SAN FRANCISCO

SAN FRANCISCO
Today is Wednesday, September 9, 2009. (09/09/09!)
Our trip today is to San Francisco. We are headed for the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. The big attraction is the “Treasures of King Tut” exhibit. “Tut” is short for his formal name - Tutankhamun. - the “living image of Amun”. The exhibit was here before. I thought it was about 20 years ago - it was 30 years ago! Where did the years go? How about 3300 years? Some of the items in the exhibit are over 3,000 years ago!
We have a packed bus - five residents, two CNA’s ; a family caretaker; and Kelli and Tony. We head out at 9:20. Kelli checks into her smart phone and finds that the temperature at this time in San Francisco is 56 degrees. The construction on the I-80 ramps is continuing. It is starting to show some progress. It won’t be finished until next year. In the meantime, the work is slowing down traffic plus, interfering with the construction crews. Shell is listing gas at “3.16. The futures price is about $71/bbl., up $3.00.The Chevron station has closed (project impacted.)
We pass a small area blackened by fire. Traffic is light - in both directions. The overlay on I-80W has been completed between Fairfield and Vallejo - a distance of about 15 miles. It really provides a much smoother ride - except - there are still many intermittent short sections of very bumpy concrete. This uneven pavement not only gives a teeth jarring- bumpy ride, but they are doing damage to front ends and tires - let alone jar people’s nervous systems
Trucks are queued up at the west bound scales. A little high fog as we start up the grade. Then, we hit heavier fog as we near Vallejo. Vallejo is socked in. We pass the California Maritime academy to the right, located on Carquinez Strait. It is prime property. The school is now part to the California State College System. We are driving on the relatively new (as bridges go) Westbound -Carquinez Bridge. They did a great job in building the bridge and connecting ramps. It is a beauty!
When going by this area, I always check out C&H sugar down below on the left side. I think back to the great years 1962 - 1969 that I worked in the Refinery. I can barely see Mt. Tam through the haze. It is probably 40 miles away. We pass Golden Gate Fields. It is quite a picturesque track. I don’t know if the Races are being held. It is at this junction - where traffic from Richmond is merging - that the freeway speed usually bogs down. This morning is no exception.
Kelli points out all the geese sitting on the screened soccer fields off to our right, They are quite a contrast against the green background. Why do they like to rest on golf courses and soccer fields when there are other nice areas?
We are in the back-up waiting to go through the toll booths. The fog hasn’t completely lifted yet. It seems strange to be riding on the bridge a day after it was opened. It was down for a few days over Labor Day to replace a large section next to Yuerba Buena Island. I can see the old section sitting to the side of the bridge. They were about ready to open it up early Tuesday morning when an inspector detected a crack in an upper I bar. To repair this added an extra day to the bridge closure. I am looking at the new East span of the bridge under construction, off to my right. We are riding a little higher than the new East span.
I never get tired of the beautiful view of the San Francisco scene from the bridge. This view, alone, justifies the trip into San Francisco! Of course, I always sort out the “One California Street” building - hidden among the skyscrapers surrounding it. When the building went up in the late 60’s, there was a height restriction in the building code. Apparently, that restriction was rescinded, because there are many taller buildings now. I spent 14 great years working in that building. There are no cruise ships in.

We are riding along one- way Fell street heading for Golden Gate Park. I always enjoy the Victorian era architecture on this street. The Chevron station has regular gas posted at $3.38. Tony veers off onto John F. Kennedy Drive into the Park. We pass the Hall of Flowers which was extensively refurbished a few years ago. The flowers and landscaping in front, are a sight to behold! We are passing the large Rose Garden. It is always interesting when I see all the cars parked in the posted “No Parking Anytime.” zone. We arrive at the de Young at 10{45. While waiting to go in the exhibit, A fellow walked by that was the perfect image of Steve Gibbens. While I just saw him from the back, he was Steve’s height and build, had on a hat like Steve wore, as well as a denim jacket. He even had the distinctive gait of Steve! Spooky!
I enjoyed the Exhibit very much. King Tut was nine years old when he became pharaoh. He ruled for only nine years. When he became king he married. They had no surviving offspring, but two female babies were found in small coffins in the king’s tomb - neither ha lived to term.
What is interesting to me is that the king died at the age of 19. There has been much speculation on the cause of his death. Tony and T were discussing it ,and we both came to the conclusion, that at his young age the King must have had some help. His tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter. After a nice lunch in the museum’s cafeteria, we leave at 2:30.
The Park is certainly a beautiful treasure. How fortunate it is that the City of San Francisco had the foresight to see the need for a Park, and set the land aside late in the Nineteenth century. Golden gate Park is larger (at 1,000 acres) than Central park in New York!
We returned along Oak Street, which is one-way in-bound to downtown. The homes near the Park are well maintained and probably are worth a $million! But, further along the homes look like multiple rentals and are run -down. Most are badly in need of exterior painting (not a cheap item).Looking in the windows I don’t think the white (?) curtains have been washed in a good many years.
I see the Haight-Ashbury sign for the nearby area. The district is famous for it’s role as a center for the hippie movement of the 1960’s - especially, the “Summer of Love” in 1967.” Traffic is just crawling. Here it is in the muddle of the afternoon in the middle of the week. We come upon a sign, “Curve - 35 mph”. Tony volunteers that we are going 5mph! We are going so slow that the motorcyclists are passing , riding the line dividing the two lanes. They are really rolling the dice. A driver with a mean streak could really put the squeeze on them!
We finally have reached the lower level of the bridge. (2:55). While the traffic speed usually picks up at this point, it is still slow going. Before we hit Yuerba Buena Island, a huge container ship is passing under the bridge below us, heading for the Port of Oakland. The marking on the bow included the word “Egypt”. It is only fitting after we saw the King Tut exhibit.
The slow pace of traffic is probably impeded by the new configuration resulting from the sectional replacement over the weekend. Instead of the roadway being straight, through the tunnel, as it was before, there is now an S curve, and the speed limit has been reduced from 50 to 40 mph. The drivers aren’t used to this change. We leave the bridge and are on the flat at 3:55.
We are passing the high rise apartment buildings in Albany,( across from Golden gate Fields). I vividly remember when I was commuting from Vallejo to San Francisco, and riding by these units. They had a huge sign saying “If you lived here, you would now be home”. A ship is unloading raw sugar at the C&H Sugar Bulk Station. We reach the Carquinez Bridge toll booth at 3:30. We are passing the Springstown Postal Station in Vallejo. I read where this is one of the over 400 nation wide that the Post office recommends closing, trying to reduce their budget shortfall. There are a lot of trucks waiting in the Eastbound Truck scales in Cordelia.
The Chevron gas station on North Texas Street has closed - impacted by the surrounding road construction. The Shell station is advertising gas at $3.16. The spot price of crude oil is $71.31/ bbl. We pull in to Quail Creek at 4:00. Our trip probably totaled 100 miles.
While it was a long and tiring day, it was well worth it, to see such a great piece of history!
RCL - 09/09/09.