Moving on after no sign of the apocalypse

OAKLAND, Calif. — They spent months warning the world of the apocalypse, some giving away earthly belongings or draining their savings accounts. And so they waited, eagerly or anxiously, on Saturday for the appointed hour to arrive.

When 6 p.m. came and went at various spots around the globe, and nothing extraordinary emerged, Keith Bauer — who hopped in his minivan in Maryland and drove his family 3,000 miles to California for the momentous occasion — tried to take it in stride.

"I had some skepticism but I was trying to push the skepticism away because I believe in God," he said in the bright morning sun outside the gated Oakland headquarters of Family Radio International, whose founder, Harold Camping, has been broadcasting the apocalyptic prediction for months. "I was hoping for it because I think heaven would be a lot better than this earth,"

But he added, "It's God who leads you, not Harold Camping."

Bauer, a tractor-trailer driver, took off for California last week, figuring that if he "worked last week, I wouldn't have gotten paid anyway, if the Rapture did happen." He plans to hop back in his minivan and begin the cross-country drive back Sunday with his wife, young son and another family relative.

The May 21 doomsday message was sent far and wide via broadcasts and web sites by Camping, an 89-year-old retired civil engineer who has built a multi-million-dollar nonprofit ministry based on his apocalyptic prediction. According to Camping, the destruction was to have begun its worldwide march as it became 6 p.m. in the various time zones.

At Chicago's Millennium Park, hours before that time arrived locally, people continued to take photographs of the famed Cloud Gate as they do every other Saturday — and many saw the prediction about Judgment Day as something of a joke.

"I guess the whole school thing was a waste of time," said Sarah Eaton, a 19-year-old college student visiting the city from St. Paul, Minn.

Mena Bishara, 24 of Houston, said if he did believe it he sure wouldn't be walking around the park with his sister.

"Skydiving," he said. "Or I'd buy a motorcycle."

The Internet also was alive with discussion, humorous or not, about the end of the world and its failure to occur on cue. Many tweets declared Camping's prediction a dud or shared, tongue-in-cheek, their relief at not having to do weekend chores, pay their bills or take a shower.