Sprint has improved dramatically

Every year around Christmas here, I complain that the shopping area has horrible service with Sprint.  As of the Christmas season 2018, I can complain about it no longer.  We didn't get 100 Mbps service but the service was never unusable as it had been in the past few years since I arrived in 2014.

Further, I had jury duty in Stockton, which has generally had the worst of everything and I had a solid 4 bars downtown, especially on the 7th and 12th floors of the court house, but even on the ground it was exemplary.

I haven't had a lot of praise for Sprint, except for EVDO/3G in 2005 when the others were far behind them, and several years later when WiMAX was delivering data well before LTE was available in even a few places.

I'm pleased to say that the company has done better lately and I'm not sure why but I hope they continue to improve.  I'm almost okay with the T-Mobile merger, as long as we don't end up on GSM.  I hate having a voice conversation with anyone on T-Mobile because of the way it distorts and echoes.

VoLTE (Voice over LTE) should have been implemented already, so that we could rid ourselves of GSM and CDMA.  I expected it would be in place in 2015, even if it wasn't widespread, but it doesn't seem to have gone very far at all.

Update 2019.02.24: Sprint is now advertising that LTE Advanced is in use.  They also have "Calling Plus" for Android-based phones, which appears to be VoLTE, as they mention that you can use the internet while on a call, etc.

Apparently, 5G service will be launched in a few cities in May.  It seems that they've not bothered with Philadelphia or Miami, which is a big change from earlier times.

Don't you love how AT&T/SBC is finally going to LTE Advanced and is calling it 5Ge, as if it's something better than everyone else.  It's similar to when they enhanced their 3G service and called it 4G, even though it wasn't much different from T-Mobile.   By the original definition LTE Advanced is 4G, and we're not quite there yet, as far as a nationwide implementation goes.  I still see 1xRTT on occasion.

Update 2020.02.17: Apparently, 2020 is the year that 5G will penetrate our lives.  According to news, Verizon couldn't cover the Super Bowl stadium with 5G service, so I'm not sure how great it's going to be.  I'm still waiting for 4G/LTE Plus to be everywhere--and for 2G to go away.

Update 2020.04.24: The Sprint/T-Mobile merger happened and the two companies are cooperating on LTE, but will remain two operations otherwise.  I'm glad that they're not getting rid of CDMA.  I wonder if MetroPCS is still using CDMA, as they were prior to their acquisition by T-Mobile.  They were known as the worst carrier, but I'm not certain that they were the worst.

In any case, it should be interesting to see how everyone's service goes.  Hopefully, it's better and Verizon and AT&T sweat some.

Got an iPhone 6 last night and stayed with Sprint

As you might have read already, I live in an area where the LTE installations haven't been finished.  While much of the town is on LTE, I live on the edge of LTE and a roaming zone.  In fact, my bedroom seems to be a transition area between 3G/EVDO and LTE, so I end up with 1xRTT too many times for too long.

Verizon First

I went to see Verizon, but after seeing the local reseller's Yelp ratings, I went to a city 15 miles away where there was an official company store.

They currently have a $150 switching rebate, and I had found that the data sharing plan of 12 GB had been upgraded to 15 GB.  This is important as I already have a mobile hotspot with the company.  Service is better than Sprint but not great, as though it's bordering on overloaded.  We apparently don't have enough towers in town.

I waited about 15 minutes until there was an available associate.  We talked, and he explained the rent-to-buy plan.  It sounded fine, and then, he talked about the data plan--6 GB for $120, along with talk and text messaging, which we didn't even discuss.  I told him that I'd really have to think about that, since it would drive my total expense up by $40.

Then, I said "I thought there was a 12GB 15 GB sharing plan" and he seemed to tap his headset, and looked surprised "Oh, why didn't I think of that?" and as if he'd been given information by someone behind the curtain, he remarked "That would be $160."  That pretty much ended the conversation but I asked if he was on commission, and he said yes, and had someone get his card for me.  I figured that he would get a little extra each month by not suggesting the cheaper plan.

Sprint Next but not Nextel

I went to one of the two Sprint kiosks in the mall just after that.  The first was busy, so I went to the other.  I said "Give me a reason to stay with Sprint.  I'm ready to pay my ETF." and we started a discussion.

Within only a couple of minutes, he mentioned an extra discount for long time customers on the lease plan.  This also supposedly doesn't include a contract.  They get to keep the phone at the end of the lease or you can pay an extra $200 to keep it.  I was a bit confused, but it still sounded okay.  Except for prepaid service, is it ever 100% straightforward?  Since I wanted a 64GB iPhone 6, it cost a bit more.

Naturally, with these plans, you leave without paying anything.  They put certain things on your initial bill, like the !@#$ $36.00 activation fee--yes, they need to pay for the rigamarole to handle all the crap of paperwork.

My plan is a bit old, so they had trouble deciding which reason to use to make the lease work.  They need to add "Hella Old Plan" to the list.  Eventually, everything was fine, and they also sold me a Otterbox glass screen protector and a Griffin case.  Amusingly, my old address from 2000-2008 was there, and now, with one of the receipts sent by e-mail, they showed me Indiana taxes, where I haven't lived for months.

What's bad about the lease discount is that I had to stay with my current service plan.  They have a better, cheaper plan now.  Actually, last year when I got the iPhone 5c, they add an Unlimited Everything plan or some such that was the same price but had no limits.  Still, I don't talk on the phone enough to need my current minutes.

Oh, and I didn't have to pay the ETF, so far.  Hopefully, it won't show up, since I was told that it wouldn't happen.

They asked me if I wanted insurance, and I told them AppleCare+ but I'm not sure that it will arrive or not.  They didn't charge me for it, but then, they didn't charge me right away last year.  I didn't want Asurion to handle it, as they want lots of money each month, and they have no problem refusing service.

In any case, the iPhone 6 is much better than the iPhone 5c.  That's a surprise?  I suppose not.  I'm thankful that the iPhone 6 is a bit more efficient than the iPhone 5s.  I was concerned about buying a first-generation 64-bit processor from Apple, so I didn't buy the iPhone 5s.  The phone keeps up with me, except when service is poor.  Given that the iPhone 5c is a two band LTE device and the iPhone 6 is a three band LTE device, I should have great performance in certain areas where the Nextel 800 MHz frequency band has been re-purposed.

Most apps I use seem to have been updated for iPhone 6, as well as iOS 8.x and they seem fine.  However, there seem to be so many bug fixes, with apps being updated every few days.  Asphalt 8 takes advantage of the new abilities and has some extra special effects.  I'm not seeing anything else like that from other apps, but everything else seems smooth.

As it has only been a little over 24 hours, I don't know how the battery life really is.  I was in a habit of charging whenever possible--in the car, in the house, and I have a Sony charging kit with a 10,000 mAh battery.  I'm not comfortable enough to let it go overnight without a charge, though I suspect that it will be fine.

The display seems so good.  I wish that they'd picked a more standard size, such as 1280x800 but had 1334-by-750-pixel resolution at 326 ppi.  That's big enough to play 720p video, finally.  Seeing "Full sRGB standard" makes me happy.  I can't tell you how many times I've looked at photos I've taken and the color range and dynamic range is lower than expected, leaving my photos not looking their best, requiring imagination.

TouchID seems to work well.  I was carrying on a conversation with the salesperson while trying to set up the phone and I wasn't synchronizing my movements well, but the TouchID setup was very patient.  It works fine and it's good to be able to put my thumb on the Home button to unlock the phone.  I'm not ready to use Apple Pay.  Let someone else live through the problems.

The thing I don't like is the size of the phone.  It's not horribly big, but it is a big difference.  When I'm playing games in a landscape position, it's great.  When I'm trying to use it as an internet device in portrait orientation, it's a little uncomfortable to use with one hand.

What else?  I'm planning to buy another Ballistic case, so I don't have to worry about dropping it.  The current Griffin case was labeled with "3'" but does it actually work after a drop of three feet?  The glass screen protector from Otterbox seems fine, but for such a price, it should be fine.

Oh, the speakers are in the way of my hands.  Yes, I know that doesn't make sense.  Playing games or watching videos in landscape orientation, I can barely hear the sound at all.  If they'd be a little less obsessed with thin and light, they'd likely have made it so headphones aren't necessary.  Maybe, I can charge my Bluetooth-connected Motorola S9 headphones and hopefully, the synchronization of sound is better than way back when with the second generation iPod touch and iOS 5.x.

