This morning provided me one of those rare opportunities: to sleep in! It felt great!
Today is shaping up to be a relatively easy day, with an event planned at the Wells Fargo Store in downtown San Jose. I was looking forward to the event as I was meeting Bev Smith, Historical Services Manager and Anne Hall, Curator of the San Francisco Wells Fargo History Museum. Those two have been a constant source of support during this undertaking, and it will be good to see them both.
After breakfast and a walk around the Coyote Valley RV Resort 
grounds, Juan arrived from his night of freedom, and we were off.
This was my first trip to San Jose , and I must say I was very impressed with the city's downtown — it is truly a beautiful place. Ormsby tells of the prosperous ranches that lead to the "old Spanish" town of San Jose , which was founded on November 29, 1777. The first full name was El Pueblo de San Jose de Guadalupe, and it served as the temporary state capital until 1851.
When I arrived, the store was abuzz with excitement and activity. Planned for the afternoon was a visit by a group of children from the Third Street Community Center. In addition to the presentation that I would be doing, the students were being treated to a presentation by Barbara Johnston and a group of volunteers from History San Jose. Dressed in period costumes, they dramatized different events in California history, focusing on historic travel.
One of my favorites was the character of Charlie Parkhurst, whom many of you will know as the one-eyed stagecoach driver with a secret.
The secret? Charlie was actually a woman named Charlotte. She lost her eye after a horse she was trying to shoe decided it didn't want a new shoe. The woman who played this part was great, and the kids — as well as the adults — in attendance really got a kick (pun intended) out of her.
With the help of local Team members including Janine Nguyen, Lynne Van Hyning, Alex Torres and many others, the event was a success. I really enjoyed meeting everyone — especially the students of the Third Street Community Center.
Although my San Francisco arrival isn't scheduled until tomorrow, I have to be up early in the morning for the final school event in San Rafael (just across the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County ). Bev graciously invited me to spend the evening at her house, and I quickly took her up on the offer — a night in a real bed was too hard to pass up. And although they had no way to know, Charlie and Eddie were about to be treated to the run of a big backyard and some new friends: Bev's dogs, Penny and Carlos.
So, as the sun was setting on the day and metaphorically on this great adventure, I head to San Francisco with mixed emotions. I am truly excited about tomorrow's events, but also more than a little sad that my trip is coming to an end.
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