San Francisco

Nick: The very first thing that came to my mind when I woke up was "where's my phone, so I can call that cafe and inquire as to whether or not they have my laptop." Yeah, that's right. If you suspected it already, allow me to confirm it: I am an idiot. I left my computer at the cafe place from the day before, and to further complicate the issue, we had no idea which cafe it was or even where it was. With a stroke of luck, we figured out the name of the resort nearby, called them, they directed us to the cafe and, joy of joys, they had the lap top. I told the guys that if they came to keep my company on the drive back up that I'd buy them lunch. And so they came.

Brian: Basically between 9 and 4 o'clock today we were driving back up the coast to get Nick's lappy. It was maybe worth it though because we stopped at a natural food cafe that had amazing shitake quesadillas.

Nick: And great skinny pizza.

Tyler: I might also add that up until that point both Brian and I were recovering from shots of Old Crow that the previous night contained, those quesadillas were life savers.

Brian: When we got back to San Fran we wanted to stretch our legs a little so we parked about 10 blocks from Haight-Ashbury which is a famously hipster/scenester/stoner region of the city. Before we meandered through the patchouli scented stores we hiked up a huge hill in a park that gave us a great sunset view of the city and the Golden Gate Bridge. Also Nick showed me my birthday present from him which was a $40,000 marble carving of a naked woman in a rather revealing position.

Nick: There was a little damage to the left nipple, so I was able to talk them down a bit. If I can get it shipped to Bainbridge Island myself, the guy will give it to me for around $36,000. Happy Birthday Brian, I hope you appreciate all the little things I do for you.

Tyler: Yes we have lots of disposable income after striking gold and oil at the same time just off the California coast, it was in the news you might have heard. After visiting a piercing shop, some vintage clothing stores and what have you, we decided to try and find a place to stay for the night. Katie allowed us the use of her epic apartment again despite the fact that she would not be there for the night. People on couch surfing are so wonderful. We ate a fairly decent Chinese restaurant Brian and I both got 5 or 6 course meals for 16 bucks and Nick got something else.

Nick: Kung Pow Puppy.

Tyler: Then we hit the bars again. This time trying to take it easier than the previous night that we all felt the effects of. We visited the bar we got kicked out of the night before, and the guy told us that he would call the cops if need be. We still weren't sure what we did wrong... We had a drink mostly because of the principle of the whole thing, then moved on to see Katie's friend's band.

Brian: They were decent, three guys jammin' and singing about life. They only had like half a dozen fans but maybe that's what you get for having a show on a Thursday.

Nick: The bar smelled... sort of exactly like a barn. We don't know why. The music was... not suited to my personal taste. The air... thick, wet, hot. Just an awful situation all around. I stepped outside and ran into a young woman who had, unknown to any of us, been searching desperately for three couch surfing guys from Seattle and Indiana respectively. We fit the bill, and in fact, were the very three men whom she had been looking for. My first thought: fame had come. Our first road trip roady. As it turned out, this was not the case: the young lady was simply a friend of Katies and as such knew of our location in the area. Still, it felt good to be searched for. As we conversed, one of the guys in her group starting smoking pot. Like, from a bowl. This was strange to me. No one else took much notice. Maybe I need to get with the times.

Brian: Yo man, California is like, totally a different place, man. Well, that's about that. We head south in search of sunnier skies tomorrow. Tonight we are out.