The incredible tale of a boy and his brick

At 5:05 a.m. (CDT), I was sitting in Dubuque, Iowa sipping a cup of coffee.
At 4:05 p.m., (PDT), I was standing on the little bit of "Erik Hogstrom" at the Golden Gate Bridge.
My mom purchased a commemorative brick with the words "Erik Hogstrom College Grad 88" during a 1987-88 fund-raising program for the visitors' area at the iconic San Francisco landmark. My brick is one of hundreds at the visitors' area of the Golden Gate Bridge -- one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world.
I stood on my brick shortly after it was placed in the visitors' area sidewalk, then did not see it again for 18 years.
Last year, I twice tried and failed to find my brick.
My wife Jill, our girls Kerstin and Annika, my sister Inger and I scanned brick-upon-brick-upon-brick trying to find "Erik Hogstrom College Grad 88." We stared at names on bricks until we couldn't see straight. I was defeated. I felt terrible that I had traveled 2,000 miles TWICE without finding a simple brick with my name on it.
My family gamely tried to help me find the brick, and they consoled me when we failed. I don't get out to San Francisco often enough. I was afraid I would never find that brick.
Then, earlier this year, we were looking through a photo album back in Iowa when we came upon a key piece of evidence. It was a photo of my brick! Importantly, the photo showed that my brick had a special Golden Gate Bridge logo in addition to the bit about the college grad. During our previous attempts to find the brick, we had avoided the more exclusive area of bricks with the logo, because we (wrongly) assumed my mom had purchased my brick after the initial fund-raising sale.
After my four-plus hour flight back to California today, I needed to stretch my legs.
I set out from my sister's apartment (she was working from home) and started hiking up the Coastal Trail on the west side of the Presidio.
After about 45 minutes, I found myself at the Golden Gate Bridge toll plaza.
After another five minutes -- and armed with that important clue about the bridge logo -- I was standing on my brick.
There were thousands of Japanese tourists milling about, so rather than shriek my head off and dance like nobody was looking, I took turns standing on my brick with one foot, then the other.
I also called home and 11-year-old daughter Kerstin answered.
"Guess what I am standing on right now? My brick!"
As I was excitedly explaining to her how I had found it (complete with hand gestures she would have never seen over the phone), some guy wandered by and interrupted my giddy conversation:
"Hey, are you looking for a certain name? They have a map up there with all of the names."
Guy you are missing the point: I FOUND MY BRICK!
I skipped all the way back down the trail to my sister's apartment, and I am still smiling.
The next time you're at the Golden Gate Bridge visitors' area, look up my brick.
It is three up from a double row of vertical commemorative bricks and three over from the left edge of the walkway. You can't miss it.