"There is No Place Like Home!" - Time Out #181

For many of us, life is full of choices.

One of the biggies is where to live and call home.

Many times that decision is totally out of our individual control. Our employer frequently makes up our mind for us; to work for a particular company, you will live in the proximity of a certain city/town/village.

However, for the minority, self-employed folks, choice of where to live, is an absolute part of the process.

Simply put, I have chosen to live in Our Town for most of my life! Our unique quality of life is great, and less folks and less traffic, compared with many places, is SO wonderful!

To realize just how nice we/I have it in our little piece of north central Oklahoma paradise, the opposite effect is easily experienced, merely by hopping on a local American Airlines jet. Blink twice during this airplane exercise, and your traveling self will be transported far, far away. You might even end up in "America's Finest City (San Diego)" if you get lucky?

My bride, Debbie, and I have managed this trip at least yearly (or more?) since I convinced her to move to Our Town (my home town) in 1981. Ms. Debbie was born and raised in San Diego, and spent most of her first 32 years in this major city of "eternal spring" weather. Moving out of Our Town is not an option in her mind. Her home for 37-plus years is here.

So, each time we experience our West Coast adventure, we thoroughly love just about everything we do there?

Everything EXCEPT the incredible traffic, and the shear masses of humanity. Some estimates currently place California's state population at around 38 million people.

It's also no secret that each travel year, I am 1 year older, and everything that automatically comes with that extra age advancement, i.e, driving on their unbelievable freeway system!

In our recent trip this year, I rented a nice car for our week long stay. We decided we would once again stay in their vast North County area at our favorite coastal community, Carlsbad.

At the end of our 7-day trip, when I turned the automobile back to the rental company, I had driven 480 total miles; Wow!

Here are my basic driving observations there year-after-year:

1) There is virtually no traffic law enforcement by anyone on the freeways. I never see the California Highway Patrol or any other uniformed police force stopping any vehicle for a traffic violation. If an accident or a breakdown occurs, law enforcement eventually arrives to work it, but, of course, this creates an incredible mess and traffic jam.

2) Whatever speed limit is posted, the 4-5 lanes of traffic moving in the same direction, are ALL going 15-25 mph over that upper limit. If you drive the posted speed limit, you run the risk of being run over by all the rest of the traffic, including 18-wheel tractor trailers. Again, the reality is, if law enforcement stopped anyone for speeding, it would create absolute traffic chaos.

3) A fair number of the freeway drivers behave as if they are racing in the Indianapolis 500, in and out of all traffic lanes, at blazing speeds. This happens 24/7!

4) If you aren't in the correct exit lane when you want to get off the freeway, FORGET IT, and hope the next exit isn't more than a mile away, because you WILL be taking the next one!

Oh, well, I have almost a year to rest my mind and body to totally prepare myself for our next visit to America's Finest City. Meanwhile, I'll enjoy Our Town's rare stop-and-go traffic!