We were there twice before when I was here last. They make an amazing “beef” thing. Very good.

After foods, we walked around the downtown. Berkeley really is a great town. I don’t want to slag it off. It’s got great shops and the folks whom I’ve met are pretty nice. It’s also got a LOT of Volvo station wagons and more professors wearing socks with sandals than you would ever.. EVER want to shake a stick at.

Seriously folks, if you wear socks with sandals, stop it. Make a commitment. If it is cold enough to wear socks, wear shoes as well. If it is warm enough for sandals, forgo the socks. Are we clear on this?

The town also has its fair share of older women with long gray hair in bib-overalls.

Most the folks here are extremely impressed with themselves. Well, most of the professionals here are. The regular folk are fine.

Berkeley is great for pedestrians and bicyclists. If you are either, you’ll love this town. It’s not amazingly scooter-friendly, but most towns aren’t. I believe it’s because scooter friendly is also motorcycle friendly and nobody wants motorcycles in their town. Especially towns with a lot of bicyclists.

Bicyclists have to obey traffic laws. Yes, they get their own lane, which is great, but they still have to stop at stop signs and red lights. They can’t cross at pedestrian crosswalks (unless they’re walking their bike).

This all adds up to me telling the bicyclists of Berkeley that they are not pedestrians. If there are pedestrians waiting at a crosswalk (or more likely crossing at a crosswalk without looking in either directions - just dumb, people) I’ll, of course, stop.

However, dear bicyclists, you are not pedestrians. If you are waiting on your bike at a crosswalk (or just zipping across the street via a crosswalk), I’m not going to stop for you. And don’t give me that overly self-righteous look, ok? It’s completely lost on me. Go eat some free-range organic chicken and leave me alone.

There, I said it.

But really, Bekeley is a wonderful place. It’s beautifully laid out, sort of like Santa Fe, but green and without the Santa Fe style houses.

We walked up to Live Oak park and watched some squirrels (this is all happening with the kid she nannies for, by the way - she didn’t just leave him at the house). And then we made our way back to the house, hanging out there for a bit.

During the hanging out, we saw deer in the back yard. I snapped some pictures. These deer are much smaller than Pennsylvania deer. And the mother (we saw a mom and two fawns) would hop instead of run. It was freaky.

They were there for a good ten minutes and seemed pretty unafraid of us. That’s probably not a good thing. Of course, it’s not a good thing for deer to be in your back yard if you live in a city. It just means that the city is WAY too close to where the deer live. Which means the city is way too big.

Our deer friends then made their way to the street in front and then down the street to wherever. Again, not a good thing.

But cute. Oh my, cute.

From their porch you can see “the city.” Berkeley and Oakland are cities, but not THE city. THE city is, of course, San Francisco. This is a weird place. But you can see the Golden Gate Bridge from their porch. I bet you pay a lot of money for that.

So I rode back to Cole and Josh’s house and wait for them to return. They do to discover that Josh’s bike has been stolen. A filthy yegg had creeped his or her way into their fenced-in area and burgled the bike. Dastardly, for sure.

But the bike was gone. Two bikes in three weeks. I promptly went and locked up my scooter. Covered it too. First time I had to do that this whole trip.

Josh’s family had invited us over for some dinner and so we went. There, we tried to think of five non-George Lucas/Steven Spielberg films that Harrison Ford had been in. We also discussed many other important topics.

His family is pretty cool. Huge family, with the aunt and uncle and cousin or two there. They even had great dogs. Weird, huh? Weird!

It was late when we got back and soon after, we were sleeping.

Great first day in Berkeley. Thanks!

Miles today: 5
Miles total: 4976

In 2004, I described the town of Carpinteria, which was my home for the night, like Milton-by-the-Sea. I think it’s changed since then. It’s a lot more upscale than it was. And that’s a real shame.

I wanted to get up early so that I could get an early start so that, if it came down to it, I could ride through Big Sur and straight onto Berkeley - a distance of at least 375 miles. That was a lot and I figured that I wouldn’t do it, but you know, just in case.

Making my way around town, Carpinteria didn’t have the charm it did four years ago. Sure, some parts did, like Casa del Sol, the motel that housed me. But not much else.

