I Cannot Get Out

Where to start? The new year hasn't exactly started off for me as I had hoped. That's not to say that anything bad has happened ... I don't know how to explain it, other than to say that I would have liked to start off the new year differently. How? I honestly can't explain; it's just a feeling.

So, I'll give you a little story which should hopefully explain why I included the picture above. I'm not sure how many of you know this, but last week we here on the west coast suffered through some extreme weather mainly over last weekend (01/04 - 01/06). Now, coming from Florida I am not inexperienced when it comes to dealing with extreme weather. Living through multiple tropical storms, hurricanes, dangerous electrical storms, etc., I think prepares me for most any kind of extreme weather other than things that are snow-related. In some ways, as prepared as I am mentally, this has also made me a little jaded (hmmm ... don't know if that's the correct word I want to use for my feeling) as I (and X) tend to joke that unless a Category 5 hurricane is baring down on us then we have nothing to worry about. Even then, X and I would probably end up standing outside railing against the storm like Don Quixote attacking windmills.

Regardless, Friday I go in to work like normal. It's raining pretty bad, so I take it easy through the mountains on my way over to Santa Cruz. I make it in fine at my normal time, around 07:00 PST, and proceed to go about my day. By about 11:30 PST, the power has gone out about three times and this latest time it does not appear as though power will be restored anytime soon. Power is pretty much out all over the area and most people are heading home as it is becoming impossible to get any work done at the office. My boss was out sick, so I send him a message stating I am heading home. I get in my car and proceed to head back home via Highway 17. This is my normal route to and from work. I've mapped it out below, and according to Google Maps it's about 30 miles one-way and takes about 45 minutes to drive.


Unfortunately, 17 was closed. I didn't find out until later but it seems there were some slides as well as a downed power line. So I have to turn around, but before doing so I call my roommate to find another route home. He suggests Highway 9 and in the back of my mind I know I can always take Highway 1, Pacific Coast Highway, at worst. Off to 9 I go, and after a little bit of travel I find it closed as well. Highway 1 it is then. Now 1 pretty much traverses the length of the Pacific coast of California so that means that while traveling north I am actually moving away from my house here in San Jose. But I also really have no other option that I know of. So the trek begins.

Now, I've heard that 1 is a beautiful road to travel with the view of the Pacific coast. I'm sure it is, but that day I was only concerned with making it home and not getting caught in some type of mud slide. I travel a ways up and eventually hit State Route 84, and seeing that it gets to Redwood City I figure why not take it as Redwood City is a little bit northwest of San Jose. I travel 84 all the way to La Honda only to find that, once again, the road is closed.

At this point, I am starting to get a little worried because I am getting low on gas. I couldn't fill up my gas tank when I left due to no one having power, and along this entire trip I haven't really found anyplace to get gas (either there is no place or any gas stations I found are without power). Also, now I've hit my third road that's been closed due to the weather and all I can think of at that time is that scene in The Fellowship of the Ring where Gandalf is reading from the Book of Mazarbul in the mines of Moria. "We cannot get out. We cannot get out. They have taken the Bridge and second hall." In my mind it was, "I cannot get out. I cannot get out. They have blocked 17, 9 and 84."

So I double back to 1 and start heading north again. At worst, I reluctantly figure I can make it to San Francisco with the gas I have left but that is a worst-case scenario that I really don't want. After more travel I make it to Half Moon Bay and stop in at a gas station. They have no power here either, but I ask the attendant if he knows anyplace with power where I can fill up. He says I can take State Route 92 over to San Mateo as they have power over there. It's an 11-mile drive and supposedly it's not closed. So off I go, and yes, I finally make it somewhere to gas up. I also pick up a drink and some snacks since I haven't eaten since I got to work that morning. San Mateo is right off of Interstate 280, and about 40 miles northwest of my house. Since I'm on a major interstate at this point, I am assured of no more roads being closed so I leave and finally get home.

Let's recap. Normally to get home I take 17 up to 85, and then 85 over to Santa Theresa which is practically home. This is a 30-mile drive that takes roughly 45 minutes. Instead, I had to go 1 to 92, 92 to 280, 280 to 85, and then 85 to Santa Theresa. I pulled that up on Google Maps (map shown below) and that route appears to be nearly 100 miles (I've added some miles since I took a view alternate routes that I had to double-back on) and takes 2 to 2.5 hours. Except that it actually took me 4 hours, since I had to drive slower due to the weather, lost time backtracking closed routes, and stopped for gas twice. And to cap it all off, once I got home I find that we didn't have any power either. What a fun day!