I Am John's Stomach Pains.

On The Precipice of Mediocrity, Teetering

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

It's A Brand New Record For 1990  

As some of you may have seen on the news, NorCal has been under a bit of a deluge. I'm talking "I saw a pale white horse" levels of rain that have finally looked to approach an ending. My little story is with my drive home after landing in Oakland at 2am, Dec 30th/31st. The flight out had turbulence for about 80% of the entire trip, and it only got worse the more west we went, so I had a feeling it was gonna be bad.

After getting my luggage 20 minutes later (which not only sucked for the delay, but they were also fairly drenched from the transport from plane to belts), had to go out in the rain to wait for a bus. There's another 10 minutes... thankfully there was bus stop (ironically, the same one I had to wait 4 hours at last time), and the only real annoyance left was finding my car... not that fun when you've had to park in overflow. Thankfully the shuttle driver was incredibly helpful. Wish I had more than just 20s, or I woulda tipped him.

Anyway, onto the real adventure. The drive home from the airport is usually about an hour and a half. With the rain, I knew it's take a tad longer... holy hell, was that an understatement. The drive to where my work is was fairly eventful, mostly just with 2 dozen+ small hydroplaning moments. It was when I got to the town with my work that I ran into trouble. I saw flares up ahead across the road, forcing me to exit off the 101. The highway had been flooded, so had to detour around. Of course, there was a sign pointing right, and that was it... I have no idea where I'm going. So I drive for about 3, 4 miles (keep in mind, it's now 3:30am, still pouring), cross some railroad tracks, and end up at a dead end... fun. I then circle back around, and decide to go to my work, try and find some map online. Thankfully, I had my badge.

Anyway, after Google mapping the area, I find my way, but even after getting back on the road, I drive past the exit I'm supposed to take. Lemme just say there's nothing scarier than popping into reverse in the pouring rain in the dark, just so you can hop onto an exit you missed that was horrendously labeled. Or so I thought there was nothin' scarier.

Cut to about 15 minutes later, I'm driving on this one lane road with traffic going both ways, with water sloshing everywhere. This is supposed to be the detour for the flooded highway... coulda fooled me, as I drove through what had to be over a foot and a half of water, so deep, it's like a water ride at an amusement park, I can't see a thing. Finally, after slowing down below 20 MPH, it's not splashing so high, and I'm greeted with headlights coming right at me from about 30 yds away, approaching head on. With my grip nearly shattering my steering wheel in pieces, I pull to the right, and pass by safely, but holy shit, that was fucking scaaaary. And I still had 30+ minutes to go!

Thankfully, the rest of the drive proved to be bearable, and I got home at 5:45. As I opened the door, I fell to my knees and kissed the steps in relief.

Which reminds me, I really need to do some vacuuming.

posted by Holz | 11:46 AM | Rant & Rave, Bitches! (2)

2 Comments:

So did the rain stop yet?

By Blogger Stan, at 1/05/2006 6:17 AM  


Yes, I finally got to wear sunglasses yesterday.

Oh, BTW, I forgot to mention, extra brownie points for whoever gets the title reference. I know Amber could get it, not sure about others.

By Blogger Holz, at 1/05/2006 9:25 AM  


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Right Now I'm Probably...
Watching:
Lost, Heroes, 24, Criminal Minds
Listening:
Brobdingnagian Bards
Reading:
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Playing:
Final Fantasy XII
Eating:
Healthy...er
Doing:
Running... hopefully
Wishing:
My Amazon.com Wish List
Comic Quote of the Week
"It's trying to end the suffering of everything. Do you want to discuss our options? Maybe together we can, you know, workshop?"

"Okay, best way to stop a ten-story godlike monster from destroying existence? I'm gonna go with hitting, you have anything?"

"You took mine."


Wesley and Angel, Angel: After The Fall #15



Who Am I?
Name: Holz
Home: Sonoma County, California
About Me: I'm a comfortador.
See my complete profile

AKA:
Ozymandias, DrOzymandias, Darth Angelus, Darque Feonix, Trip McNeely
Kicking ass for:
29 years
Job:
UWing Systems Design Specialist
Walking Theme:
Believe It Or Not by Joey Scarbury
Most watched movie:
The Princess Bride
Most read book:
The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King


Where Do I Go?
Blogs I Will Most Likely Steal Ideas From
The Past
Some of My Favorite Entries
"Let a man get away with fuckin' you once, you stay bent over so's he can fuck you again whenever he damn well pleases. An' if one man can do it? Another will too. An' another, an' another still. So's being fucked, that's yer life. 'Til who you were, you ain't. 'Cause all you are is an asshole."
100 Bullets #42