Philosopher and I have been on quite the whirlwind road trip!  From D.C. to NYC to Boston and everything in between, we’ve seen quite a bit of the east coast.  Along the way, this is what we learned:

1. Toll roads – there a LOT of these!  Trying to avoid them means some extra driving and countless small roads, but after getting hit with $3, $4, $6, $8.80, $0.90, and $12 from Maryland to New Jersey, we were pretty scarred for life.  On our way back, we detoured through Pennsylvania to make sure we minimized any tolls and it turned out great!  It only cost us $1 as we entered PA.
2. Left exits – there are also a ton of these, for whatever reason.  It definitely threw me off a few times as I merged right to prepare to exit only to find my exit was on the left.  Thankfully traffic generally allowed for these mistakes and it was easy enough to get back into the left lane.  I’m guessing there are more of these because the terrain is harder to work around.
3. Honkers – plenty of this going on.  Is it just us or are east coasters (particularly New Englanders) more impatient and horn-happy than most?  We kind of expected it from New Yorkers, but Bostonians too?  I don’t recall hearing so much honking when I used to go into these cities.
4. Speed crazy drivers – I thought LA drivers drove fast, but then I watched as cars zoomed by me going 75 in a 55 zone, and nearly 90 in a 65 zone.  It seems that less people get caught so they are far more brazen.
5. Full service gas stations – I went to my first one of these ever, only because we had been looking for a gas station for ages and this was the only one that came up.  It was weird to sit in the car and talk to some high school kid to let him know how much gas and what kind we wanted.  As I later found out, this is the law in NJ – what a weird state.
6. We hate NJ.  On our way to New York, we made the mistake of taking the New Jersey turnpike.  Not only was it the most boring stretch of road ever, there were only like two exits within the first 30-40 miles!  Not being able to exit if I wanted made me feel strangely claustrophobic.  There was no escape!!!!  And when we finally did exit they pounded us with a toll charge.  Great.

This was the first time I’d driven long distances on the east coast, since I moved right after learning how to drive 10 years ago.  A decade later, I found I was basically a complete stranger to the way of the roads around here.  It was madness, but definitely a rich learning lesson (actually lesson upon lesson upon lesson) and we came out with a lot of stories/anecdotes to share and reminisce on.  Oh, and I was also constantly reminded of how spoiled I had gotten with automatic doors and windows.  I kept forgetting my key didn’t have a button to lock the doors of the rental car we had, so I’d close the door only to have to open it again to manually lock it.  And I kept trying to roll the window the wrong way.  What a trip!

Tonight a car started to merge into me, which made me grateful that I was an alert driver, noticed the drifting, and promptly moved and braked to avoid a collision. I would have honked too, to warn the guy, but I was just about to take a sip from my tea so my hands were too occupied. I wonder if he ever had a clue how close we were to scraping against each other.

It used to be common for me to be tired on my drives home and if this had happened last year when I was commuting, it may not have panned out the same way. Thankfully, I have a secret weapon under my belt that has been helping me stay alert during my drives. It has been very effective and I can’t wait to unveil it someday! For now Maven and I are working on launching it so I’ll keep it under wraps. One day though, you’ll hear about it!

Forget Little House on the Prairie! In this modern age it’s Little House on the Tow Truck.

I can't tell if it's a toy house or a real mini house.

Is it just me or are there more blue cars on the road?  In the past week or two while commuting to and from work, I’ve seen so many more blue cars than I’ve ever seen in my life.  In fact, I think at any given point there would be a blue car within my view, which is pretty unusual.  Typically it’s just a sea of silver, white, and black.  Where did all that blueness come from?

Then there’s the naming craze, what with Beyoncé naming her kid Blue and I’m sure many more parents to follow.  Even our CEO’s daughter has a middle name that is similar – Bleu.  At least they named their child before someone famous made it popular!  There’s also the issue of Katy Perry’s hair, which she dyed blue not too long ago.  It might just be one huge coincidence, but suddenly the color blue has been making a strong appearance across such different things that I couldn’t help but notice.  I always knew blue was a color that just about everyone likes, but this is definitely taking it to another level.

Let me ponder this as I hunt down some blueberries to enjoy…

It was late at night and I thought I’d be free and clear to drive down the 405, but of course they were doing construction and we got routed off the freeway onto Sepulveda.  I was pretty tired and the little caravan of cars all following the detour was amusing to me at that point.

Traffic was at a virtual stop when the rain came! They had shut down the Sepulveda tunnel due to flooding, which made what should have been a 10-minute drive back took over an hour extra. Yikes.

Our shuttle to the satellite terminals at LAX had a little head-to-head with the planes on the runway.

Wow, it has been two tiring days on the road!  Philosopher and I set out on Thursday, ready for a coastal trip up to Northern California.  We made pit stops at the Getty Villa, Ojai, Santa Barbara, and Solvang before finding a campground in Santa Maria to settle in for the night.  The sleep was sporadic and interrupted by cars driving by, brisk air (it was in the low-mid 50s all night), and of course the uncomfortably firm ground.  Every time I tried to stretch out straight, I would find my blanket was covering my feet and it was way too to have them out.  So, reluctantly, I would pull them back in and curl up in a ball under my body pillow.

When getting things out of the car, I had accidentally locked my keys in the trunk (first time that happened to me!), so in the morning I called up AAA to break into my car for me.  It was really interesting to see their method, using an inflatable balloon pouch and a thick metal rod.  I didn’t quite imagine it being that way based on descriptions I’ve heard using clothes hangers, but hey, whatever works!  With access to all our stuff again, Philosopher and I were able to prepare for the long day ahead.

Day two consisted of a lot of winding roads, driving up and down mountains, and in and out of cloud/marine layer coverage.  I feel at once windblown and sunshone (yeah, yeah, not a term but what would you say?).  This time went from Santa Maria to Pismo Beach to San Luis Obispo, then out to the coast again to drive along the 1.  We took some time at Carmel-by-the-Sea to enjoy the town and beach, then continued on to Santa Cruz and finally San Jose.  While waiting for dinner at BJ’s and looking for another campground, we decided to go for more traditional lodging.  After all, we weren’t having much luck finding a place and it’s been a long two days without proper rest, so I don’t mind rewarding myself with a nice bed and shower.

Luckily, I was able to find the Larkspur Landing Hotel in Campbell, which was offering a really reasonable rate.  There’s free wifi, breakfast, cookies, and a business center, fitness center, and laundry room.  What’s most valuable is a warm and cozy bed, as well as a hot shower!  There’s no need to suffer and doing the whole camping thing another night was turning out to be too much trouble.  I can finally charge up my phone again and start tomorrow afresh.  By dinnertime, we will be meeting up with Panda and I’m really excited for that.  :)