Driving South to Southern California

I called my cousin and asked if he was free this weekend. We both have had very busy summers. He said "Yes" so I borrowed my wife's Lexus and headed south. My Truck though I love it on the open road or 4 wheel driving in the snow is more difficult for me to drive in difficult Los Angeles County Traffic. My wife's Lexus drives more like a sports car like my 2000 RX300 did before I traded it in on my wheel Drive Truck. So, I stopped to have dinner with a friend in Santa Barbara to miss the traffic between 3pm and 7pm (Especially on a Friday). TRaffic after 2 pm on Fridays in the Los Angeles area all the way down to San Diego can be very deadly. And since many people are driving after having a drink of Alcohol or with drugs in their system driving can get really scary sometimes Friday Nights and Saturday nights. So, I was more at ease driving full speed in the fast lane where I learned to drive on the L.A. Freeways back in 1963 and 1964 when I was going to High School then. So, as I drove in the 134 Ventura Freeway it felt sort of homelike passing the San Diego Freeway and the Hollywood Freeway on my way in to visit my cousin and go sailing.

We have been sailing now since 1968 since he got his law degree and bought a new Columbia 22 foot boat that sleeps 6 which is sort of like having a Camper Van on the Ocean. So, we sailed back then with girlfriends some times back then to Catalina to go snorkeling and swimming there in the crystal clear water off the Sailboat over weekends.

So, we have been sailing now for 45 years together since I was 20 years old and he was about 26 as a new young lawyer. My father first took me sailing when I was about 6 or 8. He had a friend who was a TWA Pilot (one of the airlines like Pan AM back then. He owned a Bounty II fiberglass hull 42 foot sailboat that was 42 feet long that he built up himself on weekends from the ballasted fiberglass hull. So, when he got it ready we sailed all over with him since my Dad and he were friends. At 12 My father and I and 2 other TWA airline pilots all sailed in the Ensenada Race to Mexico with my Dad's friend.

So, by the time my cousin bought his sailboat I was a fairly experienced sailor. The last time we went sailing we saw 3 people on 2 jet skis going to Catalina. Though something like this is possible in the right conditions this seemed kind of Sketchy to us. But I suppose the reason they were taking 2 jet skis is in case one broke down on the 26 mile ride out there to Avalon, Catalina.