Catching up....

I have been outa the loop for several days now and well, I think i am hust going to cut outa my travel log and post here, I have not edited or corrected any spelling or grammar etc - so please excuse me for that ...

Bye Bye Reno, See ya, would hate to be ya.

With time changes and all it is now 06H06 Wednesday morning Date ? month - August - Year i hope 2007 I have been to and experienced San Fransisco as few i believe have. I arrived three hours late on the Amtrak service from Denver. That made my arrival time 21H45 and then the bus trip over the bridge into the heart of San Franscisco was 30 - 45 min. I started out and followed instructionds from a person on the bus into town, wrong move. Got off the bus got lost. Retraced my steps couldn't find a map anywhere. Found bus stop bus route map and plotted my street three streets from where i was which was a pretty good estimation by my thinking especially in a strange city. Well i pop into Walgreens to buy smokes and do a fatal thing, ask for confirmation that Ellis street is two blocks up and the cashier Korean, chinese ? gave me a somewhat blank look and i guy in the queue says no i am facing the wrong direction. Left as i leave the store and down twelve or so blocks. Ok local, well groomed and good looking girl on his arm. Well i set out and start walking.

San Francisco is the pits, as far a humanity goes. Gay guy rollerblading past the walgreens store, falls and spills in front of all the people around the front of the store and a group of roughly ten or so 18 to 20 year olds, pack up laughing and basicaly run up to him and tease the daylights out of him / her? They were laughing with that alcohol drug induced cackling. I was amazed and made sure the guy was ok. He got up and moved on. I carried on my way up Market street following the instruction given by the local who was now ahead of me up the road. I caught up and thanked him for the directions and he nodded and i confirmed that ellis was still ahead. I strolled not wanting to interfere with their intimate evening stroll.

Cut a long story short i walked at least fifteen blocks and then got a touch pee'd off. I asked the first pretty girl for directions and she says no problem she is walking that way and needs the company of a male through the streets as she had been accosted twice or three imes in a year. So she would trade that for directions. So there Jesssica and i change directions completely as Ellis runs parralel to Market and we head on up into city centre. The crime, drugs and thugs hanging around were watching me, my bag and my new found friend. We strolled almost seven blocks or so up hill and finally she showed me where Ellis was and she pealed off the street before Ellis to collect her car. She is a nurse from Los Angeles and hates San Fransisco. She has been here a year and well it has not treated her kindly to say the least. She is collecting enough money to move back home, but is struggling to even get that right.


Well i walked and walked and by accident came to the second hostel on my list as i was way off course for the first one. No go fully booked and after two days on amtrak i must have looked a bit of a mess, so i left and strolled down ellis towards the first hostel and the area got definately seedy with rather large african gentleman bumping and following and essentially asking me what i had lost in their neigbourhood. I put on my dont f*ck with me face and strolled down to the other hostel, also fully booked and no cancellations. I phoned my third and fourth hostels on my list, and there was nothing available without a weeks wait. So i started hotel hunting and the cheapest I found was one hundred and fourty five dollars for what was essentially becoming half a nights stay.
The hookers could put me up for three hundred and they guaranteed me a clean shower and coffee, but no sleeping till dawn. The other well used establishments charged by the hour which i recognised as a good upmarket type of establishment. At that stage i did not really care and strolled in. A dog [big], a chain [heavy] and a black man [big] stopped me and said that he thought i may be lost and could he show me where i needed to go. I declined his kind offer and headed back to the station. I can swear his name is Babba. My logic was that i could crash there for the night and start again in the morning. I went down to the station thinking plenty of light and people milling around till dawn. My thinking was correct but the quality of the people, requires at least a half hour explanation. You know those movies where there are these zombies, climbing outa graves and such well they lie in San Fransisco.

I was approached by one of these characters who wanted my backpack, actually my day pack with all my equipent in. Now with a full backpack on your back you loose a lt of motive skills and kinda stumble around. So i had to dump that pack because the day pack had all my important stuff in. Dumping that, i caught the drunk, drugged up whatever guy and reclaimed my bag. I warned him to back off to no avail, so i helped him on his way He fell which was my intention and i turned to reclaim my other bag. He got up and called the cops inside the station saying that i had assaulted him. The cops were pretty sharp and asked me where i was going. I told them and they asked for id etc. The pointed me in the right direction and suggested i stay off the streets till dawn. I strolled away and decided then and there enough is already too much.

