Day 8 (Tuesday 5/18/2010) - Pleasant Hill & A Change of Plans

I’m still getting used to sleeping on the ground, and I didn’t sleep that well. I got up around 07:30, packed up my stuff, and said my fair-wells to Michael and Buddy. I headed down to Ocean Beach, on the west end of Golden Gate Park—the start of Stage 3 of the Amgen Tour of California. There was a big crowd, and a lot of electricity in the air. It was really cool to see a pro bicycle tour up close and in-person. I’d never seen a race live before, only on TV. All the teams had their tour buses, and I got a lot of great pictures, and also some great schwag (some FRS and some Jelly Bellies). The excitement built up until the start of the race @ 11:15. All the riders took off, and it happened really fast—one minute everyone was waving and shouting and the next the riders were all gone down the road. I’m really glad I got to see it. It’s not something I will soon forget. I also met a couple of fellow bicycle tourists, and got some advice about traveling the Pacific coast. The consensus is that it’s better to travel from north to south than from south to north, since the winds blow out of the south. It was more good information to consider.

After the start, I road over to the BART station and took the light-rail back over to JFKU. I had my interview, and it went really well. I really feel like this is the right place for me. The university is amazing, the program is amazing, and the whole area feels right to me. Since the program is so new (this is only the first year it’s been offered), I’m pretty much a shoe-in. It’s not a program very many people even know about, let alone are interested in (I’m looking at a brand new program in counseling psychology with an integral psychotherapy concentration, based around Ken Wilber’s AQAL model).

After the interview, I sat and ate lunch and used the WiFi for a couple of hours. I also checked the Amtrak schedule to see when the train to Portland runs. My thought was to possibly take the train to Portland and ride back down instead of riding against the wind all the way up. Coincidentally, the train that runs from San Fran to Portland is the “Starlight Express” and runs overnight. It leaves SF around 22:00, and arrives in Portland the next day around 15:00. Since I didn’t have anything lined-up for the night, I decided to kill-two-birds-with-one-stone, and sleep on the train as I head up to Portland, so that’s what I’m doing.

The ride from Portland back down to San Francisco (I intentionally didn’t ride across the Golden Gate Bridge, although I really wanted to, in order to save it for the end) is approx. 650 miles, so at 50 miles a day it should only take about 13 days of actual riding. That gives me plenty of time for rest-days and exploring as I head back down. I’m going to shoot for being back in San Francisco on June 10, which will give me a few more days to explore the city before I take the train back to Denver. I have to be back to work on Tuesday, June 22.

23:05

I’m back at the Emeryville Amtrak station now. I took the BART from Pleasant Hill then rode over to the Amtrak station. Along the way, I stopped and had some Subway for dinner (which feels like a real treat, since my funds are starting to get low—I get paid again on the 28th). The train is running late, and should arrive @ 23:45. The train ride is about 15 hours long. Next stop, Portland!!!