I have a thing for old motels. Not run-down motels (well, I have a thing for them too, but it’s different). This motel was great. The walls are poured concrete. Very cool. The ceilings are hardwood with real beams. Easy to love. Ok, the heater didn’t work and the bathroom was redone in some crappy 80’s homemaker style, but everything else was alright.

For the first part of the trip, I was avoiding highways. I wanted to see some towns. The first “town” that I came across was Santa Barbara. It’s odd to go from the blindingly poor conditions of the desert to … this. “Privileged” doesn’t even come close to describing it. I often describe this kind of stuff as “Bucknell Parents’ Weekend 24/7.” But even that doesn’t touch it.

Everyone who lives here, everyone, is several thousand times richer than I’ll ever be (and ever want to be). It’s amazing how ridiculous it is.

However, Santa Barbara, like Santa Fe, is a nice looking town. Santa Fe is nicer (sorry, Santa Barbara, but deal with it). While there, I saw the most amazing bus. Not a VW Bus - not exactly. It was an old school bus, painted blue like the sky, man. And it had a VW Vanagon welded to the top of it… and a little patio thing out the back. It was pretty cool.

I wish I would have taken more pictures or coaxed them into giving me a tour. But it was early and… well I just should have anyway.

Goletta was the next town. Actually, it’s sort of attached to Santa Barbara - but very very very clearly not Santa Barbara. First of all, their Main Street runs perpendicular to Santa Barbara’s main street. And it’s clearly not Santa Barbara.

Goletta is “famous” because that is where Ebullition Records and HeartAttack ‘Zine existed/exist. They’ve put out some great records and hopefully will again.

I didn’t stop there or anything, but it was neat to go through the town.

“The One” is California Route 1. It’s famous for its ocean views and twisty, windy ways. But before it gets all twisty, it winds its way through some very picturesque central Californian hillsides.

I was usually all alone on this road, which is often how I like it. And on the occasion that I would hit a small town, it was usually pretty unassuming. A few of them were fairly impressed with themselves, but I didn’t stay long in those towns. They have no soul and will suck yours out.

Lompoc was a nice town. Small, mostly latino. Union Pacific Rail had a little depot here and I’m betting most of the population works there - or in the fields picking the stuff that will be carried by Union Pacific. Guadalupe was also a similar town.

But soon this stretch of road, which took me 14 or so miles away from the Pacific Ocean, would be at an end. Basically it ends with elephant seals.

Thousands of elephant seals use this one particular beach for mating, birthing and molting. Today they were molting. However, over 4,000 baby elephant seals were born here in Decemberish. The seals are often here and when we were through here in 2004, they were also present. As were a ton of people. And ground squirrels. Very not shy ground squirrels. Adorable.

It was time to hit the road. The twists awaited, so I geared up and hit the twists.

Now, I’m not usually a huge fan of “twisties,” but these were fun and the road was usually my own. Had this been a weekend, that wouldn’t be the case. But it wasn’t and I had a great time.

For nearly 80 miles I got a perfect view of the ocean. I saw cliffs and bridges built in the 30’s and very few other motorists.

It was a perfect ride. If I could turn around and do it again, I would.

I twisted my way to Big Sur State Park. This was supposed to be where I was going to camp, just like in 2004. However, it was 2pm. And I was cold. The temps were in the high 50’s and would only be dropping. The air is crisp, but soggy, because of the ocean. Cold and damp was on store for me through the night.

Or, I could ride through to Berkeley - some 150 or so miles north. Could I make it? My headlamp was still out, though I bought a replacement for it in Goletta. I should be able to make it to Cole’s well before nightfall. But what if I got lost or something?

I figured it was worth the risk. I didn’t want to stop riding. Sure, I put on 175ish miles, but could I really go for 175 more? And most of those would be interstate miles.

Hm. Yes. Yes I did. I felt like riding on the interstate. There, I said it. I guess the twists got me all twisted.

And as for fears of getting lost, well, I got lost. Several times. But this was fun too! It’s great to see the look on someone’s face when you pass them going 80mph on a little red scooter. That is especially rewarding when it’s an SUV or a Harley. The look they give you is worth the risk of going 80mph on a little red scooter.

A few sort of faulty directions later and I was there! Here! I was in Berkeley and Cole and Josh were welcoming and wonder and we had pasta (the quintessential tour food) and it was good!

What’s in store for me for the rest of the week? Who knows! Let’s rock!

Here are my pics.

Miles today: 420
Mile total: 4971