Update 2014.12.12: I found Best Buy-only Ballistic cases for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.  They were $34.99, $39.99, and $49.99.  I bought one of the $39.99 priced cases that was labeled Tungsten Tough.  You won't find these on the Ballistic web site.  It's a similar situation to the Klipsch speakers that are made for Best Buy.  I suspect that there is a higher profit margin.  The case has what seems to be anodized aluminum in back.  The drop rating was 7+ feet.  The case for $49.99 added water resistance, a screen protector, and an 8+ rating for drops.

I'm not sure if I'll miss the clip (it didn't turn the case into a viewing easel), as it has hung on to my pocket when I didn't quite have the case far enough into the pocket, but the company's protection is great, so a 7+ rating should handle a fall from my pocket easily.

Update 2015.02.10: I have to say that the situation with Sprint in California isn't as good as it should be.  I understand that it is a long state, but seeing "No Service" should never happen, and it happened too often on my trip from Northern California to San Diego.

The compensation is that when LTE was available, it worked very well.  I've found too many transition zones, just like in my apartment, where they still haven't got overlapping towers.

Update 2015.11.06: Sprint provided better technology and therefore, a better connection.  After 1 month, they took it away, and things are back to the way they had been.  Where they have good service, the phone works just fine.  Elsewhere, the service is poor and the phone works poorly.  I was told I needed to have the phone serviced.  I told the @sprintcare team that I didn't know that humor was a new service they offered.

I almost wish that I had not got the new phone so I could switch to T-Mobile, which has improved their service.  Even paying more to Verizon might have been worth it.  I've been with Sprint since 2000 and the last couple of months have made me wish that Sprint would go out of business.  I actually mentioned that to the @sprintsavings people on Twitter.

The phone has been good.  Now, with iOS 9.0.2, it seems even better, if still a bit buggy.

New Jersey to California in many, many instants

So, I sold my house, and I'm moving to California.

The main thing about this switch is that I'm giving up the east coast for the west coast.  I love Philly and New Jersey, and even when I'm not there, I'm within driving distance, but all that is changing.

I've done Orlando to Los Angeles in three 15 hour days.  It's possible, although crossing Texas itself was a 15 hour day.  I don't want to do that again, not really.  I don't really like to fly because you can't pull the plane over to take photos or eat somewhere special.

So, this time, I'm trying to take everything into consideration.

Actually, the closing on my house was the 6th of June, two Fridays ago.  I immediately drove to Manasquan, New Jersey where I rented a motel room for 6 days.  When I arrived on Saturday, the beach was packed.  I couldn't even park.  Sunday, the parking machines weren't accepting cards.  Monday, it stormed like crazy and it drizzled the rest of the week until I left on Friday.

I went to Orlando for Saturday and Sunday.  Sure, it's 1100 miles but that's not a big deal (except for Washington, DC traffic) if you'll never see it again.  I have a family of dear friends there.  They're probably the last people on earth I really want to see.  They were close when times were bad and they helped when I couldn't help myself.

After a really good weekend there, I went back to New Jersey for a couple of days.  I had something in the mail.  Then, I headed out, back to Pennsylvania, and I took a detour to Cumberland, Maryland, thinking that a Madonna of the Trail statue was there.  I was wrong.  It was at Bethesda, near DC, and I wasn't going there for anything.  However, the marker for the origin of the National Road was there.

I've traveled the National Road in all of the states where it exists, both as US Highway 40 and US Highway 66/I-40.  Plus, this gave me a bit of history to pass on to my followers on Instagram, who live along U.S. 40.

I took I-68 from Cumberland into West Virginia, and met I-79 from Western Pennsylvania, and that led me to I-64, which took me all over the place, but finally into Illinois to meet I-57, apparently US Highway 66's successor.

That took me to I-55, and then, I-40 into Arkansas, which is where I am at the moment.  I'm photographing a newly-married couple in Oklahoma City, as a friendly, casual kind of photoshoot.  Hopefully, it will be good and not stressful and demanding.  (It worked relatively fine.)

After Oklahoma City, I just need to set the auto pilot controls and head to California.

It's somewhat amusing that I've had my 2012 VW Golf TDI about 1.5 years and put 32,000+ miles on it already.  It had 5000+ on it when I bought it as a demonstrator.  The computer is telling me that I have about 3000 miles until the next service is due, and I only had the previous one a couple of months ago.

Oh, and if you go 90 mph, you only get about 25 mpg, even though it's diesel-powered.

There are a couple of things on the way.  I'd like to stop at Plaza Cafe in Gallup, New Mexico (it may be 10 hours from Oklahoma City, an easy drive) for a nice breakfast, and there is place with a motel, restaurant, and filling station somewhere in the California desert--Roy's Motel or something like that.  It looks halfway abandoned but it should be interesting to photograph.  Apparently, the people who created Asphalt 8 used the design for something in their Nevada track.

I'm supposed to tell my singer/songwriter friend from Burbank, California when I've returned.  My buddy from San Jose knows that I'm going to be about 50 miles away, but I haven't heard from him lately.  The weird thing is that I don't know how to feel about starting fresh--really fresh.

Obviously, my time zone will change.  Work will change.  Food will change.  I need to have my car windows tinted to avoid the desert sun's effects.  I won't be close enough to San Jose to just pop over there, but it won't be an extreme drive.  Traffic will be heavy but there are trains during the week.  There is an alternative route with a bus to San Francisco that also uses BART trains.

I had to throw/give away a lot of things.  I'll probably be looking for them because something else will depend on them.  I will have done something wrong, and I really won't have time to care.  It will be a new life.

I look forward to the ability to attain and sustain...again.  I look forward to attacking goals and challenges with intellect and efficiency.  Most of all, I look forward to a peaceful life for the first time since I was a small child, for however long or little it will last.

Update 2014.06.27: Well, this is interesting.  I checked Twitter today, and my singer/songwriter friend is in New York City to perform as part of a group on various TV talk shows.  I'm guessing that he has been rather focused on that.  The buddy from the SF Bay Area is likely in the Galapagos Islands at the moment on a photographic adventure.

I made it from Barstow to Lathrop, along state roads 58 and 99, in about 5 hours, which is good, especially since traffic was a bit crazy at times with lane closures and stupidity.

Starting fresh will be interesting.  I'm close to 42,000 miles so I'll need to have my 40,000 service performed soon, even though it's not quite 10,000 miles since the 30,000 mile service, although that was only about 2 months ago.  I must have driven quite a lot.

Traffic in all states is interesting.  I'm always amazed at how many people like to inhabit the passing lane, no matter what.  It's interesting to see how few people use their mirrors.  When I first moved to Philly, the people sponsoring the aid trucks on the highway reminded people to use their mirrors.  I thought that this was ridiculous, but people did not look, which is shocking.  How do you determine where things are, if you're not looking?  (Of course, that reminds me of a co-worker who was parked in the parking garage, next to a post.  She slammed into the post 3 times when leaving work, if I remember correctly, and needed major work on the passenger-side door by the time she had finished.)

Driving along California's state roads is pretty good.  I suppose it all depends on how developed the state is.  Some states even have bad federally-funded roads.  Of course, dealing with mountains and canyons presents all sorts of interesting issues with proper road design and physics.  Good tires help a lot.  I didn't drive Pacheco Pass Highway today, but SR 99 presented some fun.

Update 2014.06.28: It's a pleasure to be able to not travel.  It's not as though I'm not going anywhere, but I'm limiting travel in order to look for houses.  Having a place to live is certainly more important than taking frivolous trips at this point.

Update 2014.06.30: Got some information today.  Even if you can pay a whole year of rent and the deposit, people don't want to rent to you, if you don't have a job.  That seems odd.  You'd think that they would be pleased to not have to think about where the next year's income would be.  Apparently, it is difficult to boot someone out in California, so the realtor's argument was "What do they do when you don't have money for the second year?"  I'm not even sure I would want to rent the same place for two years, regardless of money.  This is definitely a kink in the hose--there is nothing flowing.

I'd also like to say that it has been an amazing opportunity to see so much of the U.S.A., even if much of it was done at 70 mph.  As a child, I had been across the country several times, in a 1960 VW Beetle, imported from Germany to Japan, then taken with us to the U.S.A.  My adoptive dad drove us from San Jose, California to Richmond, Indiana across many different roads, prior to the Interstate Highway System that exists today.   Obviously, we didn't take that Beetle 70 mph, but it made it through the snow when vehicles from Buick and Mercury were on the side of the road, spinning their tires.

