What a day

I'll tell the story about Raul later. Today has mega-sucked so far. Yesterday I merely wanted a new tent; today I need a new tent because one of the poles broke when I was tearing down this morning. Also, having only 4-6 oz of water when I woke up today, I figured (and hoped) there would be somewhere to refill shortly after crossing the Dumbarton Bridge. Nope. I walked 8.6 miles before finding a place to get some water. A little further down the road I followed a bike path because it looked like it went north. To my dismay it ended up curving all the way around and going south. I'd been on the trail for at least a mile and a half before I realized it wasn't gonna go where I wanted it to go. My only choice was to walk all the way back to where I'd gotten on the trail, meaning I walked at least 3 miles for absolutely nothing. Right now I'm beside the I-880 northbound on-ramp in or near
Union City, trying to get a ride to Sacramento. Less than 3 hours of daylight remaining.

I CAN'T SLEEP!!! You'd think

I CAN'T SLEEP!!! You'd think after 2 weeks of walking 15 miles a day, carrying 50+ lbs on my back, I'd have no trouble sleeping. Whatever.

Right now I'm camped out near CA Rte 84 & University Ave, I believe, near the south end of the SF Bay. I ran out of smokes after my first one yesterday. There was nowhere to buy more. Today began shittily, with me walking 6 miles up the cold, windy Rte 1, to about 8 miles south of Pescadero. Then, finally, someone stopped for me. It was 3 young English lads, age 17, 19, and 20. Those blokes took me to Half Moon Bay, where it was nice to be back in civilization. They gave me a banana and were cool to talk to. I spent every last penny on food and smokes before beginning the trek up Rte 92 toward the Bay Area. That road was not fun. First there was a couple miles of walking with almost no shoulder through constant traffic. Then, without warning, it was time to climb a mountain. No bullshit. When I reached the top of the incline, I was in the clouds and it was damn cold. I'll write about
Raul tomorrow... Mom, I hope you still have that other belt around because this one is too big now.