Back in San Jose (and San Francisco), California (updated with photos)

There is something great about feeling comfortable, especially when you've been without that feeling for a long, long, long time.

San Jose, California has special meaning to me.  It's the first place I ever lived in the U.S.A.  It's the third largest city in California, with just under 1 million people.  There are multiple highways/freeways/expressways crossing it.  There are too many cars, but light rail, commuter rail, and buses are available.

Way back when, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) was building down toward San Jose but then, it stopped.  Conflicting opinions and a lack of money forced changes, I suppose.  Building around earthquake central is difficult anyway.

The Light Rail map is fairly extensive

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority has put together light rail transit at an amazing cost--$6.00 for an adult day pass.  It not only includes light rail, but also access to buses.  That's just amazing to me, especially having used Philadelphia, PA's SEPTA on a daily basis and New York City's MTA on occasion.  SEPTA's Independence Pass is $12.00 for unlimited travel and their day pass is $8.00 but limited to 8 trips.

A typical light rail car

I am conveniently located at a motel along North First Street, and there is a VTA light rail station across from the motel.  This made it extremely convenient to go to downtown San Jose.  On the Winchester-bound train, I can even connect with Caltrain for a $9.00 (one way) trip to San Francisco.  Consider the price (and headache) of parking and that's a huge, huge bargain.  In fact, public transit almost anywhere is a huge bargain.  The last time I was in Philly, I paid $17.10 for parking near Independence Hall for a little over 3 hours.  Obviously, I was paying for the union and not the parking, as it was about double what I paid in 2012 at the same location.

Even though I am essentially a stranger to the city, people have been extremely friendly.  I remember asking people in Los Angeles for help, and people were rather rude, and either didn't know anything or didn't want to give away the secrets.  I also remember people complaining that LA was just weird!  :-D  Of course, people say that San Fran is weird, also!  :-D

I stopped at Walgreens to get something to drink.  For some reason, 7-Eleven does not have stores downtown.  I found zero convenience stores of any kind downtown.  That seems odd.  However, I found a really expensive breakfast, at almost $20.00 with tip, and it was a casual Mexican place.  I could have made better food, to top it.  In line at Walgreens, I was talking to a few people about the weather, as it's really chilly, not exceeding 80 degrees F when 95 wouldn't be unexpected.  Normally, Summer in San Fran can be under 80 degrees F, but not San Jose.

One of the people from the line was giving me some advice and we talked for quite a while about getting around the city and things that were happening.  In my experience, there are few people like that to help a stranger, but time and again, I find that people from San Jose are willing.

I even went to our old neighborhood and looked for our old house.  The builders had plowed a sugar beet field into non-existence to put up houses.  Things are much the same now, and it's the bad side of town but it has a good view and I can't really see a downside to the area, except in people's minds about location.  It's not cheap, as housing prices have rebounded from the worst.  I won't be buying a house here, or even living in an apartment.

A pleasant backdrop to the old neighborhood, on the wrong side of town

There was a man washing off the driveway at the house and I spoke to him briefly.  I was afraid that I scared him, having parked across the street, looking at the houses.  Funny how the little two lane road has four lanes, parking on either side, and a high school directly across from it.  We grow, and the city grows with us.

I could remember bits and pieces from my early childhood there but nothing too serious, I suppose.  Through it all, I had this calm, secure feeling that was certainly never replicated when we moved to the midwest.

San Jose may not coddle you, but it certainly feels that way.  Chill is a great way to describe it.  Now, if I can just find my way to San Fran for some photography.

Update: Wow, I didn't even write about my trip to San Francisco.  When I returned, I was so tired, and my feet hurt, and my toes felt as though they were going to fall off my foot.

I took the Winchester (like the Winchester Rifle company family) VTA train to San Jose Diridon station.  I crossed under the tracks to the Caltrain side of the station.  I bought a second day pass for Caltrain, which was US$18.00, the same as a two way only pass.  Thankfully, any of the trains were going all the way to San Francisco.  There are some express trains that do not stop everywhere in-between, so you have to be careful with the Baby Bullet trains.

It took something like 90 minutes to get to 4th Street, near the Embarcadero (loading dock!), near the AT&T/Candlestick Park.  I walked with the crowd out of the station, not sure exactly where I was going.  I had been in San Fran as a baby and had zero memories.

