Its been some crazy weather lately, we here in the desert thought it would be fun to hit 110 three days in a row in the month of May- hmmmm, maybe thats more normal then it felt. But then on Thursday a mass cool down. I skidaddled out to the Los Angeles area on a beautiful overcast, gray sort of day.
Now those of you aware of my driving skills, are also aware of my ability to get lost everytime i go over there (autumn can testify) I tend to always miss my freeway junction, and add an extra hour or two, and 100 extra miles to my drive. This time was going to be different.
I came upon the first switch. I debated: stay 10, vear 60? 60 is shorter, but leads to a much more difficult freeway transaction, 10 is a bit longer, but the freeway exit is easier to follow... what to do what to do... the road is splitting... the 10 is looking gridlocked... I VEAR 60!
The 60 is a narrow, very narrow, very fast road that takes you winding through a canyon... imagine the A.F canyon as a freeway, without shoulders... there ya go. Immediatley upon entering the canyon, an officer of the law pulls out in front and begins weaving back and forth keeping all of us at a pace of about 25mph. BUST. but at the same time, grateful, its starting to rain, and those curves are sketchy at best.
We wrap around a corner- snow. we wrap another corner, rain. Hard rain. Harder. Harder. I think my windows are going to break under the pressure of it. The road begins to flood. The water is up to all the cars doors on the freeway. A car getting onto the freeway dips its headlights under water before merging into the lane. The rain is so hard and so loud, i cannot hear my radio anymore. Then the lightning begins.Lightning so bright, so close, that even in the daylight, I am blinded everytime it flickers. The thunder rumbles under my tires- i can feel it.
Hail. Large hail. Merciless hail. there is 3-5 inches of hail on the road, and in the tire tracks, flooded water- hail, rain, lightning, wind. This is the storm of the century. I check my clock- a little before 5.
The storm calms just enough for me to take a picture.
We come out of the canyon. Thank you officer for slowing everyone down. My interchange is coming up-- I always accidentally take the 215 (because mapquest says to, and mapquest is a liar!) I very consciously avoid the 215. I take the correct exit (even though it has NO markings on it whatsoever) I get stuck in LA 5pm traffic. And make it safely to Autumns lovely abode.
The next morning, I pass an LA times, and note a beautiful photo. The tornadoes hit riverside a little before 5 pm. just off the 60, on the 215. Throwing over a train and a truck... closing the 215. the 10 closed as well, because it was flooded so badly.
Cheers to getting lost earlier in life, when tornadoes were not on the road. So I could therefore avoid it when they were. I think there is a moral there-- one worthy of a sunday talk.
I played with good friends. I drove a million miles. I saw pretty pretty babies. I punched a few idiots. I spent my first 60$ filling up my gas tank, and then I did it again 2 days later. It was good.
The last part I would like to mention, was the time, I went to the beach, and down below in the empty parking lot sat cats. I counted 25 immediately- and then 30, and then when we got to the bottom-- more.. they kept coming out from the rocks-equal spaced distance from each other. They were all different sizes, colors and breeds. I am glad I haven't been reading stephen king lately. It was on that level of creepy. My photo does NOT do it justice. We passed them, played in the tide pools, and on our way back-- they were ALL GONE>
ps. when i get back from China- I am finally going to have time to read ALL YALLS BLOGS!!
