One Thing About California, You Got to Watch Your Backside

Tailgating must be one of those peer pressure, cultural behaviors that people fall into because they don't want to be odd. It is the most striking thing I notice on the roads here. Especially on north 5 and east county. They call it "the five". Every numbered highway is "the" then the number. Out here that is the way of it. They don't do that in the southeast, where I spent my previous life.

So, it rains and the cars go faster and drive closer together. Maybe it is a huddling instinct to make use of body heat. It can result in overall slowdown when people wreck and the traffic gets blocked, like tonight on The 56 east. A truck and a big car.

On The 8, I saw some trouble as well. Plenty of hooplah when you get sustained rain here. I guess houses up near LA may be sliding down hills. It is another world from the ones I've known.

I'm not saying the driving is bad here, not compared to Memphis or Miami. Memphis is just dumb, and Miami is crazy. Here they seem to have a little too much affection for the rear of the car in front. Make of that what you will. After all, it is SoCal, even though I live closer to Mexico than LA, and east SD county is not what you'd call Hollywood type people, for the most part.