The Wilde Expedition

19. san fran

Copyright © 2015. All Rights Reserved.

〮CHAPTER NINETEEN 〮

 By the time we came rolling into San Francisco, it was was pitch black and yet there was more to see than ever before. Gavin had to jostle me awake so I wouldn't miss the tunnel that guarded the northern entrance of the Golden Gate. It cut through the middle of mountainous terrane, and burrowed us through to the vast open view of the bay, and the rising red cords of the famed Gate.

"You're not gonna wanna miss this," he told me, just as excited as I was as he flew nearly over his limit of sixty miles an hour. The engine couldn't take much more than that, or else the whole thing shook. It happened one or two times prior to our entry into San Francisco.

The tunnel was blinding at first, and once I'd gotten used to it, I only had a few seconds more to marvel at the tunnel before it poured us out onto the fast lane. The second we exited, the dark consumed us, and it took a few moments for me to gather my brings and realize that the bright lights overhead were not, in fact, stars.

Without wasting a second, Gavin told me to stick my head out the window—don't worry, it was totally safe! I did just that, having to tug on my seatbelt a few times in order for it to work. I leaned out the window, letting the misty ocean breeze tug my gnarled hair back, which was well oiled due to the tireless days of traveling and being stuck in a semi for a day.

I needed this.

Overhead, I watched the powerful cords carry themselves up, dotted with lights, to the magnificent, architectural masterpiece of the first gate. The wind at first seemed overbearing, but as we cruised underneath the structure; it seemed only to caress my skin, and comb through my hair.

A fog had accumulated on the water, and it rolled over the edges of the fencing, and coat the second gate in a thin film. It faded the skyline of the city, so I never got to see it in it's entirety at first glance. Still, I was too starstruck by the Gate to care.

I reeled myself back in when we passed the toll, my cheeks slightly numb and pinched with the misty air. Gavin was laughing, like he could hardly believe it himself when he'd already been here countless other times. He turned up the music, which was a calming acoustic track that seemed fitting for such a languid night ride.

"Thoughts? Questions? Concerns?" he inquired, his broad, cheeky grin making my insides flutter with uncharacteristic giddiness.

"I'm dreaming. This has to be a dream," I said, throwing myself back against my seat and letting it out in a cry of pure joy. "I can't believe I'm here!"

"Now you know how I feel half the time," he said, a slight drawl to his tone before it picked straight back up. "Just you wait! I've got the perfect spot to stop for the night."

He navigated the van into bursting neighborhoods, with houses built with a yard of space between them, or none at all. If the window would have been closed, my nose would have been on the glass, but since it wasn't, my head was sticking out. Again.

Everything was relatively quiet, seeing as everyone's days were drawing to a close, but Gavin assured me that things would still be hopping in town. I wouldn't really find out that night, since he stayed on the outskirts, closest to the bay, where he pushed the engine farther until we were atop a steep hill, the incline stomach-dropping to look down. I nearly cried when he said we were stopping here for the night.

"Are you kidding me? We're on, like, a ninety-degree angle!"

When I said this, he leaned over the seat and got up in my face before making a poof! with his hands and saying, "Adventure!" I hardly had time to argue before he was hopping out of the driver's door and trekking to the back of the van.