121503

 

Berkeley to Livermore to Modesto to Fresno to Bakersfield, CA

Monday December 15, 2003

     4:40am  What's his face, Soda just woke me up. He told me he wanted to go to a warmer place. It's freezing outside. Umm, it's like almost time for the sun to come up. I'm just going to stay up.

                    I'm up and walking in the freezing cold. Oh yeah, last night in the parking garage I had to take a piss. Soda told me to piss in a paper cup, so I did. I had to go real bad, so I overfilled the cup a bit and got a little on my gloves. So, I guess I'll do my laundry today. My hands are freezing because I'm not wearing my gloves. Brrr.

     6:18am  Okay, I separated from Soda. Whoa, it's the weirdest shit. It's around 6:30am and there's no sun! The sun should be up by now. What the hell is going on? I just got confirmation that my watch isn't wrong. What the hell is going on? It's the apocalypse or something, hehe.

                   Holy shit. It's all dark outside. This is crazy. Apocalypse now.

     6:20am  It shouldn't be this dark. I mean, one side of the sky should be brighter than the other.

     6:22am  I just found out why the sun isn't out. I asked these people getting in a car what time it was and they told me, "It's about 6:30am." I asked them, "Hey, isn't the sun supposed to be out by now?" They told me it was daylight-savings time.

                  Wait a minute, that can't be right. I haven't changed the time on my watch and it is still right.

                  Oh yeah, that Soda dude is a tweaker. He's got all these track marks everywhere. He does all these drugs. His teeth are all messed up. He needs to see a dentist bad. We crashed out in that little laundry room last night for a while.

     6:30am  Whew, I see one side of the sky getting brighter now. Man, I all thought the sun had burned out. Haha, damned head-injuries(universal excuse). It's like 6:30am. It should have been out a long time ago.

                    It's really crazy. Nobody agrees with me. One guy told me it was daylight-savings time, this other guy told me that it's because it's winter time. Did I do some drugs last night? Did I forget? What's going on? I do see a faint light in the sky, but it should be more than that.

                    And there's nobody outside at the Trinity Church. Well, it's only 6:30am and they feed at eight.

     6:39am  Dude, what the hell. The donut shop is closed. People eat donuts for breakfast, damnit. Donut shops should always be open by 5am, at the least. In Arcata the donut shop was opened twenty four hours.

     6:45am  Steven gave me a snipe. Thanks, brother.

                    I read this cool article in the San Francisco Bay Guardian about pirated software and stuff. I'm going to email the journalist at annalee@sfbg.com.

                    I'll put in the subject, "I read your article about pirated software. Check this out."

                    Oh yeah, today is Monday.

                    Hehe, I got them all riled up the first night I was here. For taking their picture. They're all mad at me . . . but what the hell are they doing for world peace?

                    Stupid Slim and Jonathan from Arcata resemble each other.

                    But Slim isn't quite as annoying as Jonathan.

                    He's a bigger weakling than Jonathan.

                    Oh yeah at breakfast I overheard Slim talking shit about me and all showing off. I finally told him, "What? You want my lunch money too, little kid?" He all noticeably cut in front of me in line, trying to piss me off. I told him I didn't give a damn. It was free food. I am patient.

     9:04am  Cammie just gave me the rest of her cigarette. I appreciate it, Cammie.

                   When I took that picture I was aware of the risks involved.

                    But, in the end, I still have my camera. Sucker.

     9:20am  Lisa, driving the 40L was nice enough to give me a courtesy ride. I appreciate it, Lisa.

     9:30am  I'm on the bus to Oakland and I see a billboard that says, "I do, therefore I am." I like that quote.

     9:40am  I just got off the bus close to 16th Street. I'm going to walk to Traveler's Aid.

     9:46am  I talked to this lady at the Traveler's Aid place. She asked me how much money I had. I told her, "Approximately forty dollars in bills and spare change." She then asked me how much was the bus ticket. I told her $140. She told me I needed 75%. Damnit, I thought they paid for the whole thing. That's messed up. But she told me to give her a minute and she walked off.

     10:22am  Nicholas just gave me a cigarette in Oakland.

                     Okay, let me tell you what's happened so far. Umm, I had to call Greyhound and ask them for prices. I'm going to try and get a bus ticket to Needles, CA on I40, the busiest highway in the country. And, I'll be out of Nevada. I won't have to go through Nevada. It's illegal to hitchhike there.

     11:11am  Traveler's Aid wasn't any aid whatsoever. Everybody was telling me, "Go to Traveler's Aid. They'll pay for your whole ticket." They'll only pay for 25% and they can't do the paperwork tomorrow. I have until Thursday before the rates go up for Christmas. It sounded too good to be true. I'm just going to take off walking. I'll ride the bus as far East as I can and see where I end up.

