A Sojourn: Part 2--California

Before I begin this section, I failed to mention one thing from Arizona that I felt was worth note. Only miles from the California border, there was a flapping noise coming from our car. UNsure of what it was, we pulled to the side of the road to inspect. Within literally (I'm not exaggerating) 3 seconds of pulling over, a local fireman offered his help. This was refreshing to see given the whole Texas debacle. Anyway, it was not a big deal and we went to buy tape at the aptly named "Crazy Fred's" which sold fantasy knives along side martini olives (why a trucker would need martini olives I will never know) and smelled as if a heard of wild house cats had had their way with a barrel of expired egg nog.
Finally, we reached the California border, much to our great pleasure since it was our ultimate goal. We felt as though we had reached the end of a marathon and needed consolation in our success for merely making it alive. Therefore, we promptly (and so very cliche') put in Tupac's "California Love" on the radio in a make-shift celebration. We even got to go through customs which was almost a right of passage for us newcomers. Our sudden burst of excitement was quickly nipped in the bud when we realized we had to cross the entire Mojave Desert just to get to Bakersfield. This, as it turned out, would take another two and a half hours, of which I was not mentally prepared to deal with. I tried to find distractions via several different outlets. It all was fruitless however. I began to see (at least I thought) the cacti waving back at me with a cheezy grin. Without too much paranoia setting in, we finally did make it to civilization.
My fellow companion on this trip did not like driving in the dark (fear?). I didn't mind it because I knew in the back of my head I may have to prepare my silver bullets to fend her off if she were to drive in the dark again. So it was up to me to drive the rest of the way to San Francisco, which was roughly 3 hours. The early stages in the process were not bad because I wasn't yet tired. As time went on and the endless rows of almond fields soon turned into a blur, I began to feel the effects. While driving on route 101 and going roughly 80 mph (slow by local standards apparently), I felt like I was going to pass out. By that time it was around midnight (3 AM Ohio time) and I had no energy left. I eventually succumb to drinking a Coke in order to not wreck the car. Though, that would have seemed like bliss at the moment.
Nearing Berkeley, I gave my friend, who we were going to stay with, a call (for reasons that could potentially be deleterious to his career, he will be referred to as "Stan"). He didn't have a car and apparently had never been on the roads even though he had been in the area for over a year and a half. One of his directions led us into Oakland which was not the optimal place without a flack jacket. I kind of expected this from Stan given the fact that he doesn't get out much. Eventually, we did get to Berkeley after a meter maid gave us hell for going down a one way street. My impression of the room, when we finally got there, was that of typical Stan. No bright colors and very sterile. My companion was a little apprehensive at first by questioning our decision to stay at this place. Little did she know that this was typical Stan and everything would be fine (hopefully). I reassured her with a swift chop to the back of the neck where she promptly passed out on the couch. To be continued....