I only wish that I had a GoPro or other such camera to record a lot of where I went.  It might have even made an interesting time lapse recording.

I've noticed one thing being here in Northern California, especially with the temperature being quite high, and rather excessive stop-and-go traffic flow, my miles per gallon have often dropped just below 30 around town.  I never had that experience in the past, even in summer.  Then again, it was 106 degrees F today and I've had the air conditioning on almost all the time the car is running.  I don't sit at stop lights all that long, but it seems as though I sit at more stop lights--there is no extended flow.  They are very efficient at moving cars from any direction.

!@#$ navigation!!!

May I take this moment to interrupt your calm with "Why doesn't navigation work properly in North(ern New) Jersey?

I complained back in 2006 when Telenav kept telling me to turn around, even though I was very close to where I needed to be.

I've been staying at a motel in Manasquan, NJ and I've been up and down the state, mostly using Apple's Maps app.  It doesn't know what a jughandle is, but that's okay.  I can adapt.

I took it to Little Falls on Sunday and it got me to a downtown area, and freaked out a little and I shut it off, and parked.  After my meal, I went to Fairfield, and since I knew the way back to the main road, it didn't really have a problem.

A couple of times, it has stuttered because I did not do what was expected.  Sorry!  Sometime, I've been through the route too many times and know a better way and don't want to go down every side street to get there.

Now today, I went back to the camera store in Fairfield, and it was mostly agreeable.  (Seriously, I don't use the Express lanes of the Garden State Parkway because there is no cash lane at the toll plazas on that side.)

As I was leaving, it was 4:45 p.m./16:45, and I know how difficult traffic can be.  I thought to go to a certain pizza place I was missing that is in the next county, in Rutherford.  It's mostly a very straight path.  SR 3 east and SR 21 North.  The only problem is that there doesn't seem to be a direct way to get to SR 21 going North.  Usually, you have to go to the next exit, cross over, and go north, which is what I did, while the Maps app displayed "Rerouting..." and reminded me to "proceed to the route" many, many times.

After eating, it was no easier.  It had picked an odd route that made no sense.  Once I remembered how to get back to SR 21, it was catching up, still telling me to turn.  I finally turned it off.  I tried Waze, which had me down every side street possible, and instead of taking me directly to the Garden State Parkway, which was straight ahead, it wanted me to take a county road off SR 3.  I quit that also.

I would have tried Google Maps, but it couldn't even find where I was.

Thank goodness my memory wasn't completely gone.  I'd still be down some side street in Rutherford.

Update 2014.06.15: I was travelling to the Orlando, Florida area--to Oviedo in particular, an area where I lived for 10 years.  Waze had wanted me to traipse down every side street from the Florida state line until the center of Oviedo.

When I selected my motel in Yelp and got to Maps, and asked for directions, rather than take me on a direct route to International Drive via Kirkman Road, Apple's Maps wanted me to go to a toll road further along the way, and apparently backtrack.  When it finally re-routed me, it still picked an odd route, taking me into more traffic than was necessary.

Thankfully, I generally know where I'm going, so I can't be confused quite that easily, but what are they (Waze, Apple, Google) thinking?

Update 2014.07.04: I was trying to use Apple's Maps two days ago around San Jose, California.  It did okay most of the time, but requested U-turns where there was a turn lane into a shopping center already.  Perhaps, their information is old?  I'm not sure but I didn't have the problem last August with one of the locations.

In one case, I was trying to get to Westfield Valley Fair mall, and I wasn't on the correct part of the exit, twice.  I didn't understand, and it was a complex juncture, but the navigation tried to loop me around twice when the answer was much more simple--turn left, follow the road, turn left at the appropriate road, and drive straight until the mall.  I found it when I followed my own path, but for some reason, navigation wanted me to avoid city streets.  I've had situations where one of the navigation apps put me into freeway traffic jams to avoid those crowd city streets, which were moving fairly well.

You'd think that the maps could get around the San Francisco Bay Area with great ease and accuracy.

Tried to trade Panasonic GH3 for GH4: low availability at the time

As I was on a short-timer's schedule, I called Roberts Camera of Indianapolis, Indiana to see if they had a GH4 and would do a trade-in of my GH3.

It seemed a bit confusing to the first person to answer the phone, but the second person made it clear--they had no GH4s in stock and three on the waiting list.

Today, I'm nowhere close, though I may try a dealer in New Jersey where they've also done Panasonic presentations.  I believe they are Unique Photo.  Equally, Adorama is across the river in Manhattan.  I trust Adorama to help me, but I hear about many bad experiences dealing with the various personalities in the store.  Maybe, the people are not from the Northeast.  I used to hear many stories about people from New Jersey, New York, or Philadelphia.  In my experience, they were misinformed.  These rude, hateful people are some of the most genuine, loveable people you'll ever know.  They just say what they mean, and so do I.  I lived in Philly for eight years, and supposedly, my biological father came from Philly.

In any case, I want to trade the GH3 and the closest dealer in California to where I'll be living does not trade.  That doesn't mean I won't be able to find a shop, but I'd rather deal with New Jersey or New York where I can trust the person will show me the contempt, rather than try the schmooz me into doing what they want.  (I really liked Roberts Camera for their no-nonsense approach to dealing with people and cameras--give the customer good advice and a good deal.)

Maybe, Unique Photo will be able to help.  I really hate driving into and out of the city (New York City) but parking is worse.  Of course, if New Jersey Transit is working, it might be a piece of cake in a few days, to get to Adorama.

Update 2014.06.08: I was at Unique Photo this morning.  They were friendly and knowledgeable.  They expected a shipment last week and didn't get it.  They have 3 people on the list ahead of me.  It sounded as though they had a significant quantity arriving, so I may just get the body this week.

They also tempted me with the Panasonic GM1, which is clearly a dear and tiny camera body.  I'd really like to see it on the end of my Olympus 35-100mm f/2.0, with the tripod mount attached to the tripod, of course.   Otherwise, it's not quite balanced.  I was impressed with how very tiny the Olympus 60mm f/2.8 macro was.

Update 2014.06.11: I returned to Unique Photo since I hadn't heard anything and I wanted to make sure that they weren't going to send a GH4 to an address I no longer occupy.

They didn't get their shipment yet.  Maybe, they'll get it this week.  They didn't know.  Rather than have the GH3 and a GH4, I traded the GH3 for US$500, which is low, but you can sometime get a new GH3 for under US$900, so it's better to get US$500 than having it collect dust.  I bought an Olympus E-M1, which I will still use after I buy a GH4.

I still feel that the E-M1's battery and grip are too small, but I was tempted to buy a Panasonic GM1, so what's more weird?  I don't know.  Hopefully, the E-M1 will work well with my Four-Thirds lenses in real-life situations.  I still have my E-5 and E-1.

It's taking a while to charge the battery, so maybe it will last longer than I remember.  I hope Panasonic will have their stock soon.

Update 2014.11.30: A few days ago, I finally got my GH4.  Stock is not only good, but they've had a $200 instant rebate on the camera body.  When I tried my extra GH3 battery in the GH4, it seemed to be full, after nearly six months.

Mike's camera was fairly close--about 33 miles from where I live now.  Their people are not brand fanatics and are willing to talk intelligently about any brand you might want to buy.

It's a long time to go without.  The E-M1 has been good and the GH4 seems to be everything the GH3 was but better.

Public transportation works--we need more

The continental U.S.A. is roughly 3000 miles wide.  It took me three 15 hour days to drive from Orlando, Florida to Los Angeles, California and an equal amount of time to return home.  Many of the states are the size of a country elsewhere.  There is a lot of what seems to be empty land.  Mobile phone service is generally available but not available everywhere.  Many people use satellite-based TV because cable companies aren't there, and antenna-based TV only works at short distances--shorter since digital TV arrived.

I've used public transportation on both coasts and in Japan.  In Japan, you can set your watch by it.  I did.  In the U.S.A., you might as well throw out your watch.  When the train or bus arrives, it's there, and that's all that matters.

In the midwest, where I went to school, my mum and I took the bus once.  It wasn't really good or bad, but we didn't have to walk.

