California Driving

Well, I just spent the last 5 hours driving from Williams to Salinas here in California and I have a few things to report on.

1. The drive from Williams to Salinas is rather uneventful, boring, and all together not all that exciting. Once you've done the first few miles there's not much difference in scenery. I would compare it to driving from Calgary to Lethbridge or to Edmonton. The only change of scenery was that there were a few hills but they were still covered in brown grass speckled with little green trees. Nothing like the drive through the majestic redwood forests like the days before. I did have a bit of a surprise when I crested a hill to see a ton of huge ships sitting in a small lake. At first I thought it was a "ship graveyard" but in fact I believe they were all still sea-faring vessels. The second surprise came after crawling in traffic for an hour (I covered a whopping 2 miles!) to discover that a truck spilled its load of lettuce all over the freeway!

2. The "California Lane Change". While driving today through San Jose on a 6-lane freeway I had the privilege of witnessing this awe-inspiring event. I don't know if I was impressed or scared for the life of the driver and those around me but I watched a car go from one side of the freeway to the other in one swift motion...no signal and a hard crank on the wheel that put them in their desired lane. The crazy part was the traffic was so heavy I don't know how they managed it in one motion!

3. The two dumbest words in California Road Law. LANE SPLITTING. Can we just talk about how dumb of a rule that is. I had a good number of motorbikes go between me and another car while flying down the freeway. Just the other day on my way back from Abbotsford a guy tried that and now he's going to be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. A good reason for why it's stupid, refer to #2 above with the famous California Lane Change.

Driving in and around the Bay area has brought back memories of driving in Ontario along the 400 and 401. All I have to say is I'll be glad when I don't have to drive here anymore and it reminds me of why I'm glad I decided to move away from that part of Canada.

D