Garden Grove, CA. I guess three's the limit. Of days you can ride in a car without going nuts, that is. We landed in Garden Grove, California around noon so it was little more than half a day. But it seems that was half a day too much. We each were hit by a ton of bricks. Irritability ran high. Tempers ran short. Every little task became an irritant. Our frustration was compounded at lunch when we could not find a decent place to eat and ended up at a Thai place. It stunk.
Back on the road. No Illinois Man sightings. Hope that wasn't him broken down in Utah. We were out of Utah and through Arizona before you could sneeze. That put us squarely in the land of casinos. No town is too small to have a gaudy-assed gambling establishment. As a businessman I always wonder how these cheesy looking places can support themselves. Who are they attracting? People who want to drive from California or Arizona to gamble but don't want to go another forty minutes to Vegas? I guess it will remain one of life's mysteries.
Did I mention yesterday that in Utah there is a stretch of I-70 where there is no gas, food or lodging for 106 miles? Not something you see a lot of in the Midwest. Kind of frightening in a way. Like not having a security blanket.
The 250 miles from the Nevada-California border to the L.A. Basin is a long barren downhill descent from the land of nothingness to the ultimate over-crowded metropolis. For that matter there's not a lot except the well known (to me, that is) "Eagles on Highway" sign from Colorado to San Bernadino. There are some beautiful western landscapes, but it's all so brown. Where are the trees? Back home. Where else?
With the aid of little Tommy, Alex navigated the L.A. traffic beautifully without a single misstep. Since Tommy refused to tell us exactly where our hotel was, we spent a bit of time looking for it. No worries. We arrived around noon local time tired, hungry and fit to be tied. As I mentioned, lunch was shit. Afterward I fell into an exhausted slumber while Alex unloaded the car. Later we had a quick pizza and hit the sack. Welcome to California.
Deep Thoughts. How did you react to the killing/assassination of bin Laden? I felt strange about it from the moment I heard it. I was glad is was dead. He was a mass-murdering psychopath who had no business being alive. Killing him was the right solution and infinitely better than arresting him and spending time and money on a trial that would go nowhere and would further sanctify him to his lunatic followers. I was fine with killing or assassinating him. What bothered me was the American reaction. Celebrating that we just killed this guy seems a little creepy. I would have felt better about celebrating a victory over terrorism. It seems that would be more respectful to the victims of 9/11 and their families. That was the victory to me. Chanting "USA. USA." seemed weird to me. A little too much mob mentality. A little too frenzied. It had an uncomfortable hint of Germany in the 30's and 40's. It did take us ten years to find the maniac.
And you thought I never had any really deep thoughts.
Much more to come. As always, thanks for taking your time to read this.
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