Under The Pedal: Berlingame

Showing posts with label Berlingame. Show all posts

Sunday, December 13, 2009

8 Nov 2009

8 Nov 2009 Berlingame - Pigeon Point BY CAR
My friend and her sister and borther in law drove from Berlingame to Pigeon Point where there is a light house with a youth hostel. This is my first time I stayed at a youth hostel in America, one thing is pretty funny for me: check in time is afternoon. We walked around and waited for check in time. When everything was done I said goodbye to them and thanks! Tonight I met an old lady, she always calls me son, it makes me so happy, she lives in Edgewood, Arizona and she said I could visit her on my way in the future.

Stanford University

My university classmate

Pigeon Point

6 - 7 Nov 2009

6 - 7 Nov 2009 Burlingame
Came back to my university classmate's apartment in Berlingame, two days had a good rest.

The helmet George gave me

New one!

A small circle north of San Francisco I have done

The date stamps, beautiful?

Friday, December 11, 2009

24 Oct 2009 Burlingame - Marin

24 Oct 2009
Burlingame - SFO - Greenbrae, Marin 40.6 miles (65 km)
The first day of my cycling trip crossing America! Pedaling on the bike again is such a wonderful feeling. My destination is NY I know it is such a long way! I think it is more than 4,000 miles - about 6,400 km. I do not know how long it will take me. The first thing is going to post office to get a date stamp, I think this is a cool way to record my trip. The stamps themselves are very beautiful and for yourself you can easy remember which day where you were, and of course it cost nothing except the time spent waiting for the officer to give you a date stamp.

When I got on Golden Gate Bridge I met a guy George, we talked such long time. Finally he brought me back to his home and gave me a place to sleep for the night! He lives in Greenbrae, Marin County. More amazing thing is his mother who is 86-years old was born in Wuhan China in 1924!!!!! She can still speak a little bit Mandarin what she remembered as "Hello","Thanks" and "I am full". She saw the Japanese invaded China during the Second World War with her own eyes and left China in 1952 because of the widespread Red politics going on all over China.

From San Francisco I headed north in the direction of Orgen and Idaho, because I would like to see a couple who live in Boise, Idaho. They gave me an amazing memory: in March 2007, I met them at the border China and Laos. They were bikers as well but we were going the opposite way. They were heading from Laos to China, and I was heading from China to Laos. We stayed at the same hostel and exchanged a lot of information including emails. When I got back to Beijing in April, 2007, I sent email to them said I am safe back, but I got two replies, one is from them the other is not. The other mail sender said we were in Tibet in August/September 2006 at the same time, and then sent me photo, to my surprise she is an Aussie girl that I met in Tibet cycling over the highest pass of about 15,000 feet! That day this Aussie girl and I got caught in heavy snow, so we had to go into a tent with some Tibetan nomads to keep warm. An hour later she left and we did not exchange email. I thought I would not get any more news of her, but I unexpectedly got her news from this couple who live in Boise!!! The couple did not know the Aussie girl as well, but in 2007 when they headed to Tibet, they wanted to get some information from other bikers, so their friends introduced friends who introduced friends and finally they got the Aussie girl's email. This is like a circle - a bikers' circle! I met the Aussie girl again in 2007 in Beijing, and now we are very good friends. Each couple of months for the last 2.5 years we have met in Beijing, it is a such a wonderful feeling. In the summer of 2007, after we met again, she went to Vietnam, on a very local Vietnamese train she met a Chinese guy who knows me!!! this Chinese guy I did meet him in Laos in March 2007. It is so amazing: I met an Aussi girl in Tibet in 2006 and another Chinese guy in Laos in 2007 then they both met on the train in Vietnam in 2007!!! What a small world!

So from San Francisco I headed north to see the couple who brought me this wonderful memory, because it is destiny and fate that brought us together.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Biking across America 1

20 Oct 2009

All night I did not sleep, because I was packing and waiting for the sunrise.

7:00 am I left home, standing alone on a Beijing street corner in the early morning I felt a little bit sad and lonely, then I took the subway to the airport.

10:00 am the airplane took off from Beijing stopped for a couple of hours in Hong Kong, and landed in San Francisco at almost the same local time that I left from Beijing, but I flew more than 16 hours already.

My American visa's expiration date is 21 Oct, which is very fateful for me, because my idol Jack Kerouac, died on 21 Oct 1969: It means that I stood on American soil, 40 years and a day after he passed away. I did not choose the exact day-21 Oct- because I do not want to get any trouble at the customs in San Francisco.

I prepared a lot of answers for the American immigration, but they did not ask me many questions and gave me a 6-month I-94 card! I am very surprised: usually, the first time come to America just get 1-3 months, I am so lucky.

I stayed at my university classmate's apartment in Berlingame, south of San Francisco. This time I did not bring my bike from Beijing, it is too difficult when you get on and off the plane, so the first thing I needed to do is buy a bike. I am pretty lucky I got a used bike for $ 150, it is a Specailzed - almost new one, and I bought two used panniers, a front rack and a front bike light, etc for $ 110.