Yesterday I was driving back from Modesto and I noticed a CHP officer out of the corner of my eye. 1 My first instinct is always to double check my speed.
However, yesterday afternoon I noticed this officer was on his cell, left elbow propped up on the edge of the window, yakking away, while tailgating a semi in the slow lane.
Not wanting to get pulled over for driving under the influence of irony, I didn’t take a picture with my phone.
BTW, I’ve got to be in San Francisco this afternoon – stop me and say hello!
Yesterday I had an appearance in San Jose and then another up in San Rafael. From San Jose I drove up through San Francisco, northbound over the Golden Gate Bridge, to my appearance, then back over to Contra Costa County via the Richmond Bridge.1
Wait for it…
The Golden Gate is only toll southbound and the Richmond is only toll westbound. I traveled over two bridges and didn’t pay a single toll!
As I mentioned before, there’s a lot of things that can go wrong – traffic, long walk through lines, a broken photocopier. 3
But, I’ve done what I can to ensure this works. I’ve called the other parties, have a checklist of everything I need to do in the order I need to do it, my cell phone is charged up4 , phone numbers for opposing counsel and my clients hand, GPS charged up, prepared Minutes of Hearing, Document Cover Sheets, Document Separator Sheets, Awards, and Orders. 56
If you happen to be in San Jose, Oakland, or San Francisco today stop me and say hello. (And – pretty please may I cut ahead of you in line?)
Wednesday I had to be in Novato, San Francisco, and then back at my office in Pleasant Hill. As a result, I traveled over three bridges in the same morning – San Rafael, Golden Gate, and Bay Bridges.
I guess paying $10.00 in bridge tolls in one day is also a record…1 I was all out of singles so the CHP officer at the Golden Gate Bridge gave me the stink-eye when I paid with a $100.00 bill.
Seriously, that guy was NOT happy. The officers at the Oakland Board are a lot friendlier.
Yesterday morning I was driving to the San Jose Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board along 680 in the midst of some pretty gnarly traffic. A woman followed me in her black Infiniti from roughly Danville to Dublin, tailgating.1
She was following me so closely, I could literally read her lips as she was chanting, “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.”
Here’s what my fortune cookie on Saturday night said:
I rather enjoy putting my imaginative skills to work with these little doodles. ANYhow, now that that’s out of the way…
The last few days I’ve had several appearances in less than ideal weather. With no further ado, my Road Warrior Checklist for traveling in bad weather:
Timing. My rule of thumb is to leave 15 minutes earlier for every hour of a planned trip in bad weather.
Speed. Speeding will make you feel good about your pace, but will never save you a significant amount of time.
Pick the correct lane. There are a lot of factors involved in choosing the correct traveling lane. Driving in the path of other vehicles ensures your tires are touching more of the road and less of the water. Stay out of the fast lane if possible. Get out of other people’s way when they want to pass.
Stay in the correct lane. Try not to change lanes. There is a lot more water between lanes and more chances to hydroplane.
No Cruise Control! There is an urban myth that if your car is on cruise control and you start to hydroplane your vehicle will accelerate to make up for the loss in traction. The reason the highway patrol recommends against the use of cruise control in wet weather is that you only have moments to react to hydroplaning by reducing speed and maintaining control of your vehicle. Cruise control in these situations will deprive you of a few moments of a potential speed decrease (where you would take your foot off the gas) by maintaining your current speed.
Following distance. Other people are going to be driving like maniacs. Always make sure you have plenty of following distance.
Brakes. If your brakes are squeaking, they’re already in bad shape. Get them checked out and replaced regularly.
Tires. Get your tires rotated regularly, make sure they have plenty of tread, and make sure they are properly inflated. Remember the penny test: if you stick a penny into the tread and can see the top of Lincoln’s head you need to replace your tires.
Windshield wiper blades. Worn blades will just smudge. Just plan on replacing your windshield blades every year. Don’t forget your rear windshield wipers!
February has been a wacky month. And, on Friday February 13th the 400th user registered for this website. 1 Since the 300th registered user, quite a lot has happened:
Besides being Friday the 13th, today has a very special meaning for the truly nerdy. Unix is a computer operating system developed back in 1969. For those of you who remember DOS, that kind of what it looked like. The up-and-coming operating system Linux is based on Unix. The Unix epoch, the time from which it starts to count “up”, was on January 1, 1970. On 2/13/2009 at 6:31:30PM ET the Unix epoch reached the time “1234567890“.
I used to really dislike driving long distances. However, in the last few months I’ve done a few things to completely change my mind.
Use a GPS. I no longer have to worry about leaving directions at home, taking a wrong turn, finding food or fuel, or needing a detour. I just hop in the car, hit the road, head in the general direction of my destination, and plug in the address on the way.
Buy prescription sunglasses. Sunglasses have made a world of difference. Yesterday I drove out to Auburn in the morning and back to the East Bay in the afternoon, driving into the sun both ways. Having the sunglasses has completely eliminated squinting and strain on my eyes.
Take Music. Loading up the GPS with music has really helped pass the time. I even added a few hours of MCLE, just in case!
Drive slower. I’ve made a point of obeying the speed limit, even when I’m running late. Driving fast saves a negligible amount of time and can be very stressful.
These four things have transformed my long drives from stressful events into fairly enjoyable trips.
