05.12.06

“Oh, but California, California I’m coming home. I’m going to see the folks I dig, I’ll even kiss a Sunset pig. Oh California, I’m coming home…” Joni Mitchell

Posted in Uncategorized, life's stories at 11:43 pm by Deb

We were finally in California! Whew. X decided to leave his winter coat on the side of the road. Boy was he sorry a little later on. Northern California is not like Florida. It was cold, damp and windy. We managed to get to Walnut Creek, which is not very far from San Francisco, our immediate destination, though who knew how long we would stay. We stood there with our thumbs out, getting excited and anxious. After an hour, that turned to annoyance and aggravation. So close yet so very far. We were starting to feel desperate. We had come 3000 miles, more or less, and couldn’t get a ride a few more miles. It took us 8 hours and most of the money we had left to finally bribe someone to drive us across the bridge into the city. We knew X’s sister was staying in some kind of commune and we could at least crash there temporarily - if we could ever get there. We walked the last miles, X freezing and shivering without his coat, me dragging my duffel bag behind me with barely enough strength to drag my feet forward. Finally we found Howard St., in the warehouse district of Frisco. We were standing in front of some kind of old factory or warehouse - it turned out to be an old canning factory - but there was no sign of life. It sure didn’t look like anyone lived there. It was just an old run-down building in an industrial section of town. We checked the address again, shrugged and looked for a way in. She lived in a place called “Project One”. There were three of these “projects”, Project One, Project Two and Project Artaud. Project Artaud is the only one that has survived. Once we figured out how to gain entry, it was like entering another world…

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