Getting There

Many cars waiting and I am in the front seat of a Toyota SUV. A fat carved wooden buddha sits on the dash, accompanied by an ornament card with a drawing of a similar fat buddha on a string, hanging from the mirror. The driver is a 30s something Chinese-American woman in office-casual attire. She’s wearing brown tweedy suit slacks and a tailored blouse; her jacket lays on the wide armrest between the seats. An empty styrofoam coffee cup and a bottle of Arrowhead water rest in the drink wells. The three of us comment on the lovely weather and how lucky it was last night for the Halloween trick-or-treaters to go around on a relatively warm, dry evening.

KNBR radio tells us we’ll have another beautiful day and the World Series gets closer to what may well be a Giant’s victory.

We pass ground-hugging fog in the low spots near Hercules. It’s filmy and beautiful. Farther along as we approach the Bay Bridge we see the City (well, actually we DON’T see the City) completely wrapped in fog. Migrating ducks fly overhead near Emeryville. 3 small very still shore birds with thin stick-legs stand in the shallow pool that we see as we round the corner onto the bridge.

The driver says she’s looking forward to moving to Millbrae next year, closer to work. She is tired of this commute, having done it for several years. I have begun to drive more frequently and I agree it is exhausting and stressful. Traffic is heavy and not moving at the toll gates. They’ll be sitting there for awhile. We speed past and onto the bridge to greet a spectacular view. The sun has come up behind us hitting the thick fog in the bay that circles Angel Island and Tiburon, sparkling off the occasional windows that peek through the mist. It’s a Golden California morning.

Filed under: Car Pooling, Car Pooling Etiquette, Casual Carpool Bay Area, Casual Carpooling, commute, casual car pool, Today's Commute, Tolls for car pools, Uncategorized |