Running along the Sacramento River here in old town Sacramento's early morning brings me past the homeless. Imagine at night having to think about whether to go into the bushy areas closer to the river, or to sleep on the ground alongside the trail, or to go further from the town and sleep on a bench. Imagine thinking whether it would be worth pushing your things in a shopping cart or to have fewer things that would fit into a backpack. Imagine wondering where to get a bicycle like some of the other homeless. Imagine wondering what you will find in today's rummage through the trash cans. And imagine wondering where today's food will come from.
Cool evenings, cool mornings, and cheerful -- not too hot-- sunny days have made this a great visit to Sacramento. I had forgotten its role in history as the gateway to the gold rush. The first bridge across the Sacramento River was at the time of the gold rush, and there continued to be ferries for a long time after that first bridge went in. During the New Deal, with the increase in automobile traffic, a new "Streamline Moderne" (post-art deco) bridge was put in to frame a dramatic entrance to the capital. I allowed two lanes of cars and a train track down the middle. It used an innovative light-weight concrete for the draw bridge section in the middle.
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