I’m at the Corning, CA Flying J with 180 miles to deliver in the morning between 9a and 10a. It’s getting to be impossible to drive on Fridays and Sundays. The truckstop, oh, excuse me - The Travel Center is packed and not with trucks and truck drivers. RV’ers, cars, pickups towing boats and jet skis line the gas pumps three deep with one cashier.

I was having dinner in the truckstop last night and a family comes in and the waitress goes through her intro with the buffet price and the lady says, “it doesn’t look appetizing at all. Have you seen it? It doesn’t look appetizing.” I wanted to jump up and scream, “IT”S A TRUCK STOP! Don’t like it, go somewhere else. I don’t have a choice. Applebee’s doesn’t have truck parking!”  Even though the buffet didn’t look appetizing she thought the rest of the food in this place was going to be any better? Maybe it’s just me.

California becomes a nightmare on the weekend especially with cars going 70+ and trucks only allowed to drive 55. Simply idiotic. Granted most trucks are doing between 60 and 65, but if you want to pass, good luck getting into the left lane without killing someone.

Weekends used to be the best time to drive, no rush hours in the big cities and it was a great time to just sit back, relax and enjoy the scenery. Now, everyone is in a hurry to get to the lake/river/wherever or get back home from the lake/river/wherever and even though any vehicle towing anything is supposed to be going 55, you’d never know it. Trucks hauling jet ski’s going 80 are normal, god forbid if a semi goes 70, the world might end. CHP could fix California’s 15 billion dollar deficit in one weekend if they were out here.

You used to be able to “hide” from the general public and most traffic by driving at night. But now, construction crews come out at night and close down interstate lanes so they have more room to stand around. You could end up in a worse backup than any big city rush hour.

So, what’s the answer? Don’t know. according to Cindy, I overthink stuff way too much, she’s probably right. I’m getting to really hate the traffic. The days of letting your mind wonder and enjoying the drive are pretty much over everywhere except the most remote areas of the country. The simple art of merging is too much of a concept for most people. If I let you on, get out of the way so I can move back over and not get stuck in the left lane. I’ve given up, unless the left lane is completely open and no one is around, I”ll just stay in the right lane and force them to either speed up (the smart ones) or slow down and act like I’ve run them off the road, (the stupid ones).

And truckers aren’t exempt from being idiots. I’ve seen trucks almost cause a wreck letting someone on the interstate. Last time I checked, people on the on-ramp have to yield to traffic and it’s a lot easier for a car to drive around me, then it is for me to have to drive around and adjust my driving for them.

It’s a good thing I’m headed home. Make sure you get out of the way.