State motto: Eureka!

In english that means: 'high prices on everything but booze'.

First: a VERY important CA website: Transit at Berekely Server. Everything you ever wanted to know about getting places in the bay area.
Helpful hint: practically any trip over 50 miles is gonna cost around $7.00 and be difficult on weekends.

REALLY IMPORTANT BUS LINES: Santa Cruz to San Jose Hwy 17 m-f $2.50 (45 miles).
VTA (San Jose area) (Hwy 101) Gilroy to Palo Alto then Caltrain to S.F. $5.00 (80 miles).
Nearby is Golden Gate ferry and bus service to Santa Rosa and in between points (max fare $4.50) (50 miles).

Sonoma Transit to Cloverdale - 85 cents, 20 miles - welcome to wine country...
(It's really easy to catch rides on Hwy 101 at Rowland Blvd in Novato: it's a good ramp, but the Novato police do routine patrols at 11 am, 3 pm and 5 pm and they talk to ALL UNFAMILIAR FACES...(so those are good times to be inside Carl's Jr having a dr.pepper..;)

Steele Lane in Santa Rosa. It's always kinda tough on the strech between L.A. and Gilroy tho the best thing I can recommend is to take the bus up by Thousand Oaks and hope.

L.A. buses are ungodly expensive tho; not only that they force you downtown for EVERY trip and your transfer will invariably expire forcing you to buy a new fare. It's also harder than hell to catch aride thru there...
I personally guarantee that the SHORTEST way across LA is 4hrs minimum - including Amtrak!

It is DEFINITELY illegal to walk on freeways in CA.
Hwy 101 is a special case: if there is a sign prohibiting pedestrians, you can't walk on it; if there is no sign you're ok, it's just a divided hiway - basically, if you see mailboxes on the side of the road its ok to walk on it...
In the redwood counties the CHP seems mellower...
Generally if bikes are allowed on the road they'll let you stay as long as you're not jumping in front of what little traffic there is...

You can take the bus across Eureka up to Trinidad if you want, but you'll likely get a ride anyway - besides, Eureka's fun to look at...and it's not too long of a walk.
If you give up, make sure the bus sez "Trinidad" on the front.
Seriously kids, it's easier to hitch from S.F. to Seattle up 101 than I-5. You meet nicer people...potheads not methheads...

The first brewpub in CA is in Hopland and its not expensive, but not cheap...
It's Mendocino Brewing Co.
Give the finger to the guy who lives across from the streetlight as you go by...
He cussed me out on CHRISTMAS EVE for trying to make it up to Seattle, his dog started barking and upset him...

If you get stuck in Ukiah (a freeway section of 101), a bus goes to Willits (where it's a surface street) for $2.00 runs 'til 7 or 8 I think. There is also a bus from Ukiah to S.Rosa but its $13.00! Easier to hitch that particular stretch.

Fastest, least painful way from SF/Oakland to Sacramento M-F: Bart to El Cerrito Del Norte station (2.50) or AC Transit in East Bay - the #72 bus! Transfer to Vallejo, go to *Solano mall*, $2.00 ride city link to *Davis*. Take Yolotrans to Sacramento, go to *WATT* I-80 on Sacramento rt take #1 bus to *AUBURN & WHYTE* then either hitch from on ramp or take lil bus to Auburn - *RALEY's* supermarket exit.
110 miles for 7-10 dollars, cleaner than greyhound. One caveat: CITYLINK BETWEEN DAVIS AND FAIRFIELD ONLY RUNS 4 TIMES A DAY ON M-F.

REALLY GOOD *CHEAP* eats in CA:
The Green Burrito - worth getting off the bus for.
The chinese buffet across from the SF public library (near the ggt civic center stop), 65 items $5.99 !WOW! and its near Hwy 101!
Those lil home run pies in stores for 35cents - better than hostess and they make PUMPKIN! Sometimes!
Inedible but cheap and filling: ARCO am/pm burgers...

Giants tix are only $5.00 for the cheap seats, so if bored...
Bay Meadows race course is only a buck on friday if you're under 30 and near Hwy 101.

Major concert halls:
SHORELINE AMPITHEATRE: Hwy 101 Shoreline Blvd Mtn View: Caltrain from SF and walk over.
OAKLAND COLISEUM: I-880 @ Heggenburger Rd: BART IS EXPENSIVE BUT EASIEST...trust me.
WARFIELD: 7th Mkt SF - ggt/smatrans or SF muni.
FILLMORE: Fillmore @ Geary SF muni #38.
MARITIME HALL: ferry from Marin or ggt or Caltrain.
Great American - see Warfield instuctions, ask directions, careful.
WARFIELD and Great American are in the tenderloin - be careful...
S.F. BREWING CO - dollar homebrews 4-6 and 12-1 am take the #30 bus, be warned tho it's in North Beach - yuppie rama.
It is next to THE CITY LIGHTS BOOKSTORE tho, considered by many to be one of the greatest bookstores in the world - comparable to the STRAND in NYC.
LA Coliseum: the #42 BUS FROM ANYWHERE (airport bus), tell driver you want to go to Expostion Park and you'll be ok.
IRVINE MEADOWS AMP TAKE ANY BUS YOU SEE THAT SAYS "LAGUNA HILLS OR SANTA ANA and they'll steer you right.

