# Marin County Odyssey



## Mankini (Dec 5, 2014)

I flew to Paris from San Jose on February 12th. Landed in de Gaulle and took a subway to Gare du Nord and then a train to Brussels. In Brussels caught a local train to a small village 8 miles south called Braine l'alleud. I found a bar right across from the train station called the Bristol bar and stopped in for a few pints of Chimay Trippel. Met some cool Belgians in the smoking room and they invited me to their sister's house for an after-party when the bar closed. I stayed in a hotel that night, then toured the Waterloo battlefield the next day. Afterwards took a train to Bastogne, near the Luxembourg border, camped there one night, then train to the seacoast; a town called Oostende. I slept on the beach here for a couple nights, then took another train to Lille France. I camped just outside of Lille and then hitchhiked into paris the next morning. A delivery guy took me a few miles south, then a little French Grandma took me all the way to Goussainville, which is only a couple miles west of de Gaulle airport. I camped in a farmer's field in Goussainville, which is famous for its 30 year old ghost town. A night or two in Goussainville, then flew back to San Jose. Took the Caltrain into San Fran and then hiked down past Fisherman's wharf, till I was close to the Golden Gate Bridge. At this point I called a taxi and he took me across the bridge and into the Marin Headlands. There's a hostel there on an old Army base, and I stayed there for a night. After the hostel I moved to a campground there in the park, about 1/2 mile west of the hostel, near some old artillery bunkers. After a few days I caught a transit bus through Mill Valley and explored the Muir woods and Mt Tamalpais, which are a few miles north of the Marin headlands. Slept in the redwoods at Muir Woods, and one night on Mt Tam. Then moved up the coast a few miles to Point Reyes. I took a city bus to Bolinas, then camped a few nights in Point Reyes national seashore. I met a Native American, Mark, California Indian who had been homeless around San Rafael for some years. Point Reyes has a replica Indian village which has an earth covered sweat lodge. It was somewhat rainy so we crawled into the sweat lodge, he started a fire, and I went to sleep. it was pretty smoky but I slept warm and dry. I left Point Reyes and started staying on the roof of the Sausalito library. You cannot beat rooftop sleeping. It's safe, secure, and private. You don't have to worry about animals, bugs, cops, attackers, or anything else, really. Just get there after dark and leave soon after sunup so nobody sees you. I slept on the roof of the San Rafael library, too, but it was not as nice as the Sausalito one. I took the ferry to Angel Island and camped there for a couple days. Angel is creepy and has old Army barracks and a concentration camp/quarantine station for Chinese immigrants. After about 6 weeks of camping throughout Marin I took the bay ferry and then BART into Berkeley to a temp service there and got a temp construction job in Tiburon. I slept under a deck in Tiburon and worked during the day on some billionaire's mansion. After a few days I was riding my bike to work, down the 101 after a night on the San Rafael library roof. It was still dark, about 630 in the morning, and I apparently wrecked my bike and woke up in the hospital that afternoon with a concussion and a morphine drip in my arm. They kept me there 2 days, then sent me away. So I had gotten paid that Friday and took the ferry into San Fran; got a hostel room there for a couple nights. Gave up on Cali for awhile and took an Amtrak to Aspen.


----------



## Dmac (Dec 5, 2014)

sucks about your bike accident. any pictures of your travels?


----------



## Mankini (Dec 5, 2014)

there was a lot of cool stuff in Belgium I definitely should have taken pics of. I have a lot of pics of Marin county on my phone, but it's an old phone and I don't know how to transfer them onto the internet. Yeah, that accident was a shock. I don't remember it at all; just getting off the bus in the dark on 101 near the Tiburon exit and starting to ride down towards Tiburon. Then I woke up 8 hours later in Marin General and a nurse told me what had happened. Had a morphine drip in my arm and the nurse was also giving me percocets every 4 hrs or so! The EMTs had collected my camping stuff, including my helmet, and it was there next to me on a table. The helmet was obliterated-it saved my life. Because I had that helmet on all I got was a concussion, and scrapes on my face; a few stitches on my lip. Other than that, the whole time in Marin wasn't bad at all. You should definitely squat Muir Woods. Hardly anybody goes there and there are NPS campgrounds between it and Mt Tamalpais with water, fire pits, and restrooms. Mill Valley is on the bus line and only about 2 miles east. BTW, this is a great place to hide out if you're ever in the area: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kule_Loklo


----------



## Deleted member 2626 (Dec 5, 2014)

Awesome story. No bullshit to the chase writing


----------

