'Tis the Season for Holiday Traffic

This Thanksgiving was the first time I have been home for the holiday since I left for college, which was over three ago. Usually, I just stay down in San Diego with family instead of flying or driving up, to save money or time. This year I had an opportunity to drive up with my girlfriend and some of her friends. The drive to Portland is around 17 hours, sometimes more but rarely less. The trip is usually broken up into two or three days to make it a little more managable. I have done the trip several times, it definately is not my favorite thing to do. But with friends in the car and splitting up the driving time, it really is not bad. Our way up went smooth, we all enjoyed our time back home in the Rose City. We needed to be back at school on Monday, so we left on Saturday and stayed at my grandparents home in Medford, which is less then an hour from the California border. We got up at seven and left at eight in the morning expecting around a 12 hour drive, at a leisurly pace. It was foggy going through Northern California, but that was nothing to what we were about to experience.

We were 30 minutes south of Stockton, when we saw our first brakelights. It a weird thing to be stuck in Central California, where there was no houses, stores, or any sign of life except dairy cows and be stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. I thought selfishly "Hopefully it's just an accident." Meaning that once we passed it, cars would reach normal speeds. But for the next 10 hours we hit traffic on and off. It made a 12 hour trip last 16 and a half. I truly felt small traveling through California this time. The sheer magnitude of people on this planet can be expereinced on a rural freeway with thousands of cars around you. We did our best to keep each other entertained and sane. We counted our blessings that our car was not braking down. Or that we did not get into a accident. I am hoping that I won't have to make that drive many more times. I thought about the different people driving the same road I was on. And I am sure we were all thinking the same questions. Why are there so many people? And when is there not going to be?