BIRDS GO TO SAN FRANCISCO

To Tara and Katarina, to Roger and Erlinda, and to my new travel companion Uli



June 27
It was lunch-time. I was walking toward the Pacific Coast Highway no 1. A young girl who had come with the same bus asked if I was going to the temple. I wasn't, but when invited, went with the girl. Tara was from Nepal. Tara told me of a book she wanted me to read and introduced me toKatarina from Finland.

The
temple was of the “Self Realisation Fellowship” founded in 1920 byParamahansa Yoganda. The book, a present from Tara, was called “Autobiography of a Yogi” written by the same man.

I looked around the temple, took a walk in the garden. After Katarina offered me lunch, cake and tea, I continued my journey.

“Where is the Pacific Coast Highway?” I asked one man in a parking area.
“In which direction are you going?”
“North, to Alaska”.
“I could take you to Malibu”.

“So where do you get your food?” he asked after I had briefly introduced myself.
In reply I told him what had happened in the temple.


Food is often given to me when I need it. Most of the food I carry has been given to me. Although with the money the people ofWakkanai raised for me I have enough to buy fresh food, I can not carry more than I have.

From Malibu I hitched a ride with Roger who in his youth was a hitchhiker himself. That night I stayed at Roger's place with Julian - Roger's father and Julian's nurseErlinda. It was a great evening!

June 28
The next day Roger took me to Santa Barbara to a small shop of Native
Americans selling medical cannabis.
Dogs, drugs, children and their parents – it seemed to be a family business. I noticed green bracelets on both of the parents' wrists with a message of “Make it Legal”.

Although Roger insisted for me to stay, I decided to hit the road and continue my trip North. Hitchhiked until sunset without luck and then started looking for a place to sleep.

Tried knocking on the door of one church. No answer. A thought of asking for permission to put up a tent in somebody's garden crossed my mind. Went then to a Salvation Army Hospitality house and received a contact of a youth hostel.

Last time I had payed for my night's stay was in August 2007 in China for less than $5. Santa Barbara International Youth Hostel charged me $33. A busy place. Not very good perhaps, but still quite far from bad. The feeling of meeting kindred spirits, of people travelling, overwhelmed me. Even though their budgets and their ways of getting to places were different, each of them was on the road.

I had nice talks with a group of French kids who were experiencing their first independent journey, spoke Japanese with Satoshi who came to America to learn English, went for a walk with Kari from Finland - a good listener and a warm person.

“Where do you come from?”, “Where are you going?”, at last I was the one asking!

Ulrike 26, from Germany, travelling around the world alone, going to San Francisco. Having heard that I invited Uli to hitchhike together.

“ I have a car” said Ulrike.
“You have a car?! Can I get a ride?”
“I am going slowly, stopping many times along the way. It may take me five days.”
I got the hint.
“You can drop me off along the way near a petrol station or a parking area I'd be happy just to get out of Santa Barbara.”
It was a deal!

What was to be a short ride actually became a wonderful travel companionship. We travelled together for four days (June 29 – July 2)and parted in the morning of the fifth. Travelling scenic roads instead of the highway, relaxing on many beautiful beaches, sharing food, stories, thoughts and of course expenses for gasoline. Again I felt that we had known each other longer than we actually had and travelled together more than what it was in reality.

Wherever I go I am a stranger. No friends, no acquaintances. Although I always make
friends, the time that we spend together does not last longer than the ride. Usually it is from 20 minutes to three hours, if I am invited and there is trust, I can spend the night. But then, after breakfast I hit the road again. No mutual history nor future, there is just the intense moment of NOW. Take it or leave it, speak or be quiet. You can never repeat this moment or this meeting.

Who am I? - A grateful guest. An observer of people's ways, a receiver of their kindness. A part of their life. I go, but never forget. The next person is connected to all the previous ones in one inseparable chain. Sharing the distances does not necessarily mean a companionship. Yes, we are both on the road, but we are different. I am without a home, without a vehicle, without a destination, without my people. They have a home, a vehicle, a destination and their people.

“In my world there is a population of one person – me,” I would often say.

A feeling of a travel companionship is different. It has a concept of our
world, our way, our journey. I believe that to every travel companionship there is a formula of the things that bind one to the other in the frame of a given time.

In four days that we travelled together, Uli and I were both on the road without a clear destination point, there were no appointments nor promises, no one was waiting for us, our pace was determined by a personal feeling. We had space for mutual past and future, which made our connection deeper . We were both relieved that we did not have to introduce ourselves or our journeys any more. At least not to each other.

One morning waking up in the car, we met a friendly couple taking a walk on the beach. Bill and Maria were on vacation from Texas. Having found out that we come from Europe, Bill asked us our routes. I showed Bill a printout of the map of the world
with the route marked on it. Bill asked me many questions. Asked about future plans.

I do not have a destination or a plan. I just like to be on the road. I look at the map and take the furthest point I can go to. Now I want to go North to Alaska. Then I would probably take the next furthest point - Chili and Argentina, turn back to travel a different coast North, up to Panama. Find a way to cross the ocean, go
as West as possible, eventually circle Australia, then take a road North and travel to South East Asia, go West towards India and the Middle East, turn South to journey Africa. Plans and at the same time no plans, no time frame - a freedom of being on the road as long as it takes, wherever it brings me enjoying the journey.

Bill took his wallet and handed me $40.
“No, it is really not necessary” , I said, but took the money.
Maria was in a hurry to leave and started walking away.
“Here, let me take this back,” said Bill and gave me a note of $100 instead.

I gave Uli half of the money later.
“Are you sure? He gave that to you...”
“My luck is your luck”

We reached San Francisco on July 1st. The car Uli had rented had to be back in San Francisco by noon of July 3rd which gave us time to continue North, enjoying the beautiful coastline, good weather and each other's company.

We picked up a hitchhiker Natti on his way to Eureka. Natti wanted to climb the majestic Redwood trees and do some tree-sitting with a group of activists trying to protect them from being cut down.Took the road through the “Valley of the Giants” together, could not resist getting out of the car. I had never seen such huge trees in my life! We dropped Natti off in Eureka and continued North to Arcata which was to be our last lodging spot.

It was nice being “on the other side” for a change, I told Uli later.

We parted the next morning at 6 AM. When my travel companion drove away, I realised that I did not have her contact or email. Uli, if you are reading this, please drop me a line to carinaoma(at)gmail.com. I don't want to loose you! We had such a wonderful journey together!