010103

 

Oakland to Berkeley, CA

Wednesday January 1, 2003

                   Cool, the time now is 3:20am and I'm in Oakland now. I rode the BART. Man, I got here quick too. It wasn't that far at all.

                   My feet are tired. The city bus came by and I boarded it. I told the driver, "Hello, I'm traveling from San Antonio, TX without any money. I was wondering if I could get a courtesy ride?" He said, "We don't give courtesy rides in Oakland." So I asked him how much was fare and he told me a dollar fifty. I told him, "Okay, let me see how much change I have. I'm pretty sure I've got it(I knew I didn't)." I started putting in my change. Damn, good thing that lady didn't charge me fare on the BART. I slowly put in the seventy five cents and I asked the driver, "How much more do I need?" He smiled and said, "Just sit down, man." Cool, free ride, kind of. He even told me where to go. He told me to get off here and walk to the left, to Broadway. Every town has a Broadway.

                   At the corner of 6th Street and Broadway. About to go under the highway.

                   Cool, I'm over by this boardwalk. There's a Barnes and Noble. There are all these little bars.

                   Wow, what an interesting night. The time right now is about 5:02am. After I got off the bus earlier, I walked over to where the guy told me there were some trees and a place I could crash. I ended up on some docks with boats and shit. I didn't see any trees anywhere. But, I found this older couple just hanging out at a table. I walked up and asked them, "Hello, are you my brethren?" They said, "Kind of." It was cool. They had cigarettes and I got to smoke some. The guy was all joking around with me. He was in his late thirties, I'm guessing. He was with his wife and were out of their house. They had let their friend crash at their house and they didn't want to be there. He said he had to work in the morning so he was just hanging out until he had to go. After a while, I told them I was tired and needed to find a place to crash. They told me about this walkway where there's a table I can sleep under. That no one ever goes there. That's what I'm looking for now. I'm really tempted to go get on one of these boats here at the dock and crash out. That might be a little risky. There might be cameras or something.

                    Okay, the time is about 5:15am and I found the place where I'm going to crash. It's right on the other side of these big wooden things sticking out of the sand, facing the water. Well goodnight. I hope I have a good day tomorrow.

                   Okay, today is the morning of the very first of January of the year 2003. Last night I crashed over by the pier. When I woke up, the tide had come in and was lapping at my feet.

                   Everything here is about Jack London. Jack London Square. There's like a hotel over here and I went inside and asked the lady if she had a restroom I could use. Here I am taking a shit in the Jack London Inn.

                   The bus came and this nice black lady was driving it. I got on there and told her, "Hi, my name is Victor. I'm traveling the country on foot. I am doing this all with no money just to prove it's possible. I was wondering if I could get a courtesy ride." She smiled and said sure. Now I'm going to go to downtown Oakland and see what's interesting there. I'll update you later.

                   The bus driver gave me directions to San Pablo and West Gram(I think).

                    I'm at 11th and Broadway. Between 11th and 12th on Broadway.

                   Okay, I got off the bus because something I thought was interesting. Damnit, I almost got shat on by a bird. It barely missed me by like six inches. I got off the bus and saw a Subway sandwiches place. Let me go see if I can go score some breakfast. Shit, they were closed. I'm lucky though. There's a grocery store behind it and it's open. Hmm, they got a bakery and a deli and seafood. Hell, I'm sure I can score something to eat here.

                   Nope, they wouldn't give me nothing. >:[

                   Cool, I got on the #6 bus in front of the grocery store I was at. When the driver had gotten there, I gave her my long-distance walker line and she gave me a courtesy ride. She told me happy new year.

                   This bus I got on will eventually end up in Berkeley. I got up and asked her if this bus would come back to Oakland. I wanted to check Oakland out for at least a day. She said no and asked me if I wanted to get off. I told her, "Nah, I might as well go see Berkeley then. I can always come back to Oakland. I got plenty of time." So I'm in Berkeley now. Hopefully I can score some weed today, without money.

                   Okay, the time is now 10:07am. I just got off the #6 bus. The nice lady driver let me ride for free. She even gave me a transfer so I wouldn't have to pay for the next ride. She even told me where I can get some information on the city. She told me about this place where there's tons of street vendors. I'm going to go get some info on this town. I'm going to go check out the college too, even though I don't believe in college. I'm sure they'll have a library where I can check my email. Hell, I'm going to have some fun today, and the next day and the next day.

                   The bus took me to Telegraph Street or Avenue or something. This is where all the street vendors are supposed to be. It's pretty dead right now, because it's a holiday, I guess. I'm just going to walk around and make some friends. I'll see if I can get smoked out.

