Yikes!

As readers of crankyjewishguy (CJG) know, last week he and his older son took a Great American Road Trip down Highway 1 along the California coast. It's a harrowing drive at times; the road hugs the great cliffs of Big Sur and there's often not even a guardrail between you and the pounding surf hundreds of feet below. Not that you should do it anywhere, you absolutely shouldn't, but this is about the last place to text and drive. This road demands your full attention. But this morning, CJG is thinking about fate because yesterday a 100 foot stretch of Highway 1 near Big Sur looked like this:

Now, this is a tiny, miniscule calamity considering what the poor people of Japan are enduring; their nightmare is going to be a long one and their suffering is, quite literally, beyond comprehension. And, incredibly, no one was driving this stretch of Highway 1 when the road collapsed, or was speeding along unaware until they hit what has to be the world's largest pothole. So, no one as hurt and no one died, so it really isn't a calamity at all so much as a massive inconvenience for nearby residents because there's no viable alternative to Route 1 and it's going to take months to fix. But it does give you pause when you realize that a few days here or there and you could have been very much in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Mellow Yellow

Sorry, crankyjewishguy (CJG) got a late start this morning owing to the fact that he spent a couple of hours walking along the beachfront in Santa Barbara where the sky is blue, the sun is shining, and the home prices are exorbitant. You see, CJG and his older son, the one who attends Harvard on St. Charles a/k/a Tulane University, have been spending some quality time taking one the great American road trips down the California coast. CJG figures, if your 20-year-old son is willing to spend a week with you (a) you've done something right as a parent and (b) seize the precious moment because it may not come again. There isn't much to be cranky about when the scenery is jaw-dropping, the air warm, and the seafood fresh. So, amigos, hasta manana. Tomorrow, CJG and son will be in L.A. That should give us plenty to complain about.