California
California is a huge state with the largest population in the United
States. However, the vast majority of residents are crowded into a
handful of coastal cities. Most of California is empty. Interstate
highways that stretch across this vast region can be as crowded as an
urban highway eventhough it passes through uninhabited dessert.
The coastal cities are more expensive than the Central Valley in terms
of real estate and even gas prices. At the same time, practical
shopping like supermarkets and department stores are more scarce on
the coasts than the Central Valley. Freeway intersections may not have
gas stations or fast food along the coasts, when they all have
services in the Central Valley.
Los Angeles is just like it looks in the movies, only more so. Big
clouds of pink smog roll over the San Gabriel Mountains that separates
the LA Basin from the clean air of the dessert. Between the ocean and
the mountains live 14 million people. These people fill massive
freeways which are routinely closed on schedules that make you wonder
if they are really repairing them.
Santa Monica and Venice are the home to street traffic where people
actually get out of their cars. Running north from Santa Monica is the
Pacific Coast Highway, the best part about being on the West
coast.
Just north out of LA along the Pacific Coast Highway is Malibu. Malibu
goes on for many miles, but is only a few blocks deep in its widest
section. Working Class Chic is the in thing these days. Pick-up trucks
and flea markets are the rage. There's a disconcerting tackiness to
Malibu, despite the rich and famous who live here.
Mudslides happen here often, and sometimes brush fires come down out
of the hills. By stacking shipping containers up to form a wall, work
can proceed in removing the mud while traffic is maintained. As you
proceed north up the Pacific Coast Highway you pass state beaches
where people still camp. Oxnard is the last town before leaving the LA
area. Beyond are the resort towns of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo,
and Monterey. The traffic drops-off considerable until the outskirts
of San Jose.
GO TO SAN FRANCISCO PAGE 1 =}
