We have been holding off writing this post, because it marks the end of our bike trip. But it was a wonderful day. AMAZING, really, but also sad. We never wanted it to end.
So we wake up early. TOO early. We want to make it to SF by 2pm, when Andreas, our fellow Absurdistani we met in Utah has planned a welcome party. Lorraine drops us off beyond some construction and we say goodbye. It's still dark outside and foggy and cold. It feels exhilarating to know we are going to touch the Pacific ocean today. We pedal too fast. We just can't help it. We're very close to SF, when we realize we have lots of time to kill. So we bum around a bit. We go to a coffee shop, give each other back massages, wander into bike shops, check out a bookstore. Finally we get the go ahead. Somehow Lorraine, who has remarkable paparazzi skills, finds us and begins snapping away. We head up to the Golden Gate. We can see the Bay and it is beautiful. We whoop and shout! Andreas meets us on his bicycle, Lorraine parks on the other side of the bridge armed with her camera, and we set off.
Andreas winds through the throngs of tourists clumping for photos, or swerving around on their bikes, we follow closely. Then there's a gap in the crowds and we see Lorraine crouching with the camera. We speed ahead, trying to look tough for the pictures.
After some model shots, Andreas leads us up and down a hundred San Fransisco hills to the Pacific ocean. We kick off our shoes, run through the sand, and jump into the frigid water. Splashing around, and dunking our heads we rejoice. But we also are hit with the weighted feeling that we cannot bike any further. The ocean stretches out endlessly before us and it is impassible. Jumping into the ocean was the furthest west we could go.
Andreas thought we were crazy. He stood on the beach shaking his head and taking pictures. After putting some warm things on, Andreas led us to Golden Gate park where we would meet Lorraine for a picnic. As we rode, the paparazzi pro followed us closely. One second she would be behind us, the next second she'd be at the bottom of a hill, silver Mercedes barely visible around the corner. It was surely impressive.
When we got to Won (Andreas' hippie car) he got out all these amazing picnic essentials like cheeses, crackers, cookies, 4 different kinds of drinks, and other yumshis and thoughtful snacks. We all munched and laughed a lot. Then Andreas (and Peter in spirit) gave us these really cool hippie dippy things. I got a little green satchel (that i've been using since I got it), and Jocelyn got this really cool orange scarf. Thank you Andreas! and thank you Peter! And thank you Lorraine (aka paparazzi princess)!
After our delicious welcome partay, we said goodbye to Andreas and cruised in the movie star paparazzi car to the fanciest hotel in San Fransisco.
We got to stay with Lorraine at the Palace Hotel right downtown. It was pretty pish posh. We rolled our dirty, squirrel-pelted bikes right through the lobby.
The hotel was so much fun. We did some SERIOUS sneaking around and trying to get into parties we weren't invited to. We even took the sneaking to another hotel a block away and I found a piano to play. Jocelyn and I happened upon an empty ballroom in one of the hotels and we gave a very windy fake speech at the podium. After walking around the city and exploring with us, Lorraine headed back to the room and we went in search of pizza. We found a place that was open, but it was in a very sketchy part of town. So, while we were waiting for our pizza, we went to this "infinite love" club. Kids there looked like Bard students. I don't know what we looked like, sun burnt in our turtlenecks and mom jeans. After a while of feeling awkward, we started talking to people and quickly realized that their initial judgements of us and our initial judgements of them dissolve as soon as you open up and stop reserving and judging and feeling out of place. The music was a bit too psychedelic. We left to get our pizza and head back to the hotel to hang out with Lorraine. Party!
We finally went to sleep after a VERY long and VERY epic day. Thank you to everyone who made this happen. Thank you to everyone who made this amazing and changed who we are and who we want to be.
This is a beautiful country and I encourage everyone to cross it slowly. Take the time to talk to someone you might normally overlook. Act upon a spontaneous desire to climb a cliff, check out a bookstore, jump in a stream. And whatever you do, DON'T have an itinerary. Decide where you want to go, when and how along the way!
send postcards to the people you meet!
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