I got up Thursday morning and had my now almost ritually morning coffee with Sean, just sitting in their kitchen, looking out on the horizon, slowly waking up. It's nice, and I hope to keep doing quiet mornings, when I get back home.
After a shower, I went to the airport to pick up the money, Tina had wired me - in the morning the time difference is a kuul thing, but it's hard to get a hold on people back home between 2 pm and 11 pm local time, as most people are a sleep back home at that time. Taking out the money became even more complicated, as the lady behind the counter kept mixing up my danish phone number and Sean and Alison's address. But finally I had the money, and I headed out to Vern Tardel's shop again to pick up my new, old brake parts.
Entering through the gates again still seemed surreal, all those parts laying around. I can understand, why he builds so kuul hot rods, as I would too, of I possessed the same amount of genuine Ford parts from so many different cars.
Vern was out though, Kevin told me, that he spends every Thursday morning with his grand daughter, but he would be back around maybe 1 o'clock. I thanked Kevin for telling me, but I had to head out of there earlier, as i wanted to avoid traffic in order to be at Sean's work before 5 pm, as we were to meet up there, before going to pier 39 for our Alcatraz tour. We talked some more, and finally I headed back to San Francisco.
The drive back was pretty quick, so I decided to try to find a suit case for the brakes parts to fit in. First I stopped in at a Best Buy, as I thought it sounded like a place, where they would sell almost anything. But they only deal in electronics, and I didn't go in to buy a new TV or cell phone, so I left without the wanted suitcase. It can be hard to find out, what is what over here, as some of the names doesn't tell you, what the shop is actually carrying. But after a couple of places, I found a T J Max, which is a clothing store, and there I found a suitcase. Out in the parking lot I tried fitting the brakes in it, and they did fit, but... the suitcase was insanely heavy! Didn't think much of it at the time, but that was going to be a problem later!
I met up with Sean at his work, Melrose Motors, shortly thereafter Alison arrived, and we got dressed warm and headed out to pier 39. The boat ride took us around the Alcatraz island, weather was foggy and rainy, but we still stayed outside and enjoyed the ride. Sean has been living in San Francisco for 16 years or so, and Alison all her life, and neither of them had taken the tour of Alcatraz before, so I was glad, that I could give them that experience.
The trip around Alcatraz was mainly focused around Alcatraz being a maximum security prison facility from 1934 to 1963, but prior to that it had been a military prison, a military training camp, and before that it was a part of the defense line for San Francisco during the civil war. And a couple of years after they closed it, in 1969 a group of Native American activist squatted the island, as there were some old law, stating that governmental property could be claimed by the natives, if it was left unused for some time. So they claimed it, and it lasted about 18 months, during which they also started broadcasting a radio channel to the San Francisco area. A kuul detail in the Alcatraz history, but it was kind of left out of the tour, which I think is a pity.
Tiered and a little clod we got to bed, when we got back home, after a good and interesting night of steel bars and reinforced concrete.
