When last we left our intrepid group, we had just left San Francisco International Airport. (As a side note, you have to get permission from the Federal government so that international flights can land at an airport, since you have to set up a customs station there. Sacramento Metro Airport just got that permission last month so it'll soon be Sacramento International Airport.) Our plan was to drive South to the I-40 and then head East on it.

But how to get to the I-40? Both Dave and I, having travelled the Bay Area to Los Angeles route too many times to mention, knew that the easiest way was I-5. That would mean going East on the 580 to get to it, probably a half hour extra. Van Horn, having all these maps and no experience, advocated going down the 101, hiking over on the 156 to the 99 and using that. But the 99 is a trucker's freeway. I've driven it at 03:00 before and trucks were all over it. The I-5 is much clearer and it doesn't go through as many towns.

We eventually gave in to Van Horn. I missed the Gilroy exit to the 156 so we backtracked 3 miles. The 156 is a one-lane for a few miles and we got stuck behind a slow truck (I feared this would happen). Then it's the main street of a couple of towns so we have stop lights to slow us down. But finally we got the 99, which wasn't as crowded as I expected. Overall it probably would have taken the same amount of time if we had taken the I-5. Does that make Van Horn right? No, it makes him lucky. This was a harbinger of how Van Horn would act throughout the trip.

Back up a bit. On the 156 (or maybe it was the 152), my brother Chris was getting hungry. So when we drove through a town we scanned for a place to each. Actually I wanted them to scan and tell me when to stop. Chris said "I'm in the back seat, by the time I see something you've already passed it." Van Horn is getting in on it too. So now I'm looking for open places and not being that observant a driver in any case I almost run a traffic light. "Stop!" everybody yells as I screech to a halt. What do people expect? Late at night, I'm tired, and I'm not known for having a good Scan. This is one of those incidents that Van Horn brought up later on, never mind that he was one of the people insisting that I divide my attention to look for a place for him to get food. Sheesh.

I do not like driving fast. Could be the two speeding tickets I've gotten since I started driving six years ago. Could be that I thought that 65 MPH was plenty fast enough before the national speed limit was abolished and I see no reason to go faster than that. Could be that I'm never in a hurry. For whatever reason, I rarely drive faster than 65 MPH. Even when Dave, Pick and I drove to Iowa, I relunctantly sped up to 70 since that was the speed limit then. Perhaps why I didn't drive much during that trip.

This time though we had a lot of time pressure. Every minute counted, and with a trip this long, those minutes do add up. So I was driving 80 and even 85 MPH down the 99, even through Modesto and other towns. It was like 03:00 which is the least active time for anyone, including the Highway Patrol. But it was a bit tense as I slowed down anytime I overtook a car, since I'm not good enough to recognize police cars by their tail lights. Eventually I got tired right after we got to the I-40. We stopped at a gas station to refuel and Van Horn took over the driving duties.

I've written before that Van Horn is not that good of a driver. Jerky is the word that comes to mind. So when we switched places (we were in the front seats) there was very little way I'd get any sleep. Every time I started to dose off he'd jerk the car a little and I'd wake up. But eventually I dozed off for about half an hour. Next time I woke up we were getting pulled over by the Highway Patrol. Seems like he was driving at 86 MPH and didn't see the police cruiser. Dave took over after that, even though he hadn't gotten much sleep (he and Chris had spent the night watching Wargames and Highlander on Dave's G4 PowerBook).

At least then I was able to get some sleep. Don't get me wrong, we're not perfect drivers either. Dave does occassionally do things like drive over lines (you can feel the bumps as he slides over the lane) and swerves a bit, but nowhere near as often as Van Horn. And I've driven with Dave for years so I'm quite comfortable with his ability and style. So a bit of a swerve with Dave and I keep on sleeping; with Van Horn and Chris I immediately wake up.