And I'm off! Slept in, had a big breakfast, and then time to hit the road. The drive to San Francisco went well - nice going, car! - but I think I'm going to have to take breaks more often. By hour three I'd been going pretty well non-stop and I was making up songs about the exit signs. "Petaluma, I wish I knew ya / Driving south, I'm gonna get down to ya" is the only one I remember. I think I did one about Sebastopol to the tune of "No More Tears" by Ozzy Osbourne, but I don't remember the words.

It feels good to be on the road - don't know if I'll feel that way 8 weeks from now, but one day at a time, right? When I wasn't making up road sign songs I listened to KQED - heard a great piece on The World about how people in developing countries can't get weather forecasts.

Got into town about 4 pm and filled up on cheese doodles at a mini-mart near Union Square. I caught a preview of one of the dance outfits that's part of the International Arts Festival, only one of the cheese doodles must've slipped out of my hand, cause the next thing I know one of the dancers topples over, holding his ankle, and two of the others try to come after me. I tried to apologize while hiding behind a row of grandparents, but it didn't work - one of the dancers screamed "I'll make sure you never dance in this town again!" over and over. Then one of the grandparents turned on me because there was a cheese doodle in her hair. Ran a couple blocks back to the car and drove off to find a hotel - the iPod shuffles to "There's a Riot Goin' On" by San Francisco's own Sly and the Family Stone. My MP3 player has a sense of humor.

Photo by Pargon