• 2040 total miles
• 36 hours driving
• 6 tanks of gas
• 3 states
• 2 golf discs lost in the water
• 1 cool hostess

We left Friday night just after 6 pm. Even though it was sunny and nice, and we get that combination in the Pacific Northwest about 5 days a year, we were determined to coup ourselves up in a car for the whole night. But what a payoff. Here's a not-so-brief summary:

Final Destination: Dublin, CA. We didn't have the luxury to take our time, so we stayed on the major freeways for the entire trip down. Total travel time, including gas stops: 16 hours. We arrived at Jana's place Saturday morning just before 10 am. We made good time, no?

Justin and I made a special trip to play disc golf in Berkeley. The score was tied going in to the final hole. When I laid up my second shot next to the basket, Justin made a play for the win. And instead of putting me in my rightful second place, his missed the pin and nailed the water. Double bummer.

We followed the Saturday evening church service with a most tasty trip to In-N-Out Burger. Praise the Lord and pass the ketchup! Get a #2 with a chocolate shake. Onions? Yes, please.

We let ourselves sleep in Sunday morning. (We really needed that.) It was then off to SFO to see the Wharf area, Lombard Street, China Town and parts of Little Italy (now at the top of my gastronomic experimentation TODO list: cannoli). Dinner at The House of Nanking included the best calamari ever along with a gloat-filled phone call to Bob.

We drove to the city so that we could start our trek home via the Golden Gate. The air was clear; the sun was waning; the photo ops were plentiful. Did I mention that the air was clear? :)

Copyright Justin Boyer

We arrived back home (in one piece! still as friends!) 19 hours later via the Oregon coast (Note to sociophobes: the beach is empty at 6 am). I think I got a total of 90 minutes of sleep that night and then another 120 minutes or so between Vancouver, WA and Bellingham.

The trip was a lot of driving. We averaged more than $3 per gallon for gas. Despite the tales here, we subsisted mostly on breakfast bars and peanut butter. The car wasn't spacious; we all suffered from sleep deprivation.

Would I do it again?

Just tell me when and where and hand me the keys. I'm ready.