September 26, 1997
Benicia, California, USA

This afternoon, Sandy, an artist friend I met in Oregon, picked me up and took me to Seven Hills, a private school for bright children. As planned, I spoke to her daughter’s grade five class about different aspects of my journey and the motivation behind it. From the questions they asked, I could tell the kids were interested and listening closely. I showed them a bunch of my safety equipment, including my PLB(Personal Locater Beacon), VHF radio, and PFD. I only had a half hour with them, so the time went by quickly. On their way out, I let them sample pieces of Carbo Crunches and Vita Bars - the high energy food I eat when I’m out on the water.

Mr. Miller, the principal, was in attendance also. He said he really enjoyed my presentation, and that he would continue to follow my adventure through the Internet. I think the internet is marvelous. I never say goodbye to people anymore - now it’s just... "Hey, drop me an e-mail some time!"

I was given a fifty dollar thank-you from the school for doing the presentation. As you can imagine... I was pleased. Talking for a half hour sure was a lot easier than spending two hours carrying a 90 pound back-pack up a mountain-side.

I’m now at Sandy’s home in Benicia. This evening was like a Twin Rocks reunion. All of Sandy’s familly, and even her friend Art from New York, were here for supper. we feasted on Dungoness crab, and pasta. Before supper, Sandy took me out to photograph the Moth-ball Fleet - a bunch of old war-ships moored together in storage in case they are needed again.

Sandy, like her late husband, Bob Arneson, is an excellent sculptor. She has one of Bob’s creatations that I like especially. It’s a life-size bronze statue of a shaggy dog - with Bob’s head, smoking a cigar. Many of Bob’s pieces depict images of himself. These images are often grotesque, and it appears as though he is making fun of himself. His work is quite well-known.

September 30, 1997
Oakland, California, USA

On Saturday morning, the 27th, Tenaya and her friend Eva got up early, typed out a menu on the computer, and turned Sandy’s kitchen and dining room into the Muddy Dog Cafe. They are great cooks, and made us all separate dishes. After breakfast, I took the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit - like a subway), back into Oakland.

Yesterday, I was picked up at Ken’s house by Craig, a guy I had contacted over the net. We met two other dudes at Linda Mar Beach in Pacifica, and spent the morning surfing in white-water kayaks. It took a while for me to get used to the much smaller boat, but eventually, I got the hang of it. I caught some pretty sweet waves. The surf wasn’t too big... but just gnarly enough that I got trashed hard a few times. I got lots of roll practice.

Today, Ken took me to see the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Bay Model in Sausalito. The Bay Model is a huge working model of San Francisco Bay, which covers the entire floor of a massive warehouse. It was built many years ago by the army corps of engineers to help predict the effects of the changing landscape on the Bay currents.

I spent all this evening packing my gear for my departure from San Francisco tomorrow morning.