Berkeley, CA

We make it into Berkeley about 8pm on Thursday. It reminds me of The Ave in Seattle, but without the rain. Co-eds are everywhere, lots of people on bikes, the main strip, appropriately named College Way, has no corporate presence save for a 7-11 and a McDonalds. The local ice cream store is packed with a line out the door. I knew we had made it to Berkeley when we passed a man in his late forties, gray shaggy hair and beard, carrying a stack of books in one hand and a stacks of papers in the other, the personification of the slightly senile professor. He even wore Birkenstocks. I loved it.

We stayed with Josh, a friend of Staci's from high school. He lives in an old apartment building with lots of character. His roommate Oliver had lived there ten years. Josh took us to a hole in the wall Mexican place called Gordo's. We shared a tasty super sized carne assada burrito. Thursday was our longest driving day yet, so we're both pretty tired. We crash on an airmattress while watching the Disney version of Peter Pan.