Well again to cut a long story short the cops kicked me out of the station and i spent the night out on the streets down at the amtrak bus collection point at pier 2. So from Twelve till six in the morning i froze my butt off and called it quits. So many other people pitched at the amtrak station saying that they too could not find accomodation and that they would book and return at a later stage. I befriended a security guard who kept an eye on me and several homeless people as i waited. We shared smokes, correction I shared my smokes with the homeless and listened to their drunken plights. I literally could not sit as it got too cold. The cops and local security firms kept an eye on me as i huddled in my two shirts and a blanket. I have some really neat pictures of my street corner taken at three in the morning. I have checked out of San Franscisco and am heading for Los Angeles. The people are rude, the city smells and the homeless are dangerous and desperate. All the shop fronts in certain ares are littered with people and belongings. I must admit it is nothing like I expected.


So I have chickened out of what promised to be a wonderfull city and heading south. Maybe I can return. in a weeks time after booking later today. Even if i blanket book it should be ok. All i really need is two nights. I really see how things have changed since i last did this. The hostels are profiling you and are full at the drop of a hat. They tried to tell me that they have absolutely no cancellation for the evening,this at twelve at night. Anyway we will see. I have booked passage to Los Angeles and we will see what happens. I feel as if I am selling myself out by leaving but am really tired and 'gatvol'. I need to sleep and have a shower. On the way to Los Angeles and then after phoning ahead to book hostel, I will sleep. Now the question i need to ask is why. This bugs me to no end, the fact that i crumble and become all disorientated when things go screwy. I get the shakes, i get all agitated and irritable and land up having words with someone at the drop of a hat. I certainly meant the man no harm, but he was pushing it. He had a nasty bump on the head for his troubles and i let a really wonderfull photographic chance pass me by.

08H02 Pacific time Amtrak to Bakerfield California

Well i am on and San Franscisco has faded into the background both physically and with more difficulty emotionally. I did chicken out but, what can i say, taking strain on the emotional side and dont want to get involved with all that jostling and pushing and negativitey. Yes it is proberbly a cop out but so be it. I missed the rolling hills, the trams and the famous bridge. But alas i got to see all of them but have to buy a new card for the camera and charge the camera, laptop and the phone. Phone and laptop currently taking priority, due to having to make phone calls later for accomodation in los Angeles.And the lap top to look them all up for phone numbers etc already downloaded.

I am really tired and just want to sleep but this is not the same as the other amtrak trains i have been on. They have more commuter type seating. Each seat has its own 120 volt outlet. Nice for the work commute if you made one daily. I need to find a map of Los Angeles or find a whi fi for google earth. Anyway now at Martinez and thats all i can really say about Martinez. Not able to see anything of interest as we are between factories and station. Beyond the factories is a finger of water, very large finger infact. Damn all this typing is draining my little resources that i have left. Really tired so going to call it quits for now and try and get some shut eye.


13H14 Local time (Pacific) Los Angeles 17th August 2007

Well this is my second day here and find myself at the station. This time heading for Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. I had to change my tickets and all to reroute to Flagstaff but amtrak obliged and i leave this evening at 18H15 to flagstaff ariving at 04H30 tomorrow. Four days there and then onto a myriad of smaller places etc heading for Texas and in particular Dallas. From there i move onto Fortworth for three days and then out to Austin by month end. I have not left central Los Angeles and am frankly quite horrified by the stat of the city that holds such a high publicity stage in the rest of the world. They have people sleeping in tents on the pavement in some parts of the city. The city centre is dirty and the bum's sleep everywhere except the financial district. I did however do the cultural thing and checked out the museums and art life.

Not too much going on there. I have concluded that i would not live in Los Angeles unless you paid me and even then i would negotiate like never before. Outlying areas i have no idea as i did not go to the expense of the trips, the hostels or the nightlife. Plus i am scared of running into Paris Hilton, ex convict and all. No seriously i am being unfair to Los Angeles, my closing comment is that i am not impressed with the city center.

Well after a lng afternoon in and around Union statin in Los Angeles i have boarded a train to Flagstaff. I re-routed my tickets from one way austin via southern route to flagstaff and then two obscure towns in Illonois of all places and then catching the connecting train down to Fort Worth. I had anotherincident at the Los Angeles Union station where a exchange student from Germany had lost contact with her host family and they did not know that she is at the station. She was walking up and down the whole day looking lost and i bumped into her at the caffeteria and she asked if there was internet service at the station etc. I sat her down with a drink as she was all teary eyed and went off looking for assistance Well i encountered Miss Anderson an African American woman of generous proportions and asked her to help me locate some help for this girl, as my train was due to depart and i did not want to miss it, but could not leave her there stranded either. Well Miss Anderson essentially blew me off.

23h53 Flagstaff (Grand Canyon World)

Just a short note to let you know i am fit and well and in Flagstaff. Till monday or Tuesday this comming week, then down to Dallas etc - will fill you in on the Grand Canyon experience later with pictures. Bought a downloader for the camera and laptop. Back IN Business BIB.

till later cheers