                   Berkeley is awesome! This is the coolest place in the world. I want to stay here almost. I wanted to rest my feet and shoulders so I sat down on the sidewalk in front of some music store. There weren't any street vendors there, but a lot of people on the sidewalk. Now, back in San Antonio I told everyone that I couldn't wait to smoke out with the hippies in California. I think I just did. There was this old dude hitting a pipe close to me and I asked him for a hit. At first, it seemed like he got mad at me for asking. He thought I was telling him to give me a hit. I told him, "Hey man, I was just asking. I'm cool if you can't spare any." He handed me the pipe and I sucked some down quick.

                   Oh man, this place is badass. This guy just came up to me and gave me some food. I haven't even told people about my story or mission, and they're already giving me stuff. Berkeley is cool. Cooler than San Francisco even. It's like a calm-cool.

                   Wow, I feel so accepted in this town. This guy Jolo just came up to me and started ranting on. He seemed crazy like me. He told me, "Yeah man, here they don't care if you're crazy. They just put up with it." That's exactly what I need. I need to be around people who will tolerate me. I just found my second home. I have to be careful not to get sucked into this place. It's just so comfortable so far. I still want to travel. Maybe I'll go check out Martinez and all the other suburbs. Umm, I'm going to stay in Berkeley for a week though, hehe.

                   Okay, the time is now 10:46am. I'm having a blast. All these different people are just coming up to me and talking. Oh yeah, and that food that guy gave me, it's like from a deli. It's quality shit. Yum. Lunch. Whoa, there are tons of buses in Berkeley.

                   Kickass, man. This is like the coolest street in the world. I just showed up and bam, acceptance.

                   Damnit, I didn't notice the tape ended and I thought I was still recording. Let me tell you about my badass day. They brought me over to the People's Park, which is right behind that music store, Amoeba Music. It's a pretty historical place. Back in the sixties there was a huge hippie movement here. So I'm over here hanging out in the park. They have this big free clothes bin and I got another sweater. I needed another layer because it's colder here than Texas. They gave me food. I showed them my Muscle Blast 2000 stuff and they were impressed. They wrote down the name of it. This place is great. There's tons of pigeons around. There's cool people everywhere.

                   Kickass, someone is going around giving away packs of cigarettes in the park.

                   Wow, People's Park is amazing! I've been having such a badass day. I got to take my boots off and dry out and rest my feet. I got to eat for free. Food Not Bombs came and fed everybody, like they do in San Antonio at Milam Park. It's awesome. People are so cool. In the morning, this guy is going to show me a place where I can take a shower and do my laundry. I could stay here and live for free forever if I wanted to, but no. I have to make everywhere else like this. Man, it's going to be awesome. Once all these people read my stuff, they're going to help me, I know it. I'll have my support.
                   This is exactly where I needed to go. I just ended up here on accident. Like today, I was planning on going to Oakland to look for BJ. I was going to ride around Oakland on the bus all day and I coincidentally end up getting on the bus that goes to Berkeley. Hell, it didn't even say Berkeley on it. The 40L. I talked to the bus driver and asked him where I could get some information on the town. He immediately suggested the street vendors on Telegraph Avenue. I went to Telegraph and just sat down on the sidewalk. People just came and met me. Awesome. This is where I belong.

                   There's this cool girl here who wanted my hat. She's got a boyfriend and stuff. I'm not trying to mack on her or nothing. Actually, her boyfriend took my walking stick. He wanted to go bum five dollars to get some beer and he needed my stick so he could limp around with it while he was asking for money. I asked the girl, "Hey, you want to wear this hat?" and I pulled out the green striped hat that Chasity stole for me back in San Antonio. She said, "Yeah, it'll keep my head warm." "Your ears too," I told her. We were just sitting there and I let her listen to my awesome Weezer CD. She was really digging it and I told her, "It's secret Weezer. You can't buy that in stores. You can only get it for free off the web." She said it was awesome.

                   Time right now is 7:25pm. I'm having too much fun. I feel so welcome here. I'm like at home, even though I'll be sleeping outside. Hey, I slept in Golden Gate park for three days. I can do it right here, especially when right across the street is my haven. Man, this is what I want. Now I am thinking about staying in Berkeley for a couple weeks. A month maybe. Regrouping, regrounding, getting some support. I'm going to do it! Jolo even said they had been waiting for me.

                   Words cannot describe how happy I am here. There are other people here who believe in things I believe in. I am going to do it, damnit. This is where I belong. In a place like this. I am going to make everywhere like this. I belong everywhere. Everybody belongs everywhere. This place is so awesome. This is California. Fuck BJ.

Next day..