                     Oh yeah, my pocket atlas came up missing. I think I left it in there. Let me go check.

                     Whew, found it in my backpack.

                     Cool, the bus driver is giving me a courtesy ride.

                     I'm at the El Cerrito bus station.

     11:47am  I rode the bus to the Berkeley BART Station. I am aiming for Interstate 99 South.

                     Fremont train to Lake Merrit. That's where I have to go.

     12:18pm  I rode the BART to Fremont. Fremont to Lake Merrit. Catch the double train.

     12:33pm  I just landed in Lake Merrit. I have to transfer to the Dublin/Pleasanton one. Cool.

     12:41pm  I forgot to tell you that I'm already on the bus in Dublin.

     1:11pm  We are in Dublin. I just got off the train.

     1:26pm  I just got out of the bathroom at the BART station in Dublin.

     1:37pm  Jermaine is hooking me up with a cigarette outside the BART station.

     1:44pm  Cool, the bus driver is giving me a courtesy ride to Livermore. Cool.

                    The bus I got on, I noticed it had the GPS tracking system on it, like the ones in San Antonio. In San Antonio, I would always synchronize my watch to the second with the GPS satellite in the sky. What better time to be synchronized with when you ride the bus? I got up close to the driver's display so I could see the seconds ticking. What I do is wait for the second hand to be at 00 and stop my watch there. Then I wait for a five minute interval on the bus' clock. 2:15pm is the next one. I look on the driver's display and when it hits fifteen I start my watch.

                    So bam, perfection. And, with my watch synchronized like that, I can do a cool trick. You know the lit-up display that scrolls the date and the time on the bus? Well, I can be sitting in the back of the bus and tell you which flip of the date/time the minute is going to be different on. Big deal, right? Hehe.

                    The city I am in is Pleasanton. Riding the #10 bus.

     2:27pm  I just got off the #10 bus. I saw a street that said Livermore Avenue. I asked the driver, "Is this Livermore?" He told me yes, so I got off. Maybe I shouldn't have. Maybe I should have asked him if he went close to a highway. Brrr, it's freezing outside. I'm going to go walk around and see what happens. I love new places.

                    2180 Railroad Avenue. I see a tattoo shop. I'm going to go talk to these people.

                    I changed my mind about telling those guys my ideas, because of the loud radio in the background. I hate talking over stuff.

                    I'm on South Livermore Avenue.

                    My feet are a little sore, but that's alright. They're walkable...err, limpable. Ahh, I'm not even limping that much. My leg doesn't hurt that much anymore.

                    Let me see if I can score at Taco Villa, here at the corner of 1st and North Livermore.

                    They told me no. They said, "Sorry, not this time." Ahh, I don't need to ask for food. I got a couple Luna bars I swiped from the Traveler's Aid place.

                    I talked to some dude. I asked him where the Greyhound stops. He told me to go to the light where this gas station was, turn right and then turn left. I'm going to go look for some gas station.

                    Downtown Livermore.

     2:43pm  Whoa, cool. There's a Salvation Army thriftstore right here. I bet you ten bucks they'll hook me up with another layer. Just watch.

     2:45pm  Henry, the manager at the Salvation Army is being generous enough to let me have another layer for the cold. I appreciate it, brother. Thanks for proving me right.

     2:46pm  Sweet, I called that from the beginning. I got me this really warm thin jacket. I got hooked up. That's awesome. I like Livermore.

     2:55pm  What is this place? At 2566, don't know the name of the street. This pizza place. I walked in and talked to this manager dude who was talking to a lady. I gave him the old gasoline-for-the-stomach line, "Hi, my name is Victor and I'm from San Antonio, TX. I am a long-distance walker. I don't suppose you would care to donate any gasoline for my stomach? Anything you can spare. Hey, if it's a big problem, don't worry about it. I am sure the next place I walk by will be generous and help me out." At first they didn't understand me and the lady gave me a dollar because I said donate. I repeated myself, "No, some gasoline for my stomach. Some food." The manager said no problem and started cooking me a pizza.

     3:07pm  Theresa, the lady's name here at the pizza place just gave me a couple cigarettes. I appreciate it, Theresa. Theresa Baron. Like Baron Munchausen, hehe.

                   This is so cool! I came to this pizza place. Garlex Pizza. I made friends with this lady Theresa that was in there and she asked me, "Do you want a drink?" I told her it was Okay, that I had my water bottle and she said, "No, do you want a drink," and pointed to the bar next door. "Sure!" I told her. How awesome.

                   Theresa had given me a dollar earlier and she just gave me four other dollars. How awesome! Thank you.

     3:20pm  Theresa has given me a ten dollar bill! That's awesome! I was just telling her my ideas. I didn't even ask. She wouldn't let me finish a lot my stuff, which kind of pissed me off, but hey, she proved me right by being so generous. I'll let it slide, hehe.

