4 AM

Two hours to go. We meet Phil Joy in two hours to begin the fourth stage of this odyssey. And of course, I can't sleep - but tonight, even Tom is awake. It feels like the first hill on a roller coaster, the expectation as you hear the clanking of the car being pulled up, knowing that the ride is unstoppable, that soon you'll be moving quickly, your fate in someone else's hands.

There is so much riding on this, and the house has to travel so far. Even though the trip from 2243 College to the Gill Tract was probably more dramatic (particularly the steep hill up to Gayley that started the whole trip, then the long trip down Bancroft with tight squeezes on every block), this feels huge to us. The Cheney Cottage will soon be transversing Berkeley, North to South, from Albany to the Oakland line. We have so much riding on this, and there are so many things that have to go right.

Fortunately, what we mostly have is faith in Phil Joy. We know he can make this happen.

And the moon is shining, the sky is clear. The rains, which haven't let up for a week, are gone.

So, here we go. You have to be this tall to ride the Cheney. No pregnant women or people with heart conditions allowed.