To go to TIJUANA: first go to the Carl's Jr in San Clemente: ask bus driver how to get to the trolley and walk across...$3.00 tequila! Arriba! Cheapo horseshit cigarettes:

BEST BURRITO: CARMELS on EL TORO Rd (Mission Viejo).
If you see a li'l taco shop called Robertos, eat there - you won't be sorry...
Good brewpub near Del Mar racetrack...

STATE CAMPGROUNDS w/private coin-op showers: Sanonofre (near Trestles / San Clemente Carls Jr). Also near Devore (San Bernardino) Glen Helen near I-215.
Exception to mission rule - free travelers shower at Polk and Geary in SF near (ggt) line.
No truck stops in Bay area see...
Hotels in Eureka are usually under 20 bux.

PLACES YOU *WILL* GET STUCK IN CA:
Sacramento
Modesto; Stockton
*TRACY*
Bakersfield
Los Angeles County
Santa Barbara (northside) - south ok
S.Luis Obispo - (north of Madonna exit)
*BIG SUR* area on Hwy 1 - plus everything is high priced, higher than Alaska even - *REALLY*
Marysville / Yuba City area

Places that used to be good exits but aren't any more.
(Thank you crack and meth...):
Hwy 91 / Main in Corona, but there is bus service there and a Green Burritto so all is not lost. (My favorite way to get into LA from Corona is to make a sign that says "wanna use the carpol lane?")
Anaheim area
Tarzana area of LA
Oxnard southbound...

Exits that look like they suck but don't: Atascadero / Paso Robles / the Bakersfield turnoff on Hwy 101 north of S. L. Obispo...
Solvang / Buellton (near Split Pea Andersens).

To go into AZ from LA area get to El Monte on the bus then take a few more. Don' get off 'til Banning, the rest is gravy...

There used to be a COUCH on the I-10 eastbound ramp in Palm Springs for hitchikers to sit on while they caught their next ride. I don't know if it's still there or not.
Palm Springs is another planet - 65$ motel 6's...(really).

Places you can expect your gear stolen: Vallejo.

Something really useful: most rest areas in CA have catering trucks run by nonprofits that give food away in return for donations - food you would actually eat, like burritos, cookies, and soda. If you ask nicely and you really are honestly broke you can usually get a sandwich and a dr.pepper out of the deal.
(If you're not broke be honest tho...)
They're mostly in Orange and San Diego counties...
They might ask you to sign a receipt for accounting but that's it.

There are 3 ball teams in socal but they all aren't worthseeing, and they're all in bad neighborhoods.
You can save 2 dollars on bus fare if you walk across the g. gate bridge to Marin and the view is spectacular...
Catch #20 on north side, change at S.Rafael (this address should be familiar to deadheads;)

If you care to pay your respects to Pigpen, he is in Colma (take bart).
Mr. Schulz (yes that Mr. Schulz - Linus; Lucy; Pigpen; Schroeder and the rest) has a gorgeous ice rink in S.Rosa, and he autographed my Snoopy book for me! A very nice gracious man...!
The rink is on Steele Lane the good hitch ramp!
I always liked it when Snoopy's brother Spike tried to hitchike. He always wound up making a sign that said "Needles" on one side and 'how about Duluth' on the other...

Reasons the ferry is better than the bus (and the price is the same):
1. Onboard bar
2. Mens room!
You haven't lived 'til you've had a margarita on the bay on a plush boat that only costs $2.50 to ride from Larkspur (near S. Rafael). Yes, bus transfers apply to g. g. ferry service.

'The rich love a bargain - especially when its reserved for them' - line from Dominick Dunne's 'People Like Us' - the ideal companion piece to 'Bonfire of the Vanities' - N.Y.Times sniffed in 1987.
Then OJ bumped his career, oh well...

If you can find it, there is a restaurant on Potrero Hill called Soon Lee that sells a !pound! of Chow Fun for under 5 bucks!
You haven't lived 'til you've had chinese food in S.Francisco - l.rob.

You can buy a *weekly* muni pass good mon thru sunday on all muni except cablecars and ballpark specials for $9.00 at the cable car turnaround at Powell and Market all day mondays. It's also avaialble at the Montgomery Bart station during rush hour; and at a check cashing place on Polk and Post.

And oh yeah; one other important thing about California - beer cans are worth around 80 cents a # but you gotta hunt for a recycler sometimes...most on - ramps usually have around 3 dollars worth on 'em and most major chain supermkts have recycle trailers in their parking lots...

The ONLY 2 places I have EVER succesfully been mugged are:
PRUNEDALE, CA - AVG income $73,000,
and Boyle, Alberta - a quiet safe hamlet in northern Alberta -- go figure.
end / really!
whew.

In & Out burgers *cheap* GET THE DOUBLE DOUBLE COMBO!

Placerville library chrges 2.00/hr for 'net' and is in a kind of remote location...

YOU have been warned o' hithciker's of the Sierra's...

Write to Legendary Rob.