                    I had told her what I was going to do and she said, "Wow, I'm going to read about you soon."

                    I told her how I got to Livermore. How the Traveler's Aid place wouldn't hook me up with busfare. I went back to the pizza place to get my bag, because it had my ID and I had to show the lady at the bar it. As I was taking it out, Theresa saw all my dollar bills and she said, "Oh, I see your five." I told her I was trying to round up bus fare home in Berkeley. She gave me a ten dollar bill. That's awesome.

                    Then she walked around the bar asking all her friends for donations for my mission! I didn't even ask her to. I love Livermore.

     3:37pm  Dan Hotze hooked me up with five dollars at the bar.

                    These guys at the bar in Livermore were all about money. They were telling me, "You're going to make a fortune. I'm going to read your book."

     3:56pm  That was awesome, dude! I am sooo glad I ran into that lady Theresa. She was all giving me stuff and telling all her friends about my mission. Even though she wouldn't listen to me. I rounded up some cash and she told me where the Greyhound station was. It's right around the corner! That's so awesome.

                    We came back to the pizza place after I had my drink and my pizza was done. I got a whole personal pan pizza. It was mmm, mmm good. I'm not hungry. I like Livermore.

                    Dude, everybody here is all about money.

                    The pizza place's phone number is 606-5555. Shit, I don't know the area code.

                    Singing, "On my way to save the world. On my way to save the world. I start it. I ended it. I kill and words defend it. Got big plans. Blood-stained hands. going to put my name on the map. On my way to save the world. There are many names, but the motives stay the same. My actions are are the means to the end. My actions are the means to the end(of hatred)."

     4:10pm  I just bought me a bus ticket to Bakersfield. It comes at 4:20, hehe. Awesome! It was thirty five dollars.

     4:11pm  Matt, here at the Livermore bus station hooked me up with a cigarette. I appreciate it, brother.

                    That was awesome! I got that money and bus ticket already. And the bus comes at 4:20!

     4:28pm  The bus finally pulled up.

     5:40pm  I am sneaking a toke on the bus. I'm in the bathroom and I scraped some resin. I'll be in Bakersfield soon. I wonder where I'll sleep tonight.

     6:11pm  Eric gave me a cigarette on the bus. Eric was cool. I showed him my pictures and the paper with the barn story. It was cool. He was playing chess on his cellphone.

     6:15pm  We stopped in Modesto. I'm going to smoke this cigarette. Matt gave me a cigarette. Thanks brother.

     6:19pm  That was awesome how I bought a thirty five dollar ticket and I still have twenty eight left. I got that money from that lady Theresa. Well, I had forty four dollars in my wallet already and she gave me like fifteen or so in Livermore.

                   Wait, I'm going to ask the driver what our ETA to Bakersfield is.

                   He told me 11:20pm.

     8:25pm  I just woke up. We stopped in Fresno, CA. I smoked my cigarette and now I'm going to eat my Luna bar. I usually do it the other way around.

     11:17pm  I landed in Bakersfield. I'm going to see how far twenty seven dollars will get me from here on the Greyhound.

                     Okay, I talked to the Greyhound guy and he said they don't go on I40. I'm screwed. Well, not really. So I asked him, "How far East will $27 get me?" He asked me, "Well, where do you want to go?" I repeated, however far east $27 would get me. He insisted that I tell him where I wanted to go. I got a bit exasperated and told him, "Well, San Antonio, TX eventually." He told me, "Oh, that will be $169." Ugh. I told him, "I understand that, therefore, how far will $27 get me?" He told me I could get to San Bernardino. I told him, "That was exactly what I wanted to know." So, that's what I'm going to do. I think. Maybe I can find me a truckstop.

     11:32pm  I came back in the Greyhound station. I'm in the arcade and they have some cool games in here. They have Capcom Classic Superheroes. They have NFL Blitz. They have Mortal Kombat 3. They got Street Fighter 2. They have all this stuff I used to play when I was younger. They got The Simpson's, Tekken 2, Cruisin' World. They got all the games.

     11:47pm  I just came out of the bathroom at the Greyhound. I got an idea. I saw a taxi cab outside. Let's see if twenty dollars will get me to I40.

     11:57pm  I am getting a ride from the taxi driver to a truckstop. Right where I wanted to go.

     12:10pm  I'm at the truckstop. Bruce's Truck Stop 

on 58 which turns into I40. I even have two truckstops to get rides from. I love options.

     1:07am  I'm at the truckstop. I've been in here for a while, not making entries. There's a couple here. A guy and a girl. They're traveling too. They said they've been here all day, so I don't have to worry about being run off. I'll be here until I get my ride, basically. And, there's a badass little TV room I can sleep in when I get tired. Awesome.

Next day..