SoMa, or South of Market district didn't look very good.  It wasn't the worst area but it looked very worn.  I wanted to see a few things like Ghiardelli, Chinatown, the Transamerica tower, a Crumpler store, and an Apple Store, plus possibly ride a cable car, and get seafood.  Little did I know...well, I have the more interesting (but not really good) luck.

Flatiron Bldg., as in Manhattan

It seemed that all I was doing was walking.  I had my camera bag with me, and I assembled the dSLR with the heavier "normal" lens, so I wouldn't have to carry it otherwise.  In hindsight, I should have planned light, and used the lighter, older equipment to ease my burden.

The cable car that led me astray

I did find a cable car full of passengers, most likely tourists because I doubt people from San Fran bother with being pushed and shoved when they're not on BART.  Now, about that time, I was close to Union Square, but did I realize that? Nooooooo.  A right turn probably would have put me near a Ghiardelli Store, an Apple Store, and the Crumpler store.  Oops.

So, I walked, and walked, and walked.  At some point, I needed to stop for various reasons and saw "Little Henry's" which looked like a coffee shop from the 1950s.  There was a Chinese TV station on the TV, and I was seated and given a menu.  I was surprised to see that it was an Italian restaurant.  I took a look at the menu, and mentioned that I forgot the specials, and there was a piece of paper taped to the wall a bit further up that I just didn't see.  I guess I'd been walking far too long to see what was in front of me.  The linguine with clams sounded just right, as it's normally a favorite.

They brought my iced tea, a small basket of bread, and a skimpy (errr, artfully-placed) salad.  I'd ready on Yelp about the overwhelming portions, so I was finding the reviews to be difficult to believe.  While I was waiting, I messaged my buddy in San Jose, asking where I was, but he'd never been to that section, and had no clue.  In a very short time, the food arrived and there was quite a lot, especially for a special of the day.  Thinking about it, I should have asked for chopsticks, but did not.  It's rather difficult to eat pasta with a fork, except maybe for ravioli.  It was good, but it didn't have a lot of taste.  The pieces of clam weren't very big, though it was more than sufficient.

Every time I looked over to see what was on the TV, the server came over with the iced tea and water to fill my glasses.  When I was getting to the end of my food, I asked her about Stockton Street because I wanted to find Chinatown.  She suddenly didn't understand English, and my Zhong Wen isn't sufficient.  After I used the restroom, another woman, apparently the owner, was able to point me in the correct direction--back the way I came!  She suggested a bus number, but I didn't want to wait.  In hindsight, I should have just taken a tour bus and enjoyed the ridiculous banter--and the ride.  I saw plenty of double-decker tour buses, plus the MUNI buses that transport the city.

Stockton Street tunnel, to Chinatown

I didn't have much luck with Maps applications on my phone.  It seems to me that I tried Apple's Maps, Google's Maps, and Waze eventually.  Waze showed me the streets ahead, so that was helpful.  Once I found Stockton Street, I got a good photo of the tunnel, and ventured into Chinatown.  Surprisingly, it wasn't much different than other Chinatowns in other cities.  Eventually, I found a park with some culture center, and lots of people just sitting.  My feet hurt, and because I was thirsty, I found a small shop selling Aloe drinks, which are usually Korean, not Chinese, but the owner was Chinese.  We had a good conversation, and I went back to the park to sit for a while.

Somewhere along the line, I ended up at the entrance to the Transamerica tower and got a few good photos of it from a very tight angle.  It is very tall and could be seen easily from Chinatown, which is at a higher elevation of the city.

Transamerica Pyramid, from Chinatown

I walked to the Embarcadero, once again passing Union Square without seeing it.  I was told to visit Pier 39 on the loading dock (Embarcadero), and it was of course, at the far end.  Sadly, I did not research MUNI, the city transportation, and had no idea how things worked.  I suspect I could have got a pass on the way, or possible, even in the Caltrain station.

Embarcadero Ferry Station, from Sue Bierman Park

 Pier 39 was as close to a New Jersey boardwalk, as I'd ever seen on the west coast.  It lacked the rides of Santa Monica pier but it had the restaurants and shops and other attractions.  As it was a must-see, I was looking for more but it was interesting to see all of the tourists and how they reacted to their situations.

Pier 39, on the Embarcadero

As I hobbled back to the Caltrain station, I really though about how beautiful everything was.  They were doing some America's Cup preliminary bits and some of the boats were on the water, and it was loud and obnoxious.  Then, I had to pass AT&T Park, and they apparently had a game starting in a couple of hours, as people were making lines.

