A Living Magazine - Day 2 - The Fruit Salad of Marin County

I felt great as I fell asleep in my Mill Valley sleeping spot. The ground was flat and soft, the air was cool and the stars were especially bright. There was the fragrance of anise in the air, and I resolved to find out what kind of plant was exuding it.

At about 12:00 midnight, I woke to an odd sound, like a "Pffffffffffffffff..." Was it an insect? I rubbed my eyes and looked around. Other similar sounds began all around me. Then, right beside me, a burst of water sprayed out at the mowed part of the area. For all I knew, I was sleeping right on top of a city sprinkler!

I sat up with the sleeping bag wrapped around my feet. Suddenly, I noticed that the stream of the nearest sprinkler was slowly turning toward me. Then another one further down began to make its approach. I struggled to put on my shoes and stuff the sleeping bag into its pocket. As I worked feverishly, the first sprinkler stream hit and rained about a gallon of water all over me and my stuff. I grabbed the tarp, which was now soaked on top.

By the time the other sprinkler hit I almost had my act together. But I took the full brunt of that one too. I had to laugh out loud. With all of my walking around Livermore and its thousands of irrigated plants, I should have known to check around the park area for sprinkler heads. Oh well! Just another lesson.

Before settling on that spot, I had scoped out three other places as back-ups. I put the tarp under my arm and zipped the sleeping bag pocket halfway--just enough to pick up the backpack and migrate to sleep spot number 2. As I put my stuff down I heard the sprinklers stop. They had only been on for about 10 minutes.

The night was cool and the air was damp with dew. The prospect of drying anything seemed remote. The sleeping bag wasn't bad. It was wet on the outside, but inside it was dry. It is a well designed bag, drying quickly on the outside and allowing body heat to force inside moisture out through the surface, while retaining the heat.

The tarp was covered in water on the side that had been exposed, but was dry underneath, so I simply flipped it over. I always zip all the pockets of the backpack, and even in the driving deluges I faced on the first journey, it never leaked. Such was the case now. It may have been wet on the outside but it was fine inside. All in all? Not so bad.

It took very little time to fall back asleep. And, I slept right through to the morning. I'd set my watch alarm for 5:00 am, but I never heard it beep. Still, I woke up at about 5:15. The sky was slightly lighter than it had been after midnight, and I knew early morning joggers, walkers and bikers would be likely to  come by and see the blue of the sleeping bag and the slug inside it. Time for pack up!

Pack up took less than 10 minutes. The consolidated and much-reduced bulk of the backpack was working beautifully...

All in one pack. Gone, are the army vest and Camelbak. They remain at Sheryl's in case I need them. But I really wanted to try doing a completely minimalist approach with this new journey. I'm really liking it so far.

I was on the road by about 5:30, and headed up to Camino Alto Road. Walking around its curves, I noticed I was climbing higher and higher. It struck me that the name was perfect ("High Road"). At least this was one way to "take the high road"...

Along Camino Alto Road

Finally, I reached the peak, and started down toward the Corte Madera River as Camino Alto turned into Corte Madera Road, and then turned into Magnolia Avenue, which led to the town of Larkspur...

My Next House? Maybe Not

At a Second Hand Shop in Larkspur

I turned right onto Bon Air Road, and was enjoying the village area that I was walking through. These towns had a warm feeling about them; inviting, yet prosperous, with beautiful homes in every nook and cranny. I passed over the Corte Madera River...

I hadn't eaten since about 2:00 pm the day before, and I was thirsty. I chose not to get anything last night before bed, to save money. But, Sir Francis Drake Boulevard seemed to know what I needed. I am frequently looking at the ground as I travel, and something caught my eye. It was a round red berry. I bent down and picked it up. Then I looked forward and upwards to see where it had fallen from. Just off the edge of the road was a kind of bush I'd seen before in Livermore's Civic Center Park, except it had the ripe version of that park's strange berry.

I took a tiny bite. It was sweet and juicy, tasted very similar to strawberry and its red color and tiny seeds really reminded me of strawberries. I eagerly collected every red piece of fruit on the bush. Well, it turns out that this plant was a kind of fruit I'd never heard of before: Arbutus unedo, commonly called a "Strawberry Tree"...

 A "Strawberry Tree" Fruit

Yum!!

But the buffet was still open! Only 20 feet further down the line I saw another berry on the ground. This one was white. I took a tiny bite... White cherries! I looked up and saw branches loaded with them. They were sweeter than any store-bought cherries I'd ever had, and large too...

A White Cherry Tree

More Yum!!

I was munching sweet, juicy fruit, with a spring in my step and a song on my lips. Then came the crab apple tree...

Crab Apples

I picked one. It's a bit like roulette with crab apples (which are actually just the uncultivated version of regular apples), some are grainy, some bitter, some sour and every now and then, nice and sweet. This was sweet and tart, crisp and juicy.

As if to add variety to my impromptu breakfast, I found the source of the anise smell from the night before. It is wild fennel...

Wild Fennel

It was time to get some coffee so I stopped into an ARCO. Then I was back on the road and headed down town to buy a sandwich for the day. I saw a mini mall with a Victoria Bakery and Cafe in Greenbrae after hitting Subway...

Online at Victoria Bakery and Cafe

I had a chance to touch base with you folks and post yesterday's blog entry. Then, it was on to San Rafael to look for a library and a recharge for the laptop. On the way back along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard I saw this lovely lady...

Sculpture in Greenbrae

I wanted to go and take a nap on her hip, but I came to my senses. It was a relatively short walk to San Rafael. And, the road I took - Wolfe Grade Road - started with a big hill to climb, but ended in a level walk that fortuitously led directly to the public library, right across from this neat place...

The Belrose - San Rafael

San Rafael Public Library

This was an older building, and faintly smelled of body odor. Despite this, it was set up for Wi-Fi and had outlets. I was able to mostly charge the laptop. It was not a quiet place. Three people in the room where I was working were snoring loudly, and a high school girl was being tutored by a woman who apparently felt the need to speak at a high enough volume to broadcast her lessons over the snoring. Fascinatingly, the librarian ignored the sleepers and reprimanded the tutor for being too loud!

At about 7:00 pm, I took my stuff out on the front lawn to catch what was left of the setting sun to dry the tarp and sleeping bag from my early morning sprinkler experience. By 8:00 I was ready to head north as far as I could. I'd seen a bike trail on Google Maps that seemed to serve as a freeway siding. It took me a little while to locate it on foot, but I was able to get another 4 miles in on my way out of San Rafael. 

I was tired and it was time to nest. Just as I began to scan the shadows, a small clearing appeared, with a 100 square foot area surrounded by short, old pines, holly plants and fennel. It was perfect. On one side was a high wooden fence separating the trail from a neighborhood. And, on the other side was the trail itself--completely abandoned at that time of night (about 10:00). I heard a mid-sized animal rummaging through the bushes. At first I thought it was a stray dog or local cat, but I was delighted to discover its real identity when I awoke the next morning.

Novado Sleeping Place

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Please check in tomorrow for the story about today! Also consider donating to support this journey by clicking the PayPal Donate button at the top left of the page if you are enjoying these posts. And, I thank those who are sharing these on their social networks! Finally, there are still t-shirts for sale [short sleeve, blue or navy, S, M and L]. Just go to the top of this page and click the "Iwallk T-Shirts" tab to purchase the classic shirt shown on this blog. The design will be retired soon and new designs are coming.
Wouldn't it be neat to own the same kind of shirt that I am walking around America with?