SarahAnnAlien's Journal: Weekend Trips

Last weekend was kind of eventful.

I decided that I needed more driving practice, and the best way to get it seemed to be to just drive! So, I got up early, before the traffic got busy, and drove north.

I ended up in San Juan Capistrano. The place where the swallows come back.

Actually, that was my tentative destination all along. About ten years ago, I had a job interview in Orange County, and since I didn't have a car, I had to take Amtrak instead. I got off the train in San Juan Capistrano, where my potential employers met me and gave me a ride to their offices. They eventually did make me an offer, but at the time that I didn't want to leave my fun and interesting job to take a less interesting job working for some old Cobol programmers in a strange town, particularly since they made me a rather unflattering first offer.

So, anyway, I had been to San Juan Capistrano before, and it seemed like a nice place to visit, and not too close, but not too far away, so I decided to try driving in that direction. I was quite surprised how quickly I found myself actually there!

I parked at the train station and walked around a little bit. Mission San Juan Capistrano is just up the street, and I went to look at it, but discovered that it actually costs $6 to visit the inside of the mission, which seemed fair enough, but then I checked my purse and discovered I had only brought $8, and I was a little apprehensive about going all the way home with only $2. So I walked around the mission instead, and took some pictures around the outside. I also tried holding my camera up and taking some pictures over the wall, but none of those pictures turned out to be usable; I guess it must be copy protected or something! :-)

Then I went to a little souvenir shop and bought some souvenirs; fortunately, they took credit cards! I bought a postcard to send to my Dad, and a fridge magnet for myself. Oh, and a small pink turtle to commemorate my first long journey (it's a long story).

I thought about having lunch there, but decided that I'd rather get back early instead, so I left. The drive back was uneventful too, except that I got my first taste of stop-and-go freeway traffic.

When I got back home, I sent Dad the postcard: "Dear Dad, thanks for the car! Love, Sarah". I put a stamp on it and mailed it so he'd get it right away. It wasn't until later that I realized that you have to actually put the address of the recipient on the card too. Sigh... snailmail is soooo complicated! Oh well, better luck next time.

My Saturday trip ended up being about 125 miles.

Saturday's trip had gone so well that I decided I should go somewhere else on Sunday. I went (drove!) to a local bookstore and bought some maps.

Where to go? Hmm. Well, let's see, San Juan Capistrano turned out to be pretty easy. Let's pick something a little scarier. Where can I drive that would be a little more of a challenge. Where's the scariest place I can go for a one-day trip?

I didn't have to look at the map. There's only one place that scary and that close.

Los Angeles.

Well... ok.

So, early Sunday morning, I got back in my car, and headed north again.

The first part of the trip was just like Saturday's trip. I went through San Juan Capistrano. Actually, I got off at the same exit, but this time, I went to a fast food place and bought something vaguely food-like to eat.

At that point, it was only raining a little. I fiddled with the windshield wipers and headlights in the parking lot, to make sure I understood how they worked.

After breakfast, I got back on the freeway and continued on my journey.

As I got closer to LA, it rained a little more.

And then the traffic slowed down quite a lot... as I passed my first big accident.

That was a more than a little scary. Four cars on the left shoulder, plus a fire truck and a couple of highway patrol cars. On the right shoulder, another car, another highway patrol car, and a very freshly-beat-up SUV with dents and scratches on the sides... and roof.

I drove past, resolving to drive very carefully.

A little later, as traffic sped up, the rain increased, to the point that it was hard to see the car in front of me. I started to get rather frightened, but decided to just keep going and hope for the best.

Eventually the rain let up, or I drove past it. That was about when I came to the biggest, most crowded part of LA.

And then there was this truck... a very big truck.

In retrospect, I could have handled it better. It was a learning experience. And nobody got hurt. But it scared me quite a lot, and by the time I felt safe again... I was in the wrong lane. A few seconds later, and I was on the wrong freeway. There wasn't anything I could do.

I got off the freeway at the next exit to try to get back on the freeway going in the other direction. The neighborhood was scary. I immediately got back on the freeway again. Still going the wrong way, but now quite freaked out too.

I saw an exit to another freeway that claimed to be going east. East sounded good. I went east. Not really knowing where I was going.

After a few miles, the neighborhood looked safer, so I got off the freeway, pulled into a little strip mall, and checked my map.

East was good. It would eventually lead to the freeway that would take me home.

So, I went east. After an hour or so, I found the freeway going home, turned on it, and headed South. No problem!

Then it started to rain really hard, again! And I was starting to get tired. But I was on my way home, so there wasn't much else to do but stick with it.

Eventually, the rain stopped again. I pulled off the freeway to take a break, and bought a chocolate milkshake at a fast food place. Yum! Back on the freeway, I continued on my way home.

And eventually, the landmarks started to look familiar. Before I knew it, I was at my exit... and back in my neighborhood!

Wow, I drove to LA and back! In the rain!

On my way home, I stopped to get gas, and checked the mileage for my big adventure. 250 miles. 36.7 miles per gallon.

When I got home, I took a nap. Actually, I took a nap for most of the afternoon. I was exhausted!

Later that night, I called Dad. First, I told him about the trip to San Juan Capistrano. Then I told him I'd driven to LA.

He was just thrilled. I could hear in his voice how happy he was. I think he had probably been a little worried that, even if he bought me a car, I still wouldn't drive it.

Honestly, I was worried about that too. That's why I decided that I'd have to drive to work every day. That's why I drove to San Juan Capistrano. That's why I drove to LA, too.

I think I'll keep making some day trips on the weekends for a little while, at least. I'm feeling a lot more confident, but I need it to become routine.

This weekend, I'm thinking about going east... I've never really been east of where I live. Not more than 15 minutes away, anyway. So there's a lot to explore that way.

There's also plenty to explore locally that's still kind of scary. I need to practice going to regular places too. Places like the grocery store. Local stores. Fast food places. Crowded places.

But, to make a long story really short... it looks like this whole car thing is working out!