Flyinbowtie
12-30-2006, 08:00 PM
We really enjoyed the incredible weather in SoCal on Christmas Day.
It was great to be warm for awhile, and with my wifes' family.
Since I have not been down there for about 18 months, I am always interested to see how things are goin' in the big city.
I-5 and 99 between Bakersfield and Sacto are equally as rough, torn up, and in need of repair. My wfe drove alot and I ate pain pills.
In SoCal, the air pollution problem has improved in the last 15 years. My inlaws have lived in the same home in West Covina since 1978. The days that you can see the mountains now outnumber the days you can't.
There are far too many folks in SoCal, still. That ain't changed since I moved up north back in '76.
Far too many of them; at least 1/3rd, haven't been tought how to merge onto a freeway. I think it is safe to say the same number don't know what that little handle on the left side of the steering column is, either. If they do, they have elected not to use it.
Rush hour on the 605 and the 10 is from about 4:00am until about 1am the next morning. Ya got a 3 hour window to get someplace. Other than that, it is bumper to bumper as a general rule.
I finally found a place where diesel fuel is more expensive than the Foothills.
By about .30 cents, in some places.
Fewer and fewer folks seem to understand the English language.
We went down to some of our old haunts; like Huntington Beach. It was nice. I do miss the beach. I am sure the new concrete pier is safer, but it doesn't have the style that the old wood one did. A local told me it went down in a storm in '87. (That told me how long it had been since I had been to HB) All the commercialzed shops nearby don't do justice to all the old surf shops that used to be right across the street from the pier on the main drag.
The traffic on Beach Blvd. was simply stupendous.
We visted folks in old neighborhoods, and people in newer 1 mil and up houses. One guy had a brand new riding mower and didn't have 500 sq. ft. of lawn. Neighborhoods not withstanding, a lot of folks shared a pattern.
People really seem to have retreated into their own homes and backyards. Almost a cavelike existence, or living behind a moat, maybe. No contact with the neighbors, no standing around with everbody on a weekend afternoon shooting the breeze. No eye contact, no conversation. Perfect yards, perfect cars, perfect houses.
Maybe it is some sort of survival skill that is required to find some sort of peace in a huge urban environment. I found that rather sad, to be honest.
It was a great Christmas, even though it started out a little rough when my youngest son hit some black ice and rolled his 4Runner 6 hours before we were supposed to hit the road. Sorta made the pre-drive nap impossible.
Everybody was okay, but the rig is totaled.
Anybody in NorCal got a good, clean, straight, early '90's Toyota 4x4 extended cab for sale?:rolleyes:
It was great to be warm for awhile, and with my wifes' family.
Since I have not been down there for about 18 months, I am always interested to see how things are goin' in the big city.
I-5 and 99 between Bakersfield and Sacto are equally as rough, torn up, and in need of repair. My wfe drove alot and I ate pain pills.
In SoCal, the air pollution problem has improved in the last 15 years. My inlaws have lived in the same home in West Covina since 1978. The days that you can see the mountains now outnumber the days you can't.
There are far too many folks in SoCal, still. That ain't changed since I moved up north back in '76.
Far too many of them; at least 1/3rd, haven't been tought how to merge onto a freeway. I think it is safe to say the same number don't know what that little handle on the left side of the steering column is, either. If they do, they have elected not to use it.
Rush hour on the 605 and the 10 is from about 4:00am until about 1am the next morning. Ya got a 3 hour window to get someplace. Other than that, it is bumper to bumper as a general rule.
I finally found a place where diesel fuel is more expensive than the Foothills.
By about .30 cents, in some places.
Fewer and fewer folks seem to understand the English language.
We went down to some of our old haunts; like Huntington Beach. It was nice. I do miss the beach. I am sure the new concrete pier is safer, but it doesn't have the style that the old wood one did. A local told me it went down in a storm in '87. (That told me how long it had been since I had been to HB) All the commercialzed shops nearby don't do justice to all the old surf shops that used to be right across the street from the pier on the main drag.
The traffic on Beach Blvd. was simply stupendous.
We visted folks in old neighborhoods, and people in newer 1 mil and up houses. One guy had a brand new riding mower and didn't have 500 sq. ft. of lawn. Neighborhoods not withstanding, a lot of folks shared a pattern.
People really seem to have retreated into their own homes and backyards. Almost a cavelike existence, or living behind a moat, maybe. No contact with the neighbors, no standing around with everbody on a weekend afternoon shooting the breeze. No eye contact, no conversation. Perfect yards, perfect cars, perfect houses.
Maybe it is some sort of survival skill that is required to find some sort of peace in a huge urban environment. I found that rather sad, to be honest.
It was a great Christmas, even though it started out a little rough when my youngest son hit some black ice and rolled his 4Runner 6 hours before we were supposed to hit the road. Sorta made the pre-drive nap impossible.
Everybody was okay, but the rig is totaled.
Anybody in NorCal got a good, clean, straight, early '90's Toyota 4x4 extended cab for sale?:rolleyes: