BY San Jose Mercury News

Raiders rookie offensive tackle Mario Henderson was at home on a Tuesday night, enjoying his lone day off during the week, when a 5.6 earthquake struck the Bay Area and sent Henderson diving under a table.

"I didn't know what was happening," Henderson said. "All of a sudden the ground is moving. I was like, 'Is this the end?' I thought the whole building was about to fall apart. This place is crazy."

Henderson survived his first earthquake experience that Oct. 30 evening only six months after being selected by the Raiders in the 2007 NFL draft. It was just the latest in a seemingly endless string of welcome-to-California moments for Henderson, a native of Fort Myers, Fla.

Henderson's jolting adjustment period is familiar to that of many young NFL players from smaller towns who wind up moving to an area far different from the place they called home for most or all of their lives.

"It was amazing coming out here," Henderson said. "I had heard that a lot of people move out here; a lot of the superstars. . . . California is the place where everyone comes to get rich, be in movies, make your dreams come true."

Henderson's dream of making it rich materialized when the Raiders selected him in the third round in April out of Florida State. He and others like him arrived in Oakland less than a week later and have been fighting to stay afloat ever since.

To help ease the transition, the Raiders offer guidance through a booklet, seminars

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and in-house advice. Players receive assistance in such areas as finding suitable housing, handling finances, locating doctors, schools and places of worship.

But nothing replaces firsthand experience.

Rookie running back Oren O'Neal hails from Stuttgart, Ark., a town of 9,376 located 70 miles southeast of Little Rock.

It didn't take long for O'Neal to learn that negotiating the streets of Stuttgart isn't adequate preparation for driving the streets of San Francisco. His wake-up call came during a trip he made with his wife.

"We got turned around and got lost," O'Neal said. "I looked up and I'm going down a street the wrong way. Here comes a bus headed straight for me."

Rookie wide receiver Johnnie Lee Higgins comes from Sweeny, Texas, a town of 3,624 south of Houston or, as he says, "out in the boonies."

Higgins said he won't drive anywhere unless he is certain he won't get lost.

"I'm the kind of person where if I don't know where I'm going, I'm not going to go," Higgins said. "Just about every big city has a bad part, and I'm not going to a bad part. That ain't happening."

Raiders left guard Robert Gallery has had more than three years to adjust to moving from an Iowa farm to a Bay Area suburb. He calls it a never-ending process.

He grew up on a 700-acre farm with a gravel road as the main artery. His nearest neighbor lived a half-mile away.

"I wasn't used to neighbors," Gallery said. "Now I come outside, and they're 10 feet away. They can see through your windows and look over your fence. That's a big adjustment for me."

So is the cost of housing. Gallery said he envisioned a nice house for $500,000, at most.

"Obviously, you can't do that," he said, with a smile.

Then there's the matter of garbage.

"The garbage man doesn't come by and get your trash back home," Gallery said. "You burn it out back. It's just a different world."

Henderson agrees. Especially when he has to drive on freeways.

"Where I'm from, the speed limit is like 35," Henderson said. "I was riding the 880 (freeway) one morning and someone was honking at me. I'm like, 'How much faster do you want me to go

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