Tag Archives: berkeley

Dharma Bum

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When I arrived to the San Francisco Bay Area, my friend thrust his copy of Kerouac’s Dharma Bums in my hand. “Read this” he said, “you’ll like it.”

Like Japhy did for Smith, I outfitted my friend, and we headed off into the smokey Sierras towards Matterhorn–to follow in Jack Kerouac’s footsteps.

After living out of a car and bumming around the States for the better part of a year, I soon found myself back in Berkeley–working in libraries by day and sleeping in my Prius micro-home at night–pouring through Kerouac’s description of SF and Berkeley from the 40s and 50s — 60 years before my present bumming around the same city.


Mikey is yawning on a tral. In front of him is a pristine stream. All around are lush green trees.
Hoover Wilderness Stream

In Dharma Bums, Kerouac (Smith) describes his ascent of Mount Matterhorn (in the California Sierras), guided by their enlightened, outdoorsy friend Japhy.

My friend and I later made plans to go trekking together. It was his first overnight trek, and what better place to go than Yosemite? After all, that was where I’d gone on my first overnight trek a few years ago.


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San Luis Obispo to San Francisco

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I’ve been living with my friend in the SF Bay Area for the past month. I’m writing this from a cozy, finished room in the corner of a large, leaky warehouse hosting a datacenter and massive library of books in Richmond, CA. The building is owned by a nonprofit library that digitizes books and makes them available online, and my friend has become something of its caretaker while in school.

Mikey is smiling, pointing to a sign that reads "Big Basin Redwood State Park, Rancho Del Oso, A California State Park"
Big Basin Redwoods State Park

Last weekend, on my friend’s Spring Break, I went on my first bicycle tour in over a year. From the Bay Area, we took a train down to San Luis Obispo, and started riding ~300 miles along highway 1, through Big Sur, back to San Francisco. It was a trying journey–both physically & emotionally, but also really really really beautiful. And I needed the Vitamin D. But I could have been spared the Poison Oak and sunburn…

The SF Bay Area is always a great place to be. It was great to spend time with Friends & Family I hadn’t seen since I moved from Berkeley to travel the world over a year ago. I’d like to stay longer, but there’s still so much of the world to see. The weather is getting warmer, and Canada is calling!

Saturday morning I plan to wake up at the crack of dawn, load up my bicycle, and ride ~80 miles to Sacramento before Sunday evening. I’ll spend a week staying with a new friend in Sacramento, then I’ll be going up to Eugene, where I’ll be staying with a friend at the Lost Valley Eco Village.