As we got closer to LA we saw a little bit of smog, but I did not think it was too bad. Of course, we were still miles out. By the time we got into the valley, I found out what real smog is all about. We didn’t get a single picture worth keeping. At least with fog you can get some fun lighting effects. With smog it just looks like you have no idea how to use a camera.
Then we sat in traffic for hours. We had planned to arrive at city center by 5-6am and be headed outbound during rush hour. We had trouble getting the rental car, so we were headed in-bound at about 7am with about 60 miles to go. I thought, “Well, I have driven rush-hour NYC, so I can handle this. Plus, it will give me idea of what real traffic is like.” Well, it was a learning experinence.
I really wonder why anyone would want to live in or near LA. Good clean dirt looks better by comparison. At least you can see what you are looking at. And, what is the point of parking your car on the highway for two hours? One time for the experinence, maybe, but people actually do that everyday? They must be insane.
At about 20 miles from LA, we were sitting 4 lanes wide at a dead stop. Motorcycles had been passing us for a while going in-between the lanes. Then suddenly, peices of glass and plastic went flying everywhere. A motorcycle hit my driver’s side mirror with his handlebar. The amazing thing is that he did not actually hit more than just the mirror. Since it was his handlebar you would expect that to make him swerve right into the car, but he did not.
He didn’t stop either! He swerved very slightly and kept going…. fast enough that his tag was out of sight before I realized what happened. I pulled over while Tabetha called the police and then I picked up the glass out of the floor-board of the car. After filing the report, the police officer suggested we skip LA and gave us directions out to a loop around the city. We gladly took his advice.
Related posts:
this is really a very nice article and equally nice is the snap too. Feeling the smog is sometimes very nice. I would love to have such experience sometime.
.-= jim montek´s last blog ..News Bulletin: Uruguay Paradise =-.