Top 10 Most Interesting Things I've Seen on the California Freeways

Author's note: I drive in excess of 12 hours a week. This is a third of the time it took me to drive across the whole country. That means that every 3 weeks, it's like I'm back in Michigan and then back to California and etc, etc...

10) Mattresses. Hilarious. I've seen at least 3 just chillin' in the middle of the freeway. I wish I would have known this before I dropped $500 on a new one.

9) Shopping carts. Mostly they're on the side of the freeway, but the fact is that they're always chalk full of SOMETHING. Usually it's the contents of a homeless person's life. Here's the kicker though: they're always covered with some kind of tarp, suggesting weather protection, even though it never rains in California.

8) Cars. Stopped cars, I should say. Whenever people have car problems in California, they seem to believe that the best place to address the issue is in the middle lane of the freeway. I don't know how this happens, but I've truly been in at least 3 huge traffic jams that immediately clear up once I pass a car that has its emergency blinkers on, just idle in the middle of the freeway. 

7) The carpool lane. It taunts me. It's not that weird, I understand and kind of praise it's purpose, but since I'm always a single driver with no passengers, it's kind of a dick to me.

6) Litter. Someone I was driving behind the other day threw napkins, plates and eventually an entire pizza box out of the window. It was a flatbed truck. Very stereotypical polluter. I searched the bumper for a "Bush" sticker.

5) Which brings me to "Bush" stickers. I'm literally open-jawed over the fact that those are even still in existence, let alone displayed. And that has nothing to do with the fact that Obama just got inaugurated. 

4) Bells. There are a series of bell images that are etched into the median on the 101-North as you approach Hollywood. It's like a flip book in that if you drove by really quickly, the bells would look like they were swaying.

3) Speeding! The speed limit everywhere I've been is 65, but no one drives that, or even anything close to that.

2) Border patrol. I always wonder why that station is where it is, north of San Diego which is then north of Mexico (the closest So Cal neighbor). I never look into it, I just like to ponder.

1) Traffic! Oh my god, traffic. I thought it was all hype, but now I've declared it official. LA traffic is unlike anything I've ever seen. It takes me 1.5 hours to drive 30 miles in the morning. does that make ANY sense?