I was on the road the past three days, driving from San Antonio, Texas, to Los Angeles, California.
It was "catch-as-catch-can" keeping up with the blog. I'm sure I missed a lot, but I have a general feeling of what's going on. A huge "thank you" to all the readers who kept sending me links and stories. I did not get a chance to reply to all comments. Sorry.
Some observations during the trip:
1. If one did not read newspapers, one might not realize the economy was doing so badly. The roads were very, very busy. I was surprised how busy I-10 in west Texas was. I was surprised with all the truck traffic. I was concerned about being stranded on I-10 with no traffic to help me. Not to worry. Lots of traffic, and lots of highway patrol.
2. I left at 10:30 p.m. on July Fourth "eve" -- I generally drive at night -- it's cooler, and less traffic. I would have driven straight through, but I had the opportunity to visit my sister and her family in Tucson. I set cruise control at 55 miles per hour, ladi back, and closed my eyes, letting the 2005 Chrysler minivan take over. Just joking, except for the speed. When driving I do set the cruise control to 55 and just meander down the freeway. My setting finally caught up with reality in California. The speed limit in west Texas was 80; the speed limit in Arizona was 70, and the speed limit, as soon as I crossed the state line from Arizona, was 55 for trucks and cars pulling trailers. I don't recall the speed limit for everyone else. I just stayed at 55 until I got to LA metropolitan area. Then it was NASCAR racing.
3. The highlight of the road trip might have been the NASCAR race I got to participate in. About 100 miles from San Pedro, my destination, and starting at the edge of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the NASCAR race began. The race lasted about an hour.
Generally, NASCAR has truck racing Friday night, the "junior" cars on Saturday, and the Sprint race on Sunday. The Los Angeles NASCAR race is 24/7, and trucks, minivans, conventional cars, and coal-powered cars are all on the track at the same time. Curves and straightaways are six-lanes wide, sometimes wider. Each direction.
Unlike most NASCAR races where there are spotters and crew chiefs, Los Angeles NASCAR drivers are pretty much on their own. I "canceled" cruise control and flowed with the slower drivers at about 70 mph. Just like the NASCAR races you see on television, the drivers that are several laps down are driving much slower than the top ten. I was probably thirty or forty laps off the lead, but I was maintaining minimum speed required to race the Los Angels NASCAR: 69 mph. I was impressed there was no drafting, but I was also impressed how close three cars could get and still not scratch each other's paint job. The moment that two cars crossed in front of me, going at least 90, one coming from the left lane, one coming from the right lane, was impressive. Fortunately, they timed their passing to miss each other. On the other hand, I missed the opportunity to see a great wreck -- it would have made the highlight reel last evening.
As mentioned, the race lasted about an hour: I-10 entering the metropolitan area; to highway 57 south towards Santa Ana; highway 91 west toward Los Angeles again; south on I-110 to San Pedro. At least that's how I remember it. I didn't have a map and didn't have time to turn on the iPad google maps, so I just followed the in-car compass, heading south or west, knowing that I would eventually hit the coast. If any doubt which lane to be in, I just followed the semis pulling "Chinese" trucking company logos -- knowing they were headed to the Los Angeles/Long Beach ports in the San Pedro Harbor.
Oh, which reminds me, the little subcompact trapped between the 18-wheeler and the cement wall on the ramp was very exciting. The truck driver deserves a lot of credit for swinging out to the left preventing the subcompact from becoming a sub-subcompact.
And, by the way, the best part of the race: NO ROAD RAGE. It appears that over the years, the drivers in the Los Angeles NASCAR race have matured. There were no signs of road rage: no honking, no flashing of lights, no forcing folks off the road, no shootings. It appears the new Los Angeles NASCAR rule is: "no harm, no foul." As long as no one is actually hurt, no one gets upset with near-accidents. Cutting other drivers off has become an art form, and drivers that are cut off, don't mind. They marvel at how close cars can come at 90 mph while the drivers are texting. There really is no time for ROAD RAGE when one is texting at 90 mph in an urban NASCAR race. It also explains why attendance at oval race tracks is down; folks can experience it for themselves in LA.
4. It was interesting to watch the progression of customers at Starbucks across the US. In Boston: 90% are under 25 years of age, and 90% using Mac (and everyone is on a computer). In San Antonio, 75% are under 25 years of age; 75% are using computers, and most are Macs, but Dell is still hanging in there. In El Paso, it was all travelers on the interstate. I was the only one using a computer. And here in San Pedro, a upper middle class area, 90% are older than 50 years or so in age; no once, except me is on a computer. And, yes, 100% of computer users in this Starbucks are using an Apple. An old, white MacBook, to be specific.
5. The only highway construction I saw along the entire 1,400 mile trip were two huge interstate interchanges, one in El Paso. I forget where the other one was.
6. Oh that reminds me, Indio. Indio, California. Wind farm capital of the US. If you think oil derricks are bad, drive I-10 through Indio. You all will be happy with CLR, Whiting, Chesapeake, KOG, NOG, Oasis, and 100 other drillers in North Dakota. (Yes, I know NOG is not a driller.) I am seldom surprised by anything I see any more (30 years in the USAF exposed me to a lot), but I was blown away (almost literally) by what I saw in Indio. I thought I was in a 3rd world country that had no environmental protection laws. It was incredible.
I noted that about 20% of the wind turbines were not turning. I assume they were choked back to conserve wind.
Seriously, I think ten years from now, if not sooner, there will be a backlash, especially as these new turbines start showing their age.
7. Weather report. It got up to 106 degrees in the Arizona / California desert. Now along the San Pedro coast, a nice cool 75 - 80 degrees.