Day 8 - Tahoe to Oakland

We woke up early, miraculously not hungover from the free drinks at the craps table, and prepared for the final leg of our cross-country journey. We stopped at a McDonald's to partake of greasy food free wifi to update the blog. Upon finishing our update, we realized that we had missed the California state line sign, and hadn't taken a picture of our final state line crossing. Being the anal-retentive dweebs that we are, we drove back across into Nevada so we could get a picture of the tiny, disappointing "Welcome to California" sign at the border.



CALIFORNIA

We proceeded west and north around the California side of lake Tahoe, on our way back to the interstate. The small state road wound through the forest along the mountains at the edge of the lake for about 40 miles. Blah, blah, majestic landscapes, stunning vistas, et cetera. Here, look at some pictures.








Just three hours later, we were sitting in traffic on our way into Oakland- we hadn't seen traffic in well over a week, so it was a bit frustrating to be in the car, with time passing, but not be moving. About a half hour of this, and we were across the bridge into Oakland proper, and soon after, to the front gate of Mike's new apartment.





We had finally arrived. Our final odometer reading- 20,760 miles. When we left Annapolis, it read 16,761- so our trip was exactly 3,999 total- so close to an even 4000!



Mike connected up with his property manager, got his keys, and then we began to move his stuff in. With only the things that were in his car, there really wasn't that much work. Mike is really excited about his new place, but rather than describe it- here are a few pictures Jon took.









It was still pretty big and empty, so a trip to Ikea was in order. Mike bought a bunch of bathroom furnishings, a futon mattress, stuff for his cats, and an orange carpet for the living room. The rest of the afternoon was spent unpacking and getting stuff ready for the cats.



Amos and Jackie arrived at the Delta cargo bay at Oakland International Airport in tact, and actually relatively calm. Despite being in a plastic crate for 15 hours, they were not emotionally scarred, and tentatively explored the new apartment, already staking out favorite spaces. Jackie found a hole under the kitchen cabinets, and squirmed her way into that space under the corner cabinet, next to the stove. We tricked her out using a bit of string, and that is about when Mike's neighbors showed up.



Paul, in 102, and Martin, in 104, seem to be pretty cool guys, and we spent the remainder of the evening drinking beers and eating pizza in Paul's place. Then, back next door to spend the first night in the new place.