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I used trains and buses regularly (I likely still have my route pamphlets), and went one summer without a car.  It was demanding because I worked outside the city and after dark, services are less available.  What was a walk in the morning, and about 40 minutes on trains and buses, at night, took four hours on two buses, including a trip into the city and back out to the edge.

Transportation around New York City is no better, no worse.  Getting around Manhattan is easy--uptown, downtown.  Getting into town, you end up at Penn Station or Grand Central Station.  If you're going to Long Island, you board the Long Island Railroad at Penn Station, and wait and wait and wait and fall asleep and miss your stop.  I didn't fall asleep but I swear that it was the slowest train ride I had since being in rural Japan, taking a local train.

In San Jose, I used (Santa Clara) Valley Transportation Authority light rail.  It was smooth and fast enough.  Planners were thoughtful enough to put a connection to San Francisco through Caltrain.  At this same San Jose Diridon station, you can also use the Altamont Corridor Express to Stockton, as well as points along the way.   Caltrain was reasonably good, although I've seen plenty of mistakes since I used it.  I'm just happy I wasn't on a train with a problem, and that the temperature was moderate.

One thing I really liked about Caltrain is that they had dedicated storage for bikes.  I didn't pay too much attention to how you could lock your bike but they mounted the bike with the front wheel up.  I don't know that I would use it, but it was an effective way to keep the use of cars down.  Since then, they have introduced some bike-rental-sharing scheme.

When I was in the Bay Area, I didn't use my car that much but when I did, I was rarely stuck in traffic.  I did not drive into San Francisco, though.  On the other hand, I've driven through Manhattan, Queensborough, and Brooklyn and don't want to do that again, and that's with major public transportation.  I swear I used almost every bridge and tunnel in the NYC metro area, except for the George Washington Bridge and Verazzano Straits Bridge, all in one day.

Having lived in the Orlando, Florida area for 11 years after Philadelphia, I wanted to use public transportation.  There was a bus stop in front of my first apartment complex.  The bus that stops there went to a mall.  I did some research and the mile between my apartment and my work had zero Lynx buses, for some reason, even though there were buses on either side of the stretch.  The lack of sidewalks and the high humidity made walking an unlikely adventure, as I would need to clean up after walking to work.  In all those years of living there, I never found a situation where I could ride a bus.  The Orlando Sentinel used the headline "FloriDUH!" after the 2000 elections and I've used the nickname ever since.  What the planning people are thinking is beyond me.  They're working on implementing light rail now.  It looked great, but whether Lynx buses will match up with it or not is anyone's guess.  They're now trying to implement SunRail, their soon-to-be light rail solution from Volusia to Osceola counties.  I could only hope that they've planned to connect bus routes to the light rail stations.

While public transportation doesn't make sense in many farming communities, it makes sense for small towns and medium-sized cities.  I might use public transportation now, except that I'd have to walk two miles to Main Street or the shopping centers to get a bus that probably doesn't go where I want.  If they had not paved over all the trolley tracks, I wonder if the town would be very different now.

Maybe obviously, taking a mature city and implementing train or trolley service requires a lot of construction, especially with subways.  The other day I saw something about BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) finally after 30, 40 years making its way to San Jose from San Francisco, along East Bay.  The comments about it were rude, ranging from drugs making their way to San Jose to the horror of detours for construction.  I can't imagine that people would choose to be in a car waiting in traffic, rather than sitting in a train, for the same amount of time.  It is overdue, but at least, it's on the way to a finish, even though Caltrain already handles the western side of things.

I don't want to pay extra for parking or find my car damaged when I return, even in a company-owned lot.  I avoided that in Philadelphia, at least, paying for parking, by taking SEPTA trains into work.  At that time, $56 per month got me unlimited access to the city via trains, trolleys, and buses.  $64 got me a parking space.  In the San Francisco Bay Area, a $6 VTA day pass got me unlimited trips around Santa Clara county on VTA buses and light rail, and the $18 day pass got me unlimited Caltrain use between San Jose and San Francisco.  Besides, you don't have to remember where you parked your train.

I know that public transportation wherever it is, is no complete fix.  It is usually a huge burden on the taxpayers, even with great ridership.  It costs money to power it, and unions are often disagreeable.  I'm not just talking about the U.S.A.  It wasn't that long ago that the German rail workers union went on strike, and they probably had a fairly good deal already.  When I was riding a SEPTA bus, the drivers would often tell of how the union was going to strike many months ahead of contract negotiations--regardless of contract negotiations.

If the world has all these great minds that think about economies all the time, why is it that they can't find a good, balanced solution for transportation?  If power was free (solar, wind, etc.), would public transportation be affordable?  (I just remembered one serial dream I had.  I was explaining to the rest of my class my idea of self-propagating electromagnetic propulsion for trains, but unfortunately, I can't remember any serious details.)

Update 2014.04.11: I'm looking to move somewhere between San Jose and Stockton, California, so that I can use the ACE trains and live cheaply, until such time as I have money for a house, should I ever choose that again.  I'm not 100% sure of job prospects, but if I end up with a local retail job, I can always take the train to San Jose to visit museums and other attractions.  I think I'll have to drive the car to Palo Alto to IKEA, unless I'm also going all the way to San Fran on Caltrain.  Public transportation takes more research and preparation, which reminds me how I forgot to learn about San Francisco's MUNI ahead of time and ended up hurting my feet the several hours I was there walking.

Update 2014.04.20: Apparently, living out by California state road 99 and I-5, you have some options to get to the San Fran Bay Area.   The ACE train is one and there is a bus from Modesto (MAX) to the BART station at Dublin/Pleasanton.  Everything seems to result in a 4 hour trip, if you're going all the way to San Francisco.  The Caltrain trip from San Jose to San Francisco was somewhere between 1.5 hours and 2.0 hours, depending on taking express or local trains.  Obviously, the bus will take longer because it has to sit in traffic with all of the commuters who moved to the Central Valley to save money.

I also took a moment to look at getting to Los Angeles.  It seems that Amtrak goes from San Fran to Stockton by bus.  You leave Stockton on the train but just to Bakersfield, and then, you're on another bus to Los Angeles.  I'm confused.  Is the ground so unstable that they don't have passenger trains running the length of the state?  My trip up the state from Barstow to San Jose by car included switching roads in Bakersfield--from SR 58 to SR 99, which led to I-5, and across the Pacheco Pass Highway to US101, which took me to San Jose.  I'm sure that getting a train across the mountains could be difficult, and Pennsylvania has a "horseshoe" that PRR used and Amtrak now uses from Philly to Pittsburgh.  I guess it's not so simple in California.

In Los Angeles, I know that they have some trains.  I've seen the station at the far end, at Angels Stadium in Orange County.  I wonder if they're used much, other than for the baseball traffic.  There didn't seem to be any dedicated parking, other than that of the stadium.  Perhaps, when there are no games, people use it for Park-and-Ride?

Update 2014.05.01: Central Florida's SunRail went live today.  There were some minor problems, of course, and running on time couldn't be expected.  There was one photo of an older couple and a man with a walker was trying to get out of the train.  There was no ramp, so he put his walker on the ground that was lower than the platform, in order to get to the final step on the train.  I would imagine that he then picked up his walker to put on the platform, and likely fell trying to step over the gap.

It's still amazing to me that people don't test for wheelchairs and other devices.  One of my first experiences in Central Florida was when Montgomery Road was being widened from two lanes to four lanes with an additional turn lane.  They added sidewalks--with light poles in the middle of them.  I'm not saying that it only happens there, but Floriduh, you do it far too often.  At least, they somehow all agreed to get the light rail going.

Update 2014.05.07: The people behind SunRail are getting quite a bit of experience in their first few days.  While some may be experienced in other places, there is no place quite like Central Florida.  I'm just thrilled that they all cooperated and got light rail into production.  Someone mentioned that they were adding a third car to some of the trains today, to handle the rush.  That's certainly better than living people behind in frustration, when you have extra cars available.  Why not put them there in the first place?  It's likely the cost of the energy to drive them.  You would hope that something called SunRail would have solar panels on the top of each vehicle.

One year with diesel

No, I'm not talking about Vin Diesel.  I'm talking about Volkswagen Golf TDI Clean Diesel.

This time last year, I'd been having all sorts of issues with a 13 year old VW Golf GLS that I bought with fewer than 50 miles.  It wasn't a paragon of reliability at any time, but spending US$500-$1000 nearly every month was difficult.

