Oakland Day Two

Rode from Downtown Berkeley into Oakland. Nice smooth ride at an average speed of 19 miles an hour for 8 miles. Not bad. Oakland was super cool. Nice downtown. Explored North Oakland and Temescal first. They are where the Highlands was five years ago, sad. Made my way over to the Grand neighborhood and Lake Merritt. Nice trail around Lake Merritt.

Lake Merritt is what Wash Park tries to be.

Sat down in the grass to eat a turkey sandwich for lunch. Some anarcho-cyclist on a touring bike asked me for a smoke. Sorry man. Real nice guy. His name is Sam. Just moved to Oakland the day before from Bellingham. We talked about friends that we have there and knew many of the same people. We got on the steel steeds and headed into Downtown Oakland for a little ride. Rode around until we almost got clipped by a patrol car then got onto the train to check out some bike shops in San Francisco.

Windy as hell in San Francisco. The gusts were catching the new B-43 in the rear at every intersection. Stopped by Boxdog Bikes and Mission Bikes. Got some coffee and a donut and parted ways. I will see Sam again at ArtCrank! on Saturday.

Met up with a leasing agent to check out some apartments. The guy’s name was Chuck. He just moved to the City after being a real estate agent in Sonoma. Made the move after the housing market fell. Really cool guy and very truthful. We looked at a few apartments all over the city. Tenderloin, Nob Hill, North Beach, Russin Hill, Mission. The apartment in the Tenderloin was by far the best fit for me. So much going on on the street below. It looks like it will soon be my home.

Spent two hours outside of the apartment at night to make sure everything was cool when the sun went down. There is an ATM machine next to the apartment front door. Twenty five people checked it for extra cash in half an hour. A stray boston terrier was running down the street. I grabbed him. His tranny owner came by crying looking for him a couple minutes later and was happy I picked him up. Some guy was selling Levis out of a plastic bag, and people were buying them. I was so sold.