Cali: 2-25 San Rafael

The winds of chaos and indecision are blowing through my journey. I’m in a room at the Villa Hotel on Lincoln Ave. in San Rafael, with the Weather Channel playing and me trying to figure out what to do with my day. Our place to stay in Oakland fell through, so we could stay with friends in San Francisco, but they aren’t expecting us. So do I head for Oakland and hook up with that guy, or head for “The City” and hope for the best, when I might have to go all the way back to the meeting with my backpack, or do I sightsee—and how do I get to The City? Greyhound? Golden Gate Transit? A ferry? That would be cool, actually.

Anyway, I kind of fell out of the groove a little, but it’s fine. The bus here yesterday was PACKED, and the driver was losing it a little, but I found a place to get internet and guacamole, then I headed for the meeting, which turned out to be at an Alano Club, where they serve food! So that was a pleasant discovery. The meeting was small, just five of us, and we read a story from the book. There was a new guy with 90 days, so he got a 24-hour chip, a 15-day, a 30-day, a 60-day and a 90-day. It’s funny to be, on one night, in a room with 35 people, lots of sobriety, sponsors, people headed for the Convention, the whole thing ... and then the next night, less than an hour away, sit with five people, none of whom have a year, and they don’t even know about the Convention. It’s always a trip.

Afterwards, with no place to stay, I first walked down to the transit center, mainly to look into heading for SF, but that was going to be after 10:30 before I got downtown—much less over to my friends’ house. So then I figured I’d get a hotel room, and headed for the central area. Man, they’ve got everything going on along 4th Street: shops, restaurants, clubs, bars, movie theatres, the whole thing—except a hotel. I walked about 20 blocks, then headed back towards the street where the meeting was, since some people said there was a hotel up there. I walked about eight blocks up that road before I found this place, so I must have walked a couple miles, easy, after the meeting. It was one of those nights where—and I know this is a lot of info, but still—I came in hot, tired, and mildly frustrated, so I dropped all my stuff, took off all my clothes, turned on the TV, and didn’t move for about two hours. Then I slept for nine hours.

Somewhere in the back of my head is this voice saying, “Gosh, I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area, I should go DO something.” But I don’t feel like dragging my backpack all over the place, and I guess I’m just not into it. I mean, screw it. I’m okay with relaxing when I can, and besides, what I’ve learned on this trip is that I enjoy hanging out with people, not running around and playing tourist.

Anyway, nothing much to report today, if anybody’s even reading this. I think I’ll go back down to the restaurant with the WiFi, then figure out what comes next.