Pittsburg to Arcata, CA
Wednesday January 15, 2003
Ahh, today is the morning of January fifteenth, 2003. Last night was awesome. Kate drove me to her mother's house and let me crash here. I slept in my own bed in their guest room. I had the greatest night's sleep and I went downstairs got all my laundry out that I had put to wash last night. I folded all my clothes along with some of Kate's. I came back upstairs and put my jeans on. All my stuff was clean, it was great. I packed up my rucksack. I noticed Kate had a bathroom scale in the bathroom. I had always been curious to know how much gear I was hauling around. I'll find out finally. So, I loaded up my sack, put it on and stepped on the scale. I saw how much I weighed with it on, took it off and weighed myself again. Then, I just subtracted the difference. I am hauling approximately fifty pounds of gear.
This morning I woke up and made the bed I slept on. Leave no trace. I woke up and straightened up my laundry. Just then, Kate's grandmother came up and asked me if I could help her with something. I said sure, no problem. She asked me to take some bags out to her car. I helped her with that and afterwards came back upstairs and folded my clothes. Kate woke up and she came up and asked me if I wanted a cup of coffee. She made me a good cup of coffee. First, I had told her no, then I said, "Ahh, screw it. Everything in moderation, I'll take a cup." I had brought some day-old donuts with me that I had bought at the BayKing on Telegraph. I had some coffee and donuts. Wow, I am one happy dude. I had a roof over my head last night, did my laundry, woke up and ate some donuts and today we are driving to Humboldt County! Yeehaw! Man, it doesn't get much better than this. Oh yeah, Kate asked me if I wanted to take a shower. I'm going to be clean and my clothes are too. Shweet. I'll update this later.
It's about twelve sixteen and I am on my way to Humboldt County. It's about a five hour drive. We are on highway 4. Enjoying the scenery. Cool, I'm on my way with my good friend Kate.
It's twelve twenty and we are on highway 680.
12:36pm We are passing Marine World Amusement Park.
12:41pm Passing May Island(I think, I couldn't make out the exact name from the recording). There's this huge bridge. Wow, it's beautiful.
12:57pm We are about to jump on Hippie-Highway 101. Headed towards Eureka.
1:00pm 242 miles to Eureka.
1:27pm 215 miles to Eureka.
1:45pm We are going to go check out Lake Sonoma. We are driving up Canyon Road right now. We're going to make a pit stop or something.
Wow, I am in vineyard country. Vineyards everywhere.
2:00pm We stopped at some overlook on Lake Sonoma to enjoy the scenery, because we are in no hurry. There's a lake over here. Wow, haha.
Me and Kate hiked down this big hill to a lake nearby. This is like a dream come true for me. This is so awesome. I can die now, hehe. I got these badass army boots on, but Kate's just wearing some Adidas with no socks on, wow. Time's about two forty four. What was your last name Kate? Kate Mills dropped me off where I wanted to be.
Time is about two fifty two and we are ready to hike up this big hill back to the car. Damn, it's a long climb. All I need is a destination though. I'll get there eventually. I really commend Kate for doing this sockless with just a pair of Adidas. That takes some real balls. Kate just suggested we sing a Weezer song. Man, I am falling in love with this girl, hehe.
Okay, the time is now three twenty five and we finally made it up to the car.
The time is four twenty. We just entered Mendocino County. We are back on 101 heading North.
4:30pm We are in Hopland. 168 miles to Eureka.
4:40pm Just entering Ukiah.
4:44pm Shit, I forgot how many miles the sign said.
4:50pm 148 miles to Eureka.
5:00pm Entering Willits city limits. Kate told me never to get stranded in Willits. It's a shady place. I'm glad I'm just driving through it.
5:10pm I'm driving now. I've been driving since Sonoma Canyon where we stopped at. Man, I never thought I would be driving in California. Seeing as how I don't own a car. I'm actually doing it. For free. I'm kind of tired. My butt kind of hurts. Hmm, what else can I bitch about? I don't know. I'm driving at a smooth sixty miles per hour. A yellow tow-truck just passed by.
5:32pm 110 miles to Eureka.
5:55pm (Kate talking, joking around) "So far we have nearly avoided almost three car crashes. I have the sudden urge to ask Victor if he was driving the car when he got in his car crash. We must consider the fact that he is extremely tired, hungry, his ass hurts and he's been driving with his knees the entire time. At the same time I have reason to fear for my life."
6:10pm All this traffic is piled up. It's just past rush hour. They're doing road construction. Kate said they just close up one side of the road and take turns letting traffic pass. We sat there for about five or ten minutes. We got out of the car and stretched our everything. I'm back in the car driving now and we are moving slowly.
6:15pm Kate and I are trading little stories. I told her about the tracks in San Antonio where people say if you park your car on top of the railroad tracks and put baby powder on your bumper, that your car will somehow move off the tracks and you'll see little handprints on the bumper. She told me they have the exact same thing in Pittsburg, but the car rolls upwards up the hill. We just passed the cause of our little stop. There was a landslide that covered the whole lane and all the cars had to take turns.
6:25pm We are now entering Humboldt County. Wow, that was quick. We are passing the famous One Log Cabin. Kate's never been to it. Kate played a good CD and I asked her what it was so I could download it later. She said the band was called White Stripe.
7:15pm Twenty one miles to Eureka. Hehe, stupid me just asked Kate, "Do you know when Independence Day is? She thought about it for a minute and said, "Umm, fourth of July?"
7:28pm Two miles away from Arcata. Umm, I mean Eureka. My bad.
7:38pm Six miles to Arcata, our destination.
7:42pm Just entering Arcata city limits.
7:50pm Okay, we have arrived at Kate's house.
Holy shit. Arcata is awesome. This house is badass. There's all these people here. Like three girls and two guys. They let me hit their bong. Dude, I belong here so bad.
9:06pm Man, this place is just awesome. I have decided I'm going to stay at least six months. I asked them, "Hey, where can I fly my sign?" The kids asked me, "What, are you going to ask for spare change?" I told them no, that I wasn't asking for money. I just wanted people to read it. They suggested I go to the Center.
9:10pm Whoa, this guy at Kate's house just offered to give me a tent! He told me there was a park nearby where other people camped out.
Kate's roommate Caroline grabbed my tape recorder and started talking into it: "Victor is in Arcata hanging out with Kate, Hailey and Carolina and he believes(chuckling) that the Internet is the answer to everything. But, I DON'T THINK SO BUBBA!"
9:42pm I just came out of the back yard. Man, this place is so awesome. One of the roommates, Hailey cooks the best food ever. It's like gourmet stuff. Squash and rice. Man, and I say I can live without taste buds. Shit, not around Hailey I can't.
I am just enchanted with this place. All these different people came over and were just hanging out and cool with each other. There was this Japanese guy and a lot of other different people. It's exactly how it should be here. Different people. There are people from all over the country here. They have this badass garage where they smoke cigarettes in. Man, why can't the whole world be this cool? It needs to be, damnit. I can't believe it. I feel so at home here.
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