Downtown San Fran; Santa Cruz

We had to scramble the following day to find a place to stay.  All the city's hostels were booked because of Spring Break and our recent subscriptions to the Couch surfing network were not yielding any promise.   We found a bike rental shop that would let us store our saddlebags by the Warf (if you're  in San Francisco and looking for a bike rental, trust Bikes to Bridges, I'm now required to say that) cast our fate into the hands of luck, and headed pel mel into the Mission District of Frisco.  City riding is very fun, especially after some IPAs.  I'd say its much safer than freeway riding.  For the most part the drivers have a vague sense that a two-wheeled commuter might be near, and the bike lanes are surprisingly roomy.  Despite the outward look of chaos amidst the shadows of skyscrapers in the financial district I came to a realization that somehow, somewhere, someone was yielding to someone else.  We had a lot of fun dodging tramps and bums with their loaded shopping carts and brown paper bags, past the gay couple holding hands, around the accordian buses, swerving for parked car doors and the women with her leather purse, onto the sidewalk to miss the UPS driver past the shouting shopkeeper sweeping the walk.  We had a big cheers when we got to the large Sapporo and sushi and could watch the man outside the fire escape buttoning his shirt while his friend pulled up in stockings with a hockey helmet.  Brit was nearly done in by a lowrider near Pier 39, but we emerged unscathed and joyous in the light rain.   It is good to know people who live in other places.  And it is even better when those people are willing to drive an hour each way to come pick you up.  Enter Levi McGonigal, my college roommate, and his very patient girlfriend Jenn, who both live in Santa Cruz.   These two met us near the Warf and Jenn watched in half-amusement, half-horror as we somehow managed to stuff both our bikes,  our saddlebags, and ourselves into her Volkswagon Golf.  After a meal at a pub on Haight and Ashbury I bought a Dire Straits CD on a drunken whim and Jenn, who spent a year in San Fran  going to school, led us to a fantastic view overlooking the city on a lonely hill.   It is so very hard to hear silence in the midst of a city, but somehow it revealed itself to us that night.   Brit sat uncomfortably on my lap for the hour ride south to Santa Cruz, which is where we find ourselves now.  We have visited the Boardwalk and the beach, the university with its tree-sitting protesters and the farmer's market.   Levi has graciously offered us his room,  a small space Brit and I have dubbed our "villa", and we are laying low as i fight off a nasty case of tinea curicus that has me walking as if I'd just ridden a horse for three days.  And thats all you probably want to know about that.  This city is a wonderful enclave in the world, full of a great mixture of students, surfers, and lax laws concerning entertaining activities.   Brit and I have not been without ice cream for about a week now.  We have learned how to disassemble and reassemble our bikes as we break them down for storage, which has given us both a confidence we had been missing.  However, we both acknowledge how amateur we still are when it comes to maintenance   We are holding you all close in our thoughts and will press onward to Monterey and Big Sur in short time.  More pictures to come soon.  Peace