Getting from A to B

Feb. 4, Saturday

Steve had a general plan for this trip since he did have to write a convincing proposal for the scholarship. We thought that since he wanted to do some traveling around California for the project it might be nice to have a home base. San Francisco seemed like a good place being that his advisor and the school he is based out of are both here. However, it’s not really necessary that we be here all the time since we will be traveling all the way across California, and all the way down and back again. But feeling like we needed a home rather than just a series of hotel rooms over the next few months (mainly for the sake of price, but also comfort) we got right to work as soon as we got into town and found some places to drive by to check out potential neighborhoods. One place in particular happened to be in North Oakland over the Bay Bridge. So after some touring around San Francisco Saturday morning, and some afternoon grocery shopping, we headed out over the Bay Bridge to see what we could see.

The worlds crookedest street. We took it down on our way to the bridge.

Not the best view, maybe I'll get a better picture next time time.

If you’ve ever seen the Bay Bridge you know it is huge—a double-decker monstrosity of 10 lanes—5 lanes out of the city and 5 in. It’s over 3 kilometers long and although it only takes about 10 minutes to get across, it feels like a lot longer when your car stalls half way across, and then again, and . . . again. Yes, we stalled going 90kms an hour three times while on the Bay Bridge amongst five lanes of rush hour traffic. Fortunately Steve is a savvy driver and thought to shift the car into neutral, start it while speeding along, and somehow we just kept going, until we stalled again. But each time it started. We kept going along and nobody noticed, or at least they were polite enough not to say anything. We, for other reasons were completely silent, holding our breath as we made it off the bridge and into Oakland. Then we realized, we’re in Oakland, it’s getting dark and our car is breaking down, in Oakland—purportedly not the safest place to be, we weren’t being fanatical, it’s just what everyone told us before we came down here—“don’t stay in Oakland!”

We stopped at a gas station, filled up with supreme and Steve poked around under the hood for a few minutes looking for a button that said “FIX”. Delaying the inevitable, we stopped for a coffee to “make a plan to get over the bridge again without it breaking down”. Steve’s life cycle looked as if it were about to collapse in on itself and I was afraid to be around when he started absorbing mass. Freddie was oblivious to whatever we were dealing with and it lightened my mood. I thought about what my parents might do in a situation like this and realized it was really no big deal—my thoughts were confirmed when I told my mom about the ordeal the next day and she just laughed.

So we headed back over the bridge, Steve was silent. Freddie was singing her new favorite Fanny Pack song—Hey Mami. I tried to act casual thinking: my parents would never be fazed by a stalled car on one of the longest spanning bridges in the world. We stalled another two times, but we made it back to our hotel safe and sound.

Feb. 5 Sunday

The mechanic across the street from our hotel said he would be able to look at our car first thing Monday morning so we now had an excuse to put our house hunting efforts on hold and be tourists for a couple of days. We took the bus to our friend Juan’s for brunch and Freddie found this dragon head in the basement.

The weather was perfect so we all walked to downtown, just a few blocks away. Walking gave us a chance to see some parts of the city we might have overlooked had we been in the car. Juan showed us how to get to China town so we ended up walking there on our way to a park we had spotted earlier. There were street performers on practically every corner and Freddie was excited to watch.  It was Sunday so there were a lot of people out and we felt like we were really getting a taste of the city just taking our time by foot.

Later on after dinner (Chinese take out!) we walked down to The Palace of Fine Arts, 4 blocks from our hotel.

After that we headed to Chrissy Field, a beach right beside the Golden Gate Bridge. We saw some people camping in the parking lot in their RV and we planned for our own future RV trip. Freddie ran around in the sand and Steve and I relaxed.

Feb. 6 Monday

I love how unique experiences present themselves. You can plan them but usually the best moments and memories come out of unplanned events. Sentimentality aside, we have been having some great experiences sans car. As a car owner you become quite dependent on your car and the sense of security it brings can become limiting and obnoxious. We dropped the car off at the mechanic today and spent another day taking the bus around the city.

Today we wanted to go to the infamous Haight and Ashbury area and then to Golden Gate park. Taking the bus has been nice for Steve because he can actually see what’s around rather than focusing on the road and where we’re going. It’s nice for Freddie too because she can sit on my lap which is what she would like to do when we’re in the car. It’s also nice for her because she likes to see and interact with different people and when you’re on the bus everyone can hear what you’re saying about them. Today we saw a man with horns on his head who sat right across from us. Steve and I debated later whether or not they were screwed in or just glued on, I think they were permanent. Freddie was very interested: “That man has horns on his head.” Me: “Yes, he does. Don’t they look nice?” Freddie: “Ya.” Horn Guy: “Maybe one day you’ll have horns on your head, they’ll just pop out. (makes popping noise)” Freddie: “No, I don’t want horns.” Horn Guy: “Well, you won’t get them then. You can only get them if you really want them.” Freddie: “Ya.”

When we got off the bus we walked along Haight St. it was fun; so many vintage clothing stores and smoking hobbyist shops. If I was into shopping or pot I would have been stoked, but I had more fun at the park.

I found a mood ring on the sidewalk on the way to the beach--wouldn't have happened if we had taken the car!

We got some got some buns, strawberries, yogurt and other snacks from the grocery store and sat on the beach for a late lunch.

Freddie fell asleep on the bus ride back to the hotel and I got to hold her the whole way—another thing that wouldn’t have happened in the car.

That evening we decided it was time to do our laundry. We all had fun.

Well, the mechanic couldn’t find anything wrong with the car. He drove it around, did the diagnostic tests—nothing. So, since we haven’t found a place to stay we’ve decided to head out on Wednesday to Death Valley Junction. Steve has some plans for his project. There’s a lady there who does a crazy opera-type performance and it’s her very last show on Sunday. She’s in her 80’s and she’s finally retiring. We have a bunch of little stops along the way and we will be heading south afterwards to go to Salvation Mountain (look it up in Google if you don’t know what I’m talking about). After that we will head back up the coast, through L.A. etc. Wish us luck and pray for our car.