Chaos and Kindness and Bridges Too

Seven days in San Bruno.  Smack dab in the middle of seven point four million people.  There has been chaos.  There has been kindness.  There have been bridges.

A headless human torso is found in a suitcase in front of a Goodwill store in San Francisco.  Various other body parts are found nearby.  A young female jogger is killed in San Jose when two street racers lose control of their cars and pin her to a tree.  She dies instantly.  Or so we are told.  A 16 year old takes cops on a high speed chase in her parents' Mercedes.  She crashes her car into a pizza joint two blocks away from where we are staying and ruptures a gas main.  The resulting fire shuts down the street and destroys the business.  The nightly news is filled with monsters and murder and mayhem.  Seven million people creating chaos.

We risk our lives in the reckless running river of cars that is the Bay Area freeway system.  We spend time going up and down the roads looking for supplies to outfit ourselves for the journey.  We find winter coats and work pants and wool socks.  We find duffle bags and decency.  We find ourselves at the Berkeley Military Surplus store where Jerry takes the time to talk to us.

 

He gives us advice on camping.  He tells us places we must go.  He tells us we don't need lots of stuff, just the right stuff.  He gives us a discount.  I hear him talking on the phone and he is kind.  I think he is kind to everyone.

We venture downtown and remind ourselves what is possible.  We visit the Golden Gate Bridge.

We hear stories of fistfights and daily 'incidents' at the nearby Costco gas station.  People cutting in line.  People not waiting their turn.  Ugly angry people creating chaos.

We are treated with incredible kindness by Gary's sister and her husband.  They give us their bed.  They put bottles of water on our nightstands.  They make coffee in the morning and gourmet meals of Tagliatelle Bolognese and Portugese Bean Soup.  They have been babysitting our car for us and have it detailed before we arrive.  They might be related to us, but they did not have to do any of this.  They have chosen kindness.

We drive across the newly completed Bay Bridge during our search for supplies.  I look up with my mouth agape.  Never mind that the bolts they bought from China are already disintegrating.  We eat dinner at a restaurant in the shadow of the bridge.  The bridge is lit up.  The moon rises over it.  The sky is lit up.  We all stand outside looking up in awe, capturing the moment on our phones.  Bridges!  Look at the bridges!

While we are endlessly driving on freeways and making our way through parking lots it feels as if rage could break out at any moment.  It feels as if we are surrounded by a frenzied mass of humanity that is living on the edge of sanity.  Chaos just under the surface.  There is the feeling that anything could happen at any time.  There is the feeling that a gun hidden in the clock by your front door might not be a bad idea.

But every human being we interact with is kind to us.  The owner of the military surplus store honeymooned on Kauai.  It is his wife's favorite place!  The young man folding towels at the YMCA in Redwood City sees our Hawaiian driver's licenses and his face lights up.  'Are you from Hawaii?!'  'I lived in Waimanalo!'  The guy at the gym up the road from where we are staying is from Ewa.  Gary's grandmother used to have a house in Ewa.  Bridges, bridges, everywhere bridges.

And in other astonishing human feat news, at the end of the week we are actually able to fit all our stuff in the trunk of our car.