The Long Commute

It was mid August and mid afternoon. I had just finished my last training session for the week.  The drive home started out just like any other commute...slow and crawling down the 101 freeway towards Gilroy, CA. I had hoped to beat the majority of the weekend travelers who thought that if they got an early start that they, too, would beat the traffic.  In the end, they only added to the nightmare commute that I endured every Friday afternoon and every holiday eve. When would people realize that if they waited until after the regular commuters were home, that their travelling to wherever they were planning to escape to would be easier and take less time than trying to leave so very early. But all griping aside, today’s commute was going to be a doozy!

The crawl towards Gilroy was taking it’s usual traffic flow.  Slow and steady until the southern end of San Jose. The traffic flow usually increased for about ten miles, and then the freeway narrows down to two lanes.  Four lanes crammed into two for just a mile or so and then it opened up to three lanes and stayed that way until after my turnoff. Whoever designed that bottleneck was just not thinking about the nightmare that bottleneck would create. 

All went as predicted until I got onto 152 eastbound. The eight mile two lane section was moving at about half the posted speed limit...which was normal for this time of day. I stopped at a favorite deli to pick up some take out since I was about an hour earlier than usual. The deli just happened to be about a quarter mile off my usual traveling route home.  The smell of the anticipated tri tip made my mouth water. I ordered just the tri tip and no bread. I was planning on using it for part of my dinner.

Tri tip in hand, I resumed my homeward commute.  By now, I was three quarters of the way home on a usually two hour commute.  Traffic was flowing at the normal rate when as soon as I started the uphill climb over the Diablo range when traffic came to a sudden halt.  Both lanes were blocked and there was no way to turn around. There was a concrete dividing wall between the eastbound and westbound lanes...and there was absolutely no traffic headed westbound!  It was a hot afternoon, not the one where anyone would want to be milling around on a hot road. But, there we were...commuters, travelers, and anyone else who was unfortunate enough to be stuck on that section of road. I tuned my radio to listen for any traffic reports...but nothing was being reported...yet.  After sitting with the motor running and my car’s air conditioner at full blast for about twenty minutes, I decided to join my fellow stopped travelers out of their vehicles. I turned off the motor and got out. I heard several men talking and pontificating regarding why traffic was stopped. There were others just milling around and trying to make the best of the situation. I just walked around and listened.

Traffic started to move again.  We were finally inching our way up the side of the mountain.  Move a few inches and stop. The times we were stopped, people got out of their cars.  By this time it was nearing six o’clock. There was a family in the van next to mine. It seems as if the Mom had taken her little ones somewhere on the western side of the mountain for some reason and they were now stuck in the traffic with everyone else.  Her kids were getting cranky and appeared to me to be hungry. When we were stopped before moving the next few inches, I went up to her vehicle and tapped on the passenger window. She slowly opened the window.

“Ma’am” I began, “Could I be of assistance? Looks as if you have some hungry children. I have some leftovers from my lunch and a couple of servings of tri tip that I’d be glad to share.” The look of relief spoke volumes!

“How did you know?” she said with the relief evident.

“I have grandchildren that are about their ages...and as you can tell by the uniform, I work in private security.  We always have to be prepared to work more hours than we planned. I carry extra dry food just for such an occasion.”

I went to the trunk of my car and took out my over sized lunch box.  The driver in the car behind mine noticed it and stuck his head out of his window.

“What do you have there?” he asked.

“I have my lunch box.  The lady in that van over there has three very hungry children and I intend to feed them.” I said.

“Well, I have some lunch leftovers, too. I’d be glad to add them to the meal.” He got out of his car and proceeded to retrieve his lunch from the back of his car.  Soon the group began to grow. Some had extra food and water to share, some had children that needed something to eat, some just wanted something to drink. Before I knew it we had quite a small group parked in the middle of eastbound highway 152.  We picnicked in the middle of the road. Children ate and ran around for a few minutes. Some, I’m told, even had potty breaks behind some bushes. We stopped traffic even further for about thirty minutes. There were even enough morsels for some of the adults to have a snack. My tri tip, when shared, never tasted so good!

The children, now with satiated hunger pains, were piled back into their respective cars.  We were thinking that the drivers stuck further down the mountain might not enjoy being delayed any more than necessary.  Once back in our cars, and moving again, the pace eventually started gaining a little speed. Finally we were at the summit! Traffic was still moving at a snail’s pace. We were now on the downhill stretch...a twenty mile section that would take another hour to traverse.

All of the delay was eventually revealed. There was a grass fire between the highway and the reservoir.  It was a big one! The road had been closed by the California Highway Patrol to allow for fire and emergency personnel to work.  When we finally got to the site, traffic was being diverted onto the median, and we had to drive over the fire hoses, too! By the time we got to the fire site it was nine PM!  My normal two hour commute took six hours!