Fishermans Wharf
One block east from the beach, you enter the jungle, about 1,200 square Klm, of traffic, wide streets and shapeless buildings. The Greyhound terminal was in the middle of it, so I couldn’t avoid it any longer. I had to be on my way at 4am and catch 2 buses, to get me there for the 6-o-clock. It was dark but I didn’t feel I was missing anything, I was on my way to San Francisco and happy to be going. The six-o-clock was full so I had to wait till 9-30. It wasn’t long before we were on Interstate 5 heading north and for the first time, I was able to see some countryside. Much the same as L.A, very flat with the odd orchard close to the highway and nothing much beyond that. Good now I can get some sleep. I made a mental note to stay off the Interstate highways when I get the bike and drifted in and out of sleep for the rest of the day. By the time we cruised into San Fran, It was getting dark, I’m getting organised these days and knew exactly where to go, the Hi International San Fran, these Hostels are all over the world 25 to 35 dollars a night with usually a free breakfast, I am now a member which gives me discounts. So a walk for a mile and a half and there it is, in downtown San Francisco, I am still not used to all the homeless which I see is the same in San Fran. I haven’t been asked for money so much since I was in India in the seventies, there, they are the untouchables, here there is also an underclass but they are just called bums. The following morning I was up at the crack of 10, had some breakfast and headed out to explore, this was better, trams, trolley buses, hills, old buildings… character…. I spent the whole day walking, I walked through little Italy, in china town, I caught a couple of old ladies doing Tai Chi in the park and joined them for a few moves, went down to pier 39 where the sea lions have taken over a couple of pontoons on the harbour. I walked along the Bay, past Fishermans Wharf with Alcatraz in the bay and the golden gate bridge in the distance, I wasn’t going to make the bridge today, never mind I will be back again and ride over on the bike, I love San Fran. I could have stayed here longer but I wanted to get up the mountains before the season ended, so after a couple of days I was on the Greyhound heading east to Truckee and the Sierra Nevada. We stopped in Sacramento to change buses and as we left there I started to notice the snow covered mountains in the distance, by the time we got to Truckee we were right up there in the snow, Truckee is a little hill town and my immediate thought, on getting off the bus, was to stay for a couple of hours and walk around but the local bus was leaving for Lake Tahoe now. OK I will have to come back this way anyway. Half an hour later I was right outside Hostel Tahoe in Kings Beach, the bus drivers here go out of their way to help you and he dropped me off, even though there was no bus stop. The hostel had only been open for 6 months; it was small and homely having just been renovated by the owner Andrew who greeted me and showed me to a 4 bed dorm with no one in it but me, I was in Tahoe had a great place to stay and pretty soon I’d have the ski’s on and I’d be up the mountain, things were looking good.
I am….THE LONESOME TRAVELLER….travelling east….BE HAPPY!