Day 5: Newark to Hayward
April 17th, 2017
15.27 miles in 7 hours 46 minutes
Today was a day of convenient bus rides to and from the trail. ECR is the bus that runs up and down El Camino from Daly City to Palo Alto. I meant to catch the first one in the morning so I could then catch the Dumbarton Express to Newark at the Palo Alto Transit Center. But I got on 297 instead because it said it was going the same place. It was my surprise when the bus turned off El Camino and detoured into East Palo Alto. I finally decided to hop off the bus at University and Middlefield in Palo Alto and planned to run to catch the Dumbarton Express in Menlo Park at Willow and Middlefield.
As I ran I remember an earlier inspiration for running from twenty years before when we lived in the Willows neighborhood and my middle son had just been born. I didn't get addicted to it that time, but I fondly recall those few days of waking early and running the darkened streets. Then as I got to Lytton (only one block away from University) the Dumbarton Express was sitting at the stop light, and the driver let me on, and let me buy a Day Pass for the 5 dollar bill I had. It was a great ride to Newark after that.
I walked from just south of the Dumbarton Bridge to just south of the San Mateo Bridge today (in the East Bay). I've been to Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge (where its visitor center is) just south of the Dumbarton, but I've never walked Coyote Hills Regional Park north of the bridge. These are real hills, not created by piling up landfill, and the trail leads to amazing sweeping views of a peaceful part of the bay.
Union City sits between Newark and Hayward, and a lot of the walk was on sidewalks down Union City Boulevard. After finally crossing into Hayward the trail goes through a development called Eden Landing that reminded me of the ticky-tacky little boxes of Agrestic, only set out into the bay.
After getting off the trail I Ubered to the AC Transit M bus stop to catch a ride across the bay. I was feeling pretty good about how convenient these buses were and how lucky I was in catching them on time, when the thought occurred to me my streak of good fortune jumping on buses might break, as the bus I wanted to get on roared past me.
It was cool though. I used the time to jot down all the details of this blog. And when I got across the bay I took the ECR from Hillsdale south. I'm still a little perplexed at why we raised our kids without introducing them to public bus transit. Then I guess my parents never took me on a bus either. Still cheaper than Uber, and you get to sit with other people from the walks of life you don't meet in an Uber pool.
As I ran I remember an earlier inspiration for running from twenty years before when we lived in the Willows neighborhood and my middle son had just been born. I didn't get addicted to it that time, but I fondly recall those few days of waking early and running the darkened streets. Then as I got to Lytton (only one block away from University) the Dumbarton Express was sitting at the stop light, and the driver let me on, and let me buy a Day Pass for the 5 dollar bill I had. It was a great ride to Newark after that.
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| Bay Trail over the top of the Dumbarton Toll Plaza |
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| Quarry Lake undergoing renovation at Coyote Hills |
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| Informal Snake Warning in Coyote Hills Park |
Union City sits between Newark and Hayward, and a lot of the walk was on sidewalks down Union City Boulevard. After finally crossing into Hayward the trail goes through a development called Eden Landing that reminded me of the ticky-tacky little boxes of Agrestic, only set out into the bay.
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| Eden Landing |
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| The View of Hayward Hills from the Bay Trail |
After getting off the trail I Ubered to the AC Transit M bus stop to catch a ride across the bay. I was feeling pretty good about how convenient these buses were and how lucky I was in catching them on time, when the thought occurred to me my streak of good fortune jumping on buses might break, as the bus I wanted to get on roared past me.
 |
| A Flock of Snowy Plovers and a Black-Necked Stilt |
It was cool though. I used the time to jot down all the details of this blog. And when I got across the bay I took the ECR from Hillsdale south. I'm still a little perplexed at why we raised our kids without introducing them to public bus transit. Then I guess my parents never took me on a bus either. Still cheaper than Uber, and you get to sit with other people from the walks of life you don't meet in an Uber pool.
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| Day 5: Newark to Hayward |
Accounting:
Starting Balance (8.03)
- Sam Trans 297 2.25
- AC Transit Day Pass (for DZ and M cross bay) 5.00
- Comics 15.35
- Pink Lemonade 1.65
- Uber Pool plus tip to bus stop 7.63
- Sam Trans ECR 2.25
- Uber Eats two deliveries (18.53)
Balance 5.05
Voice Notes:
Instead of taking the ECR to the Palo Alto train station I took bus 397 which went through the EPA. So it was running late and I decided to try and catch the Dumbarton express at Willow and Middlefield. But by the time I figured this out I was at University and Middlefield and had four minutes to run to Willow. Made me think of my first inspirations to run after Ben was born and we lived in this neighborhood. I ran all the way to Lytton where the bus was sitting at the stoplight and he let me board.
Newark sticks out on a stubby peninsula into the bay which is capped by the Dan Edwards preserve and the Coyote Hills Regional Park. This geographic extension is matched on the other side with the hill that juts out between San Carlos and Belmont.
Writers don't wait for inspiration to set words down but without inspiration why write?
I think it took letting go of specific computing ambitions to be able to appreciate the natural beauty of the bay.
Getting away from road noise is instantly soothing.
I'd say the hills at Dan Edwards wildlife preserve are natural and not man-made.
This hike wouldn't be at all the same without the iPhone. Thanks Steve.
The Coyote Hills really give a different perspective on the levees between the salt flats.
I guess I'm trying to heal my feelings for programming by continuing to approach it from a natural perspective.
Just saw a red wing blackbird, a bay area native.
Why do mallards have blaze orange feet?
A simple goal like walking until 2 PM or driving for Uber until 3 PM leaves me with a satisfaction that other more theoretical perspective pursuits have not given me.
The end of Moore's law and global warming have set constraints on the future of Silicon Valley.
I'm not interested in starting a company that is financed on the VC model. I'm sure the sustainable winners for the future will avoid that.
In a sense Reagan and Schwarzenegger paved the way for Donald Trump.
Led Zeppelin Ramble On playing on my earbuds.
Ambrose Pierce’s audiobook about the great railway started playing by random on my phone so I figured this was the time to finally listen to this.
He says that America was shaped by the railroad because you could plunk a town down anywhere and make it part of the Union as long as it was connected.
The railroad allowed the US to take a hold of the entire continent, the New World, and because of that turned to face the old.
Why can you only play John Philip Sousa music in bandshells?
I'm really appreciating AC Transit's cross bay service. Today I'm going to take the M over the San Mateo bridge.
Even though I'm a beliefist I used science to put a bottom on what was worth fearing.
Today's topic has to be something about buses.
The bay is rimmed by mostly open hills. Easy to see the gash where Belmont is from the other side.
Will it be a hate crime to go through an Agrestic look alike community and play “Little boxes made of ticky tacky” on a speaker? Couldn't it be defended as satire?
I think I flushed a Canadian geese couple from a nest. At least the strength of their display to distract me was great.
Another red wing blackbird.
Mimicking birds would lead to music , especially this Canadian goose.
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