Rob’s Happy Funtime Travel Blog: Walnut Creek

Posted on April 18, 2012 at 3:53 pm

Tuesday, April 17th 2012

The day began at 8:30 with Matt Brown throwing up the arena-scale lights in the not-quite-ghettoriffic hotel room in North Beach. On the one hand, I was upset by that sort of rude awakening, yet on the other it was a blessing, given how badly I needed to pee. My half-full glass soon seemed empty, however, as my first morning vision was that of Matt closing the bathroom door. When the door clicked a moment later, it became all-too-obvious that this was not going to be a quickie. Then came a wave of frustrated writhing, as I came to realize just how serious my need really was, and a simultaneous realization of just how long it would be before I could relieve the associated agony… Ahhh, the many pleasures of the road.

Fortunately, there was some pretty great coffee to be found at Blue Bottle down at the Ferry Building.  Most of the group opted for Peet’s, but I was far more interested in something more local. As far as corporate mega-brands that feed on the blood of small-business and culture go, Peet’s is the lesser evil. I die inside every time I get stuck drinking the Rape-of-the-American-Dream blend at Starbucks. The Blue Bottle latte was great, though I wish I’d avoided that particular suggestion and ordered my usual Americano. I forgot that lattes are 80% milk, which counteracts the caffeine and pretty much puts me right to sleep…

In the afternoon we filmed a recruiting ad for The Online 401(k). The creative team really came together to improvise and execute a concept. In less than three hours, we conceived, scripted and shot several scenes for a commercial. It was pretty exciting and represented, for me personally, a real milestone.

The great news of the day was that I managed to convince the crew to divert through Reno, en route to Vegas. I’m thrilled to include my mom and step-father in the project. Their story is perfect for it. So we’ll be heading over the Sierra tomorrow toward the festering sore on the American landscape that is Reno, the gimpy redheaded stepchild of Vegas.  Among our big hopes for tomorrow will be the acquisition of a cheap but reasonably functional guitar, for the purpose of wooing impressionable young ladies in middle America, among other things.

10:42pm Leaving the TOK HQ in the wagon with Andrew, the newly-added Andrew Meadows and Jon. The first song on the pod is Jack White “I can tell that we are gonna be friends”… How perfect. I believe we are headed to Pleasant Hill…

11:17pm The Pixies, Wave of Mutilation. And we’ve arrived. Wonderful. Now to check Yelp! for the nearest bar.

2:59am Just returned from the empty hotel lounge after three rounds of cheap beer with Andrew Moore. We really have no idea how many people are occupying this dark three-room suite. I think it’s just us, Jon and Andrew, but who knows. We lost track of the other half of the team awhile back… Time for a few precious hours of sleep before an early breakfast in Walnut Creek.