The Tower Bridge Gateway

I wrote that we went to bed exhausted.  In the morning I got us up at 730 but I didn’t put a lot of effort into it.  My friend halfway through packing said we should have the brunch so we went down and at.  There were some real characters there.  Some lady kept asking questions about my friend and another turned the TV off and then the attendant wouldn’t stop talking.

We started packing again and my friend left because I was dawdling.  When I found her a maintenance guy came out to give her the high heels she had ditched.  We had to leave them in a different place.  We returned to Pachamama again and the coffee took too long.  There were no tables either.  We drank and headed across the tracks to find the Causeway.  We had some trouble turning onto Olive on the far side but the off-ramp at the end was one way so it was alright.

There was a spot where she left me alone before we mounted the path which we found was a mix of levee and concrete bridge way.  We saw a bunch of riders and I noted that some were closely knit and smiling and others were diffused and variable in their attitudes.  In West Sacramento we checked the map and I discovered my sister had texted.  I told her we were headed to Sac for my college friends’ party—it was a birthday for brothers.

I looked at notebooks at Rite Aide and we crossed the Tower Bridge Gateway.  Some guy took a photo of us but we were fussy over it.  At the Marina we had to take a special turn and at Sutterville we had to look again.  At the house the party was already in full swing.  There were a lot of children—we even came in with a couple.

The girlfriend of one of the brothers was playing the role of greeter.  She was making food and the hostess was really busy.  I stood in the kitchen until she said hi and then we went into the toy room next door with one of the kids to get our stuff together.  We went back and said hi to the girlfriend and then I gave my cards to the guys.  They joked that there was no money in them.  I had some coffee then and eventually my friend went and got us some real food.  However, I wanted a pastry with my Bailey’s and coffee.

Later we went into the kitchen and she had me eat actual food.  We explored the house together a bit and ended up jumping in the pool.  I got in first and played with the kids.  We were both pretty overwhelmed by the pool’s temperature after our long ride.  We went and had sparkling wine under the misters then and we talked to relatives for a while before going in to talk to the greeter while she did dishes.  We organized our stuff then and started to figure out next steps.

One couple sat with me and my friend to talk about bike and ped infrastructure.  I found myself talking loudly and I later had to reflect upon that.  Later we walked around the house a bit after that and a bit later I noted that there were a lot fewer people in the house.  I introduced some of the parents to my friend and they too started to leave.  They all seemed to take nicely to us.

I helped the kids with their toys but since they were made for the birthday boys they were having trouble with them.  Everyone ended up helping one of the kids with his.  My friend and I started wrapping up then but we still have some wet clothing.  However, there was still a core of people milling around with drinks.  There was a moment where one of the twins and I were talking about his job and the girls were getting to know each other.  The other was in a discussion about energy policy.

Eventually we made to leave and the hostess caught us in the hallway.  We had an involved conversation about helmet laws and biking in general.  We talked a bit about the coalition and then I packed the bike up.  I gave everyone a hug then and then the Host walked us out.

We rode to downtown Sacramento through Land Park and then discovered that we had time to catch the train.  We went to K Street to grab a drink before we left.  On the train I started writing.  My friend had received a lot of messages from relatives.  We talked a bit before transferring to BART.

On route to the city we discussed the party and continued to do so until we arrived at Mac.  At Civic we headed to the house and she made dinner with the roommates and I was with myself in the front of the house.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.