I searched for several cars and the dealership which serviced my car had two 2012 Golf TDIs in stock at a discount since the 2013 models had been available for months.

Switching to diesel wasn't a huge problem.  I knew enough that I wouldn't put gasoline in the tank.  Apparently, some TDI owners aren't that aware and VW had a couple of safety precautions that they used to help remind people.  My only issue was finding the diesel pump, as it wasn't always out in the open.  At one station, it was in the back, in the dark.  Their price was lower, I guess, because it wasn't for the faint of heart to fill up.  Many times, I've had to search for the diesel pump but a few stations mark it nicely.  It's always amusing how many customers will pass the gasoline-only pump to use the combined gasoline-diesel pump to get gasoline.  I love waiting.  I love sarcasm more.

Finding stations with diesel has been an issue.  While I was traveling, I would have loved to use Waze to help me there, but it doesn't allow me to customize it for the type of fuel, but then, neither does Scout.  If I'm in unfamiliar territory, it's easier to have GasBuddy at the ready and switch to that, and it already knows that I'm looking for diesel fuel.

The price of gasoline has swung madly through the year, while diesel fuel has stayed within 40 cents, never being very cheap at US$3.899, though US$4.299 seems rather expensive.  In my world, when I'm getting over 40 miles per gallon, I suppose it doesn't matter, but during the winter months, I may have trouble reaching 30 mpg because of warming up and moving slowly, staying in lower gears.  I've seen just higher than 50 mpg, which is rather a bit higher than the 42 mpg stated.  On my trip to Philly, I had 48.8 mpg, if I recall correctly, giving me a range of 664 miles.

Since I got the car just past 5500 miles, the first free maintenance had been finished.  I took it for the 10,000 mile maintenance at the same dealer where I bought it.  However, for 20,000 miles, I was between California and Ohio, so when I stopped in Arkansas, I had the service there.  The mechanic botched the service, pinching the fuel filter.  I had a huge leak.  The next day, they took care of it, but the mechanic refused to reimburse me the fuel, even though he was given a voucher to do so.  My next service will certainly not be there, especially since it's 12 dry hours from home.

The car really hasn't given me a cause for concern.  If I look back at the first 30,000 miles of other VWs, I had a vapor lock problem with the 1985 GTI, plus a bent wheel.  The 1986 GTI had a missing weld and a bent wheel and both front brake rotors had to be replaced.  The 1990 Corrado had a bent wheel but it was quite a bit more reliable.  The 1999 Golf GLS had 30 or so trips to the dealer for the power window regulator clips, plus an appetite for daytime running lights, and various electrical problems including the central locking system.

The only serious problem I've had with it is that it's all grown up.  I found myself driving 90 mph when it felt like 65 mph with the 1999.  It is very stable, though not flawless.  The electrically-powered steering took some acclimation, but it's quite reasonable, and I don't have Asphalt 8 (video game) moments with it.

You might ask why I'm already over 20,000 miles.  I took a trip from here to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, plus a trip to San Jose, California.  Those totaled 1884 and 5702 miles respectively.  Obviously, that's not a lot of the travel.  The rest is rather local within the tri-state area.  In fact, January 31st and February 1st, I was in southern Ohio photographing three basketball games.  The trip is about 4 hours each way.  I'm getting an average of about 10 mpg better than the 1999 Golf GLS, which is a good improvement.  If I could drive more slowly on the highway and avoid little towns on the state roads, I'd do better.  (I'm just past a total of 30,000 miles, meaning that I've added nearly 25,000.  The MFI shows that I have another 2000 miles until the final free service.)

This was also my first car with an automatic gearbox.  Yes, they had a manual available but between white and red, I chose red--and the better discount on the demonstrator.  I might do it differently given the choice again.  For some reason, I was completely uncomfortable with the transmission during the test drive.  I suppose that shouldn't be surprising.  Every Volkswagen I've had, the gear change was radically different in feel and it took a while to acclimate myself.  Not only that, but the clutch was usually different also.  I didn't want to be troubled with gearbox and/or clutch problems.

One thing is still certain.  The car was certified as meeting ULEV II standards, so I can move to California without giving up the car, and that's a plus.  It also means that it's not polluting as much as the old car, nor does it have a load of batteries to be recycled as a hybrid or fully electrically-driven vehicle would have.  I can be concerned about the environment without being an activist.

Am I in love with my car on Valentine's Day?  Not exactly, but I am satisfied.  It's all dressed in red--maybe I should take it for a car wash.

Update 2014.05.06: I took my car for its 30,000 mile service a week ago Monday.  I made an appointment, but they were so quick with it that I'd almost think that they didn't do anything.  Supposedly, the change the oil and filter, rotate the tires, and other maintenance-type things.  I suspect that they changed the fuel filter again, since the disaster at the previous VW dealer in Arkansas and my 20,000 mile service.

I'm heading toward California once the sale of my house is complete.  While I was uncertain at the time I bought the car, I'm glad I settled on this certain model because it is a 50-states certified model.  It's just too bad it's not much bigger in the back.  I'm still not sure how I got to Florida in my 1985 Mazda RX-7 with my Japanese futon in the back and various things crammed in the front.  I know that I had many things crammed into my 1999 Golf GLS when I moved up here.  That Jetta Sportwagen looked like a winner but I bet it doesn't have all that much extra room.

Update 2015.11.24: At just over 80,000 miles, I've been busy.

When I sold my house in June 2014, I took a trip to New Jersey, to stay at the shore several days.  It rained most of those days.  As I wouldn't be on the east coast again, most likely, I took a weekend trip to Orlando to visit friends.  That was 1100 miles each way.  Returning to New Jersey, I had a nice day, picked up my things and started for California.

How did I put on 40,000 miles in just over a year, especially when I drove a lot of short trips?  I really don't know.  I'm about 70 miles from San Jose, California and I go there often.  I've been to San Diego once, on one tank with some to spare.  I've been to Orange County a couple of times.  It is a big state.  I haven't got as much fuel economy as I might have.  90 miles per hour is too easily achieved.  Still, 35 miles per gallon and change is good.  If I told it down to 60 mph, I'd see 42 mpg, probably, but traffic doesn't work that way in general.

The car has been good.  Despite the emissions scandal, I still like the car.  I'm disappointed in the company, but I suspect that they're not the only company to cheat.  Apparently, Renault is being investigated at the moment, but it's difficult to believe that any company has not cheated.

 I haven't had any major repairs, though the windshield had to be replaced once.  About two weeks after having tint installed on the rear windows and colorless film on the front windows and windshield, a pebble propelled at the windshield started a crack that took over half of the glass.  It couldn't have happened before the extra cost film, could it have?

As the year is ending soon, I'm wondering about so many things.  Hopefully, the car will continue to be good, even after VW makes their modifications to the emissions control hardware and software.  I don't need a car that coughs and sputters.

Sprint is more worried about their executives than their customers

I keep hearing about the wonderful improvements to Sprint's network.  They're happening everywhere, but apparently, where I go.

Sprint made a big deal about having LTE available for the Super Bowl last year.  This summer, I was on Georgia Street in downtown Indianapolis with the Tri-Fi mobile hotspot and my computer trying to do some work before an event.  0.75 Mbps (or 1.0 Mbps on 2013.11.09) on LTE didn't seem quite right, even by pathetic standards.  I was told by the @sprintcare team that two towers were having problems and that the third tower in the area was being stressed more than usual.  It's possible.

As I've said in the past, putting one tower in a town and saying that you have coverage is not the same as having useful coverage, but I know that Verizon does that.  Seeing someone with a phone showing "4G LTE" taking two minutes to switch to 3G (EVDO) to actually do the work is sadly amusing.

No one has really good coverage right now, so it's all about who doesn't have the worst coverage.

I was thinking to myself "Why can't Sprint handle their current customers' needs now?"  I decided to take a look at the network.sprint.com site and check on 3 metropolitan areas.

• Cincinnati, Ohio
• Overland Park, Kansas
• San Jose, California

I'm near Cincinnati and WiMAX (4G) is just as overloaded as EVDO (3G) is.  I've yet to see any LTE (4G LTE)  coverage (that changed with my 2013.11.13 visit), but I don't always take my mobile hotspot with me.