Using Caltrain to return to San Jose was not as easy.  The had little paper schedules on the walls, and there seemed to be a person in front of each of them.  I finally asked if my pass would work.  I ended up on a Baby Bullet, and it probably reduced the travel time by 30 minutes by not stopping everywhere along the line.

I was never so glad to find my way back to a motel.  I took some ibuprofen and went to lie down.  After a couple of hours sleep, I wanted something to eat.  There was a McDonald's next to the motel, but gaaaah, why eat at a place I didn't like just for convenience?  I looked at Yelp again, and didn't find much there, but the airport, which I didn't know was close.

I ended up driving around the old neighborhood, as I'd seen several places.  I suddenly saw Tacos Autlense and went there, instead of a safer choice like Carl's Jr. or Jack in the Box.  I really didn't know what to expect but I ordered steak tacos, sat down, and when they came to me, I couldn't help but to smile.

When I started eating them, I thought that my adoptive mum must have learned to make tacos from the same person who started the business.  It was like being at home with fresh, fried corn tortillas, just warm, and the meat and lettuce and onions and tomatoes--OMG--it was the best.  It was also a great way to end that day.

Philly Cheese steak--don't mess it up!

Twice this week, I've seen advertising for a "Philly" sandwich and they both used Swiss cheese.  I lived in the Philadelphia area for 8 years and never, ever saw any place using Swiss cheese or green peppers.

If you want to make a cheese steak, there are very few ingredients.

• Hoagie roll
• Steak
• Cheese (Provolone, Mozzarella, or Cheese Whiz)
• Onions

Optionally, you can add ketchup or marinara sauce as a topping.  There are a few places where you can add mushrooms.  There are many places where you can change it into a cheese steak hoagie by adding lettuce and tomatoes.

If you go to Pat's or Geno's, you're expected to know what you want and order that way.  "Provolone wit(h onions)" or "Cheese Whiz".  They're not going to add green peppers and they won't have Swiss cheese.  They may not be the best but they're the longest running places in the business since Pat's started it.

It's a Cheese Steak--don't mess it up!

Update 2014.03.19: You've probably seen the Cheese Steak Shuffle on Geico advertisements.   Whatever works.  Apparently, the Vento family is going all out to make some extra fame for their business.

I went to a place that advertised cheese steaks and they tried to put Swiss Cheese on it with mayonnaise.  When I told the cashier I wanted Provolone, she apparently forgot to add it, but took off the Swiss, so someone said "Cheese Steak, No Cheese" and when no one else spoke up, I told him to put provolone on it, like a real cheese steak.  The roll was terribly soft, like what Blimpie or another company in the south used--this company was from Memphis but the founder was from Philly.

I don't eat many of them, simply because they're so bad for you.  In fact, I love beef but I don't eat much meat really.  I'd rather have fish any day, though.  If they can make a cheese steak with chicken, how about fish?  I thought that using chicken was sacrilege but whatever.  It's done.  Give me fish!

TripAdvisor, Yelp: the amusing reality

I'm fairly sure I had a connection to TripAdvisor much sooner than Yelp.  They had a map where you could add places where you've been and places where you wanted to go.  You could add it to any social media web site you used.

When I started to write reviews on Yelp, I never thought of putting them on TripAdvisor.  TripAdvisor always seemed a bit snooty and unrealistic, plus Yelp had businesses other than hotels, restaurants, and landmarks.

If I'm on a trip, my car might need service, unexpectedly.  Where do I go?  Who is good?  TripAdvisor won't tell you.  Here, Angie's List might help, but it won't tell you about a motel or restaurant, and you have to pay for a membership.

Now, the thing about any review is whether you can trust the person or not.  Currently, I have 50 reviews on TripAdvisor and 525 reviews on Yelp.  I have zero reviews on Angie's List and probably won't--I didn't join.  They may not advertise but why pay when you could still get false reviews?

I review places I've been and services I've used.  It doesn't mean anything to me to see a review of a place that says "I'm a fan!" or "Good beer!".  Did you have good service?  Did you wait long?  Was the food agreeable?  Was the place dirty or messy?

I got an e-mail from TripAdvisor today saying that a photo was rejected.  It seems that every photo I took at that restaurant was rejected.  It's dark inside so it wouldn't be easy to get, but having 5 exterior photos doesn't help people know how it is inside the place.  At least, they didn't delete my review.  Since I was sick after 1 taco, I figured they'd get rid of that.  How useful are professional, staged photographs?  Is your experience anything like that?

Besides that, they don't like screenshots of WiFi speeds.  When you go to a motel or hotel where they feature an internet connection, wouldn't it be helpful to know the likely speed you're going to get, especially if you need to get work done?

This explains why I like Yelp.  Sure, you have to weed through iffy reviews, but you have to do that elsewhere, also.  No site where a person's opinion can be written is 100% safe from fabrication.

This is my next point.  I wrote an account of my experiences with Isaac's Moving service around Philadelphia, first from Audubon to Bensalem and then, Bensalem to Altamonte Springs, FL.

The move from Audubon went brilliantly with two very caring people.  It was so good that I wanted to have the company move me to Florida over a big name interstate mover.  In the end, Isaac's told me that I had more than I showed the estimator and that's why they needed more money at the destination.  In fact, I'd thrown away most of my furniture and had almost nothing big at that point.  At the time, it was a rather typical tactic of small movers to provide this "extra service" when you really needed your things.  No government (federal or state) had any rules or regulations concerning consumer belongings, so the contract was everything.  Such tactics were shown on national news reports, but of course, no one could do anything about it.  Thankfully, PODS arrived on the scene.

A few weeks ago, someone from Isaac's decided to comment on my review of their services.  Without knowing exactly where or when my move took place, he fabricated a wonderful story about the heroic movers and how they weren't going to receive their money, even after several discounts, because I was indigent and desperate.

I was completely amused that someone would attempt to come up with such a story, when there were so many 1 star reviews.  Besides, when I left Bensalem, I had 3 weeks of unused vacation pay, and my new employer in Florida was paying for my move.  In any case, I didn't respond to the comment because that would have removed it from public view.  I should probably quote it and incorporate it into my review just in case that they decide to delete it.

I find it strange that some people go to great lengths to have people write reviews for them, rather than fix their business.  In this case, attacking my credibility should probably hurt me but with 524 (make that 685 total, as of 2013.12.09) other reviews, I think people can tell who I am and why they can trust what I write.

Update 2013.12.09: This weekend, someone from Isaac's made another comment on my review.  It seems substantially the same.   I find it difficult to believe that they would place so much emphasis on dis-crediting my review.  Surely, if they don't think that reviews on Yelp are worthwhile, why fight them?  Why tell people to look at Angie's List (people can't lie there?) or the Better Business Bureau, if there is nothing to fear, and I'm just a hopeless storyteller?

Home again, Home again, jiggity jig

That's something my parents used to say, though I don't know why.

I hope you're all having a great weekend.  It's almost finished and I've spent a lot of it driving, some of it eating, some of it sleeping, and too much of it complaining.  :-D

I really miss Philly, but I'm not missing the drivers along the way.  It's no wonder there is a law in Florida about camping in the passing lane.  So many people are oblivious on the road.  The worst was a business van for Automation Logistics--from Florida.  Of course, I remember the traffic reports in Philly where they said "check your rear view mirror.", which I thought was silly since everyone should be doing that already.  What did I know about driving?  :-D  (It's about the same as I know now--you need to pay attention to the driving.)

Pennsylvania has the most gorgeous scenery, no matter what people say about Vermont, Colorado, or Oregon.  Pennsylvania, especially eastern PA, has great food.  I would say that food from Philly, New Jersey, and New York is the best in the country overall, but you can find specific dishes is various parts of the country that have no equal.

When I was leaving on Saturday morning, I found another filling station and they had a good number of diesel pumps, which is important since the car takes diesel fuel.  After that, I headed to Wawa, the convenience store (they don't sell diesel apparently), and filled up on iced tea, and got a double pretzel.  I feel like such a glutton.

More later...unpacking to do.

The midwest is so full of wonder, such as, I wonder what I'm doing here or I wonder why the family wanted to move here or I wonder why this area is so backward.  Oops, did I say all that?  There are a lot of great people here, but they're not where I am.

I was so happy to have spent time and money to return some eastern Pennsylvania goodies to a couple of people I know here because they ripped open the bags without "thank you" or "these are good" or anything to signal that my effort was appreciated.  I'm glad I didn't spend bunches of money.  It's been almost 4 days since then, and still nothing.  It makes me wonder about humanity's future.

