STRIKE May 2011: Day Day 1 night - to be continued

There are about 15 or 20 folks waiting for us, as the ferry pulls into Vallejo, holding signs and cheering! What a wonderful welcome!

Marsha suggests we stay with one of our welcomers, a friend of hers named Roger, who has offered the floor of his condo, close to Glen Cove, for the night. We have the church, if we want, but with just about 8 people needing sleeping quarters, she thinks it will be easier staying closer to the Cove. We are caravanning to our beginning march point, so it doesn't really matter where we stay so we decide to go to Rogers.

Roger’s condo is just that – a little concrete and pressed wood building among hundreds of other identical ones in between thick, rounded-up perfect, evenly cut, highly fertilized lawns. Before we agreed to change plans and stay at Rogers, I asked about animals – I didn’t think to ask about smokers.

Roger’s home is clean and sparsely furnished, comfortable except for a disturbed hostile man hanging out on the couch. A couple of us decide to sleep on the little porch, sharing with our gear & food. But that soon becomes barely habitable, as Roger and his friend stand out there smoking into the night.

We finally get a hold of Wounded Knee to let him know we will not be using the church. He is very disappointed and wants us to come right away to the Cove but it is after 10, and we are exhausted and cannot figure out rides there and back. It is late, we are dealing with the challenges of logistics and launching our strike march with much fewer marchers than we anticipated.

We have hope that many will join us tomorrow at the corner of Benicia and Solano and march to Glen Cove ... to be continued