Sorry for the delay in getting this out, it’s very late (now 1am) and we haven’t had any access. We’ve got too much video and too many photos, but we’ll whittle and edit and show something worthwhile. In the meantime, this is a utilitarien description at best, out of order or in order depending on how you read it. And I haven’t even mentioned much about San Francisco yet. Bugger.

OK, here we go.

SF. Arrived. Got in to town. Intantly felt like we weren’t in Wisconsin any more. To be blunt, the social welfare system is so far up shit creek in SF that in downtown there are not just multiple people begging on each block, but you can find women sniffing lighter fluid and men approaching you on street corners trying to sell an empty wallet ($2) or saying “hello white people, I’ll be your comedian this evening”.

This is the kind of thing that puts you off a place. It’s not that you feel physically unsafe, just constantly hassled and aware that you’ve got it a whole lot better than a great many people around you.

So San Fran was Not as much fun as we’d expected, though the Polyphonic Spree were excellent, a bike ride around the bay was great, and an unplanned meeting an old friend was really fun. Oh, and we bought our new tent – lots of prepping for camping.

I must sleep now. We’ll be going to a number of rocky national parks next, and again will have limited net time, so more apologies. Hope you’re all well.

We have less than a month to go. Wheeeeeee!