In any case, I've returned to being my unsettled self, unfortunately.  I'm just not good here.  Maybe, I can use that discomfort to finish my house and get it sold.

The heat is good but the migraines (again) are not.  At least, we're having enough rain to keep away the brown grass and drought conditions of last year about this time.

Still Trippin' in Jersey and Philly (updated with photos)

Yes, I'm still on my trip to Philly and New Jersey.

Tuesday, I headed over to a Central New Jersey beach at Point Pleasant, hoping to see a friend, if the timing was right.  Hurricane Sandy devastated so much, I wasn't sure what I'd find.

The town seemed to be in good shape, but when I got to Jenkinson's Boardwalk, I saw some damaged homes, one was being raised to be approved for flood insurance.  That's just sad, but living so close to the water has always been a dangerous thing.  I watched the hurricanes tear through Florida in 2004--some on the TV set, and some outside my door.  It was a difficult year but I didn't see any devastation, although many did.

A few nights before that, my buddy sent a Twitter message asking for sandbags.  The day I was there, it started to rain--and flood.

In any case, I spent some time on the boardwalk.  It had the typical games and restaurants, and there were rides away from the boardwalk.  I managed to get New Jersey-style frozen custard from Kohr Bros. of Atlantic City.  When I lived in Florida, they had at least one store, although even that is gone now.  I'm not an expert on frozen custard but it's the best I've had, and it helped my day.

After taking some photos, I went to get lunch at Surf Taco.  Someone commented about how the fish tacos were just like those from California.  I hate to think where that person ate.  I became sick after eating the first one and went to the rest room.  When I returned, I grabbed the drink and food and I emptied the basket into the trash, throwing away most of $11.00.

I ended up at Burger King and got a very plain cheeseburger.  I was amused by the map, as I was between Richmond Avenue and Cincinnati Avenue--I happen to live in Richmond and travel to Cincinnati frequently, so I'm often between the two anyway.

My buddy ended up with zero time, so I ended up a bit empty.

Wednesday, I went to another diner that had been around the Clifton Heights, PA area for quite a while, unlike the former Steak & Ale on Tuesday.  I'd also been to Olympic Diner a few times, so I knew that it was a quality joint.  It didn't disappoint, nor did it make me ill.  Not only was the food great, but the characters in the place made me smile.  It felt like I was home again.  I love Philly (even though Clifton Heights isn't Philly--it's a suburb).

I had some business I'd planned to do today, but I couldn't find the paperwork I needed, as if I left it 600 miles away, at home.  (Tonight, I found it, thankfully!)  I did some window shopping, and just doing things I would have been doing had I been living here again.  When I returned to the motel, I saw huge marks on the car I had somehow missed earlier.  Apparently, an SUV had damaged it in a parking lot while it was parked.  There were marks on it up high and down low, but on the rear driver's side door and fender and wheel.  In February, I had a mirror replaced because it had been completely knocked off the car.  All I can think is that the person was too busy on their phone to notice anyone else and didn't bother to check anything, as they pulled out from the parking space.  I'm betting that they had insurance, but it was used so often--and car insurance is terribly expensive in Philadelphia and Delaware counties that the person wasn't about to admit to anything.

So, the trip has been interesting, but not terribly happy, so far.  I still have hopes--maybe the passenger side of the car will be damaged before I return home, so I'll have a matched set.

Yelp seems unhappy to absorb all my new photos and reviews but they are few for the Philly metro area.

Still uncomfortable with traffic but the trip has been energizing.  I've talked with so many people all over the place.  It's as though I belong here...again.

I returned to the same pizza place where I got my Italian hoagie the first night and I got a cheesesteak as my final meal here.  I haven't had a real one since 1996, I'm sure.  Even the trips in 2005 and 2006, I ate sparingly.  Strangely, I feel no heavier but having two breakfasts this week should have tipped the scales.

I went into Center City this morning and retrieved my mum's ring from the jewelers, surprisingly.  I figured that they would say that they'd never had it.  I had plans to fall apart.  I considered dropping my camera on one of the cases, but put my camera away before they even talked to me at all.  I didn't want to be tempted.  The jeweller sort of remembered and they had removed the main stone but they found everything within a few minutes.  Some of my faith in humanity has been restored today.

