A Living Magazine - Day 69 - Rain Rain Come to Stay

I woke up behind the shed when the first rain drop hit my head at 4:00 am. Up like a flash, I stuffed the sleeping bag into its backpack, folded the tarp and did my best to fit that it too, then was on my way back into the city... 

Seattle at 4:30 am, under rainy skies.

On the way past an office building, I caught sight of their cubicles, cute.

It stopped raining by the time I got downtown. I went to Starbuck's on 2nd, and got started on making up for my daily posts, staying there until I got hungry and went to Subway, then another Starbuck's on 3rd. I wasn't feeling very good, queasy and a bit lightheaded. I kept nodding and needed to walk to wake myself up. 

Once I leave a Starbuck's it isn't really appropriate to go back and work without buying something. I could do it, but it just doesn't feel right--even more awkward is asking to use their restrooms which are always locked and "for paying customers only". 

I wasn't near 3rd anymore, anyway; closer to Alaskan Way (the closest street to the waterfront). So, I went to the Starbuck's at pier 55. I couldn't spend much, so I bought a chocolate milk box (for $2.24!--same thing is $0.75 at a grocery store, but I digress...). I worked there, finally finishing the second post by about 8:00 pm.

I had not planned where I would sleep and the rain was picking up again as I wandered around looking for a place to sleep.

Along the riverfront were buildings with shrubs, but no overhanging structure to keep the rain off. I finally got to the point where Alaskan Way turns into a bike trail, and saw a fountain. to the right of it was a courtyard, and then beyond that, right next to the railroad tracks was a high overhanging angular roof of concrete. I thought that the space underneath it might be large enough to sleep on, and there was a dark area that went out behind the way.

The entire structure was a stairway that led to a walker's bridge over the train tracks, with a small park on top (I later learned it is sometimes called, "Family Garden"). Here is a side view shot of the sleeping place, from Google Street...

I walked quickly over to it and around the sharp corner of the wall, where I was out if direct sight. As I pulled out the tarp, I saw two security guards meet and talk about something in the courtyard area, and then one of them stuck around. When he'd walked out of sight, I got the tarp laid out on top of some rather pretty gnarly ivy plants. It wasn't completely out of the rain. I had to pull up the foot end, and tried to sleep in a fetal position. It sucked, but at least I was dry.

I couldn't sleep, because the train kept going by every hour or so, I heard the footsteps of the security guard every half hour, and my legs got sore. But, again, at least I was dry. I got a total of about an hour of sleep.