Overland Park is where Sprint's headquarters are.  It's in the Kansas City metro area.  The KC metro area is about the same size (~2.3 million people) as the Cincinnati metro area, so I thought that it would be a good comparison.

San Jose is the third largest city in California with just under 1 million people.  It's in the San Francisco Bay Area, but at the furthest south point.  WiMAX is present and worked reasonably well for the first 6 hours of my 3 day stay there.  It was supposedly repaired before I left, but wasn't working correctly, so perhaps, the problem is that the technicians can't be bothered to test.

I must be confused.  If the KC metro area is no bigger than the Cincinnati metro area (and Overland Park isn't that much of the metro area), why are they receiving roughly 4 times the enhancements?  They're even receiving more than San Jose, California, which has about 4 times the population.

The only thing I can reason is that the executives complain about their inconvenience and plan around themselves.  I can't imagine any other logical explanation because I would think that they would want to convince people who aren't Sprint employees to go with their service, especially when Sprint employees get a discount (100%?) for service, unlike typical customers.  It also seems that with the recent addition of 70 new LTE locations that many were planned as vacation destinations for Sprint executives.

I had learned in the past that they had no way to gauge data performance.  I suspect that they're just not collecting any information, so that they can't be blamed for what they don't know.  Having worked with internal networks at various companies, there are tools for Quality of Service (QoS), so I find it difficult to believe that the major carriers aren't using similar tools on their data networks, except to escape blame.

Oh, and by the way, marketing has created a new boasting area to talk about their plans for tri-band LTE: http://faster.sprint.com/category/spark/?INTCID=TSC:UHP:103013:spark&adSelectData=1:Module_spark_103013

I'm with a lot of the comments that say "I'll believe it when I see it." but they talk about 2014 and 2015.  2014 isn't that far off, but I have a feeling that I won't be seeing LTE at home until 2016 at the rate they're going.  Whether it will be reliable or not is another matter.  I don't consider any data communications technology sufficient if it struggles to get my e-mail, although I've been told several times by Sprint support (not customer service) that if sometime during a 24 hour period the data rates are within their advertised numbers, they are acceptable rates.

Update 2013.11.11: I had recent conversations with local Sprint employees and ended up extending my relationship with the company by buying a new iPhone 5c.  They said, according to the local network technician, this area will have LTE about 6 months from now.   Whether it will be working (well) or not is another matter.  Returning from Indianapolis the other day, I noticed that the phone was showing LTE for all but about the last 38 miles of my drive, so it seems they're working their way across the state.

Update 2013.11.13: I was in the Springdale area, just outside Cincinnati and was surprised to find LTE.  Speedtest.net told me that it reached a little over 10 Mbps at the peak, and settled on 7 Mbps.  That's good, but as with my experience with WiMAX being overloaded in the area, they're going to need a lot of capacity.

Springdale, Ohio

Update 2013.11.26: I was in Eaton, Ohio today.  It's a town just big enough by state law to be designated a city.  LTE was working there but has not been officially announced yet.  My previous experience is that the town had 3G data service prior to where I am now, since Sprint had bought the area's wireline business, apparently.  Verizon had bought the service in this town.  In any case, it seems that LTE is closing from all sides and it's going to be pleasant until everyone moves over to LTE.

Eaton, Ohio

 I really love the Sprint Zone app.  It's so precise with the Free Memory figure.  Additionally, the Data Connection is hard-coded to show 3G no matter whether 1xRTT is there (even roaming), or LTE is the current connection.  It doesn't matter how many times I've mentioned it to them.  It's like the Sprint Speedtest.net vanity page saying that connections are in Megabytes per second, rather than Megabits per second.

3G connection while LTE or 1xRTT is active...hmm

Update 2013.12.27: I was able to use Sprint's LTE in the Dayton, Ohio area today.  It was less than spectacular, but the availability hasn't been announced yet.  Since they don't actually provide much coverage when they announce an area, I don't think it will be good for a while anyway.  Indianapolis, Indiana was announced quite a while ago, and it's consistent with what a good EVDO connection should be.

Update 2014.01.21: I got a text message from Sprint today:

I'm actually somewhat hopeful that things are changing, even though bandwidth seems severely constrained at the moment.  On Monday, I was in the small city of Eaton, OH using their LTE, which has yet to be announced.  Instead of the 7 Mbps I was receiving previously, I only got 2.48 Mbps, and there was a hole where 3G/EVDO showed up that wasn't there previously.  It almost looked as if they'd re-deployed equipment already.

LTE is finding its way into every area

Of course, the text message I received says to me that out of 4 towers in town--there should be at least 5 but they've ignored a large area south of town--should be equipped but I'm not exactly convinced.  I was expecting everything from the noted area on the coverage map east to the Ohio state line to be covered, but that may be more hope than reality.

Update 2014.12.02: It's been a bit over a year and the company has made some progress toward their LTE buildout.  That's a good thing, but they're still failing.  They're still far too interested in helping themselves than helping their paying customers.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, my phone usually works on LTE and generally works well.  There are still some really ugly problems but they are fewer than I'd seen in other parts of the country.  Being that I live about 75 miles from San Jose, there are more ugly problems the further away from California's third largest city.  Surprisingly, I had very good service in San Francisco itself, which is a tough city to cover.  Since WiMAX has been decommissioned, along with Nextel's iDEN network, Sprint has two more frequency bands to use.

However, the numbers of the changes to towers--their "upgrades"--still show too much activity around their headquarters, compared to taking care of their paying customers.  I would assume that Sprint employees don't pay a lot for service, so why are the rest of us paying to help them when many of us are still dealing with poor service?

I've noticed that they're not interested in showing us where LTE is being deployed any longer.  The only press releases I've seen lately as concerned with telling the story that they have good service in individual cities.

Why am I on 1xRTT so often if LTE is everywhere?

Where is the roaming zone now?

In my own town, I noticed that they hid a large roaming zone from customers' view, even though service is often unusable.  Apparently, the @sprintcare people were not informed, so they kept telling me about the roaming zone, only stopping when I showed them the coverage map I could see.

5702 miles

That's a long drive.

You can see from my iPhone photos how far I've been

Of course, it wasn't coast-to-coast, as I'd be in the ocean but even round trip, that sounds like a lot.  I remember 2800 miles from the Orlando, Florida area to Los Angeles, California in 2005/2006.  My car (2012 VW Golf TDI) averaged just under 40 mpg with air conditioning, compared to the 1999 VW Golf 2.0, which likely averaged 28-29 mpg with some use of air conditioning.

My latest drive took me on:

I-70
I-57
I-55
I-40
U.S. 64
U.S. 71
U.S. 66
U.S. 60
California SR 99
California SR 58
California SR 46
California SR 152
U.S. Hwy 101
I-5

I believe that was the order.  I started on the edge of Ohio/Indiana, traveled into Illinois, through Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and finally into California.

A lot of I-40 crosses/replaced U.S. Highway 66 but not in the hearts and minds of those who were young at the time.  There seemed to be a lot of nostalgia from Arizona to Oklahoma--diners, casinos, museums, and gift shops.

I seem to remember my parents going this way (on U.S. 66, calling it the southern route, compared to taking U.S. 40 through Denver) when I was a small child, and we spent some time on I-40 in 1977 on a trip to/from Mexico.  I was surprised to see how Tucumcari, New Mexico had grown from a restaurant on one side of the road and filling station on the other side to something like 30 restaurants, including all the chains you'd expect.

It wasn't a bad drive, although rain and other situations caused my trip to be lengthened.  e.g., I stopped in Conway, Arkansas due to massive thunderstorms, when I wanted to be on the western edge of the state.  I had planned to stop in Albuquerque but the motel ratings were so low that I stopped in poor, little Moriarty, NM instead.

I had somehow planned that I could go from Albuquerque, NM to San Jose, CA in one 13 hour drive.  However, I wanted to photograph two Madonna of the Trail statues (one in Albuquerque, NM and another in Springerville, AZ).  I stopped in Gallup, NM at Plaza Cafe for breakfast since it was so highly rated and it was worth the trip, but photographing the statue in Arizona was a huge detour (100 miles each way, maybe), and I lost time, especially with construction, more rain, and bad roads.  Had there been flooding along those U.S. highways to Springerville, I'd been in real trouble.  So, I ended up in Barstow, California for the night.  That meant I'd have a 6 hour drive to San Jose.

Getting to Barstow was interesting because it meant crossing the Mojave Desert.  It wasn't a problem, but in fact, a delight to view the sunset behind the small mountains and other geological formations.  Of course, you could claim that I had been in the desert from about Oklahoma, so it shouldn't have been a big deal.

When people think of California, they think of Marina del Rey or the beach at Santa Monica or the palm trees somewhere in Los Angeles.  They don't think of farm country or desert.  For the next 6 hours of my drive, I saw practically nothing but farm country or desert.

My parents never drove from San Jose to Los Angeles, so I didn't know which way to go.  I used Google Maps to print a some directions for different portions.  I used a combination of Apple's Maps app plus Waze to get me where I was going.

North of Tehachapi, it became interesting as the mountains and canyons showed themselves.  Along SR 152/Pacheco Pass Highway, things moved very quickly and it was apparently a typical business route for big rigs, as well as people trying to take their boats and RVs to a state recreational area.  I'm not sure how they got across the traffic as it seemed no one slowed below 65 mph at any time, and some were probably going 90 mph in the occasional Audi or Mercedes-Benz or Porsche.

By the time things were flattened, I'd reached Gilroy and Hollister.  Despite the clothes company's marketing, Hollister, California is not near the beach.  It's a farming community, which may not be as glamorous but it pays the bills.  While traveling through the area, I was treated to many fruit stands offering apricots, pistachios, etc.  Unfortunately, I didn't stop.  It would have been a good way to get fresh pistachios, rather than those things in stores that could be a year old.

San Jose wasn't far.  It was just a trip up U.S. 101.  When I was young, that was the highway.  There was no I-80, I-280, I-680, I-880--or any other 80.  According to my parents, that was El Camino Real--the royal road, and we used it a lot apparently.  It was my first experience in the driver's seat.  I'm fairly sure it was re-shaped, as there was a Bayshore Freeway and Old Bayshore Freeway on this trip.

Finding my way to a motel on North First Street wasn't difficult but neither was amusing myself with the notion of staying in a bad area that didn't seem particularly bad.  The motel was particularly convenient as there was a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) light rail stop just across from the motel.

It was a cheap motel using Booking.com through Trivago.com (how many travel aggregators are there now?) which saved about $9.99 per day.  I hardly needed luxury since I wouldn't be in the motel most of the time.  As long as the air conditioning and plumbing worked, and I wouldn't be fighting with multiple-legged visitors, I'd be fine.  As with cheaper motels and smaller chains, internet access was an extra expense, but I have a mobile hotspot.

That first evening, I found my way back to the old neighborhood, and it was somewhat disturbing and reassuring.  I didn't expect to be welcomed.  I was too small and it was too long ago.  If anyone remembered me, that would have been shocking.  Even people from high school don't often remember me.  However, I stopped at a certain point, remembering where we were when Overfelt High School was being built.  It's odd to remember such things from a very young age.  There was a many washing his driveway and he was curious as to what I was doing, as I was curious about the house.

I finally walked across the street and walked over to the house, trying to find some fragment of familiarity.  I told him what I was doing to alleviate any concerns he might have.  He was friendly about it.  I couldn't remember the house number.  I'm not sure if I even saw it as an adult.  I commented about the palm trees on the other street.  He mentioned that the yards didn't go back that far, and I mentioned Darwin Way, which was the next street.  He didn't seem to know.  I walked around the block and paused at the intersection at Bermuda Way.  I remember sitting there in a stroller with my mum talking to a Japanese woman named Taka but it was opposite the end of the street, facing the opposite direction, than where I expected to have the feeling.  I never found the palm tree my dad helped plant that was in someone's back yard.  The trees on Darwin Way were out front of the houses.  Maybe, my parents told me differently, or I just didn't remember correctly.

I've had an online acquaintance in the area and he gave me some restaurants to try.  I also made an acquaintance on Yelp and she told me an up-and-coming area, San Pedro Square Market.  I tried my buddy's suggestion for tacos before going to the old neighborhood and it was okay, but such trouble getting there and there was barely any parking.  The next morning, I called VTA and had a little session on how to use their services.  30 minutes later, I was in downtown San Jose looking for San Pedro Square Market.  On the way, I could see multiple Bail Bonds offices.  Uh Oh!  I've been in those areas in other cities and they're not all that great...or safe.

Expectations are everything and expecting San Pedro Square Market to be like Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia was a huge mistake.  There wasn't really anything integrated.  I went into an entrance under the big sign and found a coffee place and a closed bar.  I talked to someone at the coffee place and he was genuinely friendly and interested and then, I got a reasonably-priced, mediocre coffee.  I guess I'm just not a hipster, as the coffee was supposedly really good.

The rest of the area was made up of bars and over-priced restaurants, so I think it's all about perception, and perhaps, how much alcohol you've had.  Of course, friends make the experience more entertaining.  If you don't know how to cook, I'm sure the food tastes better.

I found the whole area to be great, reassuring, and chill.  People were friendly beyond belief.  Los Angeles can be confrontational and to be certain New York City/Philly/New Jersey can be.  During my day in San Francisco, I didn't feel that people were close to friendly, except for a female store owner in Chinatown.

My day in San Fran was spent hoofing it here, hoofing it there, up, up, up, down, down, down and asking "where the hell am I?" far too much.  I ate Italian food in one of the apparently more impoverished neighbourhoods (Tenderloin), and the trick was that it was run by Chinese people.  I was saddened to see another baby formula scandal on the Chinese TV channel while I was there.  The food wasn't bad, especially for the price and the quantity, and every time I looked over at the TV, someone came to fill my iced tea, which was amusing.

I never found Ghiardelli or Apple or Fisherman's Wharf or Cliff House or those things that really make San Francisco.  Apparently, I missed Union Square when I was busy taking photos of a cable car across the street.  Had I turned right, instead of heading toward Tenderloin, I would have found Union Square.  I spend some time on the loading dock (Embarcadero), which was somewhat entertaining but by that time, my feet didn't work well (purple toe?!) and I got all the way to Pier 39 and headed back to the Caltrain station.

Caltrain went from San Jose Diridon station to 4th Street in San Fran for $9.00 each way.  That's a huge bargain.  Parking is more expensive.  Is it a wonder one of the world's larger economies (California) is in such trouble.  They take care of people.  Public transport is a wonderful thing and making it inexpensive is a wonderful but disastrous thing.  Until fuel becomes free, it's expensive to run.  Reading the reviews, I expected that Caltrain was horrible and smelly and it didn't turn out that way at all, but that was one day.

The highlight of San Jose came in two steps: meeting my online buddy, and finding a late night taco place in the old neighborhood that made tacos similar to what my mum learned to make in San Jose.  I only took a few photos and three of those were of the house and the high school and foothills in the old neighborhood.

After that, it was a road trip again.  I returned to the motel at Barstow to collect the pillow I left there.  That was quite reassuring that the motel cleaning staff were so helpful.  I then stopped at the craziest, busiest In-N-Out store to eat, and headed toward Indiana on I-40, once again, across the Mojave Desert.

I stopped at Flagstaff, AZ for the night, ate lunch the next morning at Plaza Cafe in Gallup, NM again, and stopped in Amarillo, TX.  The next night, I stopped early in Alma, Arkansas.  Since I photograph high school sports, a couple of athletes had asked me to consider photographing them during the school year.  Since it was along I-40, it was no big deal to stop to see the town.  It's about 13 hours' drive from home, which isn't terrible.

I used to think that Arkansas was the most backward state.  That's just not true--Indiana is more backward than Arkansas.  It was surprising in a town of 4700+ that they had 2 Mexican restaurants, 4 pizza places, Sonic, and much more.  Plus, they were close to the cities of Fort Smith, Fayetteville, and Bentonville--it was Walmart territory, for sure.

I made an appointment with a Volkswagen dealer for my free 20,000 mile service, thankfully, on Wednesday.  There was a defective part and they resolved it the next day at some loss of fuel for me, and loss of time for both of us.  It gave me time to see the town.  Their bad Walmart was better than any other I've seen.  The local Target store was not nearly as wonderful.  Fort Smith wasn't nearly as friendly as Alma, but overall, the area was quite friendly, neat, and clean--way ahead of Indiana.

I seriously thought about living there but it's not an Asian life, and it's too far from either coast.  I don't hunt or fish, unless you include "shooting" animals with my camera.  Taking two days to get to either ocean wouldn't be my preference.  I have a Yelp friend in Oklahoma City and I've learned a lot about that area and it seems to be full of fake Asian places.  i.e., Japanese places run by Koreans or Chinese, Chinese places run by VietNamese, etc.

I headed home on Friday without trouble.  The car did really well and now has over 22,000 miles on it.  That's about 17,000 considering that I got it around the first of February but it hasn't been nearly as much fuel as the gasoline-powered car, thankfully.  I congratulate Volkswagen on making a diesel engine as easy as a gasoline engine.  I still remember the days when you had to heat the glow plugs and wait (20-30 minutes?) and wait and wait.  Of course, at that time, the price of fuel was much cheaper than gasoline, but at least now, it fuels 50 state, Clean Diesel cars.

The trip averaged 38.67 mpg with a total of $565.50 on fuel.  It could have been $25-$30 less but for the fuel leak.  Considering that the gasoline-powered 1999 Golf GLS averaged a little over 30 mpg on road trips, there was significant savings with 8 mpg more.  It was certainly better mentally to have more range, as certain areas tended to have less of everything available--no restaurants, truck stops, fuel of any kind.

Update: 2013.09.06:  I took the car to the local dealer after the problem with the 20,000 mile service.  They said that they didn't find anything wrong but it still has an odd stuttering.  The service adviser and I were talking about the car.  I bought it around the first of February with over 5500 miles on it--it was a demonstrator.  The day I called for the appointment, I mentioned 23232 miles, as that had just happened and was memorable.  At roughly 18,000 miles extra in 7 months, that's a lot, about 10,000 of which were driven in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois.

Do you know the way away from San Jose? (updated with photos)

I hit the road Sunday morning, missed all the good traffic on U.S. 101 south of San Jose.  Found Gilroy, but I was too early to buy pistachios or anything fruit or nut-related.  Durn.  I stopped a few times along the way.  It's quite boring on U.S. 101, I-5, SR 99, or SR 58 (except for Pacheco Pass Highway, which has some good vertical angles and some decent speed) on the 6 hour drive from the San Fran Bay Area to Barstow or the Los Angeles area.  You see a lot of farms, which is good because there are a lot of people to feed in California.

I had to laugh at a place in Wasco, CA because I couldn't believe that they were selling Pastrami and Teriyaki at the same place.  I can't imagine a Jewish deli having Japanese food--although I've seen some Kosher-version of a Teriyaki sauce--but not the real marinade.

In fact, there were a lot of Pastrami places along State Road 46 in Wasco.  The Carl's Jr. there had a copy of the original menu with Pastrami on it.  I should have tried it, but I wasn't sure of the quality and being sick on the road is not something I wanted to do.

I stopped briefly at Tehachapi to get fuel and admire the scenery.  It's very pleasant, even at the Love's Travel Stop.  (I've been to plenty of them lately, because they're consistent and do what they say they will.  Besides, getting diesel fuel is still a bit hit-or-miss and I want to make it to the next fill up, even if it is 600 miles away.)

I stopped at the Super 8 motel in Barstow and they still had my special memory foam pillow that's been so good and would be difficult to replace.  I didn't expect that they would be so good.

I went from there to In-N-Out on Lenwood Avenue.  I have never seen such a crowd.  It was difficult to find a parking place at all, but it was attached to a craptacular outlet mall (across from Tanger Outlets), and I parked further away.  Walking into the store (only one of two I've seen with an inside) was even more spectacular with maybe 100 people, more people at outdoor seating, and more yet in the drive-thru line.

It didn't take long to order but getting food took a while, and my food wasn't hot.  In any case, it was better without the spread, California tradition or not.  Carl's Jr./Hardee's has better sandwiches and so does Checkers/Rally's, in my opinion, of course.

I stopped at Del Taco in Kingman, Arizona a second time to get my $1.00 off from my feedback, and had fish tacos that weren't bad.  Safeway grocery store was interesting, trying to look all upscale with the dimmed lighting.  I hadn't been in one since I was a child, although they are Vons in Southern California, for whatever reason.

Had some weird contact with drivers on I-40.  Sunday night, someone with a Kia from California with a pillow where the rear view mirror would go, just wouldn't leave the passing lane.  When I went around him, he had to pass me.  It went on for a while.  Then, Monday morning through Arizona, two men in a Ford crossover from Florida passed me, pulled in front, and slowed down, causing me to change lanes.  This continued for a while.  Finally, I'd had enough and I was speeding at 90 mph for a while.  I slowed down for some construction and guess who was there?  I ended up pulling off at Gallup, New Mexico for lunch, and never saw them again, thankfully but on the way through Texas, someone pulled in front and forgot was speed he was going.  I only had the cruise control set to 76 mph, and he apparently was upset when I had to jump around him to avoid a collision.  Weird.  Then, the same kind of behaviour again.  I swear, I didn't do anything to provoke it.

I had an odd feeling about Tucumcari, New Mexico.  My parents and I had stopped there on the way to Mexico.  There was a restaurant on one side of the road and a filling station with two pumps on the other side of the road--in 1977.  It was 104 degrees F at the time and we got drinks and the ice melted immediately.  Now, they have 3 or 4 exits on I-40 and 30 restaurants, plus motels, trucks stops, etc.

Anyway, I stopped for the night in Amarillo.  I could see a storm in the distance, and I really like to see the road, or after the storm in Arkansas the other night, I like to see the hood of my car.  It was pouring like mad.

Hopefully, from Amarillo, I can make the drive home in one day, 15 hours maybe.  Hopefully, not more than that because I will have to stop.

I made it to Alma, Arkansas in about 6 hours.  I have an acquaintance there and we wanted to spend some time but didn't know about getting together because of schedules.  I ended up staying a couple of extra days and it was good to make a new friend.  It was good that I stayed the extra time, but it didn't go smoothly.

I found a Volkswagen dealer to do my free 20,000 mile maintenance in Fort Smith, AR, but there was a defective part in what was changed and I had a massive fuel leak.  I had more than half a tank with about 245 miles (half a tank is usually 300 miles), and when I got the car I thought that someone had taken a joy ride because it was somewhat below half.

The next day, they fixed the problem, but it bothered me that they didn't notice the problem before I left the dealership.  I'm not blaming anyone, but it was an oversight that cost everyone.  In the end, they did the right thing and fixed it for free, even allowing me a loaner car for a while.  They even apologized almost as much as I do, which was comforting.  However, the technician did not re-fill my tank, even to half, which is close to where it was, despite being told to do so.

I really appreciated the people in the northwest part of Arkansas.  I really didn't expect people to be so friendly.  Sure, people in restaurants and other businesses are supposed to be friendly but that never stopped anyone in Florida from being rude.  I think my only bad experience was when I walked into one of Alma, Arkansas' 4 pizza places (with a population of 4700+) and someone looked at me and laughed.  Whether she was actually laughing at me, I don't know, but it was a rare moment.

People cared and that was something unusual for me.  People in Indiana will do for you in a take-it-or-leave-it fashion, which changed a lot from the 1960s.  Even some people around Philly and New Jersey act that way, although I trust that I know how people feel at all times.  I think people in Florida, Texas, and Arizona just don't give a damn about anything.  San Jose, California seemed a very caring place and they were all friendly to me.  San Francisco wasn't quite as friendly, and Los Angeles can be downright confrontational at times.  San Diego was too sedate to be bothered.  I don't think they help anyone, not even themselves.

If I were to move today, I would hope that I could afford something near San Jose or somewhere in New Jersey not far from the coast.

Update 2015.03.11: I live in a small city in Northern California, as I couldn't afford to live in San Jose.  San Jose is one of the more expensive places in California, and in the country.  This small city is adjacent to another, smaller city, so the area has an aggregate population of around 100,000 people.

I miss the Philly and New Jersey terribly, but the weather they've experienced has confirmed that my decision to live here is a good one.

My trip here was as odd and interesting as the trip in August 2013 was, even though I took a few different paths.

One thing that always resonated with me from the song "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" was the line "LA is a great big freeway, put a hundred down a buy a car."  San Jose has some crazy freeway action, and I'm there often enough to know that it's probably still not as bad as LA from the 1960s.  Having sat on the Hollywood Freeway, inching along, I don't think there is any other place on the west coast that is quite so bad, though crossing the metro LA/OC area took around one hour, mostly sticking close to I-5.