I was surprised at the new Visitors Center in the Independence Hall area.  They had a little building on Third or Fourth Street previously and there wasn't much room for anything.  The Route 76 bus would stop outside and they had a pamphlet or two.  Now, they have a huge building with many displays and artwork, guides, and businesses, plus there is now a Constitution Museum.

I'm shocked at how much governments have spent locally.  They don't have the money for all this, even with the tourists paying some small fees.  On the other hand, the Philadelphia Parking Authority charged me $17.00 for 3 hours, 15 minutes of parking.  The other day at Point Pleasant, NJ I paid $4.50 for 2 hours.  Something about a union comes to mind, unfortunately.

I'm on my way home now--at Washington, PA already.  Found another Madonna of the Trail statue and photographed it.  That makes 4 and the one in Wheeling tomorrow will make 5, if I can find a place to stop.  I really miss Philly already, bad stuff and all, because there is a lot of good stuff there.

Taking a little trip to Philly/Jersey

I'm totally amused by the idea of being able to drive from here to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which is about 600 miles/1000 km on one tank of diesel fuel.

Now, I'll panic early and want to fill the tank before I get that close, and I'll probably want to stop at Wawa as soon as possible to get an iced tea.  Still, it's amazing thinking that, if I had to do it, I could do it.

Thinking about previous trips with 3 different Volkswagen gasoline-driven models, I usually made 3 stops for fuel.  I didn't have set places but I would almost have to stop at a PA Turnpike service area since there wasn't any other place, especially when you're driving directly from A to B.

I would enter the PA Turnpike at the New Stanton (exit 11, I believe, but that's the old designation) and I would leave the Turnpike anywhere from Downington (PA route 10) to Philadelphia (U.S. 1), depending on where I lived at the time.  If I had time, I'd often stop in Lancaster County to enjoy the ride a bit more and stop at restaurants along the way.  If you haven't travelled U.S. 30, you're missing out on some great local stuff, along with some awkward traffic around the outlet malls.

I can't wait to see the Atlantic Ocean again.  It's been too long since it last waved goodbye to me.  I'm also looking forward to Mitsuwa Marketplace, a Japanese mall plus the usual hoagie, cheesesteak, and Italian restaurants that you can find all around Philadelphia and New Jersey.  No, I'm not looking to become obese but I am looking for some flavour.

I wouldn't mind looking at the museums again, since it's been too long since I've been there.  I don't care to run up the Art Museum's steps like Rocky again, mostly because I would like to have my car close and you can't drive up the steps.

I was thinking about going to Adorama's street fair in Manhattan on Sunday, 23 June.  I've done quite a bit of mail order but I've never seen the store.  I wasn't that close to it my last time in NYC, starting and ending at Penn Station.

I think the fuel will definitely be the least cost of the trip.  It should be interesting to see the range of prices on the way.  While the local Indiana/Ohio prices have held steady around $3.989, I saw that they're handling diesel at one Sam's Club and it was $3.699.  This is especially significant when gasoline is over $4.00 per gallon in this area--the old Memorial Day to Labor Day gouging, probably.

I look forward to the trip and to see how the engine responds on a long, uninterrupted cruise.  It used to take me around 5 hours, 50 minutes through Pennsylvania.  I wonder if that will change because I won't need to stop for fuel, although I'll need to stop for human necessities.

On the way back, I'm planning to photograph two Madonna of the Trail statues, to add to the other three I've already taken.  It's probably weird, but I'd like to go up to the little town where they filmed Super 8.  I've been wondering how it is to live near a bigger river, and I've been to a few points along the Ohio River in the past year.  It's a trip.  I might as well indulge myself.

I arrived in the motel in Bensalem, PA just minutes outside Northeast Philly.  Sprint's WiMAX is working at 9.9 Mbps accord to the test I just did, which is better than what Red Roof Inn is providing.  I'm glad to see that a technology that people call "useless" and "old" and "pathetic" is doing so much better than the up-to-date technology I don't have.

The car topped out at 48.8 mpg.  I filled up at London, OH, about 80 miles from home, and the car showed 500.2 miles with nearly 1/4 tank remaining, which suggests 664 mile range, instead of the 592 mile range based on the EPA rating of 42 mpg.

Be careful who you trounce, you might just know them

Tuesday, I had stopped in the town where I've been helping my friend with his family's Chinese restaurant.  They have various stores such as Target and Staples that this town doesn't have and that aren't closer.

