N-R reporter earthquake-prone

Here I go again.

For the second time in five weeks, I was present when an earthquake struck California. The latest quake rattled the San Francisco Bay area just after 9 p.m. Friday.

The earthquake registered a preliminary magnitude of 4.0, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was centered in Alamo, about 28 miles east of San Francisco.

I was sitting inside a fifth-floor hotel room in Emeryville, located on the east end of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Alamo is 21 miles from Emeryville.

I felt the bed shake and looked down to see why it happened. The shaking lasted about four seconds, subsided, then began shaking again for another two seconds or so.

I was in Southern California on July 29 when a stronger 5.4 magnitude quake struck the Southland. I was driving in Westminister, in Orange County, when the back of my car acted like it had struck a curb, only there wasn't any curb in sight. That quake was centered in Chino Hills, 23 miles northwest of my position.

I'm in the Bay area attending a Mini Cooper car gathering. I spent most of the day on Treasure Island, a man-made land mass located midway between San Francisco and Oakland and accessed by the Bay Bridge.

More than 200 Mini owners from throughout California, Oregon, Washington and several other states came to San Francisco for a series of events, including daytime drives through Marin County north of the Golden Gate Bridge, to Santa Cruz and a pre-dawn Sunday drive through the streets of San Francisco. That drive will recreate the route used during a chase scene featuring Steve McQueen in the 1968 film "Bullitt."

• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at jsowell@nrtoday.com.