Today's mission was go searching for cars. I'd had a tip that Redwood City south of San Francisco had a number of dealerships (thanks Mike and Claire!) so that's where I headed. To get there I first had to catch the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and then transfer onto a Caltrain regional train service.

The BART is rather interesting. From the outside it looks really futuristic and high tech. On the inside it looks rather dated. It does the job however and fairly soon I was far outside of San Francisco and ready to transfer onto the Caltrain. Caltrain trains are typically double decker carriages and it's pretty awesome to sit on the top floor and look out across the suburbs.

Caltrain arriving at Redwood City station

Up until this point I'd been able to travel on all Muni public transport for free with a 7 day attraction pass I'd bought. Unfortunately this didn't cover BART or Caltrain so I finally had to pay to get around.

Redwood City turned out to be really nice with lots of lush greenery. The car dealers were all concentrated on one street with the more expensive closest to the station and the cheaper options further north. I quickly realised that most of the dealerships were well outside of my price range. The worst was a Honda dealer that was trying to sell 10+ year old Hondas for a minimum of around $15,000 USD.

Excluding the expensive places left with just a few options. Most of these screamed dodgy with flaking paint and grass growing in the pavements. There was one option left and it was here that I found the perfect car, a 2003 Ford Escape. She is a four wheel drive with a reasonable boot (trunk) and roof racks. The engine bay and interior are in great condition and the engine runs smoothly.

Excuse the poor quality photo, the excitement of the moment overwhelmed me...

I've organised to pick up the car on Monday after I have finished my booked time in San Francisco. I plan to stay a night in the Palo Alto area so that I can meet up with a friend for a bit on Tuesday. In the meantime I'm hoping to get kitted out with camping gear.

I finished off the night by making a pilgrimage to In-N-Out burger, something that I'd seen hyped up a lot. I went with an Aussie friend that I'd made who had just arrived this evening. It was pretty good but I'm not just what the big deal is to be honest. I'd like to highlight that I'd resisted fast food for five nights!

Tomorrow is my last full day in San Francisco (until the end of the month when I come back) and I plan to hire a bike and cycle across the Golden Gate Bridge. Here's hoping the weather plays along!