After spending some time talking to him, I visited a few stores and finished, ready to head home.  Someone in a Buick SUV was in the right turn lane and decided that I wasn't important, so they cut me off.  Being that we were getting both heavy wind and heavy rain from Sandy, I thought this was an excellent example of what not to do, unless you wanted to have an accident.

There are over 30 miles from there to my house and it was amusing to find that the person turned into a driveway about 2 miles from my house.  I had been following them the whole way since it was also my way home.  I can only imagine that there might have been a bit of panic from time to time.  "Why is that car still behind me?" and "What are they doing?" would seem to be appropriate thoughts.

Drivers of most cars don't seem to care but SUV drivers seem to think that they can do anything they want, without consequence.  I wonder if that person will think twice next time.

Also considering Hurricane Sandy, I had been watching DirecTV's channel 349 where they routed coverage from New York City and Philadelphia television stations.  I was saddened to see that the Atlantic City, New Jersey boardwalk was gone, and that a lot of the coastal areas were close to gone.  Since the hurricane came ashore in A.C., it's no wonder so much was devastated.  They were also talking about Long Beach Island and its million dollar homes.  What I saw of it always looked a bit craptacular but I wasn't looking for the buildings.

I heard and read that New Jersey's main electric utility had to shut down power to avoid electrocuting people and causing complicated damage and fires.  It was a great decision, but of course, there are people without power.  Some people are also getting sick from the generator fumes, but they're probably keeping the generator in the garage so it doesn't get wet.

Having spent eight years in the area, I think of all the people I met and how I hope that they're fine now.  Having spent a good portion of late 2004 with three hurricanes and without power for part of that, I know that people will survive rough conditions.  I know that people in Philly and New Jersey and New York City can tough it out.  I'm keeping them in my thoughts regardless.

...from sea to shining sea...

I've seen a lot of the U.S.A. and I've enjoyed it.  I've been to maybe 40 of the states in some way, at some time, and I've travelled through many as an adult.

Who knew that driving coast-to-coast could be so exhilarating, as well as tiring?  I drove three, 15 hour days from Central Florida to Los Angeles, California in 2005 and 2006.  Somewhere around 2800 miles one way is an awesome journey.  I would stop on either side of Texas along I-10 because Texas in itself was a 15 hour ride.  Imagine the effort to get to the west coast when the settlers were moving that way.  They did not have roads, but they might have had trails.

I suspect a lot of people never travel far from their home state, unless they're going to Disney parks or Universal parks or maybe even Sea World.  My first year in the U.S.A., we travelled from the San Francisco bay area to Indiana for Christmas with my adoptive mum's family.  We did this in a 1960 VW Beetle over U.S. 40, I believe, since there were no interstate highways at the time.  Imagine the Rocky Mountains in the winter, especially in a car with very little power.  It was actually the best car when there was bad weather.  My adoptive parents used to talk about all the big cars that slid off the road, while they were able to continue.

I would think that a car ride would be better than plane travel, especially after all the new restrictions and security checks.  I just want to be able to stop to photograph something or stop to get ice cream--when I want.  Yes, the price of gasoline is high, but so is the price of jet fuel and because of that, a plane ticket.  Of course, I won't be driving to Hawaii any time soon.  When I first travelled from Japan to the U.S.A., it was on a ship.  I was sandwiched between some Toyota cars and Sony transistor radios.  Okay, so I'm joking about that last part, slightly.  I learned to walk aboard ship, which is probably why I tend to be more steady on a subway train that on concrete.

In the next week or two, I'm heading to Philadelphia and then, to Central Florida.  I'm not sure whether I'm getting away or just trying to resolve the past.  The food in Philly is great, and the sunshine in Central Florida is great.  I can say that I enjoy Philadelphia because the people are genuine.  You know where you stand with people without question.  They don't like you--they tell you.  Here, and in most of the country, I think you find out because three other people know about what that person said.

People in other parts of the country can say bad about Philly, New York, and New Jersey but being open with people is less stressful than keeping it all inside you.  Besides, the food gets a lot of the passion because of it, most likely.  Tell me where there is better (American) Italian food than in that area?  There isn't any.

The whole country is full of great things to see and do.  I'm not talking about the world's biggest ball of twine, but there are so many great people who have done and are doing great things all over the country.  You don't even have to look at dams or steer a raft on the rapids of a river.  Meeting people along the way can be an adventure.  Not everyone is like those people on television